My problem is I read a lot, I am open mind to a very wide variety of subjects. I like reading and I know I am not alone with that, here on HN. The main question is: do you use those information somewhere else or it just sticks in your brain for some later usage? Even if I am focused only on information that I am intrested with it is _too__much_ to gather everything. So, filtering. Still too much. Maybe it's time to switch internet off? There will be always something interesting to read/watch/listen but what will you do on blackout?
Ask HN: Are you an information addict?
61–63 of 63 posts
Re: Ask HN: Are you an information addict?
#62Yes. I find myself consuming more and more material that contains information that is more and more trivial. Today's haul: found out the name and life story of the guy who played "Hoss" on Bonanza. Read an essay on tax policies in a state several hundred miles from my own. Went through an extended interview (linked from here) about life in North Korea. Researched various types of pulse oximeters. And that's just in t…
That's exactly how I feel too. The worst part is that when I think about the cool stuff I read in the last few weeks, there's really little information I can remember.
Re: Ask HN: Are you an information addict?
#63Yes. I find myself consuming more and more material that contains information that is more and more trivial. Today's haul: found out the name and life story of the guy who played "Hoss" on Bonanza. Read an essay on tax policies in a state several hundred miles from my own. Went through an extended interview (linked from here) about life in North Korea. Researched various types of pulse oximeters. And that's just in t…
Sounds similar to pure science, which often ends up finding a use (you know that mathematician who deliberately choose an abstract area with no applications so that it would never end up being used for military purposes - and it was)
It's testable: has anything in the past week (say) turned out to be useful in a way that you didn't expect at the time? (hindsight may obscure how useless it seemed before) Of course it might take much longer for its use to appear. Sometimes indirect, eg you learn concepts/principles from taxes in another state, which later help you understand your own state's tax policies (or something else altogether).