Most advice is pretty bad
atis.substack.com
Most advice is pretty bad
1–10 of 90 posts
Re: Most advice is pretty bad
#2So does this advice.
You can definitely develop conscientiousness, and not just genetics. Saying everything is genetics is just lazy.
Re: Most advice is pretty bad
#3I disagree strongly with the article's central thesis, but it is still worth critically examining the source and utility of advice. Even honest and sincerely given advice is often more a form of nostalgia on the part of the giver than a lucid examining of your specific situation and the nuances therein.
It's most often a form of "well this is what I wish I'd done when I was in a similar situation years ago" or "here's what I did when I was in your position and let me tell you how great a choice it was." That is meaningfully distinct from and a lot more common than the much more useful version "I once had something similar happen and afterwards concluded that I should have done X, but the world has changed over the decades and now it seems like kX would yield better outcomes based on Y."
Re: Most advice is pretty bad
#4I disagree strongly with the article's central thesis, but it is still worth critically examining the source and utility of advice. Even honest and sincerely given advice is often more a form of nostalgia on the part of the giver than a lucid examining of your specific situation and the nuances therein. It's most often a form of "well this is what I wish I'd done when I was in a similar situation years ago" or "here'…
Changed over the decades? Your issue with advice is that the giver must have had something happen so long ago that they can tell you about how the world has changed in the meantime?
By your reasoning, you would have rejected that person's advice if they had given it to you earlier because it would have looked a lot like the form of advice you have an issue with.
Re: Most advice is pretty bad
#5In my experience, most situations and their associated decisions are context sensitive, so most general advice is unhelpful, or even harmful. Heeding generalization is the root of many bad outcomes.
Re: Most advice is pretty bad
#6I disagree strongly with the article's central thesis, but it is still worth critically examining the source and utility of advice. Even honest and sincerely given advice is often more a form of nostalgia on the part of the giver than a lucid examining of your specific situation and the nuances therein. It's most often a form of "well this is what I wish I'd done when I was in a similar situation years ago" or "here'…
Changed over the decades? Your issue with advice is that the giver must have had something happen so long ago that they can tell you about how the world has changed in the meantime? By your reasoning, you would have rejected that person's advice if they had given it to you earlier because it would have looked a lot like the form of advice you have an issue with.
It was an example of how someone could give advice while trying to take into consideration the nuances and circumstances of the person's context.
Re: Most advice is pretty bad
#7So does this advice. You can definitely develop conscientiousness, and not just genetics. Saying everything is genetics is just lazy.
OP never said you can't develop conscientiousness, just that it was almost certainly partially genetic. You can learn to run faster, but some genetic profiles will never make it to the Olympics by just practice.
Re: Most advice is pretty bad
#8So does this advice. You can definitely develop conscientiousness, and not just genetics. Saying everything is genetics is just lazy.
"Be hard to compete with" is also not bad advice, at all. What it really boils down to is, start learning to do something that takes a long time to learn now, and once you know it, you'll be ahead of the people who are starting then. And once you've done that, start learning something else that takes a long time to learn.
Re: Most advice is pretty bad
#9It may be helpful to think of advice from the perspective of a "science of life". In science, you often want to spell things out that many people might consider "obvious". The point isn't necessarily to instruct, but to document.
Re: Most advice is pretty bad
#10I disagree strongly with the article's central thesis, but it is still worth critically examining the source and utility of advice. Even honest and sincerely given advice is often more a form of nostalgia on the part of the giver than a lucid examining of your specific situation and the nuances therein. It's most often a form of "well this is what I wish I'd done when I was in a similar situation years ago" or "here'…
Changed over the decades? Your issue with advice is that the giver must have had something happen so long ago that they can tell you about how the world has changed in the meantime? By your reasoning, you would have rejected that person's advice if they had given it to you earlier because it would have looked a lot like the form of advice you have an issue with.
I understood it along the same lines as you and don't understand the down-voting.