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How to Think for Yourself

paulgraham.com

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Re: How to Think for Yourself

#781

Post by rendall »

killtimeatwork wrote: post #90
amadeuspagel wrote: post #50

Like many of pg's essays there's an unqualified glorification of being independent. For example the suggestion that hiring conformist people is something that just happens. It seems more likely that companies more or less consciously hire such people, because a company where everyone thinks independently would be one where everyone wants to do something different, and nothing would get done, no one could agree on any…

I also often notice a self-serving conclusion that you should quit your comfy corporate job (and perhaps create a startup?). In this particular essay, it's close to the bottom: "Is there a way to cultivate curiosity? To start with, you want to avoid situations that suppress it. How much does the work you're currently doing engage your curiosity? If the answer is "not much," maybe you should change something."

"self-serving conclusion"

To me, this comes off as a quite paranoid. Confirmation bias is a real thing: if you seek how any particular essay is self-serving, you will find it in every single essay. If everything is self-serving, then it's not a meaningful signal.

Re: How to Think for Yourself

#782

Post by lovelyviking »

SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #756
lovelyviking wrote: post #751

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The concept was prevalent in 1970s-90s movies because it's a core part of how people who grew up in those decades (like PG) perceive the world. What movies for instance you have in mind that you think influnced core part? >political partisans Who for instance?

It's my understanding that the causality went the other direction; that "nerds" were a clear youth subculture in the 60s and 70s, and this subculture inspired all of the 70s-90s movies about them even as the term "nerd" broadened far beyond any concrete set of characteristics. If you had to pick one movie that contributed the most to fossilizing the image, Revenge of the Nerds has to be it.

Thank you.

>I suspect that he struggles to see the world without that lens applied

If you'll have to select one or two the most important and essential things to see 'without that lens', what would they be in your opinion?

Re: How to Think for Yourself

#783

Post by thisistheend123 »

In comments here, lo and behold, the cult of PG.

The fraternity that gets nothing but an inflated sense of pride from someone who has made a lot of money for himself and a few select others.

They sing kumbaya together on HN when the great leader comes up with another one of his scriptures.

Re: How to Think for Yourself

#785

Post by z3t4 »

VoodooJuJu wrote: post #704
ardit33 wrote: post #629

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know, but I rather hear sporting/fitness advice from someone that won NBA finals, or the soccer World Cup, then just some random loser. The winner at least can tell you how they did succeed personally, even if they have no comprehensive studies with data. On the other hand, you are just a random guy from the internet, and offering advice with no data at all. You might be broke and posting from your mom's base…

It's funny you mention taking advice from successful pro athletes. I'm reminded of a great essay, "How Tracy Austin Broke My Heart" by David Foster Wallace. He writes about his admiration for a successful pro tennis athlete, her intensity and dedication to her sport, and her strangely vacuous response to the question "How do you do it Tracy?" - which she answers with some vague platitudes. His point is: very successf…

If you want to destroy someone's game - just ask how they do it. Thats why you learn a lot by teaching others.

Re: How to Think for Yourself

#786

Post by Swenrekcah »

polote wrote: post #701
aerosmile wrote: post #694

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair enough - one article alone probably wouldn't have had the full impact. But I am envious of the generation of current high schoolers who can read HN all day. After a year or so, I imagine you can reprogram your mind quite a bit. Back in the late 90s, access to information like this was much more limited.

What you are getting from HN at your current age with your experience, is not the same that what your young self would have gotten from the same content

Occasionally I stumble upon an old article posted here and start reading, lamenting the missed opportunities if I'd only seen this article x years ago. Then a bit further into it I start feeling like I have read it before, and I suspect I often have.

Re: How to Think for Yourself

#787

Post by username90 »

Ar-Curunir wrote: post #529
enos_feedler wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think ordering of exposure makes a difference. Being submersed in prior art and then trying to come up with something novel is much harder or less likely than having conviction around a novel idea/experience and then digging into prior art to strengthen your offering.

Uh that's entirely wrong. If you don't even know the tools available to the state-of-the-art, then how can you begin to build new things? For example, in cryptography, if you don't know know about basic things like elliptic curves and hash functions, how are you going to solve any big problem?

Bitcoin is probably an example of this. I really doubt its creator knew about the state of the art in the field, yet he still created the state of the art in the field.

But yes, you are unlikely to do state of the art math without extensive education. However most other fields aren't like that, software engineering included.

Re: How to Think for Yourself

#788

Post by gauchojs »

onemoresoop wrote: post #591
Yajirobe wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

whats wrong with not partying in college?

Absolutely nothing but some people feel that they missed out and it remains as one of those things forever lingering in their minds. Had they done it they'd probably wished otherwise

Most likely, those experiences wouldn't be as remarkable as those who missed it imagine. Still...

Re: How to Think for Yourself

#789

Post by mindhash »

ryeguy_24 wrote: post #615

Am I the only one is getting pretty bored of "formula for success" content? This essay and other's like it, without evidence or data, implies that some of us know the formula for success. I get it, the things that change convention are unconventional at first. This is the definition of unconventional. I agree with the general vector of his essay but this is just boring to me. Here is my formula for success (in case a…

I wouldn't consider this as a formula for success but a sounding board. Most times we are lost in complexities of life and choices, articles like these enable us to get back and re-think, provide clarity. They should be considered as triggers or questions that we should be asking ourselves than a formula.

This is philosophy, should be treated as such.

Re: How to Think for Yourself

#790

Post by username90 »

polote wrote: post #701
aerosmile wrote: post #694

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fair enough - one article alone probably wouldn't have had the full impact. But I am envious of the generation of current high schoolers who can read HN all day. After a year or so, I imagine you can reprogram your mind quite a bit. Back in the late 90s, access to information like this was much more limited.

What you are getting from HN at your current age with your experience, is not the same that what your young self would have gotten from the same content

I learned that working at Google pays a ton and not that hard to get in there. So I learned to code and got a job at Google and made a lot of money thanks to HN. My life got a lot easier thanks to that.

I feel the value of HN is greatly reduced once you are more familiar with the industry. But to an outsider this site is gold.

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