How to fix your entire life in 1 day
如何在一天内改变你的整个人生
DAN KOE
V – Intelligence is the ability to get what you want out of life
第五章｜智力，是把人生引向你想要的方向的能力
The only real test of intelligence is if you get what you want out of life.
– Naval Ravikant
衡量智力的唯一真实标准，是你是否真的从人生中得到了你想要的东西。
—— 纳瓦尔·拉维坎特
There is a formula for success. One ingredient is agency. One ingredient is opportunity (which many people like to mistake as “privilege” – because they miss the other ingredients). The last ingredient is intelligence.
成功是有公式的。其中一个要素是能动性（agency）。
另一个要素是机会（opportunity）。而很多人会把它误解为“特权”，往往是因为他们忽略了公式中的其他变量。
最后一个要素，是智力（intelligence）。
If you have high agency but low opportunity, it doesn’t matter how likely you are to act toward a goal, because it isn’t a goal that will bear much fruit. If you have opportunity and agency but low intelligence, then you will never be fully able to benefit from that opportunity.
如果你能动性很强，但所处环境缺乏机会，那么无论你多努力行动，这个目标本身也很难结出果实。
而如果你既有机会，也愿意行动，但缺乏智力，那么你也无法真正从机会中获益。
First, we’ve talked about agency before here. In terms of opportunity, I can’t tell you to change your physical location, but if you don’t see the abundance of digital opportunity right in front of you, I don’t know what to tell you.
关于能动性，我们前面已经谈过。
至于机会，我无法要求你立刻改变物理位置；但如果你看不到眼前大量存在的数字化机会，那我也不知道还能说什么。
With that said, I want to focus on what intelligence is in the context of these two other ingredients and this letter.
在此基础上，我想聚焦于：在“能动性”和“机会”这两个条件下，智力究竟是什么。
Cybernetics comes from the Greek word kybernetikos which means “to steer” or “good at steering.” It’s also known as “the art of getting what you want.”
“控制论（Cybernetics）”一词源自希腊语 kybernetikos，意思是“引导”或“擅长掌舵”。
它也常被称为：“得到你想要之物的艺术。”
So, if Naval’s definition of intelligence is getting what you want out of life, understanding cybernetics helps you do that much faster. Cybernetics illustrates the properties of intelligent systems.
因此，如果按照纳瓦尔对智力的定义，智力 = 从人生中得到你想要的东西，那么理解控制论，会让你更快做到这一点。
控制论揭示了智能系统的基本特性：
• To have a goal.
• Act toward that goal.
• Sense where you are.
• Compare it to the goal.
• And act again based on that feedback.
• 拥有一个目标
• 朝目标采取行动
• 感知当前状态
• 将现状与目标进行比较
• 根据反馈再次行动
You can judge intelligence based on the system’s ability to iterate and persist with trial and error. A ship blown off course that corrects toward its destination. A thermostat sensing a change in heat and turning on. The pancreas excreting insulin after blood glucose spikes.
你可以通过一个系统反复迭代、持续试错的能力来判断它的智力水平。
例如：
被风吹离航线的船只不断修正方向；
感知到温度变化而启动的恒温器；
血糖升高后分泌胰岛素的胰腺。
What does this have to do with getting what you want out of life? Everything.
这和你从人生中得到想要的东西有什么关系？
一切都与此相关。
Acting, sensing, comparing, and understanding the system from a meta-perspective is fundamental to high intelligence. High intelligence is the ability to iterate, persist, and understand the big picture.
行动、感知、比较，并从元视角理解整个系统，是高智力的核心。
高智力，意味着你能够持续迭代、不断坚持，并把握整体图景。
The mark of low intelligence is the inability to learn from your mistakes. Low-intelligence people get stuck on problems rather than solving them. They hit a roadblock and quit.
低智力状态的表现就是无法从错误中学习。
智力不足时，常常卡在问题本身，而不是解决问题。他们一旦遇到障碍，就选择放弃。
Like a writer who fails to build a readership and quits because they lack the ability to try new things, experiment, and figure out a process that works for them. To think that there isn’t an effective process you can create is verifiably false, no matter your limiting beliefs — hence being low intelligence.
就像一个写作者，因为没能建立读者群而放弃写作，本质原因在于：他缺乏尝试新方法、进行实验、并构建适合自己流程的能力。
认为“根本不存在一个可行的方法”，无论你有什么限制性信念，都是可以被证伪的。而这种认知，正是低智力的体现。
High intelligence is realizing any problem can be solved on a large enough timescale. The reality is that you can achieve any goal you set your mind to. This isn’t something that can be disproven within reason.
高智力意味着你明白：在足够长的时间尺度下，任何问题都是可以被解决的。
现实是，你可以实现任何你真正下定决心去追求的目标。
在合理的前提下，这一点几乎无法被证伪。
Intelligence is realizing that there is a series of choices you can make which lead to achieving the goal you want. You understand that ideas are hierarchical and that you can’t go from papyrus to Google Docs in one fell swoop. Even if that goal is impossible right now, you simply don’t have the resources — which may be invented over the next few years — to achieve that thing.
智力，意味着你知道：通往目标的，是一连串可以被选择、被调整的路径。
你理解思想是分层级的，你不可能一步跨越，从结绳记事直接跳到 Google Docs。
即便某个目标在当下看似不可能，也只是因为你暂时缺乏所需资源。
而这些资源，很可能在未来几年内被创造出来。
When I talk about “goals,” and as I will continue repeating, I am not speaking from the typical lens of self-help. I am speaking from the lens of teleology or the Greek kosmos — that everything serves a purpose. That everything is a part of a greater whole.
当我谈论“目标”时，这一点我会反复强调——我并不是站在传统自我提升的视角。
我所采用的是目的论（teleology），或希腊意义上的 kosmos 视角：
万物皆有其目的；一切都是更大整体的一部分。
Goals determine how you see the world. Goals determine what you consider “success” or “failure.”
目标，决定了你如何看待世界。
目标，也决定了你如何定义“成功”与“失败”。
You can try to “enjoy the journey,” but if you pursue the wrong goal, you will not enjoy it. Your mind is the operating system for reality. That system is composed of goals.
你当然可以尝试“享受过程”，但如果你追求的是错误的目标，这条路注定不会让你享受。
你的心智，是你所体验现实的操作系统。
而这个系统，本质上是由目标构成的。
For most people, those goals are assigned to them. Programmed like lines of code in your psyche. Go to school. Get the job. Get offended. Play victim. Retire at 65.
对大多数人来说，这些目标并非自主选择，而是像一行行代码一样，被写进了他们的心理系统。
上学。找工作。被冒犯。扮演受害者。65 岁退休。
A known path that doesn’t work. To become more intelligent, you must:
一条被反复验证，却并不起作用的既定路径。
要变得更加有智力，你必须：
• Reject the known path
• Dive into the unknown
• Set new, higher goals to expand your mind
• Embrace the chaos and allow for growth
• Study the generalized principles of nature
• Become a deep generalist
That leads us into the next section perfectly.
• 拒绝那条既定的老路
• 投身未知
• 设立更高的新目标，以扩展心智
• 拥抱混沌，允许成长发生
• 研究自然界的通用原理
• 成为一个“深度通才”
这正好引出了下一部分。
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