I'm an addict • Hacker News Board

Re: I'm an addict

#161

Post by klik99 » Thu, May 19, 2022, 1:04 PM UTC

ransom1538 wrote: post #100

klik99 wrote: post #93

The broadest definition of addiction I've heard is "When you do something compulsively enough that it's affecting the rest of your life" - the implication being that everyone compulsively do things and that's fine but it's only really a problem when it damages your relationships, careers, happiness, etc. All brain stuff has a chemical component but chemical dependency/addiction is a particuarly dangerous subset of ad…

"When you do something compulsively enough that it's affecting the rest of your life" Similar to what I was told: "When you compulsively do something despite it having negative impacts on your life"

Yeah this is better actually, because "affecting" might be a positive thing :)

But I like framing it this way because if you only think about compulsion you're going to waste a lot of time shutting down things that don't actually matter. We're creatures of habit - we've gotten this far BECAUSE of compulsion, not in spite of it.

Re: I'm an addict

#162

Post by Clubber » Thu, May 19, 2022, 1:04 PM UTC

Jaruzel wrote: post #123

SnowHill9902 wrote: post #23

Knowing that HN is generally against it, I say it anyway: I recommend religion and religious teachings which address this and many other daily worldly issues perfectly. Christianity and Judaism both have excellent resources. Religious scholars have actually been the best psychologists but are generally dismissed by non-believers. Edit: for those asking for specific recommendations. It’s always best to find your own p…

> I recommend religion and religious teachings which address this and many other daily worldly issues perfectly. This advice simply doesn't work if the recipient is an atheist. To me, Religious texts are made up fiction that hold no more meaning in my world view than Harry Potter or Game of Thrones. If you read enough fiction on a shared topic, you'll be able to pull the same number of 'enlightening' quotes from thos…

To me, Theology is really philosophy + God. That's kinda the beauty of it, you can interpret it however you like or however it fits you at the time. If you don't want the + God right now, just consider the philosophy.

>Religious texts are made up fiction that hold no more meaning in my world view

Plato's The Cave allegory is relevant, even though no one would ever live in a cave like that and it's obviously fiction. Some people treat the Bible as a historical text, but most don't. Some people believe the earth is flat too, there's always that 10-20%.

Having said that, I tried reading the Bible but I couldn't get through all the begats. I do like hearing honest people discuss it though. Like anything, it can certainly be weaponized.

Re: I'm an addict

#163

Post by [deleted] » Thu, May 19, 2022, 1:05 PM UTC

bengale wrote: post #128

My desire to read the comments sections on reddit and increasingly on here completely baffle me. If I was sat in a room and the people in there were saying things as stupid as I see on reddit I would leave that room and wonder how the hell I ended up in it. What possible reason do I have to be wasting time reading the barely formed thoughts of what must be predominantly teenagers. Yet ... I find myself back there.

[deleted]

Re: I'm an addict

#164

Post by gitfan86 » Thu, May 19, 2022, 1:05 PM UTC

PebblesRox wrote: post #38

gitfan86 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem I have is that some of the content is really good. I have been able to lose weight consistently and easily because I found resources online that helped me understand the science and cut through all the bullshit that we are inundated with around nutrition. My confidence and results in investing are at an all time high because I can fill in the gaps of understanding with a range of experts on YouTube. But,…

What are your top recommendations for weight loss resources?

There are two parts to weight loss:

1. Physiological: This is relatively easy. The key is to understand how to get an accurate account of incoming calories and an accurate count of outgoing calories. When you have an accurate count of those you can lose weight. Andrew Huberman is really good on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqPGXG5TlZw&ab_channel=Andre...

I say this one is easy because it is very easy to be misinformed about food. For example, someone may have heard that salads or protein bars are low calorie and healthy, but that isn't necessarily true. And once they realize that they can adjust their food intake to account for accidently over eating.

2. Psychological: Generally speaking, a lot of people with drug, alcohol, or food problems are dealing with some sort of stress, anxiety, depression, or childhood trama. Everyone has a limit to their will power. So even if you strengthen your will power if there is another force acting against that will power it will win and you will stress eat or stress drink. Depending on this situation, Therapy, Meditation, life changes, rehab can help.

Re: I'm an addict

#165

Post by zivkovicp » Thu, May 19, 2022, 1:05 PM UTC

Jaruzel wrote: post #123

SnowHill9902 wrote: post #23

Knowing that HN is generally against it, I say it anyway: I recommend religion and religious teachings which address this and many other daily worldly issues perfectly. Christianity and Judaism both have excellent resources. Religious scholars have actually been the best psychologists but are generally dismissed by non-believers. Edit: for those asking for specific recommendations. It’s always best to find your own p…

> I recommend religion and religious teachings which address this and many other daily worldly issues perfectly. This advice simply doesn't work if the recipient is an atheist. To me, Religious texts are made up fiction that hold no more meaning in my world view than Harry Potter or Game of Thrones. If you read enough fiction on a shared topic, you'll be able to pull the same number of 'enlightening' quotes from thos…

I am also a non-believer, but I think there is room for religion even for those who have a difficult time with the "fairy tale" aspect of it. Personally, I do not, but I'm thinking about giving it a shot.

The thing is that the stories in religious books help paint a picture of life and offer anecdotes on how one can navigate it. There is no need to look for enlightenment, just practical advice on how to deal with tough life situations and help you find motivation and strength to power through. Thousands of years of observing and documenting people's lives through stories and metaphors has value, even for us non-believers.

I think you'd even be surprised how many people who regularly attend church services don't actually believe in the mystic aspect of it all; it's the community and guidance that have the most value to them.

Re: I'm an addict

#166

Post by everyone » Thu, May 19, 2022, 1:05 PM UTC

I'm confused by this..

"over 6 hours watching youtube videos, an hour of reading through comments[1] on hacker news, 3 hours of sleep and poof, the day is gone."

The day is only 10 hours long? Also author is only getting 3 hours of sleep per day!?!?

Re: I'm an addict

#167

Post by VoodooJuJu » Thu, May 19, 2022, 1:05 PM UTC

paskozdilar wrote: post #56

SnowHill9902 wrote: post #23

Knowing that HN is generally against it, I say it anyway: I recommend religion and religious teachings which address this and many other daily worldly issues perfectly. Christianity and Judaism both have excellent resources. Religious scholars have actually been the best psychologists but are generally dismissed by non-believers. Edit: for those asking for specific recommendations. It’s always best to find your own p…

The problem I have with religion is the focus on "removing the doubt", which I strongly disagree with - doubting a god's existance is a major no-no in most popular religions. And as soon as you remove the doubt ban, you don't really have a religion anymore, but a philosophy. So I'd personally recommend philosophy to people, instead of religion. Bertrand Russell (also known for his mathematical work) is an excellent p…

>recommend philosophy to people, instead of religion

Religion is philosophy, plus ritual and aesthetics. It's the set of philosophies that have survived the ravages of time. It's a set of philosophies that are so useful to live by, that these philosophies have survived through books and rituals for millennia. Or put another way, these philosophies are so incredibly effective, that people are surviving today precisely because they've lived by those philosophies, and the only reason we know of these philosophies is because they are survived by, and helped to survive, the people who've passed and continue to pass them down to others.

There existed philosophies you've never heard of, that are dead, because they died with the people who've followed them. Is it just chance? Is it because the surviving philosophies are better? Who knows. But if you're a betting man, you should bet on those surviving philosophies being actually better, more useful, more conducive to survival.

>the focus on "removing the doubt"

I think this is a focus exclusive to "nu-Christian" Anglosphere denominations, primarily American ones, and their focus is made a spectacle of because: (1) their focus is understandably cringe and the outrage is entertaining (2) the spectacle is used as a tool to de-legitimize religion as a whole, especially Christianity.

Re: I'm an addict

#168

Post by sureglymop » Thu, May 19, 2022, 1:06 PM UTC

bengale wrote: post #128

My desire to read the comments sections on reddit and increasingly on here completely baffle me. If I was sat in a room and the people in there were saying things as stupid as I see on reddit I would leave that room and wonder how the hell I ended up in it. What possible reason do I have to be wasting time reading the barely formed thoughts of what must be predominantly teenagers. Yet ... I find myself back there.

An idea i had a while ago is a HN client which will only show the comments after one has completely read the article. I don't know how to go about it yet, but could be really cool.

Re: I'm an addict

#169

Post by pixl97 » Thu, May 19, 2022, 1:07 PM UTC

AussieWog93 wrote: post #106

kanonieer wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no issues with religious people. I do however have issues with "missionary" types popping up around people who are vulnerable, trying to convince them with completely baseless claims of wellness.

Do you have a problem with secular psychologists offering help to people in need? People that have gone through horrible circumstances can, and often do, benefit greatly from the moral certainty that religion provides.

Which morality is that?

Individuals love to look at individual bits of morality in said books in a choose your own adventure exploration. As much as the moral certainty says be nice to others, it will also contain many bits that are highly questionable and would deeply conflict with others views.

In general secular psychologists don't come with the violent historical baggage that religions do.

Re: I'm an addict

#170

Post by drcongo » Thu, May 19, 2022, 1:08 PM UTC

AussieWog93 wrote: post #98

kanonieer wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Religious scholars have actually been the best psychologists Any sources that will back this claim? Oh wait, you don't need facts. Do you give this sort of unsolicited religious advice to everyone or do you specifically choose people who are troubled?

>Any sources that will back this claim? Oh wait, you don't need facts. Do you give this sort of unsolicited religious advice to everyone or do you specifically choose people who are troubled? I mean, there's a fairly strong Darwinistic argument for the validity of certain religions. Very few belief systems have survived a hostile environment for anywhere near as long as the big religions. If religious belief systems…

> why have these religions triumphed over secularism time and time again

I'm intrigued to understand your definition of "triumphed", as given the rest of the post I'm assuming you're not referring to the genocide of non-believers, which is, of course, precisely how the major religions achieved such longevity.