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Ask HN: What's your greatest epiphany?

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

#71

Post by kamaal »

wulczer wrote: post #32
arethuza wrote: post #13

Two people want to share a cake. The reasonable person asks for half the cake, the unreasonable person asks for the whole cake. They compromise and split the difference - the unreasonable person gets three quarters of the cake and the reasonable person gets a quarter. [I wish I knew the origins of this - I heard it years ago.]

What is the epiphany here? What is the insight or enlightenment to be gained from this story? I have my own, but I'm curious about what people believe is the moral of the story.

Selfishness is a virtue and not a sin as taught and propagated through society, religion and culture.

If you wish to get what you want, you have to use any means possible. And there is nothing wrong in it.

Actually if you look at it that is how most successful people get successful.

Think of your own good first, even if that's not very helpful to the other guy.

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

#72

Post by dirktheman »

My biggest epiphany: money itself doesn't mean anything. A lot of people make it their goal to be rich, but to me, being rich is a meaningless goal. It's about what you can do with money. You really have to dig in your deeper wants for this. You say you want to be rich? What exactly is your definition of being rich? Is it fame? The ability to buy whatever you want?

More often than most people realize, their deep wishes can be accomplished by another way than working your butt off or winning the lottery.

My motivation for being rich (in the monetary sense) would be that I don't have to work anymore. My deeper wish is the absense of authority (a boss) and to be able to spend more time with my children. If you think of it that way, it would be crazy to work more hours, right? I work 4 days a week now, hardly no overtime, and my boss values responsible individuals more than mindless office drones. I have more than enough time to see my children growing up, and even enough time for some challenging side projects and hobbies. Which brings me to another epiphany, I guess: time might be money, but money != time. Time you spend with your kids can never be taken away from you, time you don't spend with your kids can never be brought back. It's gone forever.

I'm the richest man in the world.

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

#74

Post by kamaal »

- Ayn Rand is right.

- If you want something, the responsibility of getting that lies on you and you alone. You are responsible for both success and failure.

- To get what you want, 'You should do what it takes'. Even if that's not within the moral/ethical/acceptable norms of the society. Or unpleasant or unhelpful to people people around you.

- You will either follow this and rise, or will be used(and then thrown) by those who follow this. Where you want to be, you decide.

- When you get successful and rich, what ever you do becomes right. Even if that was actually wrong per everybody else before.

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

#75

Post by trevelyan »

makmanalp wrote: post #64
jgrahamc wrote: post #10

Exercise feels good.

Caveat: This is true only after you get over the initial, minor and yet discouraging hump where exercise is only tiring. Ramping up is key, and don't let anyone dictate how slow / easy you start. Then increase gradually, where how gradual is determined by how much better you think you can do. I had to start running slower than the slowest part of the couch-to-5k program (a.k.a the most newbie program to get into runn…

I started by running to the store and buying something (juice, food, whatever). It may not have been the most efficient way to exercise, but it created a Pavlovian feedback mechanism.

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

#77

Post by pontifier »

makmanalp wrote: post #60
pontifier wrote: post #24

I was contemplating a problem I was having, and thought of a solution that was so perfect that both the problem and solution completely annihilated each other. All that remained was the memory that I had had a problem, and solved it. I couldn't even remember what the problem had been because it was totally, and completely, solved. I started to think about what this might mean for finding answers to questions. Perhaps…

This also reminds me of the Curse of Knowledge, where people who know something internalize some valuable perspective which makes it difficult for them to empathize with how it must be not to know.

Yes, that seems very similar. It's difficult for someone to understand a point of confusion when their own knowledge is so clear. Perhaps great teachers can pass on knowledge so effectively because they are better able to remember and guide people past the troubles they had when learning.

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

#78

Post by pontifier »

wulczer wrote: post #32
arethuza wrote: post #13

Two people want to share a cake. The reasonable person asks for half the cake, the unreasonable person asks for the whole cake. They compromise and split the difference - the unreasonable person gets three quarters of the cake and the reasonable person gets a quarter. [I wish I knew the origins of this - I heard it years ago.]

What is the epiphany here? What is the insight or enlightenment to be gained from this story? I have my own, but I'm curious about what people believe is the moral of the story.

I'd say there are at least 2 morals.

First: You don't get what you don't ask for. the other person might really only want a quarter of the cake, but by asking for more than your "fair share" you open the door to allowing them to give you what you want.

Second: By asking for the whole thing, you have placed yourself in a position of power and privilege. The mere act of asking for more implies that you think you deserve it. Someone mentioned posturing in another comment.

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

#79

Post by dirktheman »

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…

I have an identical twin brother. We took separate classes in high school, he was really good at math, physics and science, while I really, really sucked at them. If you asked me at that time, I would tell you 'I just don't get math'. Those were my literal words. We are genetically the same, so it's impossible that his brain is somehow wired in a different way than mine, but I would still say the problem was me, instead of my crap teacher. I got a bad start with math and physics in high school, and it wasn't until years later I picked up programming as a hobby that I regained some interest in mathematical subjects.

I'm just finishing up on a Bayesian flamewar detector. If you would tell the high-school me this years ago I would have said you were crazy...

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

#80

Post by orkoden »

kamaal wrote: post #74

- Ayn Rand is right. - If you want something, the responsibility of getting that lies on you and you alone. You are responsible for both success and failure. - To get what you want, 'You should do what it takes'. Even if that's not within the moral/ethical/acceptable norms of the society. Or unpleasant or unhelpful to people people around you. - You will either follow this and rise, or will be used(and then thrown) b…

Then you will be a rich lonely unhappy asshole. I've seen it happen.
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