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Keep Your Identity Small (2009)

paulgraham.com

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Re: Keep Your Identity Small (2009)

#171

Post by philwelch »

doubled112 wrote: post #168
philwelch wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Problem solver" is so vague as to be meaningless. I'm pretty sure literally all human action could be characterized as problem solving.

Maybe I'm keeping the wrong people around, but no, not everybody is solving problems. Many seem to be unable or unwilling to figure out anything that is outside of their happy path through the day.

If I take a nap, I’m solving the problem of being tired. If I go grocery shopping, I’m solving the problem of not having food in my house. If I drink water, I’m solving the problem of being thirsty. If I play a video game, I’m solving the problem of being bored. All human activity is problem solving.

Re: Keep Your Identity Small (2009)

#172

Post by mindslight »

mdp2021 wrote: post #59
mindslight wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A mental conditioning fogs judgement. "Identifications" are mental conditionings that make you lose intellectual freedom. Freedom and structure are always in contention as yin-yang, and you're completely ignoring the benefits structure can bring. I'd guess OP finds a lot of value in labeling themselves "queer", in that a lot of things that were ambiguous or confusing become clearer.

> ignoring Yes I was - I was focusing on a different side. Logic. "X brings fog" and "X brings clarity" are not contradictory, in a normal paraconsistent logic. But note: if A uses X as a mental experiment for intellectual development, detachment is there: that is the opposite of "identification".

Most people aren't using paraconsistent logic, especially on Internet forums (unfortunately).

Furthermore, the sentence '"Identifications" are mental conditionings that make you lose intellectual freedom" is not really in line with paraconsisent logic. The loss of intellectual freedom comes about from being stuck on a recognized facet of your identity and unable to think of your identity as having a conflicting facet. If people could reason by freely jumping between towers of inferences regardless of the apparent conflict between them, then labeling yourself with identities wouldn't have the downside.

Re: Keep Your Identity Small (2009)

#173

Post by fouroneone »

narag wrote: post #140
fourfivefour wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think you read my comment or the article carefully. The extreme end of that article, giving up all your identity is my "sick mindset". That is the ultimate conclusion. You might as well not comment if you're not going to read anything. I don't care for you comment otherwise. Better for you to start actually thinking and stop mistaking that for "over thinking", because your reply indicates you haven't.

...giving up all your identity is my "sick mindset". So drop it already. The article isn't about "the extreme end" anyway. There's a middle ground between being a soulless robot and a sheep, isn't there?

Drop what. Again you didn't read the article. The article isn't about how far you go. It's only about how identity is correlated with stupidity. The more identity you have the stupider you are.

It doesn't talk about taking it to the extreme.

This isn't something you can drop. There are caricature movie characters that are in similar predicaments. If I name them you will understand. Rick Sanchez and Thanos. The term is cursed knowledge. You cannot undo knowledge gained, once you have it, it sticks with you.

Thanos is a villain. The slaughter he conducts is horrifying, yet his logic has a truth that he cannot deny. In the end it's the avengers who delude themselves.

Rick Sanchez would be more similar to where I am. Knowledge of the cold hard truths and apathy towards everything.

Re: Keep Your Identity Small (2009)

#174

Post by fouroneone »

ethanbond wrote: post #138
fouroneone wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, It's completely too late for me. I cannot unbelieve what I believe. I already live a life of lies. Nobody knows what I believe and I lie to seem normal and socialize-able. I also don't hold any strong desire to "implement" my beliefs. It's just a perspective.. I am an observer with opinions and I don't care to be any sort of activist. I largely agree with your last post. However it's too late. I no longer believe…

I’ll leave you with this my friend. I don’t think you should feel lost or too far gone :) https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pragmatism/

I don't feel lost.

I feel everyone else is lost. THAT is my problem.

That philosophy doesn't mean anything to me. It may define what I feel but in the end it's just a word. Do you read it and suddenly come to the conclusion that eugenics is a valid strategy?

People claim to pragmatic, but true pragmatism involves some horrible stuff. See my 6 points.

Re: Keep Your Identity Small (2009)

#175

Post by fouroneone »

selimthegrim wrote: post #160
fourfivefour wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Valid info. I have not considered it. Economic status and size are factors in female attraction. Asians are generally higher in economic status, statistically speaking, and latin americans are generally poorer and smaller in size so they are more comparable in stature to East Asians. This makes logical sense to what I already know. However it doesn't invalidate the German Sheppard theory. North Americans are generall…

Asians have a more positive image in Latin America because the overwhelming impression is that of Bruce Lee machismo, Peruvian Chinese and Japanese Brazilians and not Hollywood casting

I don't think that image beats out the Caucasian white male from the US even within Latin America.

The hierarchy of the racial dating game is still consistent.

Also the situation in the US is not simply false impressions by hollywood casting. Bro, hollywood casting is reactionary to the situation in the states. It's much much deeper than that.

Asian females born in the united states... a huge number of them are Racist against their own race. Many date white people, and many refuse to date asian males. This is much more then some false perception.

Asian Females have very very in depth and realistic perceptions about asian males given the fact they have Fathers and brothers that they grew up with. The choice they make is done NOT because of false perception projected by hollywood or whatever.

You have to get scientific and realistic about this. White people fucking asians easily talk about this behind closed doors, but as an Asian... it's much harder to see reality BECAUSE of IDENTITY.

Re: Keep Your Identity Small (2009)

#176

Post by nicoburns »

kelnos wrote: post #143
nicoburns wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would argue that no identity is a fact. All identities are beliefs on the part of the person doing the identifying. To identify something as X is to express the belief that it is X.

Unless we're getting to some deep metaphysical stuff, I don't think I buy that. Yes, some identities are solely based on belief. But others are indeed based on facts: someone might identify as "basketball player" because they play basketball. Or they might identify as "tall" because they are in the top 10% of people for height. The height example might sound silly, but there are people who are somehow "proud" of thes…

I'm not talking about what the identity is based on. I'm talking about what the identity itself is. I think this is useful to help clarify the difference between "X has the identity Y" and "X is Y" which otherwise seem very similar. The former means that "someone believes (or many people believe) that X is Y".
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