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Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

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Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#451

Post by owlninja »

afpx wrote: post #306
darkerside wrote: post #192

This might be super basic, but... assume positive intent. Your parent is not your enemy. Your teacher is not your enemy. Your boss is not your enemy. The other team at work is not your enemy. The corporation is not your enemy. The other political party is not your enemy. Or, more accurately, YOU are not THEIR enemy. At best, you're an NPC in their game. Many of them probably even want to help you, because you are ano…

My life experiences don't match your mental model, sadly. Maybe it has to do with where and how one grows up? For example, I know with certainty that my parents, teachers, and first bosses were enemies. A lot of people on HN seem to have grown up in safe, nurturing, loving environments. But, remember that most of the world's people didn't. I don't mean to call you out - just saying that I would love to have had your…

Most? Based on what?

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#452

Post by AlexCoventry »

NewEntryHN wrote: post #162
ncfausti wrote: post #146

The Growth Mindset. To briefly sum up the findings: Individuals who believe their talents can be developed (through hard work, good strategies, and input from others) have a growth mindset. They tend to achieve more than those with a more fixed mindset (those who believe their talents are innate gifts). This is because they worry less about looking smart and they put more energy into learning. Along with this goes em…

Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. But if talent starts working hard, it's game over.

Talent is too vague a concept to be useful.

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#453

Post by DapperZoom »

admiral33 wrote: post #354
ignoramous wrote: post #292

I am going to cheat a bit and give you three things that have had a lasting impact on me: First is this quote from Lincoln, "I hate that man. I must get to know him better". This has helped me shed biases and prejudices that stop me from liking someone on the first few interactions. Instead of shunning them, I seek to know them better, in the hope that I see past the veil and reach out to the actual human on the othe…

Thank you for that Lincoln quote. I went to a very diverse University (Upstream, Red Team) and one of the hunches I've walked away with is that at the core of prejudice is a missing friend on the other side.

I really loved that quote, but are you sure it is a Lincoln quote?

A Google search leads to this page.

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#454

Post by DapperZoom »

DapperZoom wrote: post #453
admiral33 wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for that Lincoln quote. I went to a very diverse University (Upstream, Red Team) and one of the hunches I've walked away with is that at the core of prejudice is a missing friend on the other side.

I really loved that quote, but are you sure it is a Lincoln quote? A Google search leads to this page.

"I don't like that man. I must get to know him better."

-Abraham Lincoln

Close enough

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#455

Post by AlexCoventry »

mortenjorck wrote: post #449

I’m still only somewhat recently down this particular path, but it’s proven to be one of the more profound realizations I can remember: You can’t guilt yourself into doing things you want to accomplish. You’ll always resist and make excuses. The only way is to enjoy the act of doing them. Fighting procrastination, whether by guilt or rewards, is a losing game. Instead, cultivate an appreciation of the task you’re res…

Yes, realizing this was a key breakthrough for me.

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#456

Post by na85 »

bloodorange wrote: post #430
na85 wrote: post #254

Money really does buy happiness. To a point, anyways. Vacations, homes in safe neighborhoods, the best schools for your kids, drugs, hookers, technology gadgets, early retirement, just about anything is more accessible if you are wealthy. The day I realized this was a disappointing day.

Having the things you mentioned (or easy access to them) only frees you up to see if you are happy and to figure out what will make you happy if you aren't. They don't, by themselves, make you happy.

Disagree. If I couldn't afford to live in a safe neighborhood and was always worried about my kid getting shot on the way home from school I would be miserable and stressed out.

Moving to an area with a lower violent crime rate would objectively make me happier.

If I was wealthy enough I could simply not work, and spend my days hanging out with my daughter and spouse. That would objectively make me happier.

Re: Ask HN: Name one idea that changed your life

#458

Post by srl »

motiw wrote: post #112

My personal realization that Evolution is the other “theory of everything”, with the exception of the laws of physics, evolutionary processes are shaping everything, including progress in science, economy, history, politics, ideas, social, emotions, religion, etc.

This might be it for me too -- although it feels wrong to call this "one idea", because to me it's really a broad family of related ideas. There's some Jordan Peterson video where he sums up a social aspect of evolution as (paraphrasing slightly) "the thing that rises to the top of hierarchies is necessarily that thing which is good at rising to the top of hierarchies". CGP-Grey has a video discussing the version of this idea that applies to... well, to ideas, I guess. It's weird, because at some level I already knew everything he said, but that video nevertheless made quite an impact on me.

It's not at all obvious to me that the laws of physics are an exception to this, by the way. Anthropic arguments are a sort of primitive form of evolutionary process (in the vein of "we're in this part of the universe because this is the part of the universe that could have us").

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