Welcome to Knapsack 👋
This one is all about sticking with it — even when things aren’t going perfectly. We explore communication secrets in Supercommunicators, unravel the mystery of Zero-Knowledge Proofs, and dive into Zoopharmacognosy, a fascinating look at how animals self-medicate.
In life, like in work, it’s not about perfection; it’s about persistence. This issue is for anyone who’s ever felt like giving up — but kept going anyway.
🌀 Mindscapes & Musings
To be a fan is a curious thing. It’s more than just watching games or celebrating victories. It’s about loyalty, persistence, and showing up even when the outcome is uncertain.
This Sunday, like many others, I found myself in front of multiple screens, following different teams, different sports. Chennai Super Kings🏏 lost. Manchester United lost ⚽. But Ferrari 🏎️, against all odds, managed to claw a podium finish at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
In those losses, it’s easy to feel the urge to step away, to switch allegiances. We’ve all been there: when your team keeps losing, when things feel like they’ll never change. The logical part of you thinks, “Maybe I should find another team. Maybe I should switch sides.” After all, it’s easier to follow the winner, isn’t it?
But here’s the thing. Loyalty, whether in sports or life, isn’t about being a fairweather fan. It’s not about only showing up when things are going well. True fandom, or perhaps, true commitment, is about standing by something even when it’s tough. Even when you’re not sure things will improve. We all know sports teams lose, sometimes for long stretches. Yet, we persist. We stay loyal. Because in that persistence, there’s a deeper meaning — a connection that transcends the final score.
Lately, I’ve been in the middle of a long and fairly fruitless job search. Some days, it feels a lot like supporting a losing team — you show up, you try your best, and yet the result is another “no.” The temptation to give up, or at least detach, creeps in.
But fandom taught me this: you still show up. You cheer. You believe. Even if no one else sees the magic, even if the wins are nowhere in sight — you keep rooting for yourself.
📚 Book Bites: Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg
Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg explores the crucial elements of effective communication. The book argues that the primary goal of any conversation is to connect by understanding and aligning with the different types of discussions unfolding.
The book reveals that many dialogues operate on three levels:
- practical (What’s This Really About?)
- emotional (How Do We Feel?)
- social (Who Are We?).
To become a better communicator, the book advises us to first be interested in figuring out what kind of conversation everyone wants as much as the topics being discussed. Supercommunicators excel at connecting by asking more questions about others’ feelings and backgrounds, demonstrating a genuine curiosity about their perspectives.
Being a supercommunicator is a learnable skill and the right conversation at the right moment holds transformative power.
Supercommunicators don’t just master conversation; they master the art of showing up in any dialogue — whether it’s with colleagues, strangers, or in the heat of a job interview.
🔍 Strange New Word: zoopharmacognosy
zoopharmacognosy (noun)
- the instinctive use of natural substances by animals to self-medicate.
(From Greek: zoo “animal” + pharmakon “drug” + gnosis “knowing”.)
Monkeys chew bitter leaves to flush out parasites. Elephants strip bark from trees for digestive relief. Birds peck at clay to counter toxins.
And humans? We watched.
A goat herder noticed his flock was unusually alert after eating red berries. That led to coffee.
Someone else saw animals steeping wild leaves in their mouths. That led to tea.
It’s a mouthful of a word, but also a quiet reminder that sometimes, the path to knowledge begins with observations and connecting them together.
🤯 Random Useless Fact
In the 1920s at Rothamsted Research, a woman claimed she could tell whether milk was poured into tea before or after the tea itself. It sounds like a parlour game, but statistician Ronald Fisher took it seriously.
So seriously, in fact, that he built an experiment to test it.
That single conversation — over a cup of tea — gave rise to the null hypothesis, a foundational concept in modern statistics and data science.
From sips to stats. Who knew? > Wired tells the story here →
I came across this curious tidbit in Michelle Francl’s book, Steeped. The book landed in some hot water about tea drinking choices tea between US and UK 😂
🗝️ Concepts, Unvaulted: zero-knowledge proof
zero-knowledge proof
A zero-knowledge proof is a method of proving you know something or have certain information without actually sharing that information.
Example: The Two Doors Cave 1
Imagine there’s a cave with only one entrance. Inside, there’s a magic door that separates two paths. Your friend claims they know the secret phrase to open the magic door. How can they prove it to you without revealing the phrase?
- The Proof: You stand outside the cave entrance. Your friend goes into the cave and randomly chooses one of the two paths. Then, you shout out the name of one of the paths (you choose randomly!). Your friend comes back out of the cave through the path you named.
- Why it works: If your friend truly knows the secret phrase, they can always open the magic door and return through the path you call out. If they were just guessing, there’s a 50% chance they’d come out the wrong way. If you repeat this process many times, you’ll become very confident that they indeed know the secret phrase.
The three key properties of a zero-knowledge proof are:
- Completeness: If the statement is true, it’s possible to convince the verifier.
- Soundness: If the statement is false, it’s impossible to trick the verifier.
- Zero-knowledge: The verifier learns nothing beyond the validity of the statement.
Zero-knowledge proofs are used in cryptography to authenticate users, verify identities securely, and protect privacy by ensuring authentication doesn’t require sharing sensitive information like passwords or credentials.
Link to original Footnotes
This is simplified from How to Explain Zero-Knowledge Protocols to Your Children by Jean-Jacques Quisquater and other in Advances in Cryptology — CRYPTO’ 89 Proceedings ↩
🎶 Earworm: Let Your Light Shine by Kate Rusby
And if all that feels like a lot — the loyalty, the patience, the showing up despite it all — here’s something to hum along to from the latest album of one of my favourite voices. A quiet reminder, in melody and verse, to let your light keep shining.
🧳 Until Next Time
This issue has been a mix of persistence, curiosity, and a touch of randomness — much like the journey we’re all on. Whether it’s through communication, exploring new concepts, or just showing up even when it’s tough, the important thing is to keep moving forward.
Stay curious, keep experimenting, and remember — progress is found in the process, not the perfect outcome.
Until next time,
— Xavier
Compass
This issue is part of Knapsack, a satchel of stories, wisdom, and wonder. You can explore past issues here.