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

#351

Post by tomByrer » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 2:48 PM UTC

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #236

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…

There was a thread yesterday about closing public libraries, and this sentiment ties into that; open and free access to information is important, because a lack thereof causes people to become blinkered and close-minded, which in turn makes them more susceptible for populist talking points (that is, a populist politician or propaganda telling you there is a Problem; when people don't have factual information to the c…

With web or other searching, every 'platform has a large audience'.

One of the worst censor/suppressor of free speech is also the largest web search.

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

#352

Post by Kye » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 2:50 PM UTC

komali2 wrote: post #61

OnionBlender wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been using ad blockers and not watching TV for so long that I have very little ad resistance. Whenever I use someone else's computer that doesn't an ad blocker, it makes me wonder how people live like this. I'm so bad at handling distractions that I have to turn the radio or music off to make a left hand turn.

I often wonder how friends back home in Texas can believe the things they do, say the things they say... and then when I visit and we sit around to watch a game and I see how many ads many people are exposed to every day, I start to get it.

There's some version of it anywhere you go, for every social and political leaning. I tend to be somewhere between liberal and leftist, but I used to be a lot more extreme and absolutist in my views, and I can pin it directly to mindlessly taking in memes and messages targeted straight at my biases and preconceptions. Even having "good praxis" is no vaccine: someone somewhere is looking for a way to radicalize or profit from your perspective.

You probably get this, but every so often I meet someone who thinks they're a good person because they live in the right state or follow the right media. And that could be Fox News and Texas as easily as it could be MSNBC and New York.

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

#353

Post by swozey » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 2:56 PM UTC

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…

I'm pretty sure it's my ADHD causing me to have horrendous memory issues but I have read so, so many books since I was a kid. Have tons of favorites. Stuff like the entire Wheel of Time series, things like that.

I can barely remember anything but vague events and characters. Like, my favorite book is Canticle for Leibowitz which I've read multiple times but I couldn't even tell you the main characters name other than he's a priest-type of character and what the general book is about.

I guess one benefit of that is that I can read the same book over and over and over again but like you said, it feels so strange/wrong that I can't remember so much more.

Reading more complicated things like G.E.B., Michel de Montaigne, etc is practically pointless for me, I won't remember any of the theories/quotes and it feels practically useless to even go through. By the time I'm on chapter 5 I've probably forgotten 1-4.

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

#354

Post by nyokodo » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 3:02 PM UTC

vasco wrote: post #125

nyokodo wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 be…

> You having an illusion of choice doesn't prove anything.

It's not reasonable to assume one's experience is an illusion without sufficient evidence which is a bar you haven't crossed. Therefore your argument begs the question.

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

#355

Post by sharpshadow » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 3:11 PM UTC

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…

That’s why I never started to watch horror movies.

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

#356

Post by digging » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 3:14 PM 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?

Because our belief in it may influence our actions...

Free will is the experience of making a decision. If we define free will as the ability to make a decision independently of our current state (sensory input, memory, emotions), that's utterly asinine. Neither are you an unfeeling, unthinking slave to entropy, simply printing outputs. You are an introspective machine, which can ask itself why it made decisions and update its own internal state to make different decisions in the future. That's what "free will" is.

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

#357

Post by _aavaa_ » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 3:15 PM UTC

rramadass wrote: post #345

_aavaa_ wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> particularly in these times when knowledge is so vast and there is so much to read. I come down on the other side of this. The implicit assumption here is that more is better, but it's like drinking from the firehose. > The principle to keep in mind is "Knowledge for Knowledge sake." The other position is that knowledge is only useful if it lets you do something that you couldn't do without it. If you're gaining kn…

> The implicit assumption here is that more is better, No, that is the assumption that you are making and not what i meant. It is an undeniable fact that today we have a far far greater amount of Scientific and Technological Knowledge (sheer Data without making any value judgements) than in any time in the past Human history. Our Society's dependence on Science/Technology has also increased exponentially since the be…

> It is an undeniable fact that today we have a far far greater amount of Scientific and Technological Knowledge

I don't dispute it. What I dispute is the implication I believe your proposing, which is "there is more knowledge, and therefore we need to read broadly and not focus as much on deep understanding". If that is not what you mean, please correct me since I don't see what other implication you mean.

> The utility of some knowledge may not be apparent at its inception but may turn out to be of utmost importance when other fields have also developed so everything can come together into a greater whole.

I don't disagree. But to apply this knowledge later you need to have remembered about it, and writing notes (which is where this discussion started) absolutely helps with this. I'm arguing for writing down the concepts that you found important or interesting at the time, not a synopsis of each subchapter.

> The justification has to do with getting exposed to a greater amount of concepts/ideas and not necessarily understanding/assimilating everything. Here reading widely does make a difference.

But reading widely only makes a difference to the degree that you do assimilate the content and that it changes you.

> Many a time in scientific research one does not even know the utility of something until sometime in the future when things align correctly.

Except we are not talking about doing scientific research (where I agree getting more knowledge is the whole point). We're talking about reading other people's work to get something out of it. And, especially, in this context there is a trade-off between "just in case" knowledge and "just in time" knowledge.

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

#358

Post by MarkusQ » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 3:17 PM UTC

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.

> > I just got into the habit of saying “yes” to pretty much anything.

> Isn't this also just a form of survivorship bias? You wouldn't be posting this from prison for example.

Note that "pretty much everything" is a proper subset of "everything" and could well be defined as "everything except the obviously stupid stuff that's highly likely to lead to bad outcomes", and this from a sample that's already biased in your favour -- e.g. the vast majority of places you can go in the universe would kill you instantly, but the vast majority of places someone might suggest going to, or offer to go to with you, won't.

If you filter out the "let's go see the Titanic in my home-made submarine" ideas, your odds are actually quite good.

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

#359

Post by piloto_ciego » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 3:18 PM UTC

Kbelicius wrote: post #201

piloto_ciego wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a lot of text to mean, “I’ve already made up my mind I can’t make any choices.” Typing out such a long rambling reply was itself a choice.

> Typing out such a long rambling reply was itself a choice. First sentence GP wrote is: "Choosing is not free will.". Did you choose to ignore what GP wrote when writing your reply? Free will isn't about making choices, at least not according to any definition I've heard. After all, it is obvious that in some way we do make choices. As far as my understanding goes free will is, depending on the definition, either ab…

Free will is absolutely largely about making choices. That’s not all of it, but denying that is silly, it’s goal post shifting from the ones who don’t believe in it.

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

#360

Post by sharadov » Thu, Apr 25, 2024, 3:20 PM UTC

jillesvangurp wrote: post #60

sharadov wrote: post #5

I've always believed that two things will broaden your horizon - travel and reading. If you don't have the means or the time to travel then your next best option is reading.

You don't necessarily have to travel far to experience the benefits. People seem to assume that distance is the main point but the main point is actually just exploring and experiencing new things. I learned this during Covid when I started taking walks in the city I live in (Berlin) and realized I had only explored a tiny part of it in the fifteen years or so I have lived there.

You're fortunate that you live in Berlin, what if you lived in a cultural wasteland?