Live data from Hacker News

So you wanna de-bog yourself

experimental-history.com

21–30 of 91 posts

Re: So you wanna de-bog yourself

#21
Last night I happened to listen to an episode[1] on EconTalk where the author of the post (Adam Mastroianni, a psychologist) was a guest. Definitely worth a listen.

Adam also supports "open science framework" (https://osf.io/) and publishes his research and related artifacts there, which I really appreciate!

[1] https://www.econtalk.org/a-users-guide-to-our-emotional-ther...

Re: So you wanna de-bog yourself

#22
post #9
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know I'm setting the bar low, but compared to other pieces in that genre I found it well written, entertaining and insightful.

For sure, but throw me a rope here, it doesn't help the more immediate concern of this bog I'm stuck in.

You could try pulling harder on your hair.

(Sorry not sorry.)

Re: So you wanna de-bog yourself

#23
post #2

Life advice, unfortunately. Not an actual explanation of how to escape a bog.

this is now a chicago thread: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_of_Chicago

Thank you random stranger for introducing me to this wonderful story! Pretty incredible they managed to do this in the 1850s already.

Re: So you wanna de-bog yourself

#24
> But most of the people I know who feel this way haven’t survived any atomic bombings at all. They’re usually people with lots of education and high-paying jobs and supportive relationships and a normal amount of tragedies, people who have all the raw materials for a good life but can’t seem to make one for themselves. Their problem is they believe that satisfaction is impossible. Like they’re standing in a kitchen full of eggs, flour, oil, sugar, butter, baking powder, a mixer, and an oven, and they throw their hands up and say, “I can’t make a cake! Cakes don’t even exist!”

I found this an unpalatable paragraph in an otherwise insightful article.

It seems to be, I don't know, recursive? Like saying "one reason you may be stuck in the bog is that you're stuck in the bog," and ignoring the reasons people believe they don't have an out even with the ingredients for a "good" life. Drilling down into those reasons would, I think, result in exactly this same article...?

Re: So you wanna de-bog yourself

#26
post #13

Functionally not that different from a listicle - and at least those aren't so concerned with sounding smart

Well, then how would you turn this into a listicle?

"17 ways you get stuck in a bog (in 3 categories) (and also: what is a bog) (and also: what it means to get unstuck from the bog)"

Seems a pretty shit listicle; maybe it should be a full article :)

Re: So you wanna de-bog yourself

#27

Bog in many slavic languages is God in English and used in many proverbs and idioms. This makes a hilarious headline, I thought this was about exiting god mode.

Huh! There is a YA novel I really like, The Girl Who Drank The Moon, and this casts that in a very interesting light.

There is a bog -- a swamp -- that covers the known world, and this bog is treated in a religious way by the author as the embodiment of nature, of the fertility of the world. The bog also spawns a bog monster, who may have been the first living creature.

"In the beginning, there was the Bog. And the Bog covered the world and the Bog was the world and the world was the Bog."

Re: So you wanna de-bog yourself

#28
post #12

I really, really hate how many of my problems are toothbrushing problems. I know I just need to get over it and start brushing, but... ugh. Anyway, can't recommend Adam's writing enough. Subscribed after his second post and have never regretted it. If you liked this, you should also read "You can't reach the brain through the ears", an excellent piece about failing to communicate. https://www.experimental-history.com…

There is a liberating side to toothbrushing problems: the stakes of any given unit of effort are low.

With diploma problems, if you blow it, you really blow it, with often irrevocable long-term consequences. All of your effort is building to a high stakes climax and if you miss your shot, that effort can all end up wasted. It's videogame permadeath mode for life.

But with toothbrushing problems, you can have an off day and usually make it up today. Of course, every day's effort does matter. You can't make every day an off day. But I find something very comforting about problems where some random variance in my output does smooth out to the mean over time.

Re: So you wanna de-bog yourself

#29
post #13

Functionally not that different from a listicle - and at least those aren't so concerned with sounding smart

He has "history" in the name of his blog and he thinks that knights expected to fight dragons? I mean, it is like that in a manga but not in real life. Quite a few knights in the day were nobles who had large landed estates to manage but were expected to impress their peasants in time of war. They were lucky enough to go to war with heavy armor and mounted on a horse whereas the peasants might get some weapon that is…

> He has "history" in the name of his blog and he thinks that knights expected to fight dragons? I mean, it is like that in a manga but not in real life.

I mean, "experimental history", so I don't expect real, academic history... that said, yeah, that was an insane analogy to make. Knights weren't, as a rule, wandering monster-slayers - anywhere or ever, as far as I know.

Knights' bravery was tested on the battlefield, where they would have a very good expectation of survival until approximately post-Agincourt (where it became more socially acceptable to execute wealthy enemies instead of capturing and ransoming them). But that's also an extremely high-level description which may be so generalized as to be inaccurate.

Re: So you wanna de-bog yourself

#30
post #24

> But most of the people I know who feel this way haven’t survived any atomic bombings at all. They’re usually people with lots of education and high-paying jobs and supportive relationships and a normal amount of tragedies, people who have all the raw materials for a good life but can’t seem to make one for themselves. Their problem is they believe that satisfaction is impossible. Like they’re standing in a kitchen…

Yeah, I agree, that metaphor lacked an explanatory conclusion.

If I had to fill one in, I'd say that people often blame the external world for not providing the ingredients necessary for happiness, when they actually do have them on hand already. What they are lacking is choosing to compose them into a meaningful whole, which requires effort on their part.

Post reply on HN