"If the words force equals mass times acceleration are mildly triggering, I apologise. Newton's second law of motion will be familiar to anyone who's ever studied physics. For some who struggled with that course, it may bring back painful memories. But for me, as an awkward teenager, it was oddly comforting proof of an ordered, structured universe where cause always led to predictable effect."
"I carried that belief into university, where I studied physics, and even into my career. If I just worked hard enough, success would be mine. But nine months into my first job, I got made redundant. It turns out that life doesn't always obey Newton's laws. Losing your job is tough for anyone. But for me, it was devastating. I had worked so hard, yet somehow I had still failed."
"My employer was not a company run by sadists who delighted in playing with the hopes of naive young graduates. There was a broader context to this layoff. And once I had passed through the shock and numbness, I could begin to see it. It was the summer of 2001, and all was not well with the world. The dotcom bubble bursting had sent financial shock waves around the globe, forcing my company a management consultancy to cut jobs."
As an awkward teenager, Newton's second law provided comfort as proof of an ordered universe where cause produced predictable effect. That belief persisted through university physics and early career, fostering the thought that hard work guarantees success. After nine months into the first job, redundancy shattered that expectation and caused devastation and burnout. The layoff reflected broader economic forces: the 2001 dotcom bubble burst forced the management consultancy to cut jobs. Comparable crises followed in 2008, 2011, 2013, and 2015. Many crises emerged from small, seemingly innocuous failures that snowballed into far larger disruptions. Other ideas from physics suggest alternative ways to analyze such complex events.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]