One Apple A Day #926 - Divide et impera
Divide et impera.
It is a famous Latin expression affirming that the best expedient for an authority to control and rule people is to divide them, often by provoking rivalries and fomenting discord. But it also applies to military strategy as suggested by Niccolò Machiavelli. By dividing the enemy's forces, you make them weaker, increasing your chances to win.
This philosophy probably inspired also the divide-and-conquer algorithm used in computer science. The idea is to divide a problem into smaller sub-problems until these become simple enough to be solved directly. Then we do the reverse process with the smaller solutions, combining them to solve the original problem.
You may wonder why I'm using my limited writing time to talk about this.
This morning I was thinking about who I am, as I often do, to be honest.
In about a month, I will start a new chapter in my professional life. Beginning of this week, I began reflecting on how I want to present myself. I do different things, all interconnected but all with their uniqueness. How can I describe myself in a way that respects this diversity of identities while giving the sense of who I am as a whole human being?
That's when that Latin expression came up. Maybe it's a legacy of my programming roots. But I realise how often I instinctively divide a problem into smaller parts, so it feels easier to deal with. However, in doing so, I miss the big picture.
I may need a good coach to help me with this.