The Dispossesed.
Collective activity, ie the bedrock of humans human-omg, has not looked the same since
Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
141–150 of 747 posts
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#142"Permutation City" by Greg Egan is mind-bending in a way similar to The Matrix, except taken up a few notches. Explores the consequences of consciousness being just a pattern. Would it continue if the pattern is paused? Seems yes, since we survive being unconscious. So we move in space and time, but still consciousness feels continuous. What if you pause it, destroy it, recreate it somewhere else. Would it not contin…
For higher dimensional mind bending his Diaspora book is a must read!
For mind games: The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi.
Plus for a related rabbit hole: the idea that a random pattern can just pop into existence and have consciousness is basically the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boltzmann_brain concept.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#143Anything by Hermann Hesse.
Not mind bending. No Twists. No roller coasters. Just a calm conversation with the author and yourself.
And yet, it had a profound impact on me.
One poem I revisit every once in a while: https://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=119749
If you understand German, I do believe it needs to be read in its original tongue. The translations I found thus far were not entirely convincing.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#144Nassim Taleb's books (Black swan, Antifragile, Fooled by Randomnesss)
Thinking Fast and Slow
The Organized Mind
The Vital Question by Nick Lane.
The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
Certain things are so true they're tautological. Science is observational. It doesn't give us rules we must follow, it describes the behaviour of things in the universe. So if someone* says, "People do selfish things, that's science," true! But if they also say, "Therefore, it's ok to kill your neighbour and take their house, see all of recorded history, colonialism, &c." I stop them. Science teaches us that people k…
Science has concluded that some human genotypes are, by scientific standards "lesser" than others. This can be - and has been - used by atheists and religionists alike to justify crimes against those people. Without a moral sense there is little holding back inhumanity from consuming itself. Science hasn't found a gene for morality, and doesn't seem to be on the hunt for it. So we therefore need our cultures to help…
All I have to say about concluding that some genotypes are lesser by "scientific standards" can be summed up in the following HaHaOnlySerious joke that I have been telling my children from the time they could understand English:
"Humans are the greatest species of Life on Earth, according to all of the metrics that humans have chosen to measure greatness."
Science also tells me that insects are better than people, if I pick a different metric. I suspect we agree on this.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#146Thinking Fast and Slow. I recommend this to absolutely everyone. It’s a huge study on how everyone thinks, even when they think they’re above thinking like that. Truly amazing!
Is the whole book actually worth reading? I mean the concept is very simple (although extremely important) and can be explained concisely in a couple of minutes - why a 500-pages book?
A lot of the book is going through various types of specific bias (e.g. anchoring, sunk-cost), and going over the way in which it was studied and shown to exist. I see this as valuable as because, as you say, accounting for irrationality is important, and having an indepth account of exactly how bias arises is key to internalizing the reality that we are all prone to succumbing to these errors.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#147Highly recommended for everyone: "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahenman. If you have difficulty interacting with people 1. How to win friends and influence people (Easy read) 2. Seven habits of highly effective people (Harder read) To learn how to write well: On writing well To understand how large products are made: Show Stopper!: The Breakneck Race to Create Windows NT
Two things -
1. Seven habits - I can't get past Covey's personal 'experiences'. They are just seemingly so contrived and fake that they just ruin the entire thought process for me. It seems like he had to make up things that related to the covenants. Is that just me?
2. For writing - I would also suggest 'On Writing' by Stephen King for this as a different take. It's probably the best 'how to write' book ever made. It's King's personal take on the theory of writing, with lessons sprinkled throughout. So good.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#148Guns, Germs and Steel. Actually, any well researched history book. View on the world gets changed drastically, and usually for better.
Anyone reading the book should keep in mind the basic problems with it: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/historians_views...
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#149Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
Just a short conversation between a man and an ape that explains the unsustainable path our society has taken.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#150"Permutation City" by Greg Egan is mind-bending in a way similar to The Matrix, except taken up a few notches. Explores the consequences of consciousness being just a pattern. Would it continue if the pattern is paused? Seems yes, since we survive being unconscious. So we move in space and time, but still consciousness feels continuous. What if you pause it, destroy it, recreate it somewhere else. Would it not contin…
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