What one book could give me a new, useful superpower? • Hacker News Board

Re: What one book could give me a new, useful superpower?

#201

Post by mej10 » Sat, Dec 29, 2012, 4:18 PM UTC

tokenadult wrote: post #60

JasonFruit wrote: post #28

Try Strunk and White. Read it once a year, thinking about what you have written since the last time, and you will be ashamed and improved.

I have a copy of Strunk and White, but I like other advice on writing much better. The new book by Steven Pinker that is promised in Jerry Coyne's post about Pinker's project http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/steve-pin... is a book that I expect to be especially helpful for Hacker News participants. The book isn't finished yet, but Pinker's lecture on how to write http://video.mit.edu/watch/communica…

Wow, I can't wait for Steven Pinker's book. That talk was excellent.

Re: What one book could give me a new, useful superpower?

#202

Post by pretoriusB » Sat, Dec 29, 2012, 4:49 PM UTC

neumann_alfred wrote: post #197

pretoriusB wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Evil is a BS theological notion. I wish people would stop perpetuating it. People act. Sometimes they do things that hurt other people. But they are not "evil". Including serial killers: they can be mentally ill (physiologically), or have severe psychological problems because of childhood abuse and such. Hitler, for example, was the elected leader of a huge country, with a grassroots following for years. Millions of…

Evil is a BS theological notion. I wish people would stop perpetuating it. You can call it by other names, and you do; mentally ill for example. Yet, there is no rational objective reason to declare anything wrong, evil or whatever; not even the extinction of all life in the universe, or torture for all. There is no "objective evil" any human could declare, it boils down to opinions; so I make up my own mind. Deal wi…

>There is no "objective evil" any human could declare, it boils down to opinions; so I make up my own mind. Deal with that, not with strawmen.

People don't have to stand for anybody "making up his own mind", the same way that people don't have to respect your opinion if you believe in creationism for example. Even if you are in the majority, there is one correct way to look at the thing, and there are no two ways about it.

Especially since the words and notions we opt to use has consequences to what we perceive and how we treat other people. It's important to choose the correct ones, or the less wrong ones.

The notion of harm (and the common-sense ethical notion of good) are well understood. The notion of evil, OTOH, is theological bullshit, and only helps to obscure the matters at hand (by making it difficult to get to the actual reasoning and motivations of the person, for example).

>No, because that was in response to a huge campaign to conquer Europe

And Hitler's rise to power and actions was a response to the "treaty of Versailles", which was considered unfair, humiliating and suffocating the Germans. See how it works both ways?

And who said that killing civillians with nuclear bombs is an acceptable "response to a huge campaign to conquer Europe"?

>I am German, and I would laugh into the face of any German crying about Dresden.

You might, but millions of other people, German or not German, would not. Civillians are civillians and people killed by bombs are still people, whether German or not. And I'm talking as a citizen of a country that suffered much under German rule in WWII.

>You haven't been to a whole lot of historical museums dealing with the topic, have you? Or seen movies, that kind of thing?

Well, you guys have bombed my city, destroyed some of it's more important monuments, --and killed my grandmother's brother. I don't have to visit "a lot of historical museums". Which I have, plus read tons of books on the matter.

>No, that's just a strawman. Fact is, they didn't mind. In my books that's enough.

Well, fact is Truman didn't mind dropping two big bombs on civillians either. Or France didn't mind slaughtering 50.000 Algerians protesting to get their freedom back. Just two examples...

Re: What one book could give me a new, useful superpower?

#203

Post by bennesvig » Sat, Dec 29, 2012, 4:56 PM UTC

stephen wrote: post #92

bennesvig wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Art of Learning is one of the best books I read this year. If you liked that, you'd also probably enjoy The Inner Game of Tennis and Mastery by Robert Greene.

I read The Art of Learning a few years ago, and remember it being basically an autobiography, and not anything like a manual that explains how one could actually attain any sort of super learning. It's just personal stories that are basically "hey, this guy is awesome at a lot of stuff." Hm. Well, I do remember how OCD he was about his subjects--reviewing videotapes of himself doing martial arts, studying moves, etc.…

You're right. It's definitely not a manual with a step by step plan to take like a lot of self-help type books. It's subtly brilliant.

Some of the concepts I picked up from it:

- Practice something enough to get to the point where you can perform the act/task without thinking. Your brain will then be freed up to focus on higher level things. Picture yourself moving up different levels of a pyramid.

This is also how you can slow things down in your mind. Because you've experienced something so much, your brain doesn't have to do as much processing. He talks about this in depth, The Inner Game of Tennis talks about it, and one or two other books I read this year mentioned this concept.

- Invest in loss. Most entrepreneurs have heard this 1,000 times, but it was still great to read his take on it. He couldn't get better without experiencing a little pain in practice.

- Don't fight, avoid, or deny negative forces. Instead, you should look to channel what's coming at you into something positive. He talks about the chess player who would play mental tricks on him or kick him under the table. It through him off at first, but he learned to embrace it and overcome it.

- Find a trigger zone. Develop a routine that will get you ready for peak performance. It could be for Tai Chi or a business meeting (which he gives an example of).

There is a lot more to the book, but those are a few of the main concepts he talks about.

Re: What one book could give me a new, useful superpower?

#204

Post by neumann_alfred » Sat, Dec 29, 2012, 5:01 PM UTC

pretoriusB wrote: post #202

neumann_alfred wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Evil is a BS theological notion. I wish people would stop perpetuating it. You can call it by other names, and you do; mentally ill for example. Yet, there is no rational objective reason to declare anything wrong, evil or whatever; not even the extinction of all life in the universe, or torture for all. There is no "objective evil" any human could declare, it boils down to opinions; so I make up my own mind. Deal wi…

> There is no "objective evil" any human could declare, it boils down to opinions; so I make up my own mind. Deal with that, not with strawmen. People don't have to stand for anybody "making up his own mind", the same way that people don't have to respect your opinion if you believe in creationism for example. Even if you are in the majority, there is one correct way to look at the thing, and there are no two ways ab…

Even if you are in the majority, there is one correct way to look at the thing

Where did I claim otherwise? Nowhere! I actually said "seeing how it's subjective". Yet you just won't stop with your strawmen. Consider yourself ignored, this is useless, especially your "oh yeah? X was bad too!" stuff, which I never denied either.

Re: What one book could give me a new, useful superpower?

#205

Post by pretoriusB » Sat, Dec 29, 2012, 5:02 PM UTC

domador wrote: post #194

pretoriusB wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Evil is a BS theological notion. I wish people would stop perpetuating it. People act. Sometimes they do things that hurt other people. But they are not "evil". Including serial killers: they can be mentally ill (physiologically), or have severe psychological problems because of childhood abuse and such. Hitler, for example, was the elected leader of a huge country, with a grassroots following for years. Millions of…

I'd be interested in knowing what your definition of "evil" is, to better understand why you consider it BS. To me it seems like your argue that the label "evil" has been applied inconsistently, which is a different matter (though a valid point, I believe).

>I'd be interested in knowing what your definition of "evil" is, to better understand why you consider it BS.

Evil doesn't mean anything. It's just a label which amounts to "enjoys to doing bad things", which is a non-explanation. If anything, it's just a quick condemnation, without wanting to _understand_ or hear more on the issue.

As such, it acts as stop sign: it stops examination of what actually went on (which, besides hurting our understanding of history, it also hurts our chances of fixing it in the future).

E.g: "Hitler did so and so because he was evil". Err, no. For one, he didn't do it alone, second, lots of leaders all around the world did equally bad things (e.g Japan and Manchuria), third, the motivations and reasons behind Germany's actions are long, historical and sociological (you could find precursors to Nazi ideology 50 and 100 years before they appeared).

Second, "evil" has theological origin and connotations (whereas good and bad, harmful and beneficial and such are well known in any kind of society, including civic ones).

I think the "evil" tag is popular in the US, because of the countries long theological tradition and huge influence of religion on culture. Nobody is content to call even Hitler or a serial killer "evil" in Europe and leave it at that.

We always want to go deeper into the root of the issues.

Re: What one book could give me a new, useful superpower?

#206

Post by pretoriusB » Sat, Dec 29, 2012, 5:04 PM UTC

pretoriusB wrote: post #202

neumann_alfred wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Evil is a BS theological notion. I wish people would stop perpetuating it. You can call it by other names, and you do; mentally ill for example. Yet, there is no rational objective reason to declare anything wrong, evil or whatever; not even the extinction of all life in the universe, or torture for all. There is no "objective evil" any human could declare, it boils down to opinions; so I make up my own mind. Deal wi…

> There is no "objective evil" any human could declare, it boils down to opinions; so I make up my own mind. Deal with that, not with strawmen. People don't have to stand for anybody "making up his own mind", the same way that people don't have to respect your opinion if you believe in creationism for example. Even if you are in the majority, there is one correct way to look at the thing, and there are no two ways ab…

>Where did I claim otherwise? Nowhere! I actually said "seeing how it's subjective".

Wait what? All your reply is based on the notion that it's ok to have this subjective use of "evil".

I say the opposite: it's not OK, and we are better to use more objective ways to describe reality.

Re: What one book could give me a new, useful superpower?

#207

Post by neumann_alfred » Sat, Dec 29, 2012, 5:05 PM UTC

pretoriusB wrote: post #188

pretoriusB wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Evil is a BS theological notion. I wish people would stop perpetuating it. People act. Sometimes they do things that hurt other people. But they are not "evil". Including serial killers: they can be mentally ill (physiologically), or have severe psychological problems because of childhood abuse and such. Hitler, for example, was the elected leader of a huge country, with a grassroots following for years. Millions of…

> It's sickening watch leftists like you defend Mao and Stalin...and yes, you are. Emm, who told you I'm a leftist in the first place? The fact that I "defended" Hitler against the same accusation of ebing "Evil", shouldn't have rang a few alarm bells that I'm actually NOT a leftist? Or is it because I wrote that Mao and Stalin wasn't "evil"? That just makes me a realist -- or if you want it somebody that refuses to…

Or is it because I wrote that Mao and Stalin wasn't "evil"?

That just makes me a realist

If you respond to my claim that they are evil in my subjective opinion, which I clearly labeled as such, that they're not "objectively, absolutely evil", that doesn't make you a realist, that makes someone who is talking to himself and his strawmen. You say you wished people would drop a notion you introduced into all of this to begin with. Stop being a clown.

Re: What one book could give me a new, useful superpower?

#208

Post by w1ntermute » Sat, Dec 29, 2012, 5:07 PM UTC

pretoriusB wrote: post #178

edw519 wrote: post #67

The Ultimate Secret to Getting Absolutely Everything You Want by Mike Hernacki There are many inputs that affect success: intelligence, hard work, work ethic, emotional balance, determination, and even luck. I believe that the single most important of these over which we have the most control is determination. This book is provides a pretty good recipe to cultivate your own determination. I'm even going to tell you t…

> The secret is: "I am willing to do whatever it takes to get what I want." Like step over people? Screw the ones who love me? Be unethical? Ignore other parts of my life? Plus, who said that (a) I know what I want, (b) what I want is good for me (c) what I want is good for society in general, anyway? Not to mention that the whole premise is BS. As if by knowing this "secret" will help anybody. A regression to miracl…

> Like step over people? Screw the ones who love me? Be unethical? Ignore other parts of my life?

If that's what it takes. It's a matter of how far you're willing to go for success. For some people, being an honest, loving, and caring person is important. But if you want to succeed like Steve Jobs, you'd better be prepared to do the good and the bad.

Re: What one book could give me a new, useful superpower?

#209

Post by pretoriusB » Sat, Dec 29, 2012, 5:15 PM UTC

Dylan16807 wrote: post #182

pretoriusB wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Evil is a BS theological notion. I wish people would stop perpetuating it. People act. Sometimes they do things that hurt other people. But they are not "evil". Including serial killers: they can be mentally ill (physiologically), or have severe psychological problems because of childhood abuse and such. Hitler, for example, was the elected leader of a huge country, with a grassroots following for years. Millions of…

So you can be objectively 'ill' but not 'evil'? Sounds like you're handling your own pile of BS. 'severe psychological problems' that cause people to deeply hurt others for their own happiness is within spitting distance of a definition of evil. Also I'm not going to get deep into your halfassed retelling of history but (per capita) genocide is worse than murder is worse than bombing cities is worse than bombing armi…

>So you can be objectively 'ill' but not 'evil'?

Yes. Mental illness is something that can be objectively examined and testified by medical experts.

"Evil" is a BS non medical pulp journalism term that takes us back to the witch-hunting days...

>'severe psychological problems' that cause people to deeply hurt others for their own happiness is within spitting distance of a definition of evil.

Only one is a SPECIFIC case of an actual mental evaluation by a professional and the other is a word that can used to mean anything.

>Also I'm not going to get deep into your halfassed retelling of history but (per capita) genocide is worse than murder is worse than bombing cities is worse than bombing armies is worse than enslaving people is worse than exploiting people. So stop trying to fucking godwin with incomparable numbers.

Really? Do you want to go tell the victims of slavery that they were better off than the victims of German's genocide? Including the tens of millions of people that died under slavery? And that their suffering is somewhat "not comparable" to Germany's victims. Let's see how they'll take your fair and balanced ordering of what's better and what's worse.

Oh, and that "per capita genocide"? Plenty of it in the hands of European powers too. Check this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocides_in_history

Re: What one book could give me a new, useful superpower?

#210

Post by TallboyOne » Sat, Dec 29, 2012, 5:20 PM UTC

mitchi wrote: post #114

TallboyOne wrote: post #25

Absolutely hands down this: http://www.amazon.com/Memory-Book-Classic-Improving-School/d... Within a day I was memorizing lists of 75 items forwards AND backwards. Completely random items as well. It makes remembering names a joke, you will remember them for years. I gave the book to my 15 year old brother and explained to him how much the book meant to me and that it was a very quick read (most of the good stuff is…

You are not using the loci method are you? (The memory palace) It takes me 10 minutes to memorize a deck of cards right now. It took a lot of time to assign characters to my cards and considerable time to set up mental journeys to store the characters. It's a mental algorithm but the setup is not trivial. Maybe you are just gifted but I'll say it for the others, it's not that easy.

Not gifted, but I have a very good imagination. So does my brother, and that's what the method he uses in the book I read is based off of, so perhaps that's it.