Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 278 posts

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#181

Post by ThrustVectoring »

jacobolus wrote: post #163
ThrustVectoring wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>What's worrisome about the immigration trends? Places like the US and Denmark are incredibly non-corrupt, while places like Russia, Brazil, and Nigeria are highly corrupt. Why some places are corrupt and others aren't is poorly understood magic of some sort. One fairly decent guess is something like "cultural factors" - Danish bureaucrats aren't corrupt because they expect that other non-corrupt Danes would punish t…

These “cultural factors” have to do with strong social and economic institutions like public schools and libraries, reasonably fair and legitimate court systems, a free press and freedom of association, a somewhat accountable and accessible political system, stable and reasonably clearly defined property rights, highly functioning distribution networks for basic goods and services, a fluid job market with protection…

>There’s no evidence that immigrants (documented or undocumented) cause any more corruption or crime than native born residents. Indeed, the evidence we have in the USA generally suggests that first and second generation immigrants are less likely to break the law than other residents.

The immigration restrictions are a big confounder here. The US is much more likely to let doctors and engineers immigrate. If these folks then have low crime rate, it could either be because of being an immigrant or because of being a professional. If it's more the latter, that isn't great evidence for letting other kinds of immigrants in.

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#182

Post by jacobolus »

reddytowns wrote: post #169
jacobolus wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These “cultural factors” have to do with strong social and economic institutions like public schools and libraries, reasonably fair and legitimate court systems, a free press and freedom of association, a somewhat accountable and accessible political system, stable and reasonably clearly defined property rights, highly functioning distribution networks for basic goods and services, a fluid job market with protection…

Legitimate court systems, accountable political system, protection of labor rights, they are all examples of things not being corrupt. So the reason for less corruption can't be less corruption. You're talking in circles here.

You’re missing my point, which is that the “cultural factors” are not about individual people being inherently “corrupt”, but more about institutional strength and power distribution in the whole society. The US has a long history of integrating immigrants from a variety of cultural backgrounds, historically including large numbers of rural peasants from quasi-feudal societies, and plenty of people from places dominated by local “corruption”.

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#183

Post by mr_overalls »

hash-set wrote: post #178
jree2 wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taleb is a Trump like clown. Just because both have the capacity to point of hypocrisy in the system, don't let that misguide you into believing they are qualified to talk about solutions. There is no comparison to Pinker.

I don't think Trump would pack those venues so full of people if he wasn't somehow in tune with what a whole lot of people are thinking. He is easy to dismiss. He is not a politician. He is not pre-packaged or polished. He is not particularly well educated. But he's right--the US is not living up to its ideals. We can even run a clean election. America ended in 2008. We've been living off of a corpse ever since. At s…

To reiterate: just because he recognizes the malaise, doesn't mean he has a cure. I had a political scientist who described Communism as having diagnosed the disease (class struggle), but having been unable to come up with a reasonable cure.

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#184

Post by CuriouslyC »

jree2 wrote: post #159
blfr wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's ignoring risks. It's like being the richest you've ever been in 2007. True but not reassuring. We have nukes, very worrying demographic trends in the west with massive migrations, and a declining hegemon. We're comfortable but fragile. What I want to say is that Taleb seems to have a better handle on things than Pinker.

Taleb is a Trump like clown. Just because both have the capacity to point of hypocrisy in the system, don't let that misguide you into believing they are qualified to talk about solutions. There is no comparison to Pinker.

Taleb doesn't take himself seriously, Pinker takes himself far too seriously. Taleb is entertaining, Pinker draws out his ideas to the point of tedium. Taleb is a skeptical empiricist, Pinker likes to get lost in theory.

Pinker certainly has Taleb lapped in terms of old guard intellectual credentials. Whether that is a good thing is debatable.

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#185

Post by blackoil »

trynumber9 wrote: post #45

"In America today, compared with 50 years ago, three times as many working-age men are completely outside the work" I was taught that work is one of only two uses for a man. That other being a good father. It must be wrong but it is an unshakable thought. I can't imagine how I would hate myself if I couldn't provide. This fear, even though I have no dependents, is far greater than my fear of being unneeded. Maybe it'…

this fear drives you to save more. My parent's generation had large saving and near 0 debt(except house) because of the fear of loosing. As the society advances, like I believe in Scandinavian country, the risk of not being able to provide food, health, education to kids and family goes down. This alleviates the fear and allows people to take more risk and still a happier life.

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#186

Post by CuriouslyC »

wozer wrote: post #70
sjclemmy wrote: post #16

It's odd, the world is the safest and most stable that it has ever been. There has never been a better time to be a human being, and yet, the media and certain politicians would have you believe that there is disaster after disaster, terrorist plots afoot around every corner, feeding your fear day after day. If ever there was an example of the devil at work, then that's it(and I'm not even religious). Uncertainty abo…

As the Dalai Lama writes, to feel needed is a basic human need. For more and more people, this need is NOT fulfilled. So, no, this is not the best time to be a human being.

I would argue that feeling needed fulfills a deeper need. What people really want is a sense of connectedness, which could be to other people, or to the divine.

A connection with the divine is available to anyone, at any time. It is only because science has caused us to throw the spiritual baby out with the religious bathwater that we have lost our access.

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#187

Post by xherberta »

NTDF9 wrote: post #111

Anecdotally, I've been thinking about this. "Being needed" is can also be looked at as "having a sense of purpose". Today, the only "Sense of purpose" is wealth accumulation and debt reduction. There is very little we can do with: - Family (marriages, divorces are way too high)..not permanent - Community (everyone lives in distant houses and neighbors change frequently)..not permanent - Kids (nobody can afford one),…

In my experience wealthy people != satisfied people.

Take heart! Plenty of marriages do endure. Community does exist. People can and do find joy and meaning in raising kids on paltry incomes. Friendship is possible!

Relationships can be more satisfying when you drop the expectation that your efforts will be reciprocated. Giving can be its own reward.

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#188

Post by pasquinelli »

sjclemmy wrote: post #16

It's odd, the world is the safest and most stable that it has ever been. There has never been a better time to be a human being, and yet, the media and certain politicians would have you believe that there is disaster after disaster, terrorist plots afoot around every corner, feeding your fear day after day. If ever there was an example of the devil at work, then that's it(and I'm not even religious). Uncertainty abo…

it doesn't matter if something is rare if it happens to you. the fact that i can imagine some terrible situation for me personally is all that's required to feel anxious. not listening to my own mind isn't an option, and i can't just choose not to imagine a constant, ever-varied carousel of horrors.

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#189

Post by steveax »

rfugger wrote: post #113
taurath wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think about how many more humans there are, and how unlikely one is to be a special snowflake. We can be special and needed by others - not to society. I don't think society will give us a role that we can emotionally engage with anymore and take pride in. The only way we can belong is to our relationships.

I agree with this, so I feel for the millions who are largely excluded from meaningful relationships because they have issues or are otherwise difficult or imperfect socially. And to be honest, who doesn't have issues or sometimes feel excluded? Or, more importantly, fear exclusion? Social exclusion no longer means death for humans, but our brains are wired to feel that it does, and so there is an epidemic of lonelin…

Your post reminded me of the Fresh Air interview with Sebastian Junger a while back [1]. I've not read the book yet, but it's on my list.

[1]: http://www.npr.org/2016/05/21/478962909/sebastian-junger-s-e...

Re: Dalai Lama: Behind Our Anxiety, the Fear of Being Unneeded

#190

Post by notaresearcher »

greendragon wrote: post #86
johnwheeler wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know if he's the originator, but Penn Jillette said one of my favorite quotes: "Everyone always thinks the world is getting worse, but the world is always getting better."

It's really technology that is always getting better. It has been so successful that it's hard to see the decline in so many other things. Factor out technological advances when answering these questions. Are our universities really better than they were 100 years ago? Even just 50? Are our political systems any better than 100 years ago? 2000 years ago? Are our stories any better? Are our People any better? Is our a…

As Poot says in The Wire: "World going one way, people another."
Post reply on HN