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MICRO MISCONCEPTS

The invisible cage you built yourself

Published about 2 months ago • 1 min read

Micro Misconcepts

The invisible cage you built yourself

11th September 2026 | Read on misconcepts.org​

From me

Most people follow the rules of their social environment, assuming that's just how the world works. Few ever pause to go one layer deeper.

Who created the rules? Why these rules and not others? What assumptions produced them? Who benefits from them? What possibilities do they exclude?

And because of this, those rules become their reality.

Nobody has to stand over you and say no. You're simply self-enforcing those rules, building your own invisible cage.

You don't ask why the rules exist. You only ask how to succeed within them. And in that way, we limit ourselves without even realising it, spending our finite life resources optimising within a game we thought was our only choice.

​Read the full piece →​

From others

Philosopher John Stuart Mill on the weight of inherited custom:

"The despotism of custom is everywhere the standing hindrance to human advancement."

Source: On Liberty (1859)

Philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer on the price of conformity:

"We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people."

Source: Parerga and Paralipomena (1851)

For you

What invisible cage are you still living in?

To good iterations,

Syn Yun

P.S. Your life resources are finite which means there is always opportunity cost.

Learn more at misconcepts.org​

Misconcepts are the explanations we hold about how the world works, synonymous with mental models but named deliberately to acknowledge their fallibility. Misconcepts is itself a misconcept and we're always iterating. Reply to this email if you have thoughts. We'd love to hear from you.

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MICRO MISCONCEPTS

By Syn Yun and David

A weekly newsletter exploring one mental model and what a better iteration looks like. Under five minutes. Free.

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