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I know the secret to the quiet mind but wish I’d never learned it

theatlantic.com

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Re: I know the secret to the quiet mind but wish I’d never learned it

#151

Post by nradov »

throwaway205826 wrote: post #147
nradov wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you qualified to evaluate competence in that field? What specific criteria did you use?

If there were specific criteria that I could share in an HN comment, they would be used for hiring and immediately collapse under Goodhart’s law. Your question is almost tautologically bad - If I were able to answer it in a brief HN post, my answer would be bullshit. You can accurately probe competence by asking people questions about their thought process, their current hypotheses, etc. If there are $BIGNUMBER tests…

So you're just dodging the question and don't actually understand the medical profession.

Re: I know the secret to the quiet mind but wish I’d never learned it

#152

Post by throwaway205826 »

nradov wrote: post #151
throwaway205826 wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If there were specific criteria that I could share in an HN comment, they would be used for hiring and immediately collapse under Goodhart’s law. Your question is almost tautologically bad - If I were able to answer it in a brief HN post, my answer would be bullshit. You can accurately probe competence by asking people questions about their thought process, their current hypotheses, etc. If there are $BIGNUMBER tests…

So you're just dodging the question and don't actually understand the medical profession.

I just pretty clearly explained why I don’t need to understand every detail of the profession to accurately estimate someone’s capability. Which part of that was confusing?

Forgive me if I’m being brusque but you’re doing the same stupid defensive BS that incompetent doctors do when you ask them a question - “oh, and where did you go to medical school?”

Re: I know the secret to the quiet mind but wish I’d never learned it

#153

Post by v0x »

throwaway205826 wrote: post #148
StavrosK wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you also hear a sound like a bass guitar string snapping when this happened?

No, but this is a very interesting question. Why do you ask?

Probably a reference to this[1] although the tweet is since deleted. Basically, some guy had heard/felt a sound like a bass guitar string snapping in his head and had some pretty serious symptoms afterwards, which he thought were physiological but many commenters leaned towards some psychological issue, since the OPs explanations were somewhat nonsensical.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27003207

Re: I know the secret to the quiet mind but wish I’d never learned it

#154

Post by jbluepolarbear »

catblast01 wrote: post #142
secnono wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>90% of medical “experts” are totally incompetent. My wife had breast cancer, muliple lumps irregular shaped, the only answer was full mastectomy, except the oncologist wanted to do a biopsy before they did they surgery. "Why?" I asked, "You already said that the safest option is to perform the mastectomy, right?" The doctor replied, "Well, yes but we'd like to know what we are facing before we got in." Me, "Will it…

This story has a major plot hole. If you were so certain the biopsy was unnecessary and harmful, why didn’t you just refuse it, seek a second opinion (especially as you evidently are portraying the doctor as a villian). Also your last paragraph doesn’t even read well as preteen fall fiction.

Doctors will refuse to do surgery if you refuse their stupid tests that don’t matter

Re: I know the secret to the quiet mind but wish I’d never learned it

#155

Post by meheleventyone »

username90 wrote: post #143
meheleventyone wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a bit of a misunderstanding of the role of doctors as well IMO. Apart from a small fraction of them they aren’t scientists or researchers and aren’t supposed to be. And the human body is complex, problems can arise which can’t easily be understood. The expectation that every doctor is House and we’ll each get millions of dollar of diagnostics is wrong. There’s also a reason why experiments in science require an…

They get paid as if they are super experts even when most of them aren't. People wouldn't complain about the skills of doctors if they just earned 100k a year or so. I don't understand why USA doesn't just open up the floodgates and stop the requirement for doctors to get a bachelors before starting their doctors degree and with that get way more doctors and push down wages.

So are software engineers in the USA! Particularly FAANG ones! And we get sensible working hours, plush offices and all modern conveniences. Pay isn’t really related to how much of a super expert you are unless you really, really are one.

Both my brother and his wife are doctors in the UK as well and I wouldn’t put up with the level of assessment and work they have to go through. My brother is 37 and still studying for and taking exams. Getting your medical degree is just the start of the learning process.

Re: I know the secret to the quiet mind but wish I’d never learned it

#156

Post by 15rthughes »

teh_infallible wrote: post #39
throwaway205826 wrote: post #13

A few years ago I got some kind of brain illness. Doctors were unable to come up with a strong diagnosis, which is apparently quite common for such cases. One of the effects of the illness was that I essentially became stupid. I couldn’t focus on anything (even trivial activities like watching television), I couldn’t compose emails, I would get disoriented easily. It was absolutely terrifying not knowing whether or n…

I honestly believe that the dumbest software developer is smarter than the average doctor. Look at how they prescribe drugs for the side effects of other drugs. Imagine coding a software patch to fix a bug introduced by another patch.

I honestly don’t care if this isn’t “professional” enough for hackernews or not.

You have the self inflated ego of a psychopath if you think this is true. This comment is the living embodiment of the Dunning-Kruger effect.

Re: I know the secret to the quiet mind but wish I’d never learned it

#157

Post by phaedrus »

ggm wrote: post #79

At the other end of the scale, unrelated to severe trauma I truly believe we don't come back from anaesthesia entirely the same. I have no scientific basis for this belief, it's just how I feel about the experience of waking up from anaesthesia twice. The "who am I" in this article is strong. Who is asking the questions? Is it the same "me" from before time? The other one, knew what parmesan looked like.

My uncle was noticeably not the same person after coming back from general anaesthesia. So I know what you mean, although I can't think how to sufficiently explain this to other readers who may not have experienced it.

I wonder if it's like that old sci fi philosophical conundrum of whether you'd still be the same person if you went through a teleporter that actually duplicates you.

Re: I know the secret to the quiet mind but wish I’d never learned it

#158

Post by scottmcf »

jbluepolarbear wrote: post #154
catblast01 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This story has a major plot hole. If you were so certain the biopsy was unnecessary and harmful, why didn’t you just refuse it, seek a second opinion (especially as you evidently are portraying the doctor as a villian). Also your last paragraph doesn’t even read well as preteen fall fiction.

Doctors will refuse to do surgery if you refuse their stupid tests that don’t matter

Your insurance company also likely requires the test to cover the surgery.

Re: I know the secret to the quiet mind but wish I’d never learned it

#159

Post by deertick1 »

teh_infallible wrote: post #39
throwaway205826 wrote: post #13

A few years ago I got some kind of brain illness. Doctors were unable to come up with a strong diagnosis, which is apparently quite common for such cases. One of the effects of the illness was that I essentially became stupid. I couldn’t focus on anything (even trivial activities like watching television), I couldn’t compose emails, I would get disoriented easily. It was absolutely terrifying not knowing whether or n…

I honestly believe that the dumbest software developer is smarter than the average doctor. Look at how they prescribe drugs for the side effects of other drugs. Imagine coding a software patch to fix a bug introduced by another patch.

"Imagine coding a software patch to fix a bug introduced by another patch"

As a support engineer.... Is this not common? Cause dear lord does my (large corporate entity that shall not be named) do this ALL THE TIME.

Most recent was a set of about 5 consecutive patches for shitty patches.

Send help.

Re: I know the secret to the quiet mind but wish I’d never learned it

#160

Post by antihipocrat »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #104
antihipocrat wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you say you don't exist are you referring to your sense of self identity? i.e your ego, the feeling that your mind and body and all of your senses, emotions, thoughts and memories are a distinct entity? This idea is very interesting, and not considered strange in philosophy (ego death) and is also prevalent in Buddhism: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatt%C4%81

Yes, kind of. I'm pretty sure I am neither my ego nor my body. But besides the body and the ego (the ego being a product of the body) no thing which could be reasonably called me physically exists. I am a rational kind so even if I believed in immortal soul in the Christian sense and could imagine an ethereal projection of my body retaining my memories going to some heaven after my body death, I would still understan…

Does the universe exist? If so, then the atoms that comprise your body also exist, and defining your body as a distinct object within the universe is categorical.
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