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Alain de Botton on existential maturity and what emotional intelligence means

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Re: Alain de Botton on existential maturity and what emotional intelligence means

#31

Post by tsol »

jw1224 wrote: post #16
PotatoPancakes wrote: post #2

Alain de Botton's School of life is... honestly weird. It's really confident and tries to give good advice; but so much of that advice is quite bad, and the channel might overall do more harm than good (for more people than fewer). YouTuber Big Joel has done two breakdowns of it that are worth watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlkJJygIoVU and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VZ30qL7j3Q .

I found the School Of Life’s videos to be compelling, thought-provoking, and insightful when I needed them the most. I dropped in a few times at critical points in recent years. They helped me look at my current circumstances in a more objective and factual way. I didn’t necessarily learn anything “new” from their bite-sized videos, but many of them helped me cut through the fog of stress/anxiety. I felt immense reli…

Yes, they generally aren't great for learning new material in depth. But they are great for small refreshers, or just for some probing questions during complex times. They provoke thought and come in a short and to the point format. They aren't the end all be all of philosophy for sure, but they are a communicator of everyday concepts that you can use in your own life

Re: Alain de Botton on existential maturity and what emotional intelligence means

#32

Post by 0xbadcafebee »

karaterobot wrote: post #6
PotatoPancakes wrote: post #2

Alain de Botton's School of life is... honestly weird. It's really confident and tries to give good advice; but so much of that advice is quite bad, and the channel might overall do more harm than good (for more people than fewer). YouTuber Big Joel has done two breakdowns of it that are worth watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlkJJygIoVU and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VZ30qL7j3Q .

The ones I've seen have all seemed fine to me. It's advice, and advice is not a branch of science.

Alain's advice/statements include:

- All parties are terrible and you're a terrible person if you like parties

- Women date abusive men because they were traumatized as a child, and they avoid nice guys, so be an asshole to women

- You can't be a good person unless you had a shitty time growing up, and people only start families to deal with their own shitty family trauma, so, good luck

- You are doomed to an unhappy marriage. Don't look for someone you like, look for someone you can endure

- People with bad taste were traumatized as children. All Russians and Saudi Arabians have bad taste

- People give self help books a lot of shit, but you should read self help books (Alain sells self help books)

- For dinner you should order children's fish sticks, cranberry juice, and the most expensive dessert, the last two because you feel awkward about ordering the first one, and this will help you on a date

Re: Alain de Botton on existential maturity and what emotional intelligence means

#33

Post by mistersquid »

balsam wrote: post #4
PotatoPancakes wrote: post #2

Alain de Botton's School of life is... honestly weird. It's really confident and tries to give good advice; but so much of that advice is quite bad, and the channel might overall do more harm than good (for more people than fewer). YouTuber Big Joel has done two breakdowns of it that are worth watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlkJJygIoVU and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VZ30qL7j3Q .

Alluded in the article: his stuff is categorized as “self-help”. As a social phenomenon, “self-help” is believers-only. Since de Botton’s academically inclined, it’s probably the best of a horrid torrid bunch?

> Alluded in the article: his stuff is categorized as “self-help”. As a social phenomenon, “self-help” is believers-only.

From the article:

> De Botton is careful to acknowledge that this line of inquiry might trigger the modern intellectual allergy to the genre of learning dismissively labeled self-help. And yet he reminds us that the quest for self-refinement has always accompanied the human experience and animated each civilization’s most respected intellects — it is there at the heart of the Stoics, and in the essays of Montaigne, and at the center of Zen Buddhism, and in the literary artistry of Proust (whom De Botton has especially embraced as a fount of existential consolation). He aims a spear of simple logic to the irrational and rather hubristic disdain for self-help:

> > To dismiss the idea that underpins self-help — that one might at points stand in urgent need of solace and emotional education — seems an austerely perverse prejudice.

Re: Alain de Botton on existential maturity and what emotional intelligence means

#34

Post by homonculus1 »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #24
pineaux wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, it's sort of a proven conspiracy. Edward Bernays (Freud's nephew and student) went to America and basically invented modern advertisement. His system of propaganda found its way back to the likes of Goebbels and other unsavory types. "The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen m…

Who molded kings and queens and powerful people before Bernay to want material/status things?

Bernays' ancestors

Re: Alain de Botton on existential maturity and what emotional intelligence means

#35

Post by scotty79 »

roody15 wrote: post #29

I am a bit older and have worked in IT now for almost 2 decades. (44 years old) I honestly think the general premise here holds true and perhaps applies to many of us here in computed related occupations. It seems many of us focused on STEM STEM STEM or COMPUTERS COMPUTERS COMPUTERS in education but perhaps are emotionally infantile to an extent. How many of us write programs, support infrastructure, design gadgets ……

Either nihilism or absurdism has very nice answers for your conundrum.

Re: Alain de Botton on existential maturity and what emotional intelligence means

#36

Post by scotty79 »

> Our energies are overwhelmingly directed toward material, scientific, and technical subjects and away from psychological and emotional ones.

So little was established without a doubt about psychological and emotional stuff that there's absolutely no wonder people focus their efforts on other more material fields.

People just choose to learn the domains where there's a lot to learn not just a lot to ponder.

Re: Alain de Botton on existential maturity and what emotional intelligence means

#37

Post by eurasiantiger »

scotty79 wrote: post #35
roody15 wrote: post #29

I am a bit older and have worked in IT now for almost 2 decades. (44 years old) I honestly think the general premise here holds true and perhaps applies to many of us here in computed related occupations. It seems many of us focused on STEM STEM STEM or COMPUTERS COMPUTERS COMPUTERS in education but perhaps are emotionally infantile to an extent. How many of us write programs, support infrastructure, design gadgets ……

Either nihilism or absurdism has very nice answers for your conundrum.

”Dammit, Jack, we got another one.”

”Another awakening?”

”Yeah.”

”Just do what we always do, make their argument look nihilist or absurdist. Remember to avoid mentioning capitalism and neoconservatism!”

Re: Alain de Botton on existential maturity and what emotional intelligence means

#38

Post by [deleted] »

tablespoon wrote: post #14
PotatoPancakes wrote: post #2

Alain de Botton's School of life is... honestly weird. It's really confident and tries to give good advice; but so much of that advice is quite bad, and the channel might overall do more harm than good (for more people than fewer). YouTuber Big Joel has done two breakdowns of it that are worth watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlkJJygIoVU and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VZ30qL7j3Q .

> YouTuber Big Joel has done two breakdowns of it that are worth watching Honest question: why is "YouTuber Big Joel" someone I should spend an hour listening to?

[deleted]

Re: Alain de Botton on existential maturity and what emotional intelligence means

#39

Post by enneff »

PotatoPancakes wrote: post #2

Alain de Botton's School of life is... honestly weird. It's really confident and tries to give good advice; but so much of that advice is quite bad, and the channel might overall do more harm than good (for more people than fewer). YouTuber Big Joel has done two breakdowns of it that are worth watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlkJJygIoVU and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VZ30qL7j3Q .

I read one of his early books and my takeaway was that the author has lived a very privileged and sheltered life, compared to almost anyone, and so his observations and advice should be taken with a grain of salt.

Re: Alain de Botton on existential maturity and what emotional intelligence means

#40

Post by jasonladuke0311 »

0xbadcafebee wrote: post #32
karaterobot wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ones I've seen have all seemed fine to me. It's advice, and advice is not a branch of science.

Alain's advice/statements include: - All parties are terrible and you're a terrible person if you like parties - Women date abusive men because they were traumatized as a child, and they avoid nice guys, so be an asshole to women - You can't be a good person unless you had a shitty time growing up, and people only start families to deal with their own shitty family trauma, so, good luck - You are doomed to an unhappy…

Maliciously reductive, basically a Reddit-tier comment. Thumbs down.
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