About

Hello and welcome to Blink Deep.

I am Qasim Chaudhari and here is some background on how this website started.

Background

I am the founder of Wireless Pi, a popular resource for technology enthusiasts on wireless communications, Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and Software Defined Radios (SDR).

While a person practices a profession, the profession also carves their mind into a certain mold. This is a two-way process. In my engineering profession, for example, the purpose is an efficient design that can only be achieved through clarity. This website is my attempt to see life with a similar clarity. Any feedback, comments and suggestions to improve my thinking are more than welcome.

The Approach

In my engineering approach, I follow two rules.

  1. From the Ground Up: Like many people, I do not understand complexity well. It is easier to build the concepts from the ground up. That is why the ideas here are explored right from the basics.
  2. The Big Picture: It is always helpful to view the Big Picture where one stands far away from the topic and distinguish the forest from the trees. This is similar to looking at our planet from outer space.

    A view of earth from space

    At Wireless Pi, I adopt this approach for signal processing and wireless communications. Here, I do the same for general ideas.

    What Does Blink Deep Mean?

    From a behavioral perspective, a human mind can be seen as a union of two systems.

    • System 1 is fast, automatic, intuitive and emotional. Michael Gladwell describes it in his book Blink in which he investigates our quick impressions and underneath-the-consciousness judgements. This is where I got the word Blink for this website.

      From a programming perspective, System 1 operates on simple if-this-then-that rules. Many people symbolize it as a monkey in our heads.

      • A System 1 monkey and a System 2 philosopher

    • System 2 is slow, deliberate, conscious and logical. It works through focused and effortful thinking about the matter. This is where the word Deep came from.

      From a programming perspective, System 2 constructs complex flowcharts. You can think of it as the philosopher in our heads.

    Finally, the complete phrase Blink Deep is forged from the poem A Little Learning by Alexander Pope.

    A little learning is a dangerous thing
    Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring
    There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain
    And drinking largely sobers us again.

    But what does Blink Deep refer to? My feeling is that System 1 and System 2 do not form a discrete set. Instead, our whole machinery of thought exists on a continuum.

    We start our lives with System 1 only while new and difficult ideas are offloaded on System 2. But it chews them with deliberate repetition and then shifts them down towards System 1. (Recall your journey of mastering how to drive a car from a learner to an expert.)

    Thus, we have this natural capability to push deep ideas into the realm of blinking whose if-this-then-that rules bypass all the logic and circuitry that initially helped develop the rule. This process quickens our thinking process and elevates our intellectual level.

    Alfred North Whitehead mentions the same idea in the following words.

    "Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them."

    Stay in touch

    On this website, I write about different aspects of life from an engineer’s perspective. To receive them, you can subscribe via email below.