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

All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 468 posts

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#131

Post by Bakary »

notabee wrote: post #70
copperx wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

rtpg above has hit the nail on the head. Mocking someone for climbing the wrong ladder isn't necessarily anti intellectualism.

Science itself involves climbing many wrong ladders to verify that they are indeed wrong. Some things you can't know beforehand. Not everything needs that level of dedication, but also, how confident are you that said ladder is wrong unless you've climbed it yourself or have extensive, reliable reports from others who have done so? It's also easy to be like the fox in Aesop's Fables that declares grapes to be sour, u…

Some knowledge of life will necessarily have to be intuitive since you won't be able to come up with a double blind experiment for everything

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#132

Post by Bakary »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #95
perchard wrote: post #72

Just my interpretation (of the Pascal quote), beginning with the full quote. > When I have occasionally set myself to consider the different distractions of men, the pains and perils to which they expose themselves at court or in war, whence arise so many quarrels, passions, bold and often bad ventures, etc., I have discovered that all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay quietly…

With all the sociological data we have now, it’s almost certain that Pascal’s wager has never been more true for those looking to lead a meaningful life.

Which deity do you pick in that case? There are many of them.

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#133

Post by stickfigure »

manigandham wrote: post #82
rtpg wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The person's point is likely that you spent a lot of energy on something that probably doesn't matter. This might be subjective, of course, but it is possible to think about something for longer than you should. Navel-gazing isn't a virtue. Though ideally you probably want to be with people who think that the same stuff is important.

Longer than you should? There is no such thing. Of course it's possible to spend thought without resulting in any new discoveries but that's not really a problem because thoughts are interconnected and build upon each other to create better mental models for other situations. It doesn't matter how petty or insignificant the topic is, it's the act of thinking deeply about something that's important. Anyway, I understa…

> Longer than you should? There is no such thing.

Try getting a toddler to clean up his toys.

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#134

Post by DangitBobby »

camjohnson26 wrote: post #26
dedev54 wrote: post #7

Sorry for the morbid take, but the reason why we cannot sit quietly alone is to distract ourselves from our eventual demise.

Distraction from mortality is actually a recurring point of discussion in Pascal’s writing. “Distraction is the only thing that consoles us for miseries and yet it is itself the greatest of our miseries.”

On this face of it and without reading any of the other writings, this just sounds totally meaningless to me. Is the belief that true meaning or purpose in life can come only from within? What about your own thoughts are so sacred that everything else should be considered a distraction from them?

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#135

Post by dmoy »

manigandham wrote: post #118
hilbertseries wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Overthinking and dwelling on things is a real problem, particularly for people with anxiety disorders. And the suggestion that you can’t think about something for too long is ridiculous.

What's too long? Explain that reasoning. Clearly a disorder is something else other than healthy deep thought. Overthinking, dwelling (and brooding as the other commenter said) isn't the same as contemplative or investigative thought about a topic. Rather, it's the opposite and isn't very thoughtful at all.

Too long is so long that time spent thinking on the thing disrupted or took away time from some other higher priority thing / task / whatever. Or so long that it delayed the decision / outcome / whatever enough that it had materially negative impact compared to making a suboptimal, but earlier decision.

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#136

Post by klyrs »

copperx wrote: post #51
MattGaiser wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have heard that a couple times as well and all but once it has been mocking. There is almost a built in anti intellectualism to some people.

rtpg above has hit the nail on the head. Mocking someone for climbing the wrong ladder isn't necessarily anti intellectualism.

No, it's strictly anti-curiosity. The answers found at the top of a wrong ladder can be more illuminating than the solution being sought after.

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#137

Post by mleonhard »

occamschainsaw wrote: post #85

This quote has fascinated me for a long time. It seems that this is a skill that can be sharpened with deliberate practice. I went to a 10 day silent meditation retreat (Vipasana) abs felt I got much more comfortable sitting by myself just observing my thoughts. The practice part was difficult, probably one of the hardest things I have ever done. 10 days of no talking/reading/writing, sitting in a room, observing you…

I also attended a 10-day silent meditation retreat (the Goenka one) three years ago. I'm an atheist. I learned a crucial life skill at the retreat: awareness of my mood and thoughts. It's like adding realtime metrics to my emotional core and consciousness core. My state became observable. Since then, I've built a habit of checking those metrics and taking actions to improve my wellbeing. My life has gotten a lot better.

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#139

Post by colechristensen »

wpietri wrote: post #105
codechicago277 wrote: post #50

This quote comes from Blaise Pascal's Pensées, accessible here. "That is why we like noise and activity so much. That is why imprisonment is such a horrific punishment. That is why the pleasure of being alone is incomprehensible. That is, in fact, the main joy of the condition of kingship, because people are constantly trying to amuse kings and provide them with all sorts of distraction.—The king is surrounded by peo…

That has a lot of resonance for me. In this modern age, we are all kings, and there are vast industries to save us from ever being alone from our thoughts. For December, I quit sugar, social media, and video games. It's been really interesting to notice what state I'm in when I go to reach for those things. Sometimes it's just habit, but often it's because I'm uncomfortable or in distress and want to avoid those feel…

Have you noticed any changes?

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#140

Post by [deleted] »

joe_the_user wrote: post #96
occamschainsaw wrote: post #85

This quote has fascinated me for a long time. It seems that this is a skill that can be sharpened with deliberate practice. I went to a 10 day silent meditation retreat (Vipasana) abs felt I got much more comfortable sitting by myself just observing my thoughts. The practice part was difficult, probably one of the hardest things I have ever done. 10 days of no talking/reading/writing, sitting in a room, observing you…

I've done a variety of meditation techniques and certainly appreciate the benefits they may offer. One thing I'd say is that it's not always the techniques that feel the hardest that actually offer the most benefits. I believe Buddha's term "middle way" referred to a way that was in the middle between extreme privation/altered consciousness and the ordinary world. I think those interested in meditation techniques sho…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN