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

theguardian.com

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

#341

Post by wpietri »

gambiting wrote: post #237
wpietri wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How helpful to have a person who knows nothing about my situation police my behaviors because of a vague congruence and an apparent desire to score internet points. No, for the purposes of what I'm doing, HN was not included in that. From my perspective, HN isn't really designed for addiction in the same way. No personalized, UAM-optimized algorithmic feed, no infinite river of small content bites, no rich mechanisms…

"From my perspective, HN isn't really designed for addiction in the same way." I mean, it's fine that you feel this way, and you are probably correct - it wasn't designed for it. But I suspect for a lot of us , me included, it serves that exact purpose. I post so that strangers on the internet read it and give me likes. I compulsively check my comments section on my account to see how many upvotes my comments have. E…

Sure. I agree it has addiction potential, which is why I have the noprocrast feature turned on, and have for years. And clearly a lot of people get there "someone is wrong in the internet" fix here. But it wasn't a problem for me in the months of the election, so I didn't have the same need to quit it. Ergo I didn't.

As to the design question, I think the biggest things it's missing for me versus modern social networks in terms of addiction potential: 1) river-of-content setup; 2) algorithmic feed with personalized engagement; 3) images; 4) video; 5) wide topic variety; 6) follow graph; 7) real-world social connections in the platform; 8) on-platform notifications; 9) on-phone notifications.

> why are you replying to strangers that you are unlikely to ever meet

For me this platform is as close as I have to discussing things with my profession. So both with my professional Twitter account and this account, I see it as an opportunity to influence my field a bit and support younger colleagues where I can. Were it not for that, I'd just consume it in a read-only way, as over the years I've come to see on-line argumentation as unhealthy for me.

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

#342

Post by Zelphyr »

egor2820 wrote: post #283
onecommentman wrote: post #65

“You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet, still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.” - Franz Kafka

I actually fall asleep before that moment comes

Practice noticing when you’re falling asleep. That alone can be every bit as helpful.

The key word here being “practice”. I doubt anyone achieves these ecstatic states without it.

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

#343

Post by derwiki »

arnejenssen wrote: post #336

My favourite Christmas activity is a 7-day digital detox. A weeklong solo offline retreat in a cabin. I do it during the holidays because it is the easiest to block off the calendar. The retreat it self is not very "exciting", but the effect on mental clarity around the 4th day is profound.

Out of curiosity, do you do any journaling/writing? I’ve found that time thinking is great (running, biking) but it’s when I start writing that thoughts/solutions really start solidifying.

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

#344

Post by derwiki »

ck425 wrote: post #219
Mulpze15 wrote: post #189

What helps me is to walk, instead of sitting in a room. When I walk, my fidgety body is kept busy, and leaves my brain in peace, not even costing any brain-cpu cycles. Then, it is a lot harder to reach to your cellphone when you walk. So it helps me get rid of 2 major distractions, body and phone, with very little effort. Now I can think.

This. Unfortunately it's much harder in winter due to short days where I live (currently 7 hour days) but in summer it's great. I find audiobooks and podcasts are also great for walking. Popular science and good self help is interesting but the best ones for a quiet state of complementation are thoughtful interviews, biographies and story driven intellectual books (Yuval Noah Harari is particularly excellent). In som…

Sorry to nit, but aren’t the podcasts distractions? And tangentially: I listen the the ambient album Weightless by Marconi Union when I want to think but also drown out outside noise.

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

#345

Post by samstave »

loufe wrote: post #331
Mulpze15 wrote: post #189

What helps me is to walk, instead of sitting in a room. When I walk, my fidgety body is kept busy, and leaves my brain in peace, not even costing any brain-cpu cycles. Then, it is a lot harder to reach to your cellphone when you walk. So it helps me get rid of 2 major distractions, body and phone, with very little effort. Now I can think.

I completely agree here. In "Think Fast and Slow" the author talks about how much more productive and clear his time was when he took his thinking time and walked for it.

I call it "moving meditation" -- Hiking, biking, walking, running and martial arts (for me).

I dont listen to music in headphones often at all - Especially when running or biking - I like the calm silence of just me and my thoughts.

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

#346

Post by Zelphyr »

jhedwards wrote: post #314

I really liked Konrad Lorenz's explanation of this. He said that every innate ability to learn has a corresponding innate "teaching mechanism". For example, an animal like a duck won't necessarily reason "hmm, is this a safe spot? Maybe I should find an area with more protection from [predator]", instead it will have an innate anxiety that it feels when it is in an unsafe place, and that anxiety will drive it to find…

Yes!! This is where our modern society has gotten off track in thinking emotions such as fear are “bad”. That’s like saying skin is bad. It’s simply there to protect you. Unlike skin, sometimes our emotions try a little too hard to protect us but we can practice noticing that and in doing so the mind begins to learn better what should and should not be feared.

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

#347

Post by samstave »

derwiki wrote: post #344
ck425 wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. Unfortunately it's much harder in winter due to short days where I live (currently 7 hour days) but in summer it's great. I find audiobooks and podcasts are also great for walking. Popular science and good self help is interesting but the best ones for a quiet state of complementation are thoughtful interviews, biographies and story driven intellectual books (Yuval Noah Harari is particularly excellent). In som…

Sorry to nit, but aren’t the podcasts distractions? And tangentially: I listen the the ambient album Weightless by Marconi Union when I want to think but also drown out outside noise.

Wow a 10 hour version...

Thanks for the recommendation - Ill check it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYnA9wWFHLI

Downloading it with Youtube-DL - Sadly, I forgot my headphones at home and am about to board a plane...

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

#348

Post by bob33212 »

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…

I want to pay $20/month for something like highscalability.com It hits 80% of the stories I cared about during the week and I get them in 30-40 minutes on a Friday. I don't think this type of service exists because it would have to intentionally limit the growth of the company. When someone asked for a daily update / hourly update / or news feed you would have to say no. And a competitor may emerge that makes more money and eventually tries to buy you.

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

#349

Post by IndySun »

Hate this tiresome retreading like some literary diarrhoea. Some late middled aged white man quoting some dead white men back when white men held all the aces through physical means. The future is women, if we are to exist beyond 2100. At least, after referencing a load of men, the living middle aged man suggests a woman at the end.

Tiresomely ignorant.

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

#350

Post by SyzygistSix »

throwaway316943 wrote: post #269
wcoenen wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Then, you see the truth, of life, existence and the universe. Pretty words, but do they mean anything? For example, if I reach this state, will it be revealed to me why there is something rather than nothing? I think not, otherwise someone would have reported back with the answer already. I'm interested in meditation to learn more about my own body and mind, maybe improve my life somehow. But IMHO the discussions a…

> there is something rather than nothing Is there?

I like to rephrase questions and suppositions like this using E-Prime. For me it helps reveal the underlying dynamic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Prime

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