The Fremen principle
If you want to know how to work with new or limited resources, find a population that’s used to not having many alternatives.
Of course Harvard and the others are terrible at distance learning. They’ve had four hundred years of in-person lectures, tenure, accreditation and a waiting list to lean on. Our tiny team at Akimbo has run circles around them online precisely because we didn’t have the advantages they do.
It’s no surprise that American car companies had trouble shifting to fuel-efficient small cars, because their DNA was about wide roads, cheap gas and growing markets. The Japanese had to make do with none of that.
And a home cook who’s used to the unlimited aisles of the modern supermarket isn’t sure what to do when there’s not much to choose from. An Italian grandmother is a better guide in that moment.
When we have alternatives, we compromise instead of commit.
Find someone who has already optimized for the reality you’re about to enter and learn from them.
[The Fremen are the (possibly) fictional natives of the desert planet of Arrakis, who live with very little water.]