Skip to main content

Why Following Instructions Matters

What a wrong answer to “3 × 2” teaches us about discipline, learning, and society The Scenario A primary school child brings home a maths worksheet. The child has written 3 × 2 = 6 — correct, arithmetically. The teacher has marked it wrong. The grandfather, a retired mathematics professor, is outraged and goes to school to confront the teacher. She explains patiently: the class is currently learning the two-times table, not the three-times table, so the child was expected to write 2 × 3 = 6, demonstrating the method being taught. The grandfather disagrees and returns the next day to argue again. The teacher calls the mother and asks that he not come to school again. He comes anyway. “Listen — his answer is correct. Still, the class is doing the two-times table, not the three-times table. Therefore it is not correct.” — the teacher, explaining the same point for the third time. Why Following Instructions Matters, image generated by ChatGPT A Simple Mistake, A Bigger Pattern On the surfa...
Post a Comment

Believe Beyond the Blueprint

 


"I want you to believe... to believe in things that you cannot." — Bram Stoker, before he asked readers to accept a vampire, he first asked them to loosen their grip on certainty.

Every generation carries its own quiet miracles — and its own quiet myths about what's "impossible."

For years, people repeated a curious line: that a bumblebee, by the laws of aerodynamics, should not be able to fly. It became a favorite line of encouragement — a story wrapped around a mistake. The bee never read the formula. She simply flapped her wings some two hundred and thirty times a second, and went on with her work — drifting from bloom to bloom, carrying pollen from flower to fruit, quietly feeding forests and orchards and the creatures who depend on them. The old theory wasn't wrong because the bee broke a law. It was wrong because the law was too small for the bee.

We do this to ourselves more often than we'd like to admit. A mentalist walks through the air and a crowd gasps. A performer holds a spoon that seems to soften in their hands. We call it illusion, trickery, a trained mind — and maybe it is. But the discomfort we feel watching it is the same discomfort the old aerodynamics textbook felt about the bee: something worked, and our model didn't allow for it.

So here is the soft, simple truth worth carrying into today: most limits you meet are not laws of nature. They're old formulas — someone's earlier, incomplete attempt to explain what's possible. You are not required to inherit them.

Fly anyway. Visit the flower nobody thought you could reach. Let your work feed something larger than the doubt that tried to ground you.

The theory will catch up eventually. It always does.

*AI assisted document



By: Mubarack Deen

Author is an experienced IT professional who served for a number of larger corporates in foreign countries, having led strategic IT projects and provided business solutions. Currently working as a self-employed business solutions provider, an enthusiast for bridging technology and business focusing on service improvements and growth.


Can be reached by email: m3de2n@gmail.com

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Following Instructions Matters

What a wrong answer to “3 × 2” teaches us about discipline, learning, and society The Scenario A primary school child brings home a maths worksheet. The child has written 3 × 2 = 6 — correct, arithmetically. The teacher has marked it wrong. The grandfather, a retired mathematics professor, is outraged and goes to school to confront the teacher. She explains patiently: the class is currently learning the two-times table, not the three-times table, so the child was expected to write 2 × 3 = 6, demonstrating the method being taught. The grandfather disagrees and returns the next day to argue again. The teacher calls the mother and asks that he not come to school again. He comes anyway. “Listen — his answer is correct. Still, the class is doing the two-times table, not the three-times table. Therefore it is not correct.” — the teacher, explaining the same point for the third time. Why Following Instructions Matters, image generated by ChatGPT A Simple Mistake, A Bigger Pattern On the surfa...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Rise of Indoor Sports Complexes in Sri Lanka: An Appreciation of an Emerging Urban Recreation Trend

Sri Lanka's urban centers are changing shape. As cities like Colombo, Kandy, and Gampaha grow denser and land becomes scarcer and costlier, the traditional open playground or neighborhood field — once the natural home of sport and recreation — is quietly disappearing from the urban landscape. At the same time, modern working life has stretched the boundaries of the workday, leaving people with only narrow, unpredictable windows of free time. Against this backdrop, the emergence of multi-sport indoor complexes is not a passing fad — it is a sensible, well-timed answer to how urban Sri Lankans actually live today. Convenience as the New Currency The single biggest advantage indoor facilities offer is control over time and conditions. A tropical climate means rain, heat, and humidity can derail an outdoor game at any moment. Indoor venues remove that unpredictability entirely — air-conditioned courts, consistent lighting, and year-round playability mean that a group of friends or coll...
Post a Comment
Read more

Customer Service Bots: Efficiency Gains and Their Impact on the Human Workforce

  Introduction Customer service bots — often called chatbots or virtual assistants — have become a common part of how businesses interact with customers. From answering simple questions to guiding people through complex processes, these tools are now present across almost every industry. As with earlier waves of workplace technology, their rise has raised a familiar concern among customer service staff: will bots replace human jobs? This document looks at where these bots are used, how they improve efficiency, and — just as importantly — how they can actually support human employees rather than simply replace them. Where Customer Service Bots Are Widely Used Retail and e-commerce Bots handle order tracking, return requests, product questions, and delivery updates. They're often the first point of contact on a shopping website. Banking and finance Balance inquiries, transaction history, fraud alerts, and basic account services are commonly automated, letting customers get quic...
Post a Comment
Read more