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

So you wanna de-bog yourself

experimental-history.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 91 posts

Re: So you wanna de-bog yourself

#41

Post by ketzo »

thyrox wrote: post #36
ketzo wrote: 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…

Thanks for sharing this link. My god there is something about this writing style that's just incredibly entertaining to read. Most of the time I get so bored reading such long articles, like the New Yorker ugh. But this is the first time I've enjoyed such a lengthy read! I hope I can decrypt what the author is doing to make reading such fun.

Literally all of his posts are like this. It’s crazy.

These two are more life-advice-y, but he also does some fairly deep dives on various problems he sees with scientific research (and psychology in particular), and his writing is no less entertaining.

In fact, one of his posts is actually about how he thinks scientists should make more effort to make their papers fun to read!

It’s fantastic, and I also hope to emulate it.

Re: So you wanna de-bog yourself

#42

Post by ketzo »

munificent wrote: post #28
ketzo wrote: 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 d…

You know, that’s actually a great way to look at it.

I think I feel like I can’t let myself excuse any slack, because I’m worried I’ll just start excusing everything — one day off at the gym becomes a week off, becomes a month off.

But I guess the point is that no matter how much you have failed, the toothbrush problem is always best served by you starting again tomorrow, no matter how many tomorrows it takes.

Re: So you wanna de-bog yourself

#43

Post by digging »

munificent wrote: post #30
digging wrote: 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.

That makes sense. Maybe it's better described as "not having the recipe" or "not knowing what land looks like"...? I'm still not sure it's very useful though... it still feels like the awareness of "I am in a bog, and land exists" is a prerequisite for understanding the article at all.

Re: So you wanna de-bog yourself

#44

Post by maxverse »

ketzo wrote: 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…

I'm floored by how good this article is, and I just read another, and was also floored. His writing reminds me a bit of Raptitude in its - everything-is-fucked-heh-let's-try-to-function-anyhow attitude. And the writing is so, so good, and wildly relatable.

https://www.experimental-history.com/p/its-very-weird-to-hav...

Re: So you wanna de-bog yourself

#46

Post by Satam »

swatcoder wrote: post #37

Ironically, the root of most "bogging" is thinking too much instead of just doing things that need doing or that ripely present themselves. The author has reflected so much that they've created a bespoke system of abstract beliefs with catchy names and various example cases that they can summarize into a 5000 word essay and probably even extend into a book. For a writer, that's a sneaky but effective way to do their…

Before reading the article, I was nodding along reading your comment. Having read the article... it's actually pretty good! "Just doing things" might be the right general approach but I feel that sometimes it's easy to get stuck contemplating. I think the post offers some interesting heuristics for getting unstuck.

Edit: Reading even further, it's actually one of the best posts of this kind I've read in years. The author is spot in the behavioral patterns he's noticed. Damn.

"Often, when I’m stuck, it’s because I've made up a game for myself and decided that I’m losing at it. I haven’t achieved enough. I am not working hard enough and I am also, somehow, not having enough fun.

These games have elaborate rules, like “I have to be as successful as my most successful friend, but everything I've done so far doesn't count,” and I’m supposed to feel very bad if I break them. It’s like playing the absolute dumbest version of the floor is lava."

Re: So you wanna de-bog yourself

#48

Post by hellectronic »

henjodottech wrote: post #40
swatcoder wrote: post #37

Ironically, the root of most "bogging" is thinking too much instead of just doing things that need doing or that ripely present themselves. The author has reflected so much that they've created a bespoke system of abstract beliefs with catchy names and various example cases that they can summarize into a 5000 word essay and probably even extend into a book. For a writer, that's a sneaky but effective way to do their…

Intention is cleansed in the process of forward motion.

That is really good !

Re: So you wanna de-bog yourself

#50

Post by PaulHoule »

swatcoder wrote: post #37

Ironically, the root of most "bogging" is thinking too much instead of just doing things that need doing or that ripely present themselves. The author has reflected so much that they've created a bespoke system of abstract beliefs with catchy names and various example cases that they can summarize into a 5000 word essay and probably even extend into a book. For a writer, that's a sneaky but effective way to do their…

It’s hypnotic writing in the style of Yudkowsky, Ron Hubbard or supplement scam videos on YouTube. On one hand it is pretending to be thinking rationally about things but with a heavy dose of fantasy mixed in that can put readers in a muddled mental state. They drone on and on and on so that you either give up reading it or go into a trance.
Post reply on HN