Mihály Csíkszentmihályi has died • Hacker News Board

Re: Mihály Csíkszentmihályi has died

#41

Post by layer8 » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 12:35 PM UTC

DocTomoe wrote: post #40

kashyapc wrote: post #31

One of my favorite quotes from his book, Flow : "The ultimate test for the ability to control the quality of experience is what a person does in solitude, with no external demands to give structure to attention. It is relatively easy to become involved with a job, to enjoy the company of friends, to be entertained in a theater or at a concert. But what happens when we are left to our own devices? Alone, when the dark…

> Csíkszentmihályi's Flow also introduced me to Seneca and Marcus Aurelius (although, I prefer Epictetus to Aurelius). Flow led me down the rabbit hole to philosophical Daoism. It is astonishing how closely intertwined philosophy and psychology turn out to be.

> It is astonishing how closely intertwined philosophy and psychology turn out to be.

It’d be surprising if they weren’t, if you think about it. :)

Re: Mihály Csíkszentmihályi has died

#42

Post by Koshkin » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 1:03 PM UTC

(OT) One big problem of completely different languages sharing the same alphabet is the tendency to keep the spelling of names in the original language rather than convert it to reflect the way it may be read off in your own. For the life of me I can’t even guess how to pronounce this post’s title. (Or, when you have to call a guy whose last name - in English - is Chrząszcz, what do you do?)

Re: Mihály Csíkszentmihályi has died

#43

Post by thebrainkid » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 1:07 PM UTC

Koshkin wrote: post #42

(OT) One big problem of completely different languages sharing the same alphabet is the tendency to keep the spelling of names in the original language rather than convert it to reflect the way it may be read off in your own. For the life of me I can’t even guess how to pronounce this post’s title. (Or, when you have to call a guy whose last name - in English - is Chrząszcz, what do you do?)

The Mnemonic (which I heard from Merlin Mann's podcast) is to approximate the pronounciation of "Csikszentmihalyi" as "Chick sent me, hi"

Re: Mihály Csíkszentmihályi has died

#44

Post by kevinmgranger » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 1:08 PM UTC

stavros wrote: post #35

kmarc wrote: post #19

For the casual HN reader, he was the one who recognized and scientifically described the creative state of "flow" [1] Why would it be of interest for the audience of hackernews? Well, programmers and related fields' mostly creative workers tend to experience the flow, and even though it is hard to explain (or describe, for that matter) most of us agree that it's great to be in. [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fl…

I tend to describe flow as "when an hour passes in three minutes".

"...and you're happy with the time spent", to exclude time blindness, zoning out in a meeting, etc.

Re: Mihály Csíkszentmihályi has died

#45

Post by stavros » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 1:11 PM UTC

kevinmgranger wrote: post #44

stavros wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tend to describe flow as "when an hour passes in three minutes".

"...and you're happy with the time spent", to exclude time blindness, zoning out in a meeting, etc.

Ah yes, though those tend to be "three minutes pass in an hour" for me.

Re: Mihály Csíkszentmihályi has died

#46

Post by pronik » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 1:11 PM UTC

Koshkin wrote: post #42

(OT) One big problem of completely different languages sharing the same alphabet is the tendency to keep the spelling of names in the original language rather than convert it to reflect the way it may be read off in your own. For the life of me I can’t even guess how to pronounce this post’s title. (Or, when you have to call a guy whose last name - in English - is Chrząszcz, what do you do?)

I can wholeheartedly recommend languages which do not care about original spelling, either by having different alphabets (was it "Хрящ" you wanted to know? Easy-peasy in Cyrillic) or just imposing their own rules (e.g. Latvian: "Mihājs Čīksentmihāji"). Elsewhere, if you are e.g. learning German, you have to at least master German, English and French pronounciation with some bits of Latin grammar.

Re: Mihály Csíkszentmihályi has died

#47

Post by jhedwards » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 1:15 PM UTC

killtimeatwork wrote: post #39

ramenator wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is an odd question to ask, lol.

It's a perfectly fine question. A lot of nonfiction books contain their authors' pet theories, along with a bunch of anecdotes and handwaving to make them seem justifiable or even scientific. Some of them quote "scientific" research from fields like psychology - but that research itself is hardly scientific (hence recent replication crisis) and is also used out of context in the book. As for the question if these boo…

This seems like a very bizarre characterization. Technically On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin and Relativity by Einstein are non-fiction. I'm very happy to say I've had my mind warped by their pet theories.

Re: Mihály Csíkszentmihályi has died

#48

Post by killtimeatwork » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 1:22 PM UTC

jhedwards wrote: post #47

killtimeatwork wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a perfectly fine question. A lot of nonfiction books contain their authors' pet theories, along with a bunch of anecdotes and handwaving to make them seem justifiable or even scientific. Some of them quote "scientific" research from fields like psychology - but that research itself is hardly scientific (hence recent replication crisis) and is also used out of context in the book. As for the question if these boo…

This seems like a very bizarre characterization. Technically On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin and Relativity by Einstein are non-fiction. I'm very happy to say I've had my mind warped by their pet theories.

They both present compelling evidence and can be thus classified as science. Darwin spent a couple decades accumulating evidence before he wrote the book.

Also, majority of non-fiction textbook are about psychology, economy, sociology, history etc. which are vastly more intractable than biology and physics.

Re: Mihály Csíkszentmihályi has died

#49

Post by fallat » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 1:26 PM UTC

Tangential question: Could someone tell me how you're supposed to read "Csíkszentmihályi" ?

To me it seems that names are supposed to be broken up into their syllables, but I could be very wrong:

Csiks-zent-mihal-yi

Essentially the same as:

Sixzent-mehalyee

Re: Mihály Csíkszentmihályi has died

#50

Post by treszkai » Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 1:28 PM UTC

Koshkin wrote: post #42

(OT) One big problem of completely different languages sharing the same alphabet is the tendency to keep the spelling of names in the original language rather than convert it to reflect the way it may be read off in your own. For the life of me I can’t even guess how to pronounce this post’s title. (Or, when you have to call a guy whose last name - in English - is Chrząszcz, what do you do?)

He and his name have Hungarian origins, and Hungarian words can be pronounced letter-by-letter, with emphasis on the first syllable. The main problems: what are the letters (some consist of multiple characters), and how are they pronounced.

Mihály Csíkszentmihályi

- M: /m/

- i: /i/ approximately as in big

- h: /h/ as in “hi”

- á: /aː/ as in “father”

- ly: /j/ as in “yes”

- Cs: /tʃ/ as in “cheek”

- í: /iː/ as in “cheek”

- k: /k/ as in “cheek”

- sz: /s/ as in “scent” or “saint” (which means “szent” in Hungarian)

- e: /e/ as in “scent”

- n: /n/ as in “scent”

- t: /t/ as in “scent”

- mihály: as his first name

- i: /i/

Overall: /ˈmihaɪ ˈtʃiːksɛntmiˌhɑːji/ ≈ mihaay cheek-scent-mihaayi

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Mih%C3%A...