We all want to understand what life means. Many people have different ideas and theories to explain it. Finding the meaning can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack! Here, the haystack represents the world, data, or life itself, while the needle symbolizes the insight or essence we seek, like a special formula or rules. We can think of all these ideas in one word: “model“.
We began with logic and reasoning. Then came statistics in the 17th century, allowing us to test our hypotheses rigorously. Today, machine learning and AI claim to model the world using vast data and black-box algorithms.
Philosophers created intricate systems, each claiming to have found the answer. None of them agreed — and none were free of contradiction. Why? There was no needle.
Management gurus wrote books filled with frameworks and acronyms, claiming they’d cracked the code of success. Most of those methods failed more often than they worked. Why? There was no needle.
Traders promised strategies, edges, and secrets to consistent profits. Yet most who followed them lost money. Why? You know the answer.
Economists proposed theories of growth and prosperity, which governments turned into policy. More often than not, those policies failed. Why? Exactly.
For centuries, we’ve been told — or perhaps inspired — to search for truth, success, meaning. As if one hidden answer lies beneath the surface. But the search keeps failing. Not because the answer is elusive, but because the answer may not exist.
The problem isn’t the difficulty of finding the needle.
The problem is believing the needle is there at all.
There’s no free lunch.
There’s no Theory of Everything.
And maybe — that’s okay.
Reinvent The Self! 