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

blog.jim-nielsen.com

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

#301

Post by jampekka »

robertlagrant wrote: post #239
jampekka wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Free will is more ideological dogma than a factual claim. From materialist standpoint it's untenable. And empirically we see that environment dominates thinking and behavior. Free will is the foundation of most judeo-christian moral systems, which were inherited by liberalism. It's the justification for punishshing and rewading individuals. It seems to work relatively well, but I find it very cruel.

> I find it very cruel What's a better and less cruel alternative?

Trying to address the problems in environments that produce unwanted behavior. And help the individuals exhibiting such behavior to change it.

I find re-education, be it camps or not, a lot less cruel and effective than e.g. throwing people in prisons or killing them.

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

#302

Post by Zambyte »

beebmam wrote: post #26
Zambyte wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still encourage you to write though. Writing has seriously transformed the way that I think. I refer to my notes very often too.

How do you know that writing has improved the way that you think? By what metrics did you come to that conclusion? If someone else showed you that by writing their transformed thinking reduced their quality of life, would you be less prescriptive to others?

I have never experienced people telling me I have a good memory before I started my current writing habit. Within the last few months I have noticed 3 or 4 times people have made remarks about me having a good memory. I don't think that I actually have a much better memory than I used to, I think I have just offloaded so much that was occupying my brain into my computer without fear of forgetting it, that I am able to allocate a lot more memory towards things people actually notice.

I also believe I spend much more of my mental capacity on reason rather than recall. I think I have gotten slightly better at reasoning due to that, just going off how I feel when I try to reason about things; I feel more lucid than I used to. Trying to "remember" things is really more of a mechanical process for me than it is a mental one. I think of some keyword that is vaguely related to the concept I'm interested in, and then hop around the hyperlinks and backlinks in my notes until I find what I'm looking for.

Sometimes I will start this process to find a spot that I want to start writing a new note, only to discover that I have actually written the note already! That is always a trip when it happens.

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

#303

Post by [deleted] »

pixl97 wrote: post #291
madaxe_again wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just got into the habit of saying “yes” to pretty much anything. It has taken me on some wild rides indeed, and I am richer in spirit for it. It forged the bond between my wife and me - “shall we do a road trip across Eurasia?”, she idly asked, expecting at the very most a “maybe” - instead I grasped that nettle and applied for visas that day. Six weeks of utterly madcap adventure ensued. Since, I’ve found myself i…

Isn't this also just a form of survivorship bias? You wouldn't be posting this from prison for example. Maybe at the end of the day simple platitudes only work for the lucky.

[deleted]

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

#304

Post by xolox »

4ggr0 wrote: post #208
b112 wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. Although as with anything, moderation is key. Not too much, or too little. Listening to 4 hours a day of Tiktok or Youtube boneheads, probably isn't all that good for the average person. (I'm not referring to intellectual videos, but instead just "some random person" that has amassed 10M followers because they .. well I don't know what they do, except market themselves well. Then start blathering on about lit…

Well, why should I listen to a random person commenting on HN? ;D

[dead]

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

#305

Post by d0mine »

Kbelicius wrote: post #232
d0mine wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why "violent pack of chimps" instead of free-loving bonobos?

Off topic but it seems that bonobos are not that peaceful compared to the chimps. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2426678-peaceful-male-b...

Interesting, thanks.

"However, Gisela Kaplan at the University of New England in Armidale, Australia, says she found the paper extremely frustrating and that the word “aggression” is being misused.

Chimpanzee groups are ruled by one dominant male, whereas bonobos are ruled by females. Competitions for dominance and mating rights in bonobos shouldn’t be confused with aggression, says Kaplan. “There’s more pointless violence in chimpanzees and humans than in other species like bonobos,” she says."

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

#307

Post by matwood »

sublinear wrote: post #39
y04nn wrote: post #25

Don't forget that you are the result of all the past sensory interactions that you experienced in your whole life, people you interacted with, books you read, advertisements, songs, news headlines, etc. Even if you think you don't remember them, at one point in your life it was processed by your brain and may have changed some posterior decisions you made, thus making you what you are now. Since I realized this, I am…

I don't think the blog post necessarily supports this view. You still have your free will. Your past experiences also teach you what to ignore. You are free to do that to my comment. :)

Do your past experiences lead you to do the next thing? If you could perfectly know my past, could you predict my next decision? Do I have free will in that case?

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

#308

Post by vasco »

robertlagrant wrote: post #281
vasco wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, I think it's simplistic to equate picking options from a mental list as "free will". I think the point you are replying to is valid because if there's free will, it's not just "choosing from a list". The list itself (the options you present yourself) has way more impact on your behavior than what you choose, even. So the matter of the question is, do you have free will in forming a list.

> do you have free will in forming a list This seems like a separate question. Having the power to choose doesn't mean you have every conceivable option in mind, nor that you have the power to exercise every choice, nor even that you like any of the choices.

There's a few things you can choose to do at any time. You can almost always choose to for example close your eyes and keep them closed. Why don't you do it? You have the free will to stop blinking but your brain doesn't pose you this question so you don't even consider it. But now it's considering it. I'm just trying to reduce your argument to the absurd, and probably doing a bad job, but I don't think you can separate the list of options that appear to you from the question of free will, to me it's paramount to what happens after, so if what happens after is what defines free will or not, the list has to be part of it.

Did the first particles that ejected from the big bang have free will?

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

#309

Post by acureau »

keiferski wrote: post #153

I love reading as much as anyone, and probably finish on average, 100 books a year, but - I’ve gradually become skeptical of the idea that books are an ideal format for acquiring and retaining knowledge. I’ve written a few little comments about this in the past [1] but I’ve been meaning to explore the idea further. I originally began thinking this when I realized I could only remember a handful of details from books…

I find that I learn more from books than any other medium. I think it's because of the process of writing a book. It takes extreme dedication, passion, and a deep knowledge of the subject. Most books I've read have been reviewed by multiple experts and their content is presented in a structured and comprehensive way. Authors spend a significant chunk of their life writing a handful of books, many books you read are someone's greatest life achievement.

If the same amount of time and care were put into, say a YouTube video, I'd prefer the video. But that's very rare. My reading is 100% informational however, so I am biased in that regard.

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

#310

Post by vasco »

Zambyte wrote: post #296
vasco wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Markets and products can easily exist without advertising Source needed - seeing I don't know any company that doesn't advertise in some shape or form. The ones that I found that claim they don't, actually do advertise and use the "we don't advertise" as further advertisements. By definition I think it'd be hard to find companies that truly don't advertise, so maybe you know of some that are successful but don't do…

I'm not a fan of Tesla but to give credit where it's due, I have never seen an advertisement from them. The closest thing I have seen is branded chargers, which is also a functional display of their brand (you need to know if you can use the charger or not). There are also tons of small companies that have no advertising. Think one or few man shows that operate on word of mouth, and are not looking to grow.

What would you consider Elon's constant posting about Tesla on social media qualify as?
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