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Keep Your Identity Small

paulgraham.com

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Re: Keep Your Identity Small

#91

Post by ajju »

zaidf wrote: post #47

This essay reminds me of this bollywood song: Bulla Ki Jaana Not a believer inside the mosque, am I Nor a pagan disciple of false rites Not the pure amongst the impure Neither Moses, nor the Pharoh Bulleh! to me, I am not known ... Secrets of religion, I have not known From Adam and Eve, I am not born I am not the name I assume Not in stillness, nor on the move Bulleh! to me, I am not known Full lyrics: http://www.ly…

It is astounding how little this liberal face of Islam is known outside of the Indian subcontinent and possibly the educated populace of Iran.

Re: Keep Your Identity Small

#92

Post by pg »

astine wrote: post #81
kajecounterhack wrote: post #61

A scientist isn't committed to believing in natural selection in the same way an evangelical Christian is committed to rejecting it. I disagree, I'm an evangelical Christian and I don't reject it.

Yeah, that statement bothered me to. People seeming to assume that just because a vocal minority of a group believe something, that all members of the group believe the same thing. This especially includes people who's expressed ideology hopes to avoid prejudice and bigotry. Thought I don't think PG, really thinks all Evangelicals are YECs. at least I hope he doesn't.

My mistake. I changed it to "a biblical literalist."

Re: Keep Your Identity Small

#93

Post by [deleted] »

gnaritas wrote: post #86
just_me wrote: post #70

Until I moved to San Francisco ten years ago my identity was wrapped up in my home region of my home state. SF was where I finally let it go. I can perfectly remember the moment I realized I could. How exhilarating that was! And it started a landslide. I'll bet I don't have 10% the identity I did back then. (It helped that I had long before figured out that when people speak of "X pride" or "Proud to be X", it means…

> This is such a ridiculously brilliant essay. Um.. I think that's going a bit far. Interesting take on well known fact that people who identify heavily with something aren't very rational about being challenged on it, but "ridiculously brilliant", I think not.

[deleted]

Re: Keep Your Identity Small

#94

Post by c00p3r »

dhimes wrote: post #22

Such is the wisdom of Zen and some other Buddhist philosophical flavors.

in very simple words selfish thoughts are the cause of a suffering (the third of the Four Noble Truths), so, all the benefits of a small identity is just an effect.

Re: Keep Your Identity Small

#95

Post by ajju »

ajju wrote: post #91
zaidf wrote: post #47

This essay reminds me of this bollywood song: Bulla Ki Jaana Not a believer inside the mosque, am I Nor a pagan disciple of false rites Not the pure amongst the impure Neither Moses, nor the Pharoh Bulleh! to me, I am not known ... Secrets of religion, I have not known From Adam and Eve, I am not born I am not the name I assume Not in stillness, nor on the move Bulleh! to me, I am not known Full lyrics: http://www.ly…

It is astounding how little this liberal face of Islam is known outside of the Indian subcontinent and possibly the educated populace of Iran.

Also, this is not a Bollywood song. It is a poem by a 17th/18th century Punjabi Sufi Muslim poet Bulleh Shah performed here by a Punjabi Sikh called "Rabbi" with scenes from Hindu majority India in the background and English subtitles.

So many identities :)

Re: Keep Your Identity Small

#96

Post by just_me »

gnaritas wrote: post #86
just_me wrote: post #70

Until I moved to San Francisco ten years ago my identity was wrapped up in my home region of my home state. SF was where I finally let it go. I can perfectly remember the moment I realized I could. How exhilarating that was! And it started a landslide. I'll bet I don't have 10% the identity I did back then. (It helped that I had long before figured out that when people speak of "X pride" or "Proud to be X", it means…

> This is such a ridiculously brilliant essay. Um.. I think that's going a bit far. Interesting take on well known fact that people who identify heavily with something aren't very rational about being challenged on it, but "ridiculously brilliant", I think not.

He started with "Why do political and religious discussions suck?" and ended up with a recipe to make oneself smarter.

I wonder how many tens of millions of people have wondered that exact thing and ended up with "Well, some topics are just inherently controversial"?

Re: Keep Your Identity Small

#97

Post by socialarchetype »

not all identities are chosen by the individual for the self in the way that this essay assumes. some identities are forced upon specific individuals or groups. is it reasonable to ask those whose identities have been selected for them through accidents of history/birth to keep their identities small? it is ultimately reflexive of reality to ignore these identities? in a democratic society that is struggling to maintain meaningful civic engagement in many sectors, do we really want to reduce conflict over charged political and religious issues? why not have it out verbally over and over? paul graham might be beyond such conversations about politics and religion, but maybe others need to have them. - mark h.

Re: Keep Your Identity Small

#98

Post by gnaritas »

just_me wrote: post #96
gnaritas wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is such a ridiculously brilliant essay. Um.. I think that's going a bit far. Interesting take on well known fact that people who identify heavily with something aren't very rational about being challenged on it, but "ridiculously brilliant", I think not.

He started with "Why do political and religious discussions suck?" and ended up with a recipe to make oneself smarter. I wonder how many tens of millions of people have wondered that exact thing and ended up with "Well, some topics are just inherently controversial"?

Sorry, it just wasn't really particularly insightful. Buddhists have been teaching detachment for thousands of years, slow and methodical destruction of the ego until you become totally an observer, purely aware.

You are not your car, you are not your job, you are not your religion, etc, etc, this is not anything new, and while it is wise, it's certainly not some stunningly brilliant new idea from Paul.

I'm not knocking Paul either, I very much like his writing, some of his essays are fantastic, but c'mon, this isn't that great. The word fanboy'ism springs to mind.

Re: Keep Your Identity Small

#99

Post by socialarchetype »

socialarchetype wrote: post #97

not all identities are chosen by the individual for the self in the way that this essay assumes. some identities are forced upon specific individuals or groups. is it reasonable to ask those whose identities have been selected for them through accidents of history/birth to keep their identities small? it is ultimately reflexive of reality to ignore these identities? in a democratic society that is struggling to maint…

also, there are a number of disciplines and interdisciplines devoted to identity studies (identity politics, african american studies, women studies, queer studies, whiteness, etc.). whether you come from a background to have read them or whether or not you have been conditioned to respect them, they have spent a lot of time thinking about these issues (30-40ish years as a recognized part of academy) and have a lot of smart things to say if this question truly interests you.

Re: Keep Your Identity Small

#100

Post by Zev »

mynameishere wrote: post #79
gravitycop wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reaching criticality is a normal goal for the operators of a controlled nuclear reactor (nuclear power reactor unit; research reactor; etc.). A reactor that has reached criticality is usually one that is operating normally. For example: http://www.google.com/search?q=%22initial+criticality%22 The JRR-4, which reached initial criticality in 1965, had contenued to aperate safely until 1996 using uranium of a high conce…

Sure, and the result of that "normality" is furiously boiling water.

If you're aiming to make tea, then that might be the goal, yes.
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