Ask HN: Pros and cons of thinking in public vs. in private? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Pros and cons of thinking in public vs. in private?

#171

Post by mlb893 » Wed, Jan 04, 2023, 3:18 PM UTC

SpeedilyDamage wrote: post #107

TheCapeGreek wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct, you aren't obligated to explain anything to anyone. If you want your opinion/idea/statements to be taken seriously however, you have to back them up and can't just speak absolutes into a void.

This is in no way true, and you can see how untrue it is by observing any popular "alt" speaker for a short period of time. In fact, explaining things is often a great way to lose credibility to large swaths of people, as you'll have become boring and confusing.

I disagree on your conclusion. I think there are certain ways of explaining your point of view amongst an ambiguous crowd.

Monologues can easily be boring. They are hard to put together for most people and you have to have implied consent from the crowd to be monologued. People don't like to be forced to be polite to listen to anyone for more than 30 seconds.

But there are certain ways of conversing where you have time to explore deeper. Unfortunately, not everyone is open to conversation for the sake of argument.

Re: Ask HN: Pros and cons of thinking in public vs. in private?

#172

Post by drakonka » Wed, Jan 04, 2023, 6:33 PM UTC

I like to think in public about things I've already done, and think in private about things I'm intending to do.

I like blogging about things I've already done because it helps me process and solidify my learnings. Also, explaining something in writing is a great way for me to see what knowledge or other gaps I may have.

But I don't like blogging or even discussing with loved ones my intentions or goals until I have made some concrete progress toward it. I have a tendency to start things and not finish them as excitement wanes, and realized that talking about things while I am excited about them has a negative impact on my drive to actually do the thing. I did not really put two and two together until I saw this talk[0] many years ago and it clicked. So now no matter how excited or motivated I am about a goal or new idea, I try to keep it to myself until I've made some threshold of actual progress.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHopJHSlVo4

Re: Ask HN: Pros and cons of thinking in public vs. in private?

#173

Post by blockwriter » Thu, Jan 05, 2023, 2:32 AM UTC

I write literary fiction and have kept a daily diary for the better part of my years spent writing. While the keeping of a diary was initially meant as a private practice, used only to begin my days in consideration of life before I began my fictional efforts, I eventually began to post excerpts from them regularly online and now do so on a twice monthly basis.

Every time I finish a notebook, I go back through it and write the subject of the passages on the cover. I also write the dates of passages I would like to revisit on an index card. When my schedule demands it, working over these passages for public consumption, sometimes days or weeks later, but often months or years later, I am often surprised to discover where the extrapolation of the initial idea leads me. In the moment, it would have been incredibly laborious to achieve the results that the benefit of hindsight, through the twin effects of memory and subconscious processes, makes easy.

I recommend it for all writers of literary works, but I think the process has merit in other domains as well.

Re: Ask HN: Pros and cons of thinking in public vs. in private?

#174

Post by deafpolygon » Thu, Jan 05, 2023, 9:05 AM UTC

Tomte wrote: post #147

seba_dos1 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fascinating article, but I'm surprised at how non-relatable it is to me in some places where it clearly was supposed to be. For example: > We can see this in dreams. Those disturbing dreams which wake us from sleep are purely graphic. No one speaks. Either I'm misunderstanding something, or that's not what I have (ever?) experienced. My dreams (and nightmares) are stories; people talk to me and I talk to people there…

> Can anyone really recall a picture "in its entirety"? It seems many (most?) people can. I cannot, either. Look up "aphantasia".

Same. Even when I dream. The images I see aren't complete images but ideas, or very staticky halos of what it might be. When I dream about, say, shopping in a mall.. I don't actually see the mall or myself or anyone at the mall, but dream the idea of the mall. None of the visual details are available to me.

Never knew other people didn't have the same thing until very recently for me. It was eye-opening.

Re: Ask HN: Pros and cons of thinking in public vs. in private?

#175

Post by mschoeffler » Fri, Jan 06, 2023, 3:45 PM UTC

Suppose you could engage in Damore-style public thinking (or anti-Damore style public thinking), without risking professional/social problems. Would your thinking improve from the feedback?

Let's find out. We have a private beta to answer this question. I'd love to see what happens for you guys (note "Hacker News" on the invite request to be placed in a group conversation).

https://hiweave.com/

Re: Ask HN: Pros and cons of thinking in public vs. in private?

#176

Post by sandkoan » Sat, Jan 07, 2023, 3:14 PM UTC

Tomte wrote: post #147

seba_dos1 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fascinating article, but I'm surprised at how non-relatable it is to me in some places where it clearly was supposed to be. For example: > We can see this in dreams. Those disturbing dreams which wake us from sleep are purely graphic. No one speaks. Either I'm misunderstanding something, or that's not what I have (ever?) experienced. My dreams (and nightmares) are stories; people talk to me and I talk to people there…

> Can anyone really recall a picture "in its entirety"? It seems many (most?) people can. I cannot, either. Look up "aphantasia".

I, too, am an aphant (which I believe affects only 3 to 10 percent of the population), but I understood this to still apply to us: the picture is merely replaced with the small kernel of a concept it represents.