We are at a place down at the harbor that says, "World's Best Waffles" on the menu. Every time I hear "World's Best" at a restaurant, it makes me skeptical I assume that they are covering for their shortcomings with unverifiable and highly unlikely claims.
Is there a world's best anything?
The Olympics are coming up and there at least for short periods of time, it is possible to have verified world's best on the day. It doesn't mean they are the world's best the next day, nor the world's best in history, but on that day, they hold the title. The world's fastest, the world's strongest, the world's highest.
It is pretty cool.
Okay. It was pretty good.
Let's see if the sweet ones stack up.
I wonder what percentage of the global population at any point on time is the world's best at something. Not just the things that people care about, but all the random things that no one would even consider worth competing on. Like opening cans, or lacing shoes.
There are probably leagues and championships for both of those things.
I was thinking about what I might be very good at on a global level and absolutely nothing comes to mind. There are things I might be in the top ten percent of perhaps, like writing, but amongst a population of just writers, I wouldn't get so high up the rankings.
I think that one of the problems we face as a society now is that we are no longer competing in small groups locally and are instead compared globally. In a small town of say 1000 people, there would have been a hundred good singers, and a handful of great singers. And it would have been the same for all skill requirements too, where there would only be a handful of mechanics, or teachers, or taxi drivers. Best in town is very different to the best on earth.
But we are in this strange period now where people are able to use a host of tools to generate results far, far better than they can generate for themselves. It seems they feel that they are suddenly able to compete globally, because of the current results, but don't yet realize that they are still at the same level they always were, because everyone else can use the same tools. Even in the town they live, they are still average.
But when it comes to who is the fastest, strongest, or can jump the highest, AI only takes a person so far. To be the best, it takes more work than the rest are willing to put in.
They stacked up.
But without a point of reference, I don't know if they are the world's best waffles. What I do know is, they are good enough for me.
Taraz
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