DSRP are the 4 patterns of thinking

DSRP are the 4 patterns of thinking. Every thought. Every time.

ORIGIN STORY: On April 23, 2020, how I see the world was forever changed. That was the first day I stumbled onto the Cabrera Research Lab. In just a couple years that followed...

I learned what we are actually doing when we are thinking. Scientific, empirical, practical, incredibly useful.
- Try this for yourself — say what thinking is, or what you are actually doing when you are thinking. The only catch is you cannot use any synonym for thinking, like analyze, synthesize, brainstorm, mull over, muse, concentrate, ponder... For something we all do every day, it's hard to say what it actually is!
I dove deep and took classes where I learned things I will use every day for the rest of my life. Unlike frameworks which are useful in certain situations where they fit, DSRP is in use in every situation where our brain is thinking.
I got certified to teach others, which means a bunch of online class hours so I could understand it well enough to teach it simply but with fidelity.
I made over 50 small visuals, posters, slideshows, videos, blog posts, and whatever else I could do to help others discover and learn it too.
I became good friends with the Cornell professors who discovered this, researched it, gathered evidence for 20+ years, were awarded NSF grants, and taught it to thousands of people from pre-K to PhD, from pro athletes to scientists to West Point cadets to average people like me.

I think learning DSRP is the most important thing anyone can learn.

I've learned a lot of different stuff over my life, especially in the areas of self-improvement, making life easier, learning faster, thinking better. I now consider DSRP "essential learning".

Letters are the building blocks of language.
Numbers are the building blocks of math.
Distinctions, Systems, Relationships and Perspectives (DSRP) are the building block of thinking.

It's that fundamental. And like letters and numbers, a preschooler and a PhD use the same blocks to construct and understand the simplest or most sublime and complex ideas.

I can say without hesitation I think learning and practicing DSRP is the most important thing that anyone can learn and practice. No contest. And I do mean anyone. It is the master key to thinking, and thinking is what underpins everything we do.

I highly encourage you to get familiar with DSRP, and try it for yourself for anything you want to think about. Don't wait for some big thing. You can use it right now with whatever is in front of you. That's all it takes to become a better thinker!

Try it for yourself (no experience needed)!

Read this paragraph, and then Click here. Type something in the first box. Maybe something you want to think about or understand a little better? Is there something else it relates to? Type that in the second box. Then scroll down and think about the questions.

I've told people I'll give them $100 if they don't get a useful insight in just a minute or two.

All that online tool does is guide you to use DSRP. You don't even have to know what it is for it to work. Just imagine how much better your thinking could be if you learned a bit more about it! Read on...

What is DSRP?

D - We make Distinctions between identity and other, or between what something is and isn't.
S - We organize Systems of parts and wholes. We zoom in to see parts, and zoom out to see wholes.
R - We recognize Relationships of action and reaction, of connection and interaction.
P - We take Perspectives of points and views, of what is looking, and what is being looked at.
Equality - Each of the 4 patterns and 8 elements is needed every time. For example, we can't make a distinction without it also being from a perspective, in relation to other things, and part of a larger system.
Co-implication - If one element of a pattern exists, the other element exists. There can't be an identity without an other, or a part without a whole.
Simultaneity - Any element is also all the other elements at the same time. A part is also an identity, an other, a whole, an action, a reaction, a point, and a view.

So, DSRP is 4 patterns, made of 8 elements, with 3 dynamics. It's sometimes called DSRP-483 to be clearer that they don't exist in isolation, or in a linear stepwise way. It's simultaneous, fractal, and because we can infinitely combine them, it can be as complex as reality. In fact, DSRP is the organization patterns of reality too!

This is hugely important, because it means the closer our thoughts (mental models) align with reality, the more successful we can be at anything. It might seem obvious that success depends on working with what's real, but how many times have you seen examples of people trying to make reality fit their thinking? Denial, confirmation bias, echo chambers, and repeating the same actions and expecting diferent results. It all starts with our thinking, and the way to understand our thoughts and reality is to use DSRP.

Using DSRP is what we call "thinking"

We all use DSRP to think, even if we don't realize we are doing it.

We make meaning from information. We do this by thinking. Thinking is using DSRP to organize information into meaning. Meaning = information + thinking (DSRP). M = i + DSRP (thinking)

What is meaning? Knowledge, understanding, ideas, mental models, interpretations, predictions... They all are information that has been organized with DSRP.

This also shows us what learning is. Learning is a change in meaning from a change in information + a change in DSRP (any of the patterns or elements). L = ∆M = ∆i + ∆identity-other • ∆part-whole • ∆action-reaction • ∆point•view.

Woah. Learning is not just new information. The thinking has to change too!

Here's an example of how information by itself is not enough to make meaning. Click and listen to this very short sound file.

What did you hear? Was it a word? If so, what word? Spell it.

Did you spell "for", "four", or "fore"? Which one is right?

With just the information, just the sound by itself, you can't tell. You have to use thinking to make it mean something. Maybe it could mean agreeing (for or against), or a request about clarity (for...what?), or an amount (four), or to cover our heads on a golf course (fore!). How we use a perspective to distinguish, group and relate the information makes what we heard into what it means to us.

A 12-minute film

This is a great short film for general audiences. It first explains the idea of mental models (or the meaning we make from information). At the 4-minute mark, it then introduces the four thinking patterns with clever animations in a bunch of everyday situations.

DSRP seems too simple for everything. What about science and technology and music and art? What about all my unique thoughts?

Just like you, your thoughts are unique. However, the 4 patterns you use to think are not unique. They are the same patterns we all use, from pre-K to PhD. Like ACGT in DNA, or the three colors of RGB, or the pieces and rules of chess, or a pile of basic Legos, a few things can combine to make millions of different things.