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The most precious resource is agency

simonsarris.substack.com

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Re: The most precious resource is agency

#171

Post by andy_ppp »

jraby3 wrote: post #168
overgard wrote: post #18

One of the biggest tragedies isn't just that the childhood is wasted, but that many people never learn to have agency once it is available. I'm not saying you need to start your own business or anything like that, but it seems like most people live their lives never questioning the scripts that are given to them. The basic life script we all seem to have in western society seems pretty awful when you think critically…

I’ve thought about this a lot. What it comes down to is that the only true agency you have is by strengthening your mind. That’s really the only solution I could come up with. Because at the end of the day everything gets old - every act, job, etc. (hedonistic treadmill). And having complete freedom isn’t a solution. You’re still trapped within your own head 24/7. Taking time to pursue meditation and other activities…

Discipline equals Freedom

Re: The most precious resource is agency

#172

Post by papito »

tluyben2 wrote: post #157
papito wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because risk. Rich, privileged people can try different things with zero risk of becoming destitute. And that's how they practically stumble into new opportunities. Adam Neumann was making collapsible heels and toddler knee-pads before he decided to try the pyramid that is WeWork, which ultimately bought him a private jet and multiple houses. Me? I didn't have a chance to "try" things. My room for error was zero . Mu…

> Because risk. Rich, privileged people can try different things with zero risk of becoming destitute You can do that as well in many EU countries. Without being rich.

The world you describe is alien to me.

Re: The most precious resource is agency

#173

Post by Aerroon »

mc32 wrote: post #38
planet-and-halo wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect we are all the prisoners of long-dead economists. Their ideas of people as atomic resources were useful abstractions in some ways (I agree with the point below that their work has led to great material prosperity), but they have also influenced entire generations of overly bureaucratic and inhumane policies. People are treated as "things" to be "managed," and as a consequence they develop learned helplessne…

Economists just try to explain things. They don't make economics. The nation and enterprises big small in concert make an economic system. But, go back far enough in the past before nations and businesses and economics were still in play. It's like numbers, it exists even if we are ignorant of it.

There are economists who try to explain things, but there are also economists who really want to influence policy/politics. It's hard to separate the two. After all, most economists of renown are advocates for some policy they think is best.

Re: The most precious resource is agency

#174

Post by sokoloff »

jkhdigital wrote: post #40
sillysaurusx wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went and did the other side, living nontraditionally and trying to be what I wanted. I just applied for a regular job. Because to be honest, it’s gonna be pretty sweet having a fat bank account, even if it’ll take till I’m 50 to have FU money. My current hypothesis is that the team is all that matters. The work can be the most boring, crud-type work. As long as you’re working with people you like on something vague…

Amen. I’m a sober alcoholic, and if I died tomorrow I’d be content knowing that I did at least one worthwhile thing with the time I had: I helped another alcoholic, a 23 year old man who tried to kill himself shortly before I met him, get sober and start working and move out of his mom’s basement and stand up straight and look other people in the eyes and then go and help a few other people stop drinking. Not a singl…

> why didn’t they tell us it was this simple?

I suspect different people probably did try to tell me versions of that, but it’s very hard to learn deep feelings from hearing other people talk or reading their words as compared to living it yourself. You can read about others’ heartbreak but you learn from your first few breakups. You can read about having kids but nothing prepares you for the deep feelings of parenting.

Maybe being doomed to repeat the learnings others have had is part of the point?

Re: The most precious resource is agency

#175

Post by tluyben2 »

papito wrote: post #172
tluyben2 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Because risk. Rich, privileged people can try different things with zero risk of becoming destitute You can do that as well in many EU countries. Without being rich.

The world you describe is alien to me.

Been living there for almost 50 years. Works fine.

Re: The most precious resource is agency

#176

Post by leoc »

vidarh wrote: post #170
leoc wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is all broadly true, but the fact that 'Ozymandias' is frickin' Ramesses II does undermine the message of the poems a bit. Or more generously, it adds another level of depth to the point that someone's future fame can't easily be predicted by looking at their current fame.

But even Ramessess II is not really "remembered" by more than a tiny handful of people. Most people who recognize the name know nothing about him, and most would never come up with the name unprompted. Most knowledge about him is lost. We know him in the very abstract, not all much different to how we know the Ozymandias of the poems. Does that level of being remembered matter?

To the extent that being remembered after your death matters at all, then absolutely, yes. To go back to the original point of comparison, many more people know Ramesses II now than have ever heard of Paul Graham, and this is when pg is still alive and probably near the all-time peak of his fame. There's a relatively small, but not that small, number of people who can name some of Ramesses II's monuments or other achievements without looking them up. And there are many millions of people who are vaguely aware that he was one of the GOAT Pharaohs, and that was more or less the core objective of all the monument-building.

Re: The most precious resource is agency

#177

Post by sokoloff »

bkirkby wrote: post #126
onion2k wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just applied for a regular job. Because to be honest, it’s gonna be pretty sweet having a fat bank account, even if it’ll take till I’m 50 to have FU money. You will never have FU money working a regular job.

15 years ago a young engineer i worked with overheard me say "getting rich is a pretty easy formula if you are patient." he came to me later and asked me to expound. i told him "the formula is: spend less than you make and invest the left over. you do that long enough and you'll become wealthy." i also told him "from what i can tell, it will happen so gradually that you'll barely notice a difference in your lifestyle…

I’m not a Mustachian by any means, but this post resonated pretty strongly with me when it first came out: https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-si...

Re: The most precious resource is agency

#178

Post by meesterdude »

rendall wrote: post #151

I understand this article's point, but I think it's nonsense, to be honest. It seems like it's saying something, but, really, it's not. It might even be making its readers stupider, sadly. Walt Disney, Leonardo DaVinci, Steve Jobs, et. al. had gigs at 13, so now we draw grand conclusions about how shitty kids have it today? Nah. Doesn't credit. Even accepting as given the undemonstrated premise of the article, that s…

> It seems like it's saying something, but, really, it's not

This was the same takeaway I had of your comment. It reads like glenn beck.

Purpose & meaning are strong motivators and I agree with the author that there is not enough focus on that to help promote agency in individuals. There are societal failure(s) to be highlighted here, despite your unwillingness to see them.

Re: The most precious resource is agency

#179

Post by roland35 »

varjag wrote: post #137
onion2k wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this not FU money yet? You're the problem, not the regular job. I think we have very different ideas of what "FU money" means. FU money is literally enough to be able to do what you want. It's being able to stop asking "Can I afford this?" because you definitely can. It's being able to stop making a choice between two sports cars because you can afford both. It's being able to buy the exact house you want because…

That's not the original definition. FU money is being able to say fuck you to anyone (including your boss) without consequences derailing your life.

I agree with this definition. A lot of factors go into it - how much cash you have in your bank account, how easy it is for you to pick up a new job, etc. Having "FU" money doesn't mean you have to quit your job at the slightest transgression, but rather you are not desperate for the paycheck and can thus stand up for yourself. This in itself is liberating!

At the very beginning of my career I worked in the lab for 36 hours straight trying to finish a project on a tight deadline. I didn't have any "FU" money at that point obviously. If someone asked me to do that today, there would be no way! I wouldn't quit over it necessarily, but I would still be OK financially if I was fired for saying "your deadline is ridiculous!"

Re: The most precious resource is agency

#180

Post by wombatmobile »

Aeolun wrote: post #45
wombatmobile wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the argument Hubert Dreyfuss advances to postulate Artificial General Intelligence can never be achieved - because computers are not “in the world.” > One of the leading critics was the philosopher Hubert Dreyfus, who argued that computers, who have no body, no childhood and no cultural practice, could not acquire intelligence at all. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-020-0494-4

Just raise them as you would a child? Give them a body, upgrade it so they grow every few years. Lets see where we end up.

> Give them a body

OK in theory. In practice, that's a bigger project, by perhaps a hundred years and a trillion dollars?

But you've got the right approach. A body is a prerequisite in order to get exposure to the same data humans receive.

"Lyin' Eyes"

by Don Henley and Glenn Frey

City girls just seem to find out early

How to open doors with just a smile

A rich old man and she won't have to worry

She'll dress up all in lace and go in style

Late at night a big old house gets lonely

I guess every form of refuge has its price

And it breaks her heart to think her love is only

Given to a man with hands as cold as ice

So she tells him she must go out for the evening

To comfort an old friend who's feelin' down

But he knows where she's goin' as she's leavin'

She is headed for the cheatin' side of town

You can't hide your lyin' eyes

And your smile is a thin disguise

I thought by now you'd realize

There ain't no way to hide your lying eyes

On the other side of town a boy is waiting

With fiery eyes and dreams no one could steal

She drives on through the night anticipating

'Cause he makes her feel the way she used to feel

She rushes to his arms, they fall together

She whispers that it's only for awhile

She swears that soon she'll be comin' back forever

She pulls away and leaves him with a smile

You can't hide your lyin' eyes

And your smile is a thin disguise

I thought by now you'd realize

There ain't no way to hide your lyin' eyes

She gets up and pours herself a strong one

And stares out at the stars up in the sky

Another night, it's gonna be a long one

She draws the shade and hangs her head to cry

She wonders how it ever got this crazy

She thinks about a boy she knew in school

Did she get tired or did she just get lazy?

She's so far gone she feels just like a fool

My, oh my, you sure know how to arrange things

You set it up so well, so carefully

Ain't it funny how your new life didn't change things

You're still the same old girl you used to be

You can't hide your lying eyes

And your smile is a thin disguise

I thought by now you'd realize

There ain't no way to hide your lyin' eyes

There ain't no way to hide your lyin' eyes

Honey, you can't hide your lyin' eyes

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