March 12th, 2025
If I could observe someones whole life on his deathbed, I could find the moment he smoked his last cigarette. Would he have mastered not smoking at that point? I wouldn’t say so.
Then observe him at a party, drunk, and talking to a hot girl he likes. She asks him “Do you want to go out and smoke? I love people who I can take a smoke with” If he says no here, I would say he has mastered not smoking, as he would likely be able to say no to smoking in any circumstance.
Similarly, find a master of pottery and cut off her arms (please don’t). Is she still as master?
Maybe I would say so just to be nice, or compared to other people with no arms, but an amateur could probably make better pots.
A musician has made 1 song that is better than every single other song ever made. Who was more mastery, her or The Beatles? She might just have gotten lucky, but The Beatles consistently put out good music.
The right answer to “what will happen in the future?” is always “I don’t know”; the right answer to “is that person a master?” is always “I don’t know”
This is bad news if you want to be perceived as having mastery, since you have to constantly persuade people (or yourself) that you will also be great next time. This is great news if you enjoy doing better than last time or just doing the thing, since you don’t have to focus on mastery anymore.