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Ask HN: What are good resources for life advice?

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Re: Ask HN: What are good resources for life advice?

#161
post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Designating a group of people by the color of their skin is racist.

No, that's not what racism is. Racism is saying that a group is less human because of their skin tone or heritage. I am not saying that white people are less human; I am saying that they enjoy privileges in America that other racial or ethnic groups do not. This is not racism.

Nope, racism is saying that such group is better or worse in some way.

Now, are you saying that white people in 21st century America are enjoying something they don't have a right to have?

Re: Ask HN: What are good resources for life advice?

#162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. I don't believe Pavlina has the track record of Joel regarding software development. His life advice at that time was "stop sleeping, you'll do more and let's see how far we can ride that secret thing" while claiming being telepathic and talking to birds. Now I wouldn't be surprised if Steve made way more money than Joel.

These seem to already be the crazy days. I remember when he was selling games way before any "indie games", even before Bejewled if I remember correctly. I also thought regarding sleep, that he woke up every morning at the same time, and went to bed when he was tired.

He does. But for 6 months, he just took a 20 minute nap every 4 hours (no 'core' sleep).

Re: Ask HN: What are good resources for life advice?

#163
post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is the lobster equivalent of Fifty Shades of Grey, the fastest-selling paperback of all time, There is something strange about that book being so popular. I think one can argue that women have been socialized to want aggressive men so that becomes a common fantasy vs it's a biologically based phenomenon. I wonder if there is a way to compare how popular the book is in relation to how strongly stereotypical the…

> I think one can argue that women have been socialized to want aggressive men so that becomes a common fantasy vs it's a biologically based phenomenon Or it's just a popular form of easily consumable 'taboo'. No need to theorize about women secretly wanting violent relationships when there's a much simpler explanation on the table.

Sure, but why is it a popular taboo? Otherwise it's like saying "this book is popular because the topic is popular".

Re: Ask HN: What are good resources for life advice?

#164
post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you know, you can sum it. Should be easy if you criticize it in abstract

Yup I did: > Just for starters, allowing your well-being [to be] dependent on being above some level in some social hierarchy is hardly considered being self-reliant. It may be hard for some not to lump self-reliance (aka. being autonomous) and hierarchy-consciousness (to coin a word) together; which is where the third paragraph of my original comment comes into picture (something you seem to have ignored[1]). --- [1…

> Yup I did:

Seems rather circular then to suggest I familiarize myself with him more if you can't even be bothered to demonstrate how you've extrapolated what you reiterated using a source. Google yields no sources parroting that. Even the negative opinions suggest something completely different : "Ultimately, Peterson’s dismissal of happiness as the purpose of life is a problem because it aligns his argument too closely with an emphasis on an introspective attempt at self-sufficiency. Insisting that meaning can be forged out of effort emphasizes a kind of self-reliance which, while certainly useful and even admirable at times, misses the mark in telling most of the human story. Suffering for the sake of suffering in order to “tolerate the weight of our own self-consciousness” is, I suppose, the best we can aim for if the material world is all that exists." -- https://humanumreview.com/articles/why-we-need-jordan-peters...

> As a matter of fact I know at least 6 people who fit that description.

That can only be true if you don't appreciate the fact that outcomes which appear superficially as self-reliance don't materialize from a lifetime of not benefiting from social networks.

> I know at least 6 people for whom it is not (anymore) "absolutely inevitable".

Seems you drew your own ideas as to how this has anything to do with self-reliance.

How an individual leads their life has no bearing on whether there are hierarchical structures in the whole of society. You can go live in the woods, and humans will continue on without you with class structures.

Re: Ask HN: What are good resources for life advice?

#165
post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup I did: > Just for starters, allowing your well-being [to be] dependent on being above some level in some social hierarchy is hardly considered being self-reliant. It may be hard for some not to lump self-reliance (aka. being autonomous) and hierarchy-consciousness (to coin a word) together; which is where the third paragraph of my original comment comes into picture (something you seem to have ignored[1]). --- [1…

> Yup I did: Seems rather circular then to suggest I familiarize myself with him more if you can't even be bothered to demonstrate how you've extrapolated what you reiterated using a source. Google yields no sources parroting that. Even the negative opinions suggest something completely different : "Ultimately, Peterson’s dismissal of happiness as the purpose of life is a problem because it aligns his argument too cl…

> Seems rather circular then to suggest I familiarize myself with him more

Only because you wrote "Without knowing much about him" and you keep misunderstanding the nature of my critique.

> ... if you can't even be bothered to demonstrate how you've extrapolated what you reiterated

What I reiterated was that - allowing your well-being [to be] dependent on being above some level in some social hierarchy is hardly considered being self-reliant [aka. being autonomous].

> using a source.

Both Peterson's book and his online videos are the source for that paraphrasing.

> Google yields no sources parroting that.

All you have to do, basically, is to directly read his book and watch some of his online videos; and not read reviews (be it negative or positive) of those works online.

> Even the negative opinions suggest something completely different : "Ultimately, Peterson’s dismissal of happiness as the purpose of life is a problem because it aligns his argument too closely with an emphasis on an introspective attempt at self-sufficiency. Insisting that meaning can be forged out of effort emphasizes a kind of self-reliance which, while certainly useful and even admirable at times, misses the mark in telling most of the human story. Suffering for the sake of suffering in order to “tolerate the weight of our own self-consciousness” is, I suppose, the best we can aim for if the material world is all that exists." -- https://humanumreview.com/articles/why-we-need-jordan-peters....

Of course they do, as I'm referring to the matter-of-fact self-reliance (aka. being autonomous) and not "a kind of self-reliance".

>> As a matter of fact I know at least 6 people who fit that description [being entirely self-reliant [in affective context] in the literal sense].

> That can only be true if you don't appreciate the fact that outcomes which appear superficially as self-reliance don't materialize from a lifetime of not benefiting from social networks.

Given that I wrote in affective context it is beyond me how you can characterize what I wrote as to "appear superficially" and materializing from "a lifetime of not benefiting from social networks".

>> I know at least 6 people for whom it is not (anymore) "absolutely inevitable".

> Seems you drew your own ideas as to how this has anything to do with self-reliance.

Of course it seems that way, as to you -- especially not being familiar with Mr. Peterson's work in critical sense -- whatever you dub as self-reliance is nothing to do with being autonomous in the affective context, and that being actually so somehow automatically implies (to you) "living in the woods" or having "a lifetime of not benefiting from social networks".

> How an individual leads their life has no bearing on whether there are hierarchical structures in the whole of society.

Just so that it is clear, the hierarchical structures Mr. Peterson is alluding to is entirely affective in nature ("class structure" as you mention below belongs here), and is not specifically referring to the actual structures in the society.

> You can go live in the woods, and humans will continue on without you with class structures.

Yes, and so what? This is nothing to do with what I'm talking about.

Re: Ask HN: What are good resources for life advice?

#166
post #78

What sort of "life advice" do you want? I think for starters is to realize there is a lot of contradicting life advice. Then the other thing is wether people follow the advice they give others. There is a Carl Jung quote: > Only the paradox comes anywhere near to comprehending the fullness of life. Personally for me, understanding life is understanding the pros/cons of every scenario. The pros and cons of short term…

Yeah, came here to say the same thing. There's so much advice out there, different advice is good for different people at different times, and none of it can cover life in full. One way to think of it is that reading advice puts you in the perspective of the advice-giver, instead of your own. Like, when you read a book titled "99 ways not to be a loser", you begin worrying if you're a loser and seeing everything thro…

That is part of the reason that I have thought long about maturity models: a collaboratively-built step-by-step approach. Not everyone is in the same place, but there are some best practices that can help us all, when we are ready for them. More at http://lukecall.net, under "Life lessons".

(ps: I am a religious person and the content is heavily influenced by that, but I hope the concept, and present/future software, are amenable to about any worldview.)

Re: Ask HN: What are good resources for life advice?

#167
Coming late to this but ... I have thought long about maturity models: a collaboratively-built step-by-step approach. The famous coach John Wooden said something like "the trouble with all the good new books is they keep us from reading all the good old books".

Not everyone is in the same place in their personal growth process, or has time to read as much as needed to find what is best and most applicable to them, but there are some best practices that can help us all, when we are ready for them. So the intent is to capture those, for any area of life (which I have grouped under mental, physical, spiritual, social/emotional).

I have posted much more at http://lukecall.net, under "Life lessons". (I think the site is lightweight/responsive, and skimmable.)

(ps: I am a religious person and the content explains why, and is heavily influenced by that. Also, I hope the concepts, and present/future software to help with it, can be helpful, given almost any worldview.)

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