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The Quiet Ones

nytimes.com

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Re: The Quiet Ones

#331

Post by redcircle »

kkihara wrote: post #210
pg wrote: post #81

My life has been a search for quiet for as long as I can remember. I think the fundamental problem with noisy people is not that they're inconsiderate, but that they don't have any train of thought to interrupt, and they thus don't realize the havoc they're wreaking. When I was living in Providence, working on On Lisp , I told my loud but well-meaning neighbors that I was writing a hard computer book, and that made t…

Am I supposed to take understand that it's okay to be condescending and dismissive if you're pg and not anyone else? I'm really shocked no one else has called him out on this. Normally I see people jumping all over comments like this. Is HN such a cult of personality? Everyone, even "ordinary" or "normal" people have their trains of thought and to belittle them by suggesting otherwise...

The article primed us for a bitch fest. I came to the comments expecting it. So in this one case, for the therapeutic effects that come from getting shit off your chest, I expected and overlooked the belittling and pretension; maybe others did too. I think that one's perception of quiet is affective --- quiet is relative, and at some point you'll just hear your heart beat, and so there is something else at play here to make everyone so angry about noise --- and these reactions to noise show a degree of misanthropy, which is confirmed by the comments.

Re: The Quiet Ones

#332

Post by psweber »

corporalagumbo wrote: post #289
pg wrote: post #81

My life has been a search for quiet for as long as I can remember. I think the fundamental problem with noisy people is not that they're inconsiderate, but that they don't have any train of thought to interrupt, and they thus don't realize the havoc they're wreaking. When I was living in Providence, working on On Lisp , I told my loud but well-meaning neighbors that I was writing a hard computer book, and that made t…

Ordinary people can understand And so is the fundamental problem with quiet people that they're hyper-sensitive, judgemental assholes?

You are generalizing. Every group has assholes. Hyper-sensitive is probably closer to the truth.

Re: The Quiet Ones

#333

Post by kragen »

mdonahoe wrote: post #242
furyofantares wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reminds me of an anecdote from Feynman about what sorts of mental things he could and could not do while counting seconds, and how it was different for different people. His counting was internally verbal and he could do anything that didn't require him to speak or anything else that was internally verbal. On the other hand, a mathematician he knew was able to do lots of mental things while counting that Feynman…

Feynman is great. After reading about this a few years ago, I spent a few minutes trying to teach myself how to count with other senses, like touch or taste. I picked an ordering of foods and imagined the transition from one to the next. Touch is easier, since the ordering is already there. Just look at your fingers and imagine a sensation in each finger as you count. Easiest is to actually move your fingers though.

Touch is also much faster than visual or audio. With Chisenbop, I can count at around 15Hz, which is faster than I can look at the things I am trying to count.

Re: The Quiet Ones

#334

Post by marbletiles »

Muzza wrote: post #315
marbletiles wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, he should disregard them because as written they're sexist, and don't even have good methodology to try and stand in their defense. His confirmation bias is one thing, the assertion that these women "literally feel a compulsion" that he hasn't justified is another thing entirely.

> No, he should disregard them because as written they're sexist, and don't even have good methodology to try and stand in their defense. So... If he had a sufficiently good methodology which proved his assertions, they would cease to be sexist and you politically correct lot would approve of them? Somehow I doubt it.

Yes, if proven they would cease to be sexist, because they'd be discriminating based on facts, not based on his apparent prejudice. (However, since the conjecture does seem to come from a combination of sexism/ageism/confirmation bias, it would be surprising if they were proved.)

BTW: Are you proud not to be in the politically correct "lot"? All it really amounts to is trying not to be unnecessarily hateful or demeaning to one another.

Re: The Quiet Ones

#335

Post by devb »

anthonyb wrote: post #227
fusiongyro wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My mother is a pretty deep thinker and she requires constant TV chatter simply because she has tinnitus and can't stand the sound of it. But I think she's an exception.

Have you introduced her to brown noise? I typically use it for blocking out background sounds when I'm tired of listening to music, but it might work well for tinnitus too.

There seem to be two very different definitions of brown noise.

Re: The Quiet Ones

#336

Post by archagon »

I'm a bit surprised that so many people NEED a dead-silent environment to concentrate on their work. Maybe it's because I grew up with a snoring dad, but I can completely tune out a crowd of people without breaking a sweat, while all my coworkers would go crazy without their headphones. Honest question: is this truly such a difficult skill to cultivate? You'd think it would be a whole lot more beneficial in the long run than investing in an expensive set of noise-cancelling equipment. But I don't know, maybe I'm just going deaf!

Re: The Quiet Ones

#337

Post by chrislong »

i haven't read this entire thread, but i've read enough to say this: custom earplugs? noise cancelling headphones? white noise soundtracks? are you serious? the problems discussed here took place in a space specifically designated for quiet. why can't people make an effort to comply? if you want to make noise, go somewhere else. i literally cannot believe what i'm reading here. shaddap!!!!

this brings to mind the BWCA in northern minnesota. pure, unspoiled wilderness. many want to change that, introducing cellphone towers, water slide theme parks, boats with motors ...

to which i say: the vast majority of america has been "civilized" -- can't you leave one place alone for refuge?

in this case it's the quiet car. everywhere else is noisy, which is great/fine, but cannot you respect the desires of people wanting refuge in one tiny place? sheeeeeesh.

Re: The Quiet Ones

#338

Post by kragen »

Fargren wrote: post #30

I think this being loud is particularly ingrained on the US culture. I have to say, tourists from the US are notably loud on Argentina. We have a large amount of tourists on Buenos Aires, but it's always the US accent you can hear all the way across a crowded train wagon or room. I can't imagine why that is.

I suspect that the US, including the upper class that can still afford jet air travel, contains more cultural diversity than most other countries, and what you're noticing is the outliers on the right side of the noisiness distribution.

Me, I find Buenos Aires to be particularly loud, but it's only occasionally people (usually groups of cacerolaceros, other piqueteros, or football fans); mostly it's the huge superchargers on the buses, the garbage trucks, the pneumatic actuators on the buses without silencers installed, the motorcycles without mufflers installed, the cumbia villera from the cellphones, and so on. In fact, the only louder city I've ever traveled to was Lima.

Re: The Quiet Ones

#339

Post by mike_ivanov »

bpatrianakos wrote: post #75

Oh, the quiet car. I ride the quiet car every weekday to and from work into and out of Chicago (except ours is Metra, not Amtrak). His description of it is completely accurate. The people on the quiet car tend to be thinkers, readers, writers, and I dare say just a bit more intelligent than the average rider. I've had the same experience before. For some reason people think the signs and the announcements don't apply…

> scream at each other despite being centimeters from each others face

Ah, Dora the Explorer generation...

Re: The Quiet Ones

#340

Post by scott_s »

gordonguthrie wrote: post #325
scott_s wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Related to this, I've discovered what I can and can't listen to depending on the task. When I'm writing, I can't listen to music with lyrics or podcasts. That's not too surprising, since I'm obviously using the parts of my brain related to processing language for my work, so I can't process language in the background. When I'm doing grunt-level programming or debugging, I can listen to music with words or podcasts. B…

I read Oliver Sachs Musicophilia: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Musicophilia-Tales-Music-Oliver-Sack... In it he points out how some people with Alzheimers or other degenerative brain damage can use familiar music to co-ordinate a sort of 'flow' a rhythm of activity. When I am coding it is like this. I can put on a familiar record that know back to front and then suddenly it is over and I haven't heard any of it but it has…

Interesting. I can try that with Metallica's older stuff, as I have been listening to it for over 15 years.
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