The Merit Trap
There's only one thing you can't escape in this world and that is merit. Is it the absolute power in this world? or can we build new systems?
Merit is a concept I think about a lot. Other than luck, it is the only currency in the world which unlocks every socially accepted treasure.
But is anyone questioning merit? Or is it the absolute power in this world?
Today I’d like to make you think about it deeply.
Merit is a mutually agreed certificate for what someone possess.
This person on twitter has great thoughts, but we have to ask him his credentials.
“What have you done in life to write this stuff?”
“What’s your proof of work?”
In general, people don’t separate the thought or the idea from the person and judge their basis of having that thought.
The world won’t care about a golgappe waala (pani puri/puchka depending on your state) giving life thoughts because duh…he hasn’t done anything substantial in life.
Same person becomes a billionaire, they’ll tell you his rags to riches story and then finally give him the liberty to philosophise.
For most people “thinking” is worthless. We should invest all our time in “doing”.
And once you’ve accomplished things, only then philosophize. It should always be the other way!
Your own philosophies design your life and the way you want to shape it. Most people think they don’t philosophize, but they do.
Their philosophy about leading their life is just not intentional, it just happens.
But all this is for another day, let’s come back to merit.
We’ve created social measuring systems using merit as the tool. Someone who wants to study engineering from the best institutes of the country is very nicely denied entry based on merit.
Some might think of this as a good thing. “Atleast it’s not based on gender, money, power, nepotism etc.”
What most people don’t understand is whenever you say “atleast”, that reflects mediocrity. That makes us justify the problem of the number of seats available (or jobs available) not question the system’s incompetence to acknowledge it and solve it.
We don’t ask what if this kid is given a chance, she might change the world being a part of our college.
Proof of work bias for segregation based on societal metrics just sucks.
I think if we ever look beyond merit, we’ll see more anomalies. And I think we’ll start seeing more as we give “true equality of opportunity” through democratisation of everything.
Now you’ll say that this is again a process of “merit building”.
Suppose you wanted to teach earlier, but you didn’t have the relevant degrees to teach, now you can build your thing on YouTube. That’s building merit again right?
I think this time it’s a little different. This time the rules of this merit are set by you, not by the society.
This time your marks in chemistry aren’t deciding your entry in an engineering college.
As opportunities get more democratized, the world will break away from the shackles of the old merit, and build a new socially accepted incompetent set of merits.
It’s a constant cycle which can never be contained, but observed.
And the network effect of this is so strong, that you can’t escape it.
Sometimes something might look wrong, but you have to be a part of them.
It’s funny that you just can’t rebel against merit, without merit. Because no one will care about what you say!
Truth is merit is a tyrant, and we’re under his command!
This was a real rollercoaster wasn’t it? If you enjoyed the ride do share it with your friends, family, audience…
Aryan’s Booklist
I’m currently reading:
Thinking in systems (audiobook)
Surely you’re joking Mr. Feynman
Build by Tony Fadell
Drive by Daniel Pink
Upcoming reads in August:
Don’t shut up by Prakhar Gupta
Blitzscaling
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
Tyranny of Merit (very interested in this after so many thoughts about merit)
Suggest me some books…or leave a review of today’s newsletter
See you next time… Bye!