Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How to stay sane in a world that rewards insanity

joanwestenberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 284 posts

Re: How to stay sane in a world that rewards insanity

#161

Post by lmm »

cal_dent wrote: post #144
alexachilles90 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more about being confident and extreme on their stance no matter what it is at that particular moment. People are attracted to personalities that are confident and says they are right all the time. Heck, personalities like that gets all the influence in the workplace too. Imagine John Doe in your office who has a solution for every problem and knows the code base like the back of their hand. You might find that…

I see it as the continued corporatisation of everything. I suspect that you'd be hard press to find anyone who has ever been anywhere above middle-management in a corporate organisation who doesnt see, and chuckles at, the similarities in the worst places they've worked and this: "Where admitting uncertainty is social suicide. Where every conversation is a performance for your tribe rather than an actual exchange of…

That's not corporatisation, it's basic human tribalism. If anything one of the the best things about corporations is that they can sometimes escape that kind of culture.

Re: How to stay sane in a world that rewards insanity

#163

Post by grodes »

o11c wrote: post #159
grodes wrote: post #156

[flagged]

Note that "feeds" is a confusing word choice; I immediately thought of something RSS-like which often links to long-form content. For news, my rule is to check major headlines at most once a day (often less in practice), so I am at least vaguely aware what people are talking about. Doing it this way makes it clear how ... banal? ... most clickbait is. Something local might be useful; if they mention something nationa…

Personally, I really like Luke because of how clearly it is structured.

Re: How to stay sane in a world that rewards insanity

#164

Post by scuff3d »

Bukhmanizer wrote: post #67

As a long time proponent of reasonable-ism I disagree with a lot of this. The assumption that a lot of our problems stem from 2 sides just seeing an issue differently is just nonsense in this day and age. The big Problem, is that one side has slid heavily into authoritarianism, and the other side is completely ill-equipped to fight it. On any particular issue, the right will say whatever gets them more Power, and the…

I was thinking about this while reading the article. 15 years ago I prided myself on actively searching out opposing views and engaging with them. I still do that in the small scale, talking with coworkers or friends who have opposing views, but where the fuck can you find any reasonable conservative commentators these days. What are the most prominent voices? People like Ben Shapiro and Steven Crowder? They don't have an intellectually honest bone in their body.

How the hell can you even get a balanced view in terms of news/media you consume when one side is dominated by lunatics and bad actors.

Re: How to stay sane in a world that rewards insanity

#165

Post by TomsPainting »

o11c wrote: post #159
grodes wrote: post #156

[flagged]

Note that "feeds" is a confusing word choice; I immediately thought of something RSS-like which often links to long-form content. For news, my rule is to check major headlines at most once a day (often less in practice), so I am at least vaguely aware what people are talking about. Doing it this way makes it clear how ... banal? ... most clickbait is. Something local might be useful; if they mention something nationa…

[flagged]

Re: How to stay sane in a world that rewards insanity

#166

Post by disgruntledphd2 »

scuff3d wrote: post #164
Bukhmanizer wrote: post #67

As a long time proponent of reasonable-ism I disagree with a lot of this. The assumption that a lot of our problems stem from 2 sides just seeing an issue differently is just nonsense in this day and age. The big Problem, is that one side has slid heavily into authoritarianism, and the other side is completely ill-equipped to fight it. On any particular issue, the right will say whatever gets them more Power, and the…

I was thinking about this while reading the article. 15 years ago I prided myself on actively searching out opposing views and engaging with them. I still do that in the small scale, talking with coworkers or friends who have opposing views, but where the fuck can you find any reasonable conservative commentators these days. What are the most prominent voices? People like Ben Shapiro and Steven Crowder? They don't ha…

Oren Cass and Commonplace are pretty good writers on the US Republican side.

Re: How to stay sane in a world that rewards insanity

#167

Post by mc3301 »

grodes wrote: post #156

[flagged]

I would replace your number 5 with "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" or "MacBeth" or "Calvin & Hobbes" or maybe even Natsume's "I am a Cat." Also fun fictional books with impressive protagonists.

Other than that, your first four points are wonderful.

Re: How to stay sane in a world that rewards insanity

#168

Post by mc3301 »

disambiguation wrote: post #143
jjk166 wrote: post #40

The real grift has been in echo chambers changing peoples vocabulary such that we can use the same words but talk right past eachother, allowing extremely moderate positions to be reframed as extreme and making what ought to be minor disagreements unresolvable. People making an "I can see both sides" argument are completely missing the point - the issue is that most people can't see both sides, and even when they go…

> The real grift has been in echo chambers changing peoples vocabulary Glad others are noticing this, it deserves more attention than it gets and everyone should be aware it's happening.

I'm genuinely interested in some concrete examples of "changing peoples vocabulary."

I'm not really in the loop, and I think I do a decent job of avoiding echo chambers.

Re: How to stay sane in a world that rewards insanity

#169

Post by johnisgood »

conqrr wrote: post #155
BrenBarn wrote: post #153

This article is advice for individuals on how to resist the societal incentives to embrace insanity. But what I'm really interested in is advice for how to fix our society so it doesn't incentivize insanity.

Reminds me of seatbelts on airplane, put them first before trying to help others.

How do you help others if you physically restrain yourself from doing so though? I can imagine some help but it severely limits the help you can provide and needed, depending on the situation.

Re: How to stay sane in a world that rewards insanity

#170

Post by johnisgood »

cjfd wrote: post #55

Nobody can vouch for their own sanity. Attempting to do so only make you sound insane. Incentives to be insane? Sure, but.... it is timing the stock market of ideas. Some will get rich but most will not. And sanity either has to return or insanity will destroy many lives and the society in which it is allowed free reign. In any case if you promoted insanity when sanity returns and people regain their ability to have…

> Nobody can vouch for their own sanity. Attempting to do so only make you sound insane.

Exactly, and if people deem you to be insane, you cannot do anything about that. They will find reasons for why what you are saying is out of your insanity. There is a great movie about a woman being held against her own will at the locked up psychiatric ward and it explores this.

Post reply on HN