What game are you playing?
151–160 of 197 posts
Re: What game are you playing?
#152Earlier quoted context omitted.
The game I'm playing is "read articles that HN users found interesting, and then see what other HN users had to say about that topic". I guess I can conclude that davidkuennen is playing is some other game. They're probably very good at it, or at least having fun.
Yes, you're playing a losing game. Others read headlines, form their opinions and decide what they want to say, then come to the comments to say it. Usually they scan the comments to check they're on topic, then give their pre-formed opinion. Sometimes they'll instead share that they had a different idea about a different topic if the comments reveal they were mistaken about the topic. Occasionally they'll find anoth…
Re: What game are you playing?
#153Re: What game are you playing?
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you understand the other games out there, you may find you are playing the wrong one. Hard to decide that if you don't know all the games.
True. Was angling for that with the "that those will remain stable". It seems easier to personally define what one thinks winning is, and then evaluate (and modify if possible) the games we come across.
Re: What game are you playing?
#155> [...] and Edgar is the worst football player he has ever seen. [...] After Brad leaves the stadium, Edgar hits a home run, winning the game. The irony. Or the sarcasm. This is comedy gold on so many levels.
Can you explain it? Is it something that's entirely dependent on understanding US-only cultural references?
Re: What game are you playing?
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Whatever your pursuit, if you’re being judgmental of most other people, then you’re probably missing something big Sure, but this may very well be intentional and good; an entire community can become pathological, and it then makes sense (and is good) for principled people to trust their judgement, even if it makes them an outcast. Liberal-minded people often had this reaction to the mid-century rise of fascism, to…
> it then makes sense (and is good) for principled people to trust their judgement, even if it makes them an outcast. I don't get this. Being judgemental always seemed immature to me. Being curious and trying to understand why individuals or groups do seemingly irrational things: yes. Being judgemental (or "principled" (is this synonymous?)): no. To me, that was always a sign of someone who hasn't made sense of thems…
Why? And I'm sure you and I could both give plenty of reasons, but ultimately it's just an opinion. Someone observing a cat torturing another animal solely for its own entertainment (with no intention of even eating it), might well argue why we then in turn feel so obligated to treat them so well - especially were roles reversed in terms of size, there's no doubt the cat would treat us as just another toy for its passing amusement. And such behavior is far from limited to our feline friends.
And this is what a principle is. It's an "ought" that isn't necessarily based on anything concrete. Do you value security or freedom more? There's no right or wrong answer there, it comes down to what your own personal values and principles. But the reason we hold the principles and values we do is because we believe them to be right. And so in this case, I see no reason to imagine we are not judging other people (even if we might like to imagine its not the case).
And yes, when principles come into contradiction with no room for a middle ground, conflict will eventually emerge. It's the story of humanity's past, present, and undoubtedly future - as much as we might want to not want it to be so.
Re: What game are you playing?
#157While the author may be playing "catch up", this same perception may be true from other perspectives. That the author had "won" at the science game and all others may be playing catch up. What's even more interesting to me is talking to people you went to high school with and seeing their perspective of what "game" you won at.
Re: What game are you playing?
#158Re: What game are you playing?
#159Good thought. My immediate response is "yeah, I really didn't get the games other people were playing in junior high," which is the time frame the article evokes for me. I feel like the gotcha is you have to realize - at least sometimes - that there are still games you don't get. It's easy to feel like, "at ${year - 1} I was such an idiot, glad that's over now." You'd be surprised how many years in a row you can feel…
I'd frame it a little bit differently: "Between last year and now, I grew.". I've found that the best way to avoid feeling like an idiot is to keep an open mind and don't consider others as idiots.
For example, I was bullied when I was younger. It took me a long time to change my attitude when meeting new people from defensive to barely neutral. And I have still progress to make here. I still have a hard time understanding my feelings and those of other people. But each year, I make some progress. I'm a bit less stupid, a bit more sensitive, people are a bit more happy to be around me.
As you said too, accepting that there are some things that you just don't get is important. It's going from a one dimensional scale (that thing is either better or worse than what I'm doing) to a multi dimensional one (I don't understand why that person is doing that thing but it's their life).