Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why read Dostoevsky? A programmer's perspective

fhur.me

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 219 posts

Re: Why read Dostoevsky? A programmer's perspective

#41

Post by Bakary »

kieckerjan wrote: post #21

I met a young and apparently highly intelligent AI researcher the other week who confessed to me that he thought fiction (books but also movies etc) was a waste of his time: there was nothing to be gained there. Being a lover of fiction myself, I huffed and puffed and he challenged me to name him a book that would change his mind. Usually when people ask me where to start in literature, I advise them to start at the…

The irony is that if all the highly intelligent and capable researchers, capitalists, and knowledge workers read more fiction the world would probably be slightly less dystopian than it currently is

Re: Why read Dostoevsky? A programmer's perspective

#42

Post by newaccount2021 »

Forgeties79 wrote: post #38
dotsam wrote: post #17

> Some deep truths about human nature require instead the reflection provoked by the classics. Yes, read Dostoevsky and the classics. There is so much to learn and to enjoy. But remember that great authors didn't discover deep truths of human nature from books alone, but from their attention to the experiences of real life. “When we read, another person thinks for us: we merely repeat his mental process. In learning…

I feel like there’s a lot to be gleaned here, but all I can focus on is how this - especially the last line - could be easily misrepresented to spread an anti-education message.

No post body was provided.

Re: Why read Dostoevsky? A programmer's perspective

#43

Post by Bakary »

ordu wrote: post #5
dvt wrote: post #2

I used to like Taleb, but his cult is getting out of hand. Really? You needed Taleb to explain why the classics are good reading? Why literature that has been treasured for the entirety of human history is valuable? Get a grip. Mix that faux-intellectualism--slash--nouveau-englightenment with gross oversimplifications and you have a Taleb cultist. > From Communist Russia's collapse due to Marxism... I'm no Russian sy…

> You needed Taleb to explain why the classics are good reading? Why literature that has been treasured for the entirety of human history is valuable? Classics are good reading because every new generation of readers can find there something valuable. Every new generation of readers can find something new, or at least rediscover something old. Everyone find in classics their own things. If the author sees Dostoevsky…

You should be more worried about Taleb being remembered in 50 years than Dostoevsky

Re: Why read Dostoevsky? A programmer's perspective

#44

Post by armitron »

Besides Dostoevsky, there is abundant wisdom and deep truths to be found in the classics of Christianity. The apologetics of C.S. Lewis (Screwtape Letters, The Problem with Pain, The Great Divorce), Augustine's Confessions and City of God, Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton and G.K. Chesterton's Everlasting Man.

These are seldom read (or known) by young people today and I see that as a tragedy. Western spirituality was demolished and nothing substantial has emerged to fill the void left, besides a coterie of self-help charlatans and intellectual tricksters, with the predictable results that we see all around us today.

This is also something that Nassim Taleb (a voracious reader and lifelong student of the Western classics but also an Orthodox Christian) frequently outlines.

Re: Why read Dostoevsky? A programmer's perspective

#45

Post by Bakary »

dvko wrote: post #8

While I agree Dostoevsky is worth reading for most, some of the author's statements made me cringe a bit. Like "reading fiction is mostly a waste of time", "knowledge as a tool to gain an advantage over others" and "Communist Russia's collapse due to Marxism"... I presume the author is either somewhat young or a programmer (due to his lack of nuance). Or both.

This sort of ideology, down to the same details and views about history and culture, is extremely common among young software engineers and related professions

Re: Why read Dostoevsky? A programmer's perspective

#46

Post by unhammer »

frankohn wrote: post #15

Pretty agree with the post but it is funny he discovered that "truth" so late in his life. I generally consider mathematics and physics as being the higher achievements of human knowledge and it is normal to "worship" them as the most important field of study so much that some people dedicate their entire life to them with the same devotion of true monks. It is surprising that the author didn't include Physics in the…

> Bulgakov's master and Marguerite which is a true masterpiece of beauty and gives a sharp and deep view of what humanity is

It's also a very fun book! (Apparantly not all the translations are that good though, but O'Connor and Burgin's https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/mikhail-bulgakov/the-ma... is.)

Re: Why read Dostoevsky? A programmer's perspective

#47

Post by newaccount2021 »

cehrlich wrote: post #24
kieckerjan wrote: post #21

I met a young and apparently highly intelligent AI researcher the other week who confessed to me that he thought fiction (books but also movies etc) was a waste of his time: there was nothing to be gained there. Being a lover of fiction myself, I huffed and puffed and he challenged me to name him a book that would change his mind. Usually when people ask me where to start in literature, I advise them to start at the…

Great question. I always recommend Anna Karenina as the one book everyone should read, but maybe it's actually a terrible thing to recommend to someone who Doesn't Like Reading. I don't have an answer for you, but you got me thinking :)

No post body was provided.

Re: Why read Dostoevsky? A programmer's perspective

#48

Post by emj »

user3939382 wrote: post #31

I’ve had a hard time trying to read both Dostoevsky and Tolstoy because of the names. I guess because I don’t speak Russian, the names are long and complicated and in most cases, compounding the problem, there are too many characters. It makes it very difficult to read “in my head” and keep track of what’s going on.

At least in Crime and punishment the names have a meaning. So you can look them up and see if it fits the characters. I just go by how the characters act, until have differentiated themselves enough I do not learn the names, a bit like real life.

Re: Why read Dostoevsky? A programmer's perspective

#49

Post by drlolz »

kieckerjan wrote: post #21

I met a young and apparently highly intelligent AI researcher the other week who confessed to me that he thought fiction (books but also movies etc) was a waste of his time: there was nothing to be gained there. Being a lover of fiction myself, I huffed and puffed and he challenged me to name him a book that would change his mind. Usually when people ask me where to start in literature, I advise them to start at the…

A person with that attitude doesn’t need a perfect list of books, they need to live more of their life. Fiction will likely find them when they’re ready for it. Seems futile to try to convince them otherwise, if they’re presently writing off fiction and film.

Re: Why read Dostoevsky? A programmer's perspective

#50

Post by Silverback_VII »

dotsam wrote: post #17

> Some deep truths about human nature require instead the reflection provoked by the classics. Yes, read Dostoevsky and the classics. There is so much to learn and to enjoy. But remember that great authors didn't discover deep truths of human nature from books alone, but from their attention to the experiences of real life. “When we read, another person thinks for us: we merely repeat his mental process. In learning…

What if the deep truths about the human nature are in fact very shallow?

I can imagine that all human deepness is, not unlike the very sofisticated feathers of the peacock, just a tool to increase status & SMV.

Post reply on HN