HOW BUILDING A SET OF STEPS ILLUSTRATES “A FUNDAMENTAL PROPERTY OF THE UNIVERSE”. I think it’s worthwhile to emphasize by repetition the life lesson that John Salvatier draws from building a set of stairs.
“It’s tempting to think ‘So what?’ and dismiss these details as incidental or specific to stair carpentry. And they are specific to stair carpentry; that’s what makes them details. But the existence of a surprising number of meaningful details is not specific to stairs. Surprising detail is a near universal property of getting up close and personal with reality.”
The lesson is: “We run into a fundamental property of the universe and mistake it for a personal failing.”
I really like that lesson at the end! Wow!
When you were quoting the fundamental principle of the universe that “things go wrong” it felt discouraging. But this corollary (?) of “don’t mistake this for a personal failing” is quite the opposite.