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Ask HN: What's your greatest epiphany?

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Re: Ask HN: What's your greatest epiphany?

#111

Post by samstave »

hitchhiker999 wrote: post #9
madaxe_again wrote: post #6

Sat at the piano, aged about 10, when I realised that my experience is one of billions and no more real than any other, and that everything we see around us is only so because we say it is so, and that power only exists in the minds of those who witness it.

Nice! "I think, therefore I am" -> is the only thing we can confirm. The rest is our choice to believe a narrative that suits us.

I've always liked to consider "I think, therefore I am" as a formula:

"I think [X], therefore I am [X]" -- whatever you think, and focus your thought and will and desire on is what you create out of yourself.

Re: Ask HN: What's your greatest epiphany?

#114

Post by Tactic »

buro9 wrote: post #38

You can't tell anyone anything that they are not ready to hear. This affects your ability to influence others and be influenced by others. The takeaway for you receiving wisdom is to be open to things that you are not yet ready to hear, to remember them and keep them in mind as it may apply to you in the future when you are ready. If you need to share wisdom, empathise with where the receiver is currently and tell th…

Not only will someone not truly hear what you have to say, they will often become confrontational over it if it is anything of relevence.

Considering this and keeping my mouth shut has saved me many a fruitless argument.

Re: Ask HN: What's your greatest epiphany?

#115

Post by Tactic »

keyle wrote: post #18

That our time is limited and we must choose carefully where to focus our personal efforts.

Tangential to this is that because time is limited your choices will decrease as you approach the end.

While your options are wide open at 20 they are far more limited at 40 or 50 simply because you don't have time to start anew.

And, similar to software, your life requires far more maintenance time as it goes on :)

Re: Ask HN: What's your greatest epiphany?

#116

Post by Tactic »

People are just people. Everyone is an amalgamation of insecurities, fears, joys, talents, failures, desires, etc. This has helped me communicate and associate with people at all levels. I don’t care if it is the bum down by the river or the CEO of a company with 500+ employees, I get along with them… and have learned from them. Because we all have value and are just trying to make it through our brief term here on earth. Or, as Orson Scott Card put it, we’re muddling through.

But most of all, remembering I am just a person as well. No better or worse than anyone else.

Maybe it sounds obvious, but it truly helped me in life.

Re: Ask HN: What's your greatest epiphany?

#117

Post by andretti1977 »

makmanalp wrote: post #58

I have a few off the top of my head: - Learned helplessness is one of the biggest enemies to learning, but it's insidious in that sufferers don't recognize it. Often, I'll try to teach someone something, and I'll know for sure that they can and will grasp a concept, but they'll just stop short on their own accord, chalking failure up to their own (imagined) inherent inability rather than a specific situational lack o…

"Psychology is not bullshit like I used to think before" and "watching chains of thoughts" are two big revelations i had too.

I also discovered how powerful is cognitive reconstruction (i translated it from italian definition).

Re: Ask HN: What's your greatest epiphany?

#118

Post by chrisbennet »

mcphage wrote: post #88
chrisbennet wrote: post #27

I've had a couple of memorable epiphanies. The fact that they are programming related probably says something about me but heck, I can't change that. Epiphany 1: one day I realized that Bresenham's line algorithm wasn't just a way to draw lines. In reality, it linearly interpolates values over a range. Example: get the gradient/color values along a horizontal line from x0,color0 to x1,color1. Epiphany 2: The 2nd big…

> Example: get the gradient/color values along a horizontal line from x0,color0 to x1,color1. Sadly, colors don't blend as easy as coordinates: http://www.stuartdenman.com/improved-color-blending/ ... but in general I agree.

Thanks for the link!

Re: Ask HN: What's your greatest epiphany?

#119

Post by mcphage »

chrisbennet wrote: post #118
mcphage wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Example: get the gradient/color values along a horizontal line from x0,color0 to x1,color1. Sadly, colors don't blend as easy as coordinates: http://www.stuartdenman.com/improved-color-blending/ ... but in general I agree.

Thanks for the link!

Welcome :-)
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