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We have only ten boxes in our life.

Shenyi Translation Bureau is its compilation team, focusing on technology, business, workplace, life and other fields, focusing on introducing foreign new technologies, new ideas, and new trends.

Editor’s note: Einstein’s “relativity” not only changed the time-space view of the scientific and technological world, but even influenced the 20th century human philosophy of the universe. But “Relativity” was not born in the laboratory, but originated from a thinking experiment in his mind. Thinking experiments can make people smarter by training people’s thinking, creating different situations to solve problems, and changing the way they view problems. If you also want to improve your thinking ability, you may wish to try the five thinking experiments in this article. Article translated from Medium, author Niklas Göke, original title 5 Thought Experiments to Upgrade Your Thinking.

Einstein said that we cannot solve problems by using problem-making thinking. It is scientifically estimated that we have 30 to 50 ideas per minute, and there are many opportunities to change our ideas.

Einstein is generally considered to be the smartest person on earth, and he took advantage of these opportunities. He also likes thinking experiments. In fact, the thinking experiment became the first seed of his general relativity.

Einstein imagined himself riding on a beam of light towards the sun. Looking at the other beam of light beside him, he should think it is still, but according to the laws of physics, this is impossible. A few years later, due to another thought experiment, Einstein came up with the only possible answer: time itself is relative.

Although this is not the insight that made him win the Nobel Prize, decades of scientific research are based on this. After 100 years, the researchers finally clearly confirmed that the most important part of his theory is correct.

Here are some things about vision, about genius, about imagination, but the real key point is: a question can open your mind, and a statement can end it. You cannot use declarative sentences to improve your thinking, you must ask better questions.

Thinking experiments are the most complicated questions you can ask. By layering multiple assumptions, you force yourself to think from a new perspective, and then consider not only the first, but second, and even third-order effects. This is a powerful mental exercise. Who knows? One day, one of themMay win the Nobel Prize for you.

Here are five thinking experiments that can further enhance your thinking.

1. You will never be truly alone

How many people can you think of in a day? Not “I just received a text message from John, I hope he is all right”. As long as it is short-lived, it will appear instantly. An image in my mind flashed for a few seconds, then disappeared.

After a period of calculation, I realized that I would think of more than 100 people every day. One! hundred! people! In my little head. And every day.

Do you know what that means? If there are many people appearing in my mind every day, it is likely that so many people will appear in your mind. If you can think of so many people, so will others.

If you think about 100 people every day, no matter what, there are always 100 people thinking about you. Somewhere outside, whether on the street or thousands of miles away, someone is sending you a tiny burst of energy. Not every 15 minutes, but dozens of times a day.

You are not only in your own thoughts, but also in the minds of many others.

Maybe you do n’t always think so, but trust me: you are never alone.

2. The library at the end of the universe

In a distant corner of the universe, there is a library. In this library, there is a diary for everyone on the planet.

When they were born, it was empty. But from that day on, it will be updated every night. Every 24 hours, there is a magic pen to write down all their ideas. What they do, how they feel, and how they view things.

As they grow older, this mysterious, self-filled diary is getting more and more written, and it is getting thicker. Until one day, like all of us, that person died.

Then, a pen began to edit the book. It crossed out the entire chapter and focused on important places, it turned the diary into a story. The next day, the book was published. It appears in bookstores around the world. It appears on Amazon. This is an autobiography, a story of that person’s life.

Imagine how big this book is. There are 80 years old, 50 years old, and even 20 years old. If a published book originally had ten thousand sentences, which sentences would be deleted? What is the title of the book?

“I have been an accountant for 40 years, this is a huge mistake.”

“When I was 20, a truck hit me. But I have no regrets.”

“I have been an accountant for 40 years, but I love every minute of my life.”

Everyone has a book in their bodies. Not everyone chooses to write this book, but if we can read all the books from billions of books, no one will be boringof. Everyone has something to learn.

Your book is not finished yet, but every second of your thoughts, every second you spend in it. Who was pushed into your story? Who is in your book?

In a distant corner of the universe, there is a library. But what about this? This is your story. Create a good book.

3. A kingdom full of you

Out of the house. Imagine a camera that is aimed at you from a bird’s eye perspective. Now it moves upwards, then upwards, and continues upwards. Soon, you can only see a spot in front of your house. That is yourself. But the camera is constantly shrinking.

The rest of your street appears. Houses, cars, people. Then, your entire quarter’s life, the entire town, the town next to it, and the town next to it, and next to it.

Now, you see highways, lakes, mountains, and rivers. When the camera finally stops, you can no longer see your house. You can only guess where your town is, but you can clearly see your country. This is a big place, isn’t it?

What if everyone in the kingdom is your copy?

Look at the map again. Zoom in a little. What color is the landscape? Gray? Green? Make it bigger. Is someone honking on the highway? Are they slow to move? Are they angry? Are they stressed? How do they treat each other?

In our daily life, we do not see our habits, but just act immediately. However, when we observe a group of people, the most obvious features are magnified. It is easy to see which trait will prevail. What if the group is only ourselves?

Take a moment and think about it. If you find a feature you do n’t like, you can change it. All you have to do is zoom in like a map.

4. Fox and rabbit

Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene, said:

A rabbit runs faster than a fox, because the rabbit is running away, and the fox is just running for dinner.

In your career, are you a fox or a rabbit? Is your financial status reliable? Can you pick projects by yourself, reject meaningless requests, and do important things? Or do you have to pay the rent when you start working? Then stop thinking first. Find a paid job and think about what to do next.

In your relationship, are you a fox or a rabbit? Are you comfortable with the status quo and satisfied with each other ’s shortcomings? Or is it that the relationship between two people living in a house is coming to an end? Since that is the time Stand up and fight.

The examples are endless. Your health, your friendship, your parental efforts, your artistic career, your entrepreneurship, your legacy. In all these things, you are either a fox or a rabbit. How many times can a fox run without dinner? Three times, five times, or ten times? But rabbits can never be caught. This is not to say that you should run all the time, but:

Know that you are a fox or a rabbit in all aspects of life at any time.

Playing a fox on one stage will let us play as a rabbit on another stage. Slow here, fast there. You cannot change your entire life at once. It is speed that connects the fox and the rabbit. Their common rhythm determines whether they want to meet and fight until they die or live to another day. How you develop your pace in your life determines the order in which you can make changes. But everything takes time.

Fox or rabbit, which one are you?

5. Your life is in 10 boxes

Suppose you have lived for 100 years. Tim Urban provides a great way to let you know how to spend them. Imagine there are 10 boxes:

Each box represents your ten years of life. The first box is 0-10 years old, the second is 10-20 years old, and so on. Let us first understand that each box represents ten years, which is a long time. We often underestimate our ability to do one thing, but it takes time to find what we are good at. Want to be a good dad? This may take ten years. Steady promotion in the company? Most executives are not 25 years old. Thinking about the 10-year plan will lower your expectations, but will increase your patience.

Unfortunately, we have to cross out the first two. In the first box, it is difficult for you to do anything alone, while in the second box, you may still live with your parents. Those are just stages of growth. But having said that, who can really understand his life at the age of 30? We may have grown up, but the exploration of self has just begun. So let’s cross out the third box.

Okay! Next is 30 to 40 years old. Now the game really started. You are down-to-earth and loyal to your duties, and you know what to do. But what if we look at the end of this series of boxes? You will not live with the same energy until you are 100 years old. You always need time to slow down, thenAfter retirement. After crossing out the last two boxes, the rest are:

Wait a minute. Hey! Where has all the time gone? There aren’t that many boxes! Are there only five left? This is unfair! Where have you been in your original 100 years? Well, this is life.

Like everything built around momentum, it takes a while to start, and it slows down before stopping. This is normal, everyone will encounter this situation, but our time is indeed less than we thought.

You can do many things in 10 years, but you hardly have a grace period of 10 years. Unconsciously, another box disappeared. Choose carefully and don’t waste any of them.

Translator: Yoyo_J