New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson (relatively new) and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig.
Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
731–740 of 747 posts
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#732• "Laws of Form" by George Spencer-Brown, a little book that describes how to bootstrap the Universe from nothing. Louis Kauffman [1] has a lot of papers/writeups on it, from knot theory to quantum physics. If you ever wanted to make a pancake truly from scratch, this is a place to start. • "The Unconscious as Infinite Sets" by Ignacio Matte Blanco. Reformulates Freud in logico-mathematical terms and establishes a fo…
these all sound interesting but the first result of laws of form on amazon shows an edition that claims the first ever proof of the riemann hypothesis, so now i am suspicious because that is obviously a falsehood. it's possible that someone has posthumously edited the original, but either way it shows that the book attracts cranks. any thoughts on this? i see now that wikipedia states that spencer-brown claimed appli…
It does attract eccentric people and spiritual seekers of all sorts ([1] gives a good historical overview), but also open-minded academics, like aforementioned Kauffman; Spencer-Brown's ideas were very popular in cybernetics at the time of Macy conferences, e.g. Varela's autopoiesis was heavily influenced by LoF. I also recall reading something about how Luhmann applied it to sociology.
There are some papers/presentations about applications of ideas based on these laws: circuit optimizations, query engines, various "iconic" algebras [2, 3]; I, like you, have a hard time buying all that (ditto author's claims about Reimann hypothesis), but still, it sounds pretty damn interesting and innovative, e.g. examples of multiplication/addition in 1st vol. of "Iconic Math" were eye-opening and intuitive for me, as a person with kinaesthetic learning style, in a sense that I deeper understood what "number" and "to calculate" mean; it also promotes the invention of various ad-hoc calculi and notations, of which I am a big fan of.
For me, the greatest thing about LoF is cross-fertilization: esoterical mumbo-jumbo benefits from formalization and mathematical approach, while technical disciplines find their root in the spiritual ground; that and the thought experiment of building the world from nothing. It bridges "above" and "below", and kinda reminds me of [4].
[1]: http://www.westdenhaag.nl/information/publications/Alphabetu...
[3]: https://lof50.com/
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#733The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins. It describes what science believes life to be, and it can be very upsetting. Understanding it, however, made me a more confident and happier person than I was before.
Wow. I'm stoked to share this essay I recently discovered in the context of _mind bending_, and because some comments here are critical of Dawkins' views. Susan Blackmore. “Dangerous Memes; or, What the Pandorans Let Loose” (Cosmos & Culture, p.297) [2] Blackmore is writing about 'memes' and reacts to some of Dawkins' critics. I can't say to what degree Blackmore faithfully discusses the contents of 'Selfish Gene' (1…
Dunno why, but link #2 was borked.
www.nasa.gov /connect /ebooks /hist_culture_cosmos_detail.html
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#734Earlier quoted context omitted.
these all sound interesting but the first result of laws of form on amazon shows an edition that claims the first ever proof of the riemann hypothesis, so now i am suspicious because that is obviously a falsehood. it's possible that someone has posthumously edited the original, but either way it shows that the book attracts cranks. any thoughts on this? i see now that wikipedia states that spencer-brown claimed appli…
It does attract eccentric people and spiritual seekers of all sorts ([1] gives a good historical overview), but also open-minded academics, like aforementioned Kauffman; Spencer-Brown's ideas were very popular in cybernetics at the time of Macy conferences, e.g. Varela's autopoiesis was heavily influenced by LoF. I also recall reading something about how Luhmann applied it to sociology. There are some papers/presenta…
Minor correction: not at the time of Macy conferences, but rather at the dawn of the 60s and rise of second-order cybernetics; Macy conferences ended in 1960, while LoF was published in 1969.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#735Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. This book makes every bit of life advice you receive afterwards feel shallow. It feels like a reference to western thought. It's also very well translated and reads very easily, and is very short. I read about a chapter every morning when I feel motivated, and certain passages really stick in my head. It also helps to read whenever you feel overcome with emotion because of something.
An essential part of the hustle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o7qjN3KF8U
This is the best thing I've watched this week. xD
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#736Earlier quoted context omitted.
My take on the trilemma is that Jesus never actually claimed to be God in the first place.
It didn't because declaring it was inconceivable in the Judeo view. But he might well understood he was God.
Claiming to be the Messiah is a long way from claiming to be God. There is good evidence Jesus claimed the former and not the latter (which wouldn’t even make sense to a first-century Jew).
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#737- "Godel, Escher, Bach" by Douglas Hofstadter
- "Foucalt's pendulum" by Umberto Eco.
- "A Perfect Vacuum" by Stanislaw Lem.
- "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#738Earlier quoted context omitted.
I found this book completely degrading, even to the point of nauseating .. it discounts tens of thousands of years of human experience with describing itself, producing a taxonomic monster that is of very little actual use to the common man beyond providing a convenient excuse for ones failings and for the nature of humankinds more banal spirit. Science can be repressive. Dawkins is a classic example of the iron fist…
I agree that it has an unnecessarily downbeat take on the whole business. You can believe in science and evolution and have an "isn't it wonderful" attitude like say Feynman rather than the "We are survival machines – robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes" attitude of that book.
Surprised no one has (at least so far) in this long thread mentioned Feynman's books. Those were the real mind-benders for me. Absolutely made me think differently about myself and my place in the world.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#739Earlier quoted context omitted.
I didn't get that impression at all. What I walked away from was a feeling of dire unease at the popularity of Dawkins' opinion that human beings are machines that can be broken and manipulated by their environment, and that social scientists can exploit this fact to their own ends, in industry, culture and war. It may be 'true' inasmuch as the fact that applying his theories give predictable results, but even the mo…
Read the philosopher of science David Stove's "Darwinian fairytales." You'll realize that Dawkins book is 1) Not orthodox science in any sense of the word, nor really philosophy of science (though it is a popularization of the work of people like William Hamilton) 2) Philosophically bonkers; it's essentially medieval demonology repackaged where the demons are called "genes." 3) Not written by an actual scientist. It'…
Thank you for the excellent references - indeed, I have added these to my queue and will enjoy catching up with you on the subject.
Re: Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?
#740Earlier quoted context omitted.
So who's your favorite sci-fi author?
Ian M Banks. The Culture series is the most splendid collection of books I’ve ever read. Some are better than others but collectively they build an insight into a galaxy spanning civilization.
They are both great authors, of the two I wouldn't be able to say which one is my favourite, they scratch different itches.