Victory by Knowledge: On Knowing More

2024-10-15 · Ho Chanh Nghia

Originally published on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/victory-knowledge-knowing-more-khanh-pham-zljjc/

Victory by Knowledge: On Knowing More

“You can’t learn all, though you can know more than most people. Knowing more than most is enough to succeed.”

I often wonder about why I am the way I am. Why I bother to learn more after I already discovered that I will never complete the task. Different people have different answers, but usually, most truth seekers have at least arrived at that acceptance of the futility of learning all knowledge. The Jesuits looking for truth, the entrepreneurs looking for profit, and the military genius looking for victory.

It comes down to the intersection of knowledge and the dynamics of reality. Applying superior knowledge against inferior knowledge, and squeezing a victory where non existed?

How did one plot to get off the USD after the Brettonwood gave it supremacy power? The world may never know, but it is finding success in 2024.

When Hannibal defeated all the Roman legions on the field of battles, he knew something the Roman legion failed to know.

When Genghis Khan defeated the Chinese, Arabs, and Russians, on the plains, he knew something they did not know.

When Putin engaged Ukraine in limited war, and did not fall on its sword, he knew something the US did not know.

When Xi JinPing brought the Chinese up to parity with the US, he knew something the US did not know.

At the height of competitions, everyone competing has a solid grasp of some fundamentals of the game. The winner may only win by a small percentage. The casino winning 1.5% in a game of crab. As Roger Federer tried to explain this concept to students, he may have won a lot of trophies and matches; but the difference between him the winner and the loser was just a small percentage (4%).

In the game of life and death, sometimes the advantage is just 1% but who can muster the courage to make a bet with their life? What happens if you lose to the other guy with just 49% of the odds?

The Matador’s Special

A man on a business trip in Spain decides to take in a bull fight. After the event, he stops in to the little restaurant next to the venue called “The Matador”. As he checks out the menu trying to decide what he wants, he sees a waiter bring a dish to another customer.

The other customer starts eating what appear to be two large meatballs with great gusto. When the waiter comes to his table, the man asks about the dish. “Oh Senor, that is the Matador Special,” replies the waiter in broken English, “Our very best dish! Fresh vegetables, beans and zee cojones from zee bull. We get the cojones immediately after the bull fight. Exquisito!”

“Okay, that’s what I’ll have,” says the businessman.

“But I am very sorry Senor, but that dish is only available once per day.”

Disappointed, the man chooses another dish and plans to order the Matador Special the next day.

The next day the man goes to the bull fight again, and afterwards stops into the restaurant. Just as the waiter is coming to his table, he sees another waiter bringing the Matador Special to a customer who got there before him. “Damn!” he says to himself. “And tomorrow’s my last day here.”

So the next day, he skips the bull fight, and arrives at the restaurant early. He is the first one seated, and proudly proclaims, “I’ll have the Matador Special!”

“An excellent choice, Senor!” responds the waiter. Soon afterwards, the waiter brings out his dish, but the meat balls are disappointingly small, and taste rather foul.

“What’s with this,” the now angry man shouts, “why is this so small compared to the one I saw yesterday”

“I’m very sorry, Senor,” said the waiter, “But you see, sometimes zee bull, he wins.”

Victory may rest on just a slight difference in knowledge. Defeat may be insurmountable with a large gap in knowledge.

Still, no need to have all the knowledge in the world. The only knowledge that determines winners and losers is the relevant knowledge at that fine intersection between the clash of realities.

Steve Jobs has his reality warp disruptor in the lab, and the Mongols got their reality disruptor on the plains. Put Steve Jobs against cancer and he’s a dead man. Put the Mongols against the jungles of Vietnam, and they are a dead cause.

War is not chess. The rules are not defined by the referee. In war, the rules can change without notice.