Chess, Life and Strategy

I should have studied at Josh Waitzkin’s Academy (Chessmaster 10) longer and harder. But I didn’t, I was too busy GOing in Cuba, GOing in France, and then GOing to Africa.

Things didn’t change too much when I got to Mali. I set myself on ‘linear GO mode’ (while building the Helios) to such a degree that once the objective (demonstrating/awareness raising) was completed I didn’t re-evaluate my line (being exhausted also diminished my analytical capacities).

Before the demo I had recognized the inefficiency of attempting to predict events after the demo, since so much would change, and so for mental convenience I settled on a simple line which was fairly obvious and low energy (meeting the ministers, gauging their enthusiasm to finance).

In Waitzkin’s Academy he teaches the necessity of recognizing what your opponent leaves behind when he moves. In life the opponent is reality (remove any negative connotation associated with the word opponent) and I failed to fully recognize what new opportunities emerged after the demo happened (reality moved).

This is because I pulled the noob mistake of not analyzing the new possibilities as fully as I could have (true I was physically exhausted and sleep deprived) and instead continued by following through with a line simply because I had set up for it.

Less abstractly:

Karim, Tomota, Lalla, myself and others conceived a goal: create a non-profit association dedicated to Solar Fire, and pursue the agencies able to supply the means to attain the goal Solar Fire International which is to promote ecological energy autonomy by creating a Research, Development and Training facility.

Lalla and Tomota are particularly insistent that all negotiations and efforts go through the association. They cite examples of government inefficiency and argue that the autonomy of being an independent organization will save us from getting mired in bureaucracy. These thoughts and their implications formed the basis of the line I was working on, which was linear towards getting a research, development and training center operational (the goal of promoting ecological energy independence is not compatible with GO mode, as it is an abstract guide for action).

The government agents were very impressed by the demonstration, but no meetings have happened to date. This is primarily because they have been out of the country, as the president has been on the road. Nobody’s fault, but not the speed and action on the project I would have liked to see.

Being stuck in linear mode for four or five days after the expo, I did little things to prepare for the eventual meetings: price materials, build a mental workshop and make lists of tools, personnel, space requirements etc.

I had vague feeling of inefficiency, but couldn’t see past the blinders GO mode.

Impatient, I figured I might as well see what AMADER (Malian Agency for Domestic Energy and Rural Electrification) was like. They approached me after the demo and told me that there was a Habitat Salon (SAHABA 2008) going on in Feb. and that if I could make a domestic model before then I could do an exhibition with them.

I got the go ahead to visit them. I did, and it turns out they are situated right beside the National Center for Solar and Renewable Energy. Within two hours I was touring the workshops with the directors of both AMADER and CNESOLER making a plan to create a partnership between our three organizations (AMADER supplies funding, CNESOLER supplies tools/workers and Tasuma Tile (Bambara for Solar Fire) supplies me. It was not official, AMADER still has to clear things with the president-director general, but they were pretty pumped and moving with a sense of urgency, since SAHABA 2008 is only a month away.

Pumped that the manpower and tools already exist for all the research and development I could want to do in the short term already exist, I fill Tomota and Lalla in on what went down. Their reaction was something along the lines of ‘ok Tasuma Tile will work with them for the domestic model since it is urgent and we don’t have the facilities to do it yet, but after that it’s back to Tasuma Tile running the solar show.’ I reiterated that I would work with whoever it was most efficient to work with. It was slightly tense.

That night I read a document that Eerik had sent to me. It was a breakdown of his strategy and a criticism of mine. The linear GO mode spell was broken, hopefully for the last time. It was refreshing like ice cold coconut milk (which is super refreshing and also nourishing).

Unconventional times, unconventional tactics.