You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it • Hacker News Board

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#121

Post by nikkwong » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 6:20 AM UTC

nyokodo wrote: post #112

nikkwong wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know you experience it beyond a reasonable doubt? Thoughts and intentions just seemingly appear in consciousness, without any explanation as to how they arose. Feelings are like this too; we don’t determine how we feel, we are simply served them. When experiencing a negative emotion, some people seem to believe they can ‘free will’ their way out of it by thinking positively or something there over, but tha…

> How do you know you experience it beyond a reasonable doubt? I have no reason to doubt my common sense experience. > we don’t determine how we feel, we are simply served it. No definition of free will that I have encountered considers it an absolute freedom from any form of determinism. We’re obviously influenced by our nature and external influences. For instance my emotional predispositions are largely determined…

I sort of responded to this idea in another comment, but again. How can you take ‘personal credit’ (as if you could have acted otherwise) for choosing to change your behavior? Isn’t that an idea that also just appears in consciousness that is, for inexplicable reasons, more compelling than other ideas at the time so that is the choice that your brain reasons to follow?

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#122

Post by verisimi » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 6:23 AM UTC

rramadass wrote: post #18

al_borland wrote: post #12

>I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me. I heard those quote for the first time about 4 years ago. I had often been a bit disappointed with myself for not taking more notes while reading, or reviewing what I read in a way where I could be one of those people to bring up quotes and concepts, citing back to the original source, with freakish accuracy. This…

> simply reading, getting whatever I get out of it, and trusting that I’ve gained some perspective, This is the way to approach it, particularly in these times when knowledge is so vast and there is so much to read. The principle to keep in mind is "Knowledge for Knowledge sake." But what has happened ever since Industrialization is the focus on output (for a Economy). Hence everything is supposed to be done for a jo…

Who has knowledge though? Is the acceptance of this or that thought of another person's 'knowledge'? Are you filling up on knowledge or nonsense?

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#123

Post by somenameforme » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 6:23 AM UTC

nikkwong wrote: post #109

somenameforme wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hrm? When I think of things I tend to see multiple possibilities at once, and then decide which I think is the most reasonable, and go from there. Similar for emotions. I'm well aware of my emotions but can control them. And I think not doing so would be quite a poor way to behave. Perhaps it's that we all think in somewhat different ways, yet because our own mind is the only one that we will ever know - we simply po…

Are you positing that you have free will but that those around you with less emotional control don’t? I don’t think your example is serving your argument; your brain is structured in such a way that you reason in a way that is unique to you, and others reason otherwise based on the structure of their brains. I don’t see how this grants you free will. You’re talking about feelings and reasoning as part of conscious ex…

No, I am stating that we can control and change how we behave, which is largely the definition of free will. This is why even identical twins growing up in a practically identical environment will not end up identical. To continue with claims of no free will you end up needing to start appealing to some sort of a butterfly effect of environment. And while that claim is not falsifiable and probably never will be, I think such diverge is vastly more easily explained by simply people having agency and, in identical circumstance and even near identical genetics, being free to make different decisions.

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#124

Post by ben_w » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 6:26 AM UTC

piloto_ciego wrote: post #85

ixsploit wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are you experiencing free will? You have no idea what your next thought will be, nor can you control it. You have the opinion that you have free will, but that doesn't mean it's true.

You can’t choose what you will think about? How do you get through the day? Are you just frequently blindsided by random non-sequiturs that derail you for hours? I routinely chose things to think about or things to concentrate on. It’s not like all thoughts leap into my mind fully formed either. Hell, I edited this message before hitting reply.

> You can’t choose what you will think about? How do you get through the day? Are you just frequently blindsided by random non-sequiturs that derail you for hours?

My tongue-in-cheek answer here is: Correct, badly, and it looks like the obsessive-compulsive desire to check social media and/or the news.

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#125

Post by vasco » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 6:26 AM UTC

nyokodo wrote: post #112

nikkwong wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know you experience it beyond a reasonable doubt? Thoughts and intentions just seemingly appear in consciousness, without any explanation as to how they arose. Feelings are like this too; we don’t determine how we feel, we are simply served them. When experiencing a negative emotion, some people seem to believe they can ‘free will’ their way out of it by thinking positively or something there over, but tha…

> How do you know you experience it beyond a reasonable doubt? I have no reason to doubt my common sense experience. > we don’t determine how we feel, we are simply served it. No definition of free will that I have encountered considers it an absolute freedom from any form of determinism. We’re obviously influenced by our nature and external influences. For instance my emotional predispositions are largely determined…

Imagine there's no free will.

Whatever happens you'll end up crossing the road right now.

In one example, you absent-mindedly cross the road.

In another example a thought comes to you to get coffee, and you cross the road to get it.

In another example you consider not getting coffee, and going to the park instead, but end up choosing coffee because you feel sluggish.

If there's no free will, any amount of thinking before the decision doesn't prove there's free will. It's just more stuff that was also predetermined. You having an illusion of choice doesn't prove anything.

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#126

Post by purple-leafy » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 6:28 AM UTC

modeless wrote: post #76

This is why blocking and muting (especially "mute words") are essential on social media. You have to be intentional about the diet of language you feed your brain, just as you have to be intentional about the diet of food you feed your stomach.

Why not just get rid of social media? That’s what I did. Well, I have a hackernews account but that’s it

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#127

Post by vasco » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 6:31 AM UTC

mrkstu wrote: post #66

mysecretaccount wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You still have your free will. Highly debatable.

If we don't what's the point of debating it?

Free will doesn't matter, there's a deeper level, which is, what is the meaning of all this, the universe, us, our place in it.

And yet we dance.

The point in debating is enjoying the debate, learning new things. What else is there to do?

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#128

Post by verisimi » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 6:31 AM UTC

jononor wrote: post #119

verisimi wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could depression, or other mental illnesses, be the outcome of one's bad decisions (or failure to make decisions)?

Possible in some circumstances. But also possible that they are the result of other peoples actions (example: emotionally abusive parents or partner)

If you have an emotionally abusive partner, and don't do something about it, perhaps depression is acting as a prompt for you to take action. Some part of you (your soul, say) knows better, and via pain (depression) is trying to shift you towards a better, more joyful, result. I believe we have an innate guiding system, and that this is how it works - move away from pain, towards joy.

You can fail to take action, you can take drugs to manage the negative situation more comfortably, but, if abuse is the underlying issue, a genuine change of circumstances is required.

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#129

Post by rramadass » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 6:32 AM UTC

verisimi wrote: post #122

rramadass wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> simply reading, getting whatever I get out of it, and trusting that I’ve gained some perspective, This is the way to approach it, particularly in these times when knowledge is so vast and there is so much to read. The principle to keep in mind is "Knowledge for Knowledge sake." But what has happened ever since Industrialization is the focus on output (for a Economy). Hence everything is supposed to be done for a jo…

Who has knowledge though? Is the acceptance of this or that thought of another person's 'knowledge'? Are you filling up on knowledge or nonsense?

This is where your Intellect's "Power of Discrimination" comes into play i.e. you are the decider on what is "Knowledge" or "Nonsense" for you. A good example is "Organized Religion".

Re: You are what you read, even if you don't always remember it

#130

Post by inatreecrown2 » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 6:34 AM UTC

purple-leafy wrote: post #126

modeless wrote: post #76

This is why blocking and muting (especially "mute words") are essential on social media. You have to be intentional about the diet of language you feed your brain, just as you have to be intentional about the diet of food you feed your stomach.

Why not just get rid of social media? That’s what I did. Well, I have a hackernews account but that’s it

do you watch YouTube videos?