A single human’s intelligence is probably as useful as that of a monkey’s, i.e not very. I think when we often refer to the wonders of human intelligence, we mistake a single person’s intelligence as being very capable and awe-worthy, when in fact it is probably utterly useless.
When we grow wondrous of the marvels of human ingenuity, it is usually the collective that is attributable to that success. In a word, it’s the network of intelligence that is marvelous. How much engineering wizardry and scientific discovery could one person unearth on a remote island completely alone? Precisely none.
This is practically important because I had overvalued the utility of my own single-minded intelligence as applied to entrepreneurship and problem-solving. I had believed that I could be self-sufficient and self-reliant, because it was extremely convenient, cost-effective, and low-effort. I told myself, I didn’t need to network. I didn’t need to rely on or overly study the experiences of others because I could forge my own path.
Even early on in building Standard Notes, I had resisted building a team and insisted I could do it all myself, again because it was easier to think so, but also because, intelligence right? My mind has it. And I shall put it to its full use.
And so it’s taken me way too long to realize that my single-man intelligence is utterly useless, past small-scale projects and endeavors. For anything remotely planet-scale, you need to access the network of human intelligence, which is capable of marvels.
Even when we scientifically marvel at the single unit of human mind, I think we may be overestimating and overattributing. Sure, we’re excellent pattern finders and predictors. But without the network, collaboration and cooperation, we’d still be competing with chimps for that last crumb.
Even if you could practically do it alone, say as applied to creating a new software product, I would recommend (and insist to my past self) to go through the extra trouble of not doing it alone. The amount of tech debt you’ll accrue building an expanding software product while juggling the dozen other aspects of a healthy software business can grow to be immense and insurmountable.
Standard Notes today features an excellent, mature, and nearly debt-free codebase and architecture, which has allowed us to increase our development velocity tenfold. But we spent almost two full years paying off the debt related to areas of my inexperience that became evident as more specialized people joined the team.
My fellow introverts and recluses with wide ambitions, it bears me no satisfaction to say: you can’t do it alone. I know it would be awesome if you could, because connecting with and relying on other people is difficult. But your mind alone…is kinda worthless.