On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking • Hacker News Board

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#171

Post by Archelaos » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 10:43 AM UTC

ilovefood wrote: post #118

I love walking and there are many parks next to where I live. However I am never able to fully enjoy it or indulge in any longer thinking activities as most of the time I'll be interrupted by either elderly people asking me "to go back where I came from" or random ID checks by undercover police. This happened a lot (5x times) over the last year when I decide to go and walk in a park, once even during an online call w…

I would like to encourage you to make your experience (semi-)public in your local community. In times of campaigning, talk to people at campaign booths. Tell the members of the city/local council of different parties about it. Go to the mayor's public office hours.

And look for a group of people who want to something about it. There are also a large number of Germans who find the racist discrimination by the police scandalous and think that it is high time to do something about it. Best not individually, but collectively.

Then attitudes can change, even in conservative circles. I come from a place that recently elected a mayor with a Turkish background who was supported by the conservative party (CDU). Something like this would hardly have been conceivable twenty years ago, but I hope that it will now become the norm.

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#172

Post by noisy_boy » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 10:46 AM UTC

Baeocystin wrote: post #99

noisy_boy wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting indeed. Where can you find lectures that are far removed from, say, software engineering, but still provide solid new information without being either too superficial or too hard to grasp due to level of depth? I don't like to exercise but may be something like this would get me to go for walks.

I listen to the Great Courses catalog via Audible. For example: I'm personally interested in archaeology & anthropology, and just finished this lecture series covering ancient mesoamerica: https://www.audible.com/pd/Maya-to-Aztec-Ancient-Mesoamerica... 48 lectures, ~23 hours. Loved it. Didn't spent a single minute the entire time thinking about anything even tangentially related to iptables, regular expressions, or w…

Thank you - this an area of interest for me as well (my mind wanders away trying to imagine the nitty-gritties of the lives of ancient folks). Will check it out.

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#173

Post by vt85 » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 10:48 AM UTC

switch007 wrote: post #124

ilovefood wrote: post #118

I love walking and there are many parks next to where I live. However I am never able to fully enjoy it or indulge in any longer thinking activities as most of the time I'll be interrupted by either elderly people asking me "to go back where I came from" or random ID checks by undercover police. This happened a lot (5x times) over the last year when I decide to go and walk in a park, once even during an online call w…

That was heartbreaking to read. I’m sorry. It really surprised me when I read Germany. Shame on those people and the politicians who allow police to harass you. Shame on them!

[dead]

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#174

Post by FreeFull » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 10:51 AM UTC

romwell wrote: post #110

b215826 wrote: post #79

Yet another great mind (also an infamous introvert) who used to take long walks to refresh his mind was Paul Dirac. From his 1963 interview [1] with Thomas Kuhn, he describes how a decisive Sunday walk made him see the analogy between commutators in quantum mechanics and Poisson brackets in classical mechanics: > "I used to take long walks on Sundays and get away from the work altogether, and at the end of those walk…

>also an infamous introvert ...and a person who likely had ASD[1][2][3][4] (aka Asperger's, being on the spectrum, etc). As did Charles Darwin (see my other comment in this thread). [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC539373/ [2] https://www.quora.com/Did-Paul-Dirac-have-Asperger-syndrome [3] https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2009/jan/07/autism-... [4] https://www.newstatesman.com/society/2010/11/…

I am not on the autistic spectrum, but in my experience walking does help a lot with thinking things through. Part of it is certainly the lack of distractions, but there is something about the movement too. I'm not sure why you've brought autism up.

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#175

Post by telside » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 10:53 AM UTC

keerthiko wrote: post #83

jcq3 wrote: post #46

"Historically, however, walking has been the privilege of white men." Come on... Anyway, Nietzsche used to walk before writing like Darwin Long time ago I read that walking or taking a shower make your thinking more effective because it somehow enables automation mode and allow to be more focused

This statement is a bit broad and thus debatable in overall accuracy, but it is based on something real. It is probably overly centered on the western and white-centric world, since being white or not doesn't even come into question in many other parts of the world. But in the US/Europe... Women have been, for valid reasons and patriarchal overprotectiveness, been trained to feel vulnerable and exposed when walking o…

Can't believe there are people that believe utter nonsense like this.

I walk 60 minutes a day. 90% of the women walking at any park in the US are women.

Downvote away. Don't let reality get in your way.

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#176

Post by senthil_rajasek » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 10:54 AM UTC

quadrifoliate wrote: post #133

ilovefood wrote: post #118

I love walking and there are many parks next to where I live. However I am never able to fully enjoy it or indulge in any longer thinking activities as most of the time I'll be interrupted by either elderly people asking me "to go back where I came from" or random ID checks by undercover police. This happened a lot (5x times) over the last year when I decide to go and walk in a park, once even during an online call w…

I thought I was hurt a lot by casually racist comments passed by coworkers in a small, relatively liberal town in the US Midwest. Then I read about your experiences and count myself lucky. I can say nothing other than, I hope things get better over time.

That is not a good comparison. It's not ok to pass casual racist comments.

Casual racists comments and jokes fall into the micro-aggression category.

Next time, I hope you build up the courage to tell your aggressors that you are not ok with racist comments.

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#177

Post by fuzzylama » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 10:56 AM UTC

throwaway803453 wrote: post #49

andy_ppp wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you still believe they were murdered? Who were these people? Which country is performing possible assassinations in America? Why would they want to murder your family member? So many questions!

I wasn't sure if my comment was in the spirit of HN given it's overly personal and is now totally irrelevant to the lithub post. But since you asked -- before the PD's conclusion I told myself I would just accept whatever they report. But doing that has now left me with the lifelong burden of falsely accusing two people of murder. The people were desperately poor in-laws. He was becoming cash poor but was still home…

Which country is that?

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#178

Post by gatlin » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 11:02 AM UTC

notanzaiiswear wrote: post #158

ilovefood wrote: post #118

I love walking and there are many parks next to where I live. However I am never able to fully enjoy it or indulge in any longer thinking activities as most of the time I'll be interrupted by either elderly people asking me "to go back where I came from" or random ID checks by undercover police. This happened a lot (5x times) over the last year when I decide to go and walk in a park, once even during an online call w…

A friend of mine who is white also was checked by the police a lot (in Germany), simply because he had a certain jacket that was apparently associated with drug dealers or trouble makers (checks can include anal probes for hidden drugs, apparently). So maybe dressing for the occasion could work. Sorry for your ordeal. You'd think police would know you after the umpteenth check.

This advice is warm spirited and practical and I endorse taking actions to make oneself safer. But, also, it's disgusting that anyone should be harassed by police and feel unsafe walking where they live. That is a terrible status quo and the GP deserves better, full stop.

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#179

Post by cerebrum » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 11:10 AM UTC

ilovefood wrote: post #118

I love walking and there are many parks next to where I live. However I am never able to fully enjoy it or indulge in any longer thinking activities as most of the time I'll be interrupted by either elderly people asking me "to go back where I came from" or random ID checks by undercover police. This happened a lot (5x times) over the last year when I decide to go and walk in a park, once even during an online call w…

What's the name of the city?

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#180

Post by tekkk » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 11:19 AM UTC

When I'm excited about an idea I have a compulsion to walk around in basically circles. I don't know exactly why but i assume when body enters such elavated alertness you have to let out steam somehow.

Otherwise, i prefer running as it to me gives more bang for the buck. It's crucial if you have a sedentary job to elevate your blood-circulation to be able work productively through the day. Regular anaerobic exercise seems quite ideal for that.