Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)
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Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)
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Re: Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)
#2>In Christian churches I am least impressed by a sermon that talks about how marvelous heaven is going to be at the end. To me that's not the message of Christianity. The message is about how to live now, not that we should live in some particular way because there's going to be pie in the sky some day. The end means almost nothing to me. I am glad it's there, but I don't see it as much of a motivating force, if any. I mean, it's the journey that's important.
I find this quite sad. In the US, I have never known a kind Christianity that espoused these ideas. The end, either heaven or hell (or purgatory), is everything to Christianity in the US, in my experience. Perhaps it used to be different here.
Re: Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)
#3> One day, when I realized how hard it was to find any reason for my current unhappiness, I thought, "Wait a minute. I bet this unhappiness is really something chemical, not actually caused by circumstances.*" I began to speculate that my body was programmed to be unhappy a certain percentage of the time, and that hormones or something were the real reason behind moments of mild depression."
This is exactly what happens to me with my dysthymia. The intensely heavy body feeling (medical term: "psychomotor retardation") and low energy aren't really problems in themselves, it's when I "buy into them" that it really goes downhill. The problem is that it does kinda suck and makes it hard to concentrate and do things.
Unfortunately my mood has been generally very low since about age 9 to 11 unfortunately, and I'm 27 now. I don't see much value in life or in others or relationships (even though I am married!). So that combined with the physical symptoms makes it a difficult and slow life.
Re: Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)
#4I admire Donald Knuth for his contribution on algorithms and CS stuff. He is one of greatest computer scientist of our time. But would his every advice outside CS fields will be great? I am not sure about this.
Re: Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)
#5>That's quite different from a bachelor's degree or a master's degree; those degrees are awarded for a mastery of existing knowledge
I didn't know a BsC was a sign of mastery of a field.
Re: Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)
#6>In Christian churches I am least impressed by a sermon that talks about how marvelous heaven is going to be at the end. To me that's not the message of Christianity. The message is about how to live now, not that we should live in some particular way because there's going to be pie in the sky some day. The end means almost nothing to me. I am glad it's there, but I don't see it as much of a motivating force, if any.…
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Re: Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)
#7> Recently, I came across a few old and new interviews of Donald Knuth
I have developed the conclusion that reading digestive summary from original source materials is ultimately ineffective for me at this stage of the life.
Unfortunately, the author did not provide links to these interviews.
For anyone who is writing a summary from other source material, please do provide references. That's one of the things I learned churning out low quality academic papers in PhD study.
Re: Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)
#8>In Christian churches I am least impressed by a sermon that talks about how marvelous heaven is going to be at the end. To me that's not the message of Christianity. The message is about how to live now, not that we should live in some particular way because there's going to be pie in the sky some day. The end means almost nothing to me. I am glad it's there, but I don't see it as much of a motivating force, if any.…
Depends on what flavor of Christianity you adhere to. I follow the Catholic mystical tradition which doesn't really focus on pie in the sky, but rather on the purpose of being, which is to become one with the divine-- a purpose which doesn't have to wait for the afterlife.
Re: Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)
#9> they haven’t learned the fundamental ideas of algebra
I'd very much love to know exactly what Knuth considers the "fundamental ideas of algebra"!
Re: Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)
#10>In Christian churches I am least impressed by a sermon that talks about how marvelous heaven is going to be at the end. To me that's not the message of Christianity. The message is about how to live now, not that we should live in some particular way because there's going to be pie in the sky some day. The end means almost nothing to me. I am glad it's there, but I don't see it as much of a motivating force, if any.…
> The end, either heaven or hell (or purgatory), is everything to Christianity in the US
Yes, unfortunately this is the case in the dominant US expression of Christianity, Evangelicalism. But I think it's changing in some quarters. I've heard several sermons lately about how "eternal life" starts right here on earth. Check out The Bible Project's video on the meaning of Eternal Life [1]
I think The Bible Project is kind of on the vanguard of this movement within Evangelicalism (I think they're still theologically Evangelical, but maybe they'd shy away from using the term now since it's become loaded with political baggage), I wouldn't necessarily call it "progressive" but it's looking deeply into biblical interpretation and subtly calling out the predominate Evangelical interpretations.
Also, Check out NT Wright's "Surprised by Hope". He's coming from an Anglican perspective with an eschatology that predates the Evangelical "Left Behind" narrative.