THINKER'S ALMANAC - November 21

How can a game of cards be used to illustrate our attitude toward life?

Subject: Mindset - Voltaire’s Cards

Event:  Birthday of French philosopher Voltaire, 1694

Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she must alone decide how to play the cards in order to win the game. -Voltaire

The above quotation is by the French writer, historian, and philosopher Voltaire, who was born on this day in 1694.

In Voltaire’s metaphor, life is a card game where fate deals each of us with different innate qualities that make us who we are; this is nature.  However, life is more than just the cards dealt; our destiny is also determined by what we do by the exercise of free will; this is nurture.

The work of Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck has given us a vocabulary for talking about and thinking about the approach each of us takes to applying strategy to the card game of life.  Her work on “mindset” has helped us to better understand human intelligence, talent, and motivation.  

The fixed mindset views intelligence and talent as static and unchanging.  In other words, a person with a fixed mindset sees intelligence and talent as innate.  The growth mindset, however, views intelligence and talent as something that can be developed and improved through effort, hard work, study, and practice.

Voltaire’s metaphor helps us to visualize the two mindsets as a game of cards.  A card player may give up when dealt a bad hand (fixed mindset); however, a good card player can transform a bad hand into a winning hand through experience and strategy (growth mindset).

                                                                             Image by Ivica from Pixabay 

Another way to illustrate the growth mindset is a child learning to walk.  No child stands and walks across the room on the first attempt.  Instead through repeated, persistent effort, by trying again and again, by falling and getting back up again and again, the child eventually learns to walk.

The mindsets are each a way of seeing the world.  Two people might be in the exact same situation, yet each will see reality differently as filtered through their different mindsets.  These different perspectives are captured perfectly by a quotation by Frederick Langridge:

Two men look out through the same bars; one sees the mud, and one the stars 

To sum up, the two mindsets come down to the way that each of us sees our own intelligence.  People with growth mindsets believe that intelligence can be developed and enhanced by hard work, persistence, and feedback.  In contrast, people with a fixed mindset believe that intelligence is static and innate; they view feedback as merely a label or judgment, rather than a constructive prescription for improvement.

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason: How can the fixed and growth mindsets be explained using the metaphor of a game of cards?

Challenge - Voltaire’s Wisdom and Wit:  Voltaire was one of the great writers and thinkers of the Enlightenment.  For example, he said, “No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.” Do some research on quotations by Voltaire.  Find one that you like.  Quote it, and explain why you think it is insightful. 

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

November 21, 1877:  On this day in 1877, Thomas Edison announced his latest invention, the tinfoil phonograph.  Edison, who held over 1,000 patents, came up with the idea of the phonograph while working on his telephone transmitter. Working with his machinist John Kruesi, he constructed a machine with a grooved cylinder that was mounted on a long shaft.  Tin foil was wrapped around the cylinder.  Using a hand crank to record on the tin foil, Edison’s first recording was a nursery rhyme, “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”  After playing the recording back and realizing that it worked perfectly, Edison was amazed but cautious.  He said, “I never was so taken back in my life.  Everybody was astonished.  I was always afraid of things that worked the first time.”  Today we know Edison for the lightbulb, which came about in 1879; however, it was the phonograph that boosted Edison’s reputation as a great inventor.  Edison continued working on improving his phonograph, and in 1887 he produced a more satisfactory commercial model using wax cylinders for recording (1).

Sources:

1-http://edison.rutgers.edu/tinfoil.htm