I know we (Westerners) are often fascinated by Eastern philosophies and all these "sounds of clap of one hand".

However, this article crossed a line... by a mile.

"turning a steering wheel.... all need exactly the amount of energy that they need"

In theory, it's true. In practice, there are activities like "holding a cup". if you do not have enough grip, you may unfortunately spill the coffee on the floor. If you don't have enough grip while doing a sharp turn, it could be literally fatal. As a result, it is wise for the absolute majority of people in high-risk situations to exert more power than necessary. The energy investments are small, but changes in probabilities are significant.

And the rest of the article pretty much prophesies a flow slate. Yeah, in this state, things feel effortless. However, it misses two things. To learn how to get to this flow state, like a lot of people pointed out, you need TONS and TONS and TONS of practice where you exert WAY more than you minimally need. Oh... And on top of that, in the flow state, you perceive that things are effortless. And this is mostly about a perception rather than reality. Yes, if you are extremely experienced and get to flow state, you are spending less energy than an absolute beginner, but not zero... again, by a mile.

I don't think the article is necessarily saying to have a softer grip at the steering wheel, which I agree it can be fatal.

It says: "There is an appropriate amount of energy required for each activity."

I'm sure there are many activities where nothing bad happens when applying less effort. For example, typing on a keyboard or signing a document.

> if you do not have enough grip, you may unfortunately spill the coffee on the floor. If you don't have enough grip while doing a sharp turn, it could be literally fatal. As a result, it is wise for the absolute majority of people in high-risk situations to exert more power than necessary. The energy investments are small, but changes in probabilities are significant.

Yes but there's still a sweet spot to find, you're not gripping your cup or your wheel as hard as you can. Over-gripping in uncertain conditions can be good but only to a certain extent.

I still agree with you though, a good example of this is climbing stairs — if you have strong legs it's much less effort to go 2 by 2 but I'd never tell someone struggling to do that, it would make no sense.

People also mistake the appearance of effortlessness with the reality. I used to play the trumpet and there was always this drumbeat of “don’t press the mouthpiece into your mouth so hard”. I think every instructor I ever had told me some variant of that. Supposedly new learners press way too hard trying to hit the high notes, while professionals hit those notes without that level of force.

Turns out nope. Someone did a study and measured the force and it was basically the same across skill levels. The professionals just make it look easy because they are used to it and more skilled.

Which makes sense, right? Highly skilled people often make things look effortless even when they objectively are extremely difficult tasks.