Timelessness of Human Perception and Good Ideas

I am always amazed to think that people 6,000 years ago were not so much less intelligent than we are today. We simply build on such a vast body of knowledge accumulated over time. Biologically, we are almost the same humans. Only a minimal evolutionary selection could have taken place since then if we consider the relatively few generations since civilization began. But the people 6,000 years ago likely had the same emotions we experience today.

Equally impressive to me is reading a leadership book from 1986 and finding the advice just as accurate today, 40 years later (the year I was born, and through which I’ve experienced my whole career and childhood). There were already people back then doing almost exactly what I do now—leading technical projects and coming to similar conclusions on many things.

The difference is that I can build on a bit more knowledge and already, not even at 40, find myself in the middle of my professional life with 15 years of experience. I can draw from various sources to build upon existing knowledge, while the author likely needed his entire career for it (he speaks of 30 years of experience).

Just like the principle that technology, which has been around longer, will stay longer (Lindy effect), it also makes sense to select books carefully, choosing those that have stood the test of time. That means picking works whose authors are already gone.