hardware dictates software

The hardware dictates what software can be run on it. I am not a computer person. I like computers. But I don't really code or anything. But I learned this idea from Cal Newport. Cal Newport is one of those people who I like all of his work. Not a piece of one of his books. But all of his books. I like the direction he is headed. I am always excited to see what he is thinking and doing next. Point is, our background tends to make us think in certain ways. I am a scientist and I see things through this messy biology lens. Cal sees things through a computer science lens. I love getting new analogies and metaphors from other domains.

Back to hardware dictates what software can be run on it. To me this means our body is our hardware and our mind is our software. If we are hungry, tired, or sick, we will not be in a place to solve complex problems. Our software will be elementary. For us to do the deep thinking, we need our hardware to be in tip top shape. Intellectuals and artists often neglect their physical body in pursuit of whatever it is they are after. Knowledge. Beauty. Whatever it may be. This metaphor woke me up. We know exercise is important. We know sleep is important. But we try to cut corners so we can do more. But a dead computer cannot run any software program. Sometimes metaphors have a way of showing us what we already know to be true.

We have to take care of our hardware. So we can be there for the software updates. Our growth as humans depends on both.