In Episode Thirteen, we talk about exploring versus exploiting. Brian Christian and Tom Griffis wrote the book “Algorithms to Live By.” This is a cool concept I pulled from that book. The concept is explore versus exploit, which they presented it as if you have a grandma, and every Friday, she goes down to bingo, you might ask yourself, why does she love it so much? The answer is that she spent her whole life exploring for things that she wanted to have fun with. She then started exploiting the most happiness dense activity that she can do. She does not want to go to the mall because she does not like that as much as going to bingo.
This is how she exploits the activities in her life to get the most happiness that she can. When we are younger, maybe a three-year-old kid, we have a whole list of things that we have not done yet in life; basketball, football, soccer, reading, music, musical instruments, etc. Exploring is what young people need to do. Throughout life, we eventually see a crossover. Over time, we explore less and less and exploit more and more. At some point, we exploit our career, but it comes at the sacrifice of doing more and more exploring.
So, the next time grandma wants to go to bingo, let her go. It is one of the last things that makes her happy. She knows this because she is explored so much in her lifetime. She has now finally earned the right to exploit whatever she wants to do. Thank you for reading through season one of BlankScreen. Check us out on YouTube. We will see you in season two!