I was watching the latest SpaceX launch, which I always find pretty amazing from an engineering standpoint, as well as with all the cool stuff we can do as humans, we bicker and fight over the most irrelevant and inane things.
Normally in crypto, we talk about FUD, Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt and of course, FOMO, the Fear of Missing Out. But in rocket launches in recent years RUD has been the expression for failure.
A euphemism for "it exploded".
While everyone knows exactly what it means, I wonder if it is a useful way to reframe the failure in the mind so that it is easier to manage expectations and limit disappointment, so it is easier to get back into work mode and find out what happened. Or does the euphemism that softens the blow, make people more complacent and accepting of the failure to the point that they don't take it seriously enough. Does it desensitize them to failure?
I think the terms FUD and FOMO have become so watered down these days, that people don't really spend time on what they actually mean, or the severe impacts they can have on us as traders and humans in many aspects of life. The implications of being affected by fear, uncertainty and doubt, as well as the fear of missing out, is very high and I think the terms that have been used to encapsulate all of it, have ended up with people not considering how they are affected. The softening blow, takes away the potential in the lesson.
E=mc²
Everyone recognises the equation, but how many really knows what it means and can apply it into some kind of practical situation? Yeah, I can Google too. However, when it comes to how we react emotionally to circumstances, having a Google answer isn't going to help us much. Even if we have step-by-step instructions.
Knowledge doesn't indicate ability.
What I think happens though is we keep finding convenient shortcuts to life to neatly package our experience into a story, without thinking about what we are actually doing at a practical level. We talk about "fear" for instance and often react to it, without thinking about the reality of the circumstances and what is causing the fear. Is it even real? Most of the time, no, it is not. Instead, it is an emotional reaction using a part of our brain that interprets what we are experiencing as an existential threat of some kind - even if it is just going to bruise our imaginary ego.
A lot of people seem to be reacting as if their life is threatened by situations that are not life-threatening at all. Like on the anger directed at someone who stole a parking space at Walmart. It is an overreaction to the situation, but it feels real because feelings feel that way. But instead of diving deep and understanding what is actually going on, we find convenient ways to make excuses for our behaviours, including softening our reactions to events, with abbreviations and euphemisms.
Like children looking away and covering their mouth whilst telling a lie.
Of course, we all do things to protect our ego against hurt, but we also have to recognise that our ego itself is a fantasy that we have built to represent us. As a result, we have also given two targets to aim for - the physical self, and the metaphysical self we have created to protect us.
But it doesn't do a very good job, does it?
Taraz
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