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The Three Kinds of Laziness

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Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#91

Post by ams6110 »

alanfalcon wrote: post #59
oblique63 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something about this stance has always bothered me. I don't know if it's just me, but I have always just seen this as condescending because 'having a choice' has always been blatantly obvious to me. I will immediately take that back and apologize if a majority of people really don't realize this, but so far it has always seemed like most people give rather 'meh' reactions to these sorts of responses because you're no…

"Just do it"/"Snap out of it" is exactly the key that I've used to get going whenever I've stalled in life. Heck, it's the key I used back in Jr. High when I was an average runner and decided that today I wanted to win the race (literally, mid-race, I started running faster, actually pushing off the ground and propelling myself forward rather than going through the running motions as I had previously in my life—obvio…

What are you doing here commenting on an HN thread if you're having such a productive day ;-)

Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#92

Post by hnalias7 »

davidroberts wrote: post #13

How about the fourth kind of lazyness--not knowing what the hell to do out of the many choices available, so you sit around hoping the right choice will make itself obvious. It can turn into a very long wait.

"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice". That Rush quote seemed relevant.

I do this often myself. I try to make educated decisions which means researching all my options. Eventually you end up with "analysis paralysis". Being overwhelmed with all the choices and variables and the "right choice" isn't always clear.

I blame this somewhat on tv and movies that always have the epiphanic moment where the right choice becomes clear and the protagonist knows what to do. We usually don't get those in real life.

Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#93

Post by vinceguidry »

yen223 wrote: post #90
vinceguidry wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I used to be the sort of programmer who would waste all my time surfing the net, and maybe banging out a script once in a blue moon, while congratulating myself on working 'smart'. If I have tasks to do involving programming, I would naturally gravitate towards doing them rather than screwing around. Hmm. Perhaps you don't have enough passion for programming. I'm not trying to attack your skills or anything, but if…

If a guy is passionate about his work, doesn't screw around while coding, nobody would call him a lazy programmer ;)

"We will encourage you to develop the three great virtues of a programmer: laziness, impatience, and hubris." -- Larry Wall, Programming Perl

Laziness is then defined as "The quality that makes you go to great effort to reduce overall energy expenditure." You don't want to spend an hour writing 40 slightly different functions, so you spend 3 drilling into the problem domain and devise an abstraction that allows you to express the whole thing in 17 lines of code.

His project manager might call him lazy, after all, he technically pushed back project completion by two hours more than needed, by wasting time on an abstraction that was probably unnecessary, all just to scratch an itch. Is it, though? You could argue both ways.

Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#94

Post by kinleyd »

virtualwhys wrote: post #85
kinleyd wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again, you are right to say that there are many Buddhist ways, not one. While the goal is enlightenment, most Buddhist texts constantly talk about the different ways it has been achieved. My view of Buddhism is heavily Mahayana and Vajrayana based, and I know little of Hinayana and the other 'vehicles'. In this context, emphasis is placed on one's teacher mainly because it is believed that it is very, very easy to un…

The practice to awakening odds are pretty poor. If you were to ask your fellow practitioners how many of them felt as if they fully grasped (experienced) the teacher's teaching, I'd be shocked if more than 1 out of 20 said yes. Add to that the fact that practice in the Buddhist world is almost always an ass kicker of the highest order (hello screwdriver in the knees), then one wonders why take it up in the first plac…

Saying that, I did meet someone who awakened without a teacher. I suggested that he attend a couple of sitting groups that I used to go to. After the Dharma talk/discussion at each group, without having said a word, both teachers came up to him and basically said, how on earth did you do that?

That's an awesome story. I'm only scratching at the surface, and something tells me that it's going to take a lot longer than that, if ever, for me.

but then again, practicing for 5, 10, 20+ years and awakening is also not guaranteed.

For most of us, for sure. However, on the positive side, even many lifetimes of trying is but a mere tick on the clock of samsara. :)

Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#95

Post by WalterSear »

kinleyd wrote: post #72
WalterSear wrote: post #4

This simplistic 'snap out of it' ideology belies and belittles the very real issues of fear, discouragement and depression that underly much of what people berate themselves over as 'laziness'.

"This simplistic 'snap out of it' ideology" lies at the heart of Buddhism. It is neither ideology nor simplistic.

In that were the case, Buddhism would lacking. But it isn't the heart of Buddhism.

Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#96

Post by rejschaap »

loup-vaillant wrote: post #83
cLeEOGPw wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many artificial intelligence researchers say mind uploading is probably never going to happen.

I believe you. I'd be shocked however to learn that it is the consensus in the AI community. Also, many brilliant people said heavier-than-air flight will never happen. Fermi himself didn't believe in supercritical nuclear chain reactions. I'm sure there are some other examples. But the interesting question is: why is it never going to happen? I can see several reasons: (1) Dualism is true: we have a soul without whi…

Your computer virus analogy is a bit off as the virus was created by a superior being. Self-replication is something that was programmed into the virus, the virus did not develop this ability itself.

Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#97

Post by swayvil »

kinleyd wrote: post #78
virtualwhys wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is this Buddhism that you speak of? Put another way, what is Buddha? Given the epoch, it's not even clear that all of the teachings attributed to the Buddha derive from one being (i.e. Buddhism is the evolution of a core teaching that has become an ism). IIRC, from the Diamond Sutra: a cloud, a flash of lightening, a dew drop, a star...view all created things like this. If that doesn't divert one's attention fro…

True, Buddhism is no different from Hinduism, Christism, Muhammadism or any other ism in that it cannot escape the additions to the core teachings. Errors in narration, translation and interpretation all contribute to giving one a good reason to take what is passed down with healthy skepticism. IMHO, the Buddhist recommendation to exercise this type of necessary skepticism is to try it out, to experience it. If your…

Luckily we in Buddhism have something better than mere teachings : Meditation. More educational than a billion wise words.

Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#98

Post by kinleyd »

swayvil wrote: post #97
kinleyd wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, Buddhism is no different from Hinduism, Christism, Muhammadism or any other ism in that it cannot escape the additions to the core teachings. Errors in narration, translation and interpretation all contribute to giving one a good reason to take what is passed down with healthy skepticism. IMHO, the Buddhist recommendation to exercise this type of necessary skepticism is to try it out, to experience it. If your…

Luckily we in Buddhism have something better than mere teachings : Meditation. More educational than a billion wise words.

Yes, indeed. I was referring to the practice of meditation as a good basis for testing the worth of Buddhism.

Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#99

Post by kinleyd »

WalterSear wrote: post #95
kinleyd wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"This simplistic 'snap out of it' ideology" lies at the heart of Buddhism. It is neither ideology nor simplistic.

In that were the case, Buddhism would lacking. But it isn't the heart of Buddhism.

In Buddhism "the very real issues of fear, discouragement and depression", and indeed the entire range of human emotions, are themselves considered fabrications of the mind that are laid bare and exposed as such through the practice of meditation, mindfulness and rejection of ego. To me that pretty much qualifies as being at the heart though I certainly don't claim any solid expertise.

Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#100

Post by SatvikBeri »

hnalias7 wrote: post #92
davidroberts wrote: post #13

How about the fourth kind of lazyness--not knowing what the hell to do out of the many choices available, so you sit around hoping the right choice will make itself obvious. It can turn into a very long wait.

"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice". That Rush quote seemed relevant. I do this often myself. I try to make educated decisions which means researching all my options. Eventually you end up with "analysis paralysis". Being overwhelmed with all the choices and variables and the "right choice" isn't always clear. I blame this somewhat on tv and movies that always have the epiphanic moment where t…

"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice". That Rush quote seemed relevant.

Trivia: Rush were actually quoting Ayn Rand. It's entirely possible that the quote or at least the sentiment predates her too.

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