Interdisciplinary Latticework
Increasing empathy through adjacent understanding
What is elementary, worldly wisdom? Well, the first rule is that you can’t really know anything if you just remember isolated facts and try and bang ‘em back. If the facts don’t hang together on a latticework of theory, you don’t have them in a usable form… You’ve got to have models in your head. And you’ve got to array your experience—both vicarious and direct—on this latticework of models.
~ Charlie Munger
Years ago I came across the above quote and it’s stuck with me ever since; pulling together understanding from multiple disciplines can create the opportunity for deeper revelations. In a way it’s like the Adjacent Possible.
In this vein, one example I occasionally think about is the Trust Thermocline. The short of which is that as a company makes the misstep of continually taking advantage of its customers a sudden breaking point is reached and their userbase collapses. Completely unrelated to business is the “thermocline” which comes from a large gradient shift in temperature in the ocean as you descend into its depths.
And so you get this interlacing of business and marine science to demonstrate a particular phenomenon - models in your head that can contribute to deeper understanding versus isolated facts.
Recently I’ve noticed this latticework form as I’ve engrossed myself in the workings of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). From Polyvagal Theory to Internal Family Systems to more commonly known brain structures like the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala, it’s been interesting to explore the interplay between all of these. Where I didn’t expect to see a crossover was in my interpersonal connections. And not from my own perspective but from theirs.
From personal to professional life, it’s important to me to cultivate empathy in my relationships. Connecting all of these dots, this latticework, has enabled me to recognize ANS anxiety storms in others and adjust my interactions with them to be more supportive. The result is engendering deeper empathy during difficult times.
Now I just need a cool name for it like the Trust Thermocline! 🤔