"Think Like a Rocket Scientist" is a very practical book in which Varol offers nine principles to help us regain and build our creativity and train critical thinking. The whole process is in three phases, the first of which is about how to stimulate thinking. The second phase focuses on dividing the ideas we created in the first phase into broader concepts. The final phase explains why the last component to unleash our full potential includes both success and failure. Below are a few introductory ideas from key chapters.
Phase 1: Launch
Flight towards uncertainty
We desire certainty to the extent of making some certainty and truth out of complete uncertainty. We do so at our own risk. Where certainty ends, progress begins. The obstacle to discovery is not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge. Feigning knowledge closes our ears and dims incoming signals from external sources. The more we talk about our version of truth, the more our egos swell and hide what is beneath them. In order to deal with uncertainties, we must first set off before we see a clear path. Start walking, because it's the only way forward.
Justification on the basis of the first principles
The initial principles take us back to the beginning and call into question the assumptions. The French philosopher and scientist René Descartes described it as a systematic doubting of everything we can doubt until there remain unquestionable truths.
Ask yourself why others are making certain decisions. It's not because they're stupid. It's not because they are wrong and you are right. It's because they see something you are missing. It's because they believe in something you don't.
Mind at play
Thought experiments ask "what if" questions and create a parallel universe in which things work differently. Using thought experiments, we transcend everyday thinking and evolve from passive observers to active interveners in our reality. For example, Varol's book recommends boredom as a great means to break free from reality, allowing our minds to wander and dream. If we don't pause, we don't understand and plan; we can't find wisdom or come up with new ideas.
Moonshot thinking
So-called moonshot thinking allows for exponential change while maintaining the current state. Minor changes alter the status quo. Moonshot thinking is about a big vision. Until we push our perceived limits and cross borders, we cannot discover the invisible rules that hold us back. If we limit ourselves to what is possible, given what we now have, we will never reach an "escape rate".
Phase 2: Accelerate
What if we sent two rovers instead of one?
When people look for the "right answers", they almost always ask tactical questions. Focusing on strategy will allow us to be much more flexible with tactics. Varol says that once we move from "what" to "why", and define the scope of the problem broadly in terms of what we are trying to solve instead of sticking to a popular solution, we will discover other possibilities on the periphery.
Tilting force
While scientists are trained to be objective, even rocket scientists sometimes have problems with this. No one is equipped with a critical thinking chip that would reduce the human tendency to distort facts with personal assumptions. Opinions are difficult to reconsider, so disagreements often turn into existential struggles.
Before announcing a working hypothesis, ask yourself what your prejudices are. What do you consider true. Also, ask if you really want this particular hypothesis to be true. If so, be VERY careful.
Test in flight, fly and test
A test in which the results are predetermined is not a test. In a proper test, the goal is not to discover everything that may be right. Rather, the goal is to discover everything that can go wrong and find a breaking point. Rocket scientists will try to crash a spaceship on Earth before it crashes somewhere in space. Therefore, find the breaking points.
Phase 3: Achieve
Nothing is as successful as failure
Rocket scientists do not celebrate failure but nor do they demonise it. They choose a more balanced approach. The stakes are too high. Their mantra is to learn quickly. We often assume failure has an endpoint. However, failure is not a mistake. Failure is a function. If we do not practise the habit of failure regularly, the result will be disaster.
Nothing fails like success
Success hides failure. Sometimes, however, success is pure happiness, and in the absence of mistakes, we must learn from our successes. Success is a wolf in sheep's clothing: it drives a wedge between how things look and the reality. If successful, we believe everything went according to plan; we ignore warning signs and the need for change. With each success we grow confidently and upwards. However, "Think Like a Rocket Scientist" will teach you to think critically.
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