401–410 of 438 posts
So always think twice before speaking, and if so, speak wisely.
The other one, tho related, is to never lose your temper. Never ever. This can get you in so much trouble that it is basically suicidal.
The satisfaction of a little rage is never worth the cost.
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I think everyone is being a little rude and reactionary here. People enjoy what they enjoy, it's not ok to demand that they change. Suppose you lived in a world where everyone was obsessed with Pokemon. No one talked about anything else. Everyone around you had the mind of a 10 year old, in terms of intellectual and emotional development. How would you feel, could you really feel like you belonged? There are people o…
Is it generally true that people of extreme intelligence have richer lives in terms of emotional and spiritual development? This is definitely not the case in my circle, where the MENSA candidates tend to sound a little bit like the Throw away comment, and if they don't have outright disdain for typical human connections and spiritual pursuits, they definitely don't spend the average amount of time on emotional or sp…
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Is it generally true that people of extreme intelligence have richer lives in terms of emotional and spiritual development? This is definitely not the case in my circle, where the MENSA candidates tend to sound a little bit like the Throw away comment, and if they don't have outright disdain for typical human connections and spiritual pursuits, they definitely don't spend the average amount of time on emotional or sp…
I'd say if you're not intelligent enough to also develop your emotional or spiritual development (it doesn't have to be forced you just need to not be closed to it), then you aren't really extremely intelligent, you're just trying to come off as one or more accurately your idea of how one would be like. Last I heard MENSA has an annual fee, isn't that already a nice indicator of the intelligence of its members, to pa…
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Keeping pay negotiations confidential benefits only the company, not the workers.
It can help reduce jealousy between colleagues. How would someone feel knowing one of their other colleagues who just so happened to be a better negotiator is getting paid possibly much more than them, despite apparently similar skills/work?
In my opinion, there's an unfair information asymmetry, as the company knows how much everyone is getting paid.
I've worked in government jobs where everyone's pays are easily known, and there is still some (smallish) amount of jealousy because those pays are still based on a grading, so some people will think that others are not doing enough work to justify their grading.
“How to win friends and influence people” is an absolutely wonderful book I wished I’d read 10 or 15 years before I did. Some important ideas - Just, get along with people. A bit reductionist but if you don’t place a high priority on getting along with people you certainly won’t learn how. It really is a habit, and it’s incredibly effective to remember the Cognitive Behavior insight that when you don’t get along with…
Throw away for obvious reasons. I find almost everyone intensely boring. How am I supposed to get along with people without feeling like a complete fraud? Small talk, feigning interest in kids, in sports, in wine, in whatever useless dull, pedestrian thing a coworker is into. I find that anyone who isn't a PhD (or could easily have been if they hadn't gone into industry) might as well be a paper shell. I can put on a…
Humor, Modesty and Compassion!
I am a member of Mensa and read ca. 2000 books in the last 30 years. Sometimes I think just like you, although I know it is wrong (and I would never talk about it).
I often meet people who say things like "I find that anyone who isn't a PhD ... might as well be a paper shell." are too shallow and stupid for my taste, and I am one of them. Overconfident, not nearly as clever as they think they are, boring idiots, arrogant. They just think they know, but actually don't know shit about quantum mechanics, general relativity, cohomology, lisp or russian novels and Debussy.
Conclusion: Thinking that other people are stupid, shallow and boring is only allowed if you are a genius - and you aren't. Nobody is. A good life has kids, sports, wine, sex and vodka in it :-)
I prescribe 25 short stories by Chekov and falling in love immediately.
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You're completely right. I'm glad to see that you're taking the side of the employee in instances like this. In this particular case, it wasn't me who became critically demoralised. It was another good employee who'd been there for years, who discovered he was being paid much less than everyone else. He resigned within a short time period of the group discussion. You're totally right about individual bargaining power…
There's nothing wrong with capitalism or companies trying to extract the best deal they can get, but I can't stand people feeling devalued. It took me longer than it should have to realize my economic and personal value. If I can help just one other person to realize that they are valuable and more than just their work then that's a success in my book. It took my getting diagnosed with a terminal disease to get me to…
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>Start respecting the fact that intellectual development & progress is only one axis on the map that is the human experience. Excellent all too overlooked view IMO.
>> Start respecting the fact that intellectual development & progress is only one axis on the map that is the human experience. > Excellent all too overlooked view IMO. Intellectual development and logical reasoning serve as the basis for proper personal health, family nucleation, social improvement, and other axes on the human experience map. Without being able to think, how can you improve your health, friend, fami…
counterpoint: overweight doctors
Personal health, social and financial success is mostly about psychology, not intellectual capacity.
How to Win Friends and Influence People
“How to win friends and influence people” is an absolutely wonderful book I wished I’d read 10 or 15 years before I did. Some important ideas - Just, get along with people. A bit reductionist but if you don’t place a high priority on getting along with people you certainly won’t learn how. It really is a habit, and it’s incredibly effective to remember the Cognitive Behavior insight that when you don’t get along with…
Spoken English, it's not my first language and communication is a struggle. This wasn't much of a hindrance on my career as I've mostly worked within my country and can read technical English just fine, but now that I'm working remotely for a foreign company I'm kicking myself for not having paid more attention to it earlier in my life. I'm a disaster at conference calls. Lately I've been extracting audio from YouTub…
FWIW, if you didn't say you weren't a native speaker here I wouldn't have known you weren't. Your grammar is totally fine (other than a few minor mistakes, but your grammar is better than most native speakers).