Words That Changed My Outlook on Life

1. What I cannot create, I do not understand

What I cannot create, I do not understand. – Richard Feynman

Feynman believed that if you cannot create something, you do not truly understand it.

When I first entered the software development field, I loved digging into the “fundamentals.” It showed in my curiosity about how HTTP works under the hood, Fourier transforms, singular value decomposition (SVD), the purpose and mechanics of CORS… This quote shaped how I approach new knowledge: always striving to understand the underlying principles.

Because of this, I’ve always had great admiration for engineers with solid fundamentals—like my former Dutch colleague who often appears on my blog.

Three memories stand out in particular.

The first was during a hackathon at my previous company. We chose an IoT project—building a simple CO2 monitoring application using Arduino. I had bought a CO2 sensor that came with an Arduino SDK, so I planned to use it directly.

However, he said that since it was a hackathon, we ought to learn something rather than just rely on off-the-shelf packages; otherwise, it would be no different from what we do every day (calling APIs). I thought his point was great, so we studied the CO2 sensor’s datasheet together, followed its protocol, and successfully communicated with it.

The second was when he was writing tests related to form submission and came to ask me how to mock a form request (multipart/form-data). He said he knew a form was just a special kind of HTTP request, but he had spent hours wrestling with a library and couldn’t get it to work. I took a look and realized the form boundary hadn’t been set properly. Sure enough, tweaking that fixed it right away.

一起理解 HTML 當中的 Form Data 表單在網頁中是相當常見的應用，不只能夠傳輸純文字，也能夠達到檔案上傳的功能。不過也因為 form 的行為跟其他傳輸方式較為不同，有時候也產生疑惑與誤解。 這篇文章試著從閱讀規範理解來龍去脈後，深入理解 form 背後到底做了哪些事情，以及表單與其他傳輸方式的不同之處，最後再提及 HTML 的 form 標籤背後做了哪些事情。 frontend

The third was when we talked about our favorite YouTube channels, and he recommended Ben Eater. For anyone who enjoys computer architecture and inner workings, it’s an absolute treasure trove. To explain how networks work, he starts right from transmission line signals (with an oscilloscope) all the way up to the application layer; or builds an entire 8-bit CPU from scratch on breadboards.

I’ve noticed that in the age of rapidly advancing AI, this kind of capability is becoming increasingly rare. But no matter the era, I believe it remains an invaluable quality.

2. 浅く考えろ、世の中舐めろ、保身に走るな、勝っても攻めろ

Think shallowly, underestimate the world, don’t run for self-preservation, and stay on the attack even when winning.

This quote comes from the sprinter Zaitsu in one of my favorite movies, Hyakumeter (100 Meters).

I’ve noticed that as I’ve grown older, I’ve become more afraid of making mistakes. For instance, when thinking about building a small service, I start worrying about deployment, database design, and monitoring, and end up finding it all too tedious to write even a single line of code. Or wanting to pick up a new musical instrument—thinking, “I’m already in the workforce, I won’t accomplish much no matter how hard I practice.”

In the past, when I saw articles or posts that were relatively beginner-level, I even used to think, “How do they have the nerve to show that off?”

As a beginner, it’s naturally hard to grasp the full picture, and you don’t know what you don’t know. Only later did I realize that the truly ignorant one was me. Beginners don’t know what they don’t know, which is precisely why they can act without baggage. Yet the more I knew, the more hesitant I became.

That “isn’t that all there is to it?” confidence is precisely a form of courage that hasn’t yet been tamed by self-censorship.

Where this quote deeply influenced me is that it made me bolder in moving forward amidst imperfection and high uncertainty—like leaving a big corporation, freelancing in Japan, and connecting with people from diverse fields.

3. Rather than ruling people, I want to help people

I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone — if possible.

This is a line from Charlie Chaplin’s 1940 film The Great Dictator, spoken on stage to the crowd by the Jewish barber who was mistaken for the dictator Hynkel.

Amusingly enough, I first came across this quote in Kotaro Isaka’s novel Modern Times. Kotaro Isaka was one of my favorite Japanese authors during college.

I feel this quote captures my state of mind throughout my life. Growing up, my family wasn’t well off. In junior high, I had no skills to speak of, and studying wasn’t my strong suit either. I lived with deep insecurity, often trying to win sympathy by pleasing classmates or wallowing in self-pity.

Throughout my student years, I received so much help—from PX Mart charity welfare cards, tuition waivers, and alumni associations to classmates and teachers. Thanks to them, I was able to focus on my studies in a relatively stable environment.

Early in my career, I was also fortunate to meet strong development teams and managers. Not only could I hone my skills in a high-intensity yet supportive environment, but some of the managers I worked with have become longtime friends, often offering profound advice that cleared up my confusion in the workplace.

There are many similar quotes that have deeply influenced me, though I’ve forgotten the exact sources (I think Elon Musk mentioned it in an interview). He said that we should strive for a positive-sum outcome—producing more than we consume—so that the world becomes a better place.

Now that I have the ability to be someone who helps others, I am glad that my philosophy remains unchanged: rather than ruling people, I would rather help people.