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Four thousand weeks

leebyron.com

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Re: Four thousand weeks

#211

Post by wnolens »

eyelidlessness wrote: post #109
wnolens wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing that most makes this poster's life worth living is caring for an animal which was engineered to be pleasant to care for. And a lot of people use these animals to replace human relationships (I've seen it quite a few times, so blatantly) as they are simpler and more stable. And the indictment is about society (in which human relationships are really hard to have for so so many reasons), not this poster, who…

Well, if I can speak for myself, my relationship with my pup has improved my relationship with several humans. And whatever she was engineered for, a simple and stable relationship has been something we’ve built over just shy of four years and still work on. To the extent there’s any notion of replacing human relationships and to your sibling comment’s point, she didn’t replace parenting a human child for me. That wo…

> she didn’t replace parenting a human child for me. That would never have happened, I had already decided that and agreed with my previous partner about that

If I read that correctly, you decided with your partner to not ever have kids.

Do you think that decision resulted in some room you had in your life to collectively care for a little creature that returns affection?

Re: Four thousand weeks

#212

Post by ratrocket »

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #188
loveparade wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So what's my point? The point is, whatever pursuits we undertake with the belief out there that something that I accomplish, accumulate or experience will bring me happiness and fulfillment is a futile endeavor. I recently came across a term for this. Telic vs. atelic activities [0]. Telic activities are things with some terminal state, e.g. a typical goal-oriented project, or something like the act of getting marr…

He talks about telic vs atelic activities in Four Thousand Weeks , taken from the book Midlife . Highly recommend both.

Anyone else wanting to search for the book "Midlife" -- it seems to be this one, by Kieran Setiya (full title: "Midlife: A Philosophical Guide"):

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34427017-midlife

Re: Four thousand weeks

#213

Post by carafizi »

disambiguation wrote: post #116
lakeshastina wrote: post #60

There are a few ways people take such a message - yes, life is precious, be conscious of what we invest our time in. This part makes sense. Yet, it is worth asking, what makes for a meaning life? What makes the 4000 weeks worth it? For some, they chase wealth, power, career success, get one's name recognized, etc - these are milestones to be achieved. Things to accomplish. Others will say, such accomplishments are no…

This is a lot of words just to say you're a nihilist. Further you're trying to disguise a chicken-and-egg paradox as some deep insight. > if we can function from a state of feeling content as we live each day .. then what we do during the lifespan given to us matters little Why do you think people desire meaning in the first place? "Nothing matters, just be content" is a poor substitute for the things you call a futi…

As much as i disagree with you point of view reducing a pretty good article into a word, i'd rather say i's in fact...

Kind of nihilist.

Or at least a little bit.

But i don't think nihilism itself looks deep into the "be content" part, but way more in the "nothing matters" which is not the point of the article.

Existencialism and Absurdism in the other hand, seems like a "better label" for it imho.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absurdism

Re: Four thousand weeks

#214

Post by leebyron »

k__ wrote: post #168
leebyron wrote: post #87

Site creator here! Thanks to all who spent some time reading and scrolling through. I’m happy to see such great discussion here, and gives me some confidence the excerpts pulled were the right ones to get the core ideas across.

The site forces me to use a calendar widget to input my birth date. I have to scroll over 30 years back in time by months.

I noticed a fair amount of complaints about this in the thread, so am sorry for the poor experience.

In an attempt for simplicity I used a simple field which means it uses your OS or browser’s native date picker. As a Mac/iOS user I’m pretty familiar with those, but I’ll admit I did not test this across Windows or Android devices which apparently have not done a great job at this UI element.

Re: Four thousand weeks

#215

Post by leebyron »

jcpst wrote: post #199

The site is pretty. However, I do not get the same message from this site as I do from the book it’s based on. When you get farther into the site and it’s telling you what you should be doing… no thanks. That comes off as prescriptive and condescending to me. I did not get that from the book. I found the book to be more of a thoughtful reflection on “the productivity trap”. Also the pace at which the book introduces…

The site is nearly all excerpts including the section with “practical advice” - those ten suggestions are nearly verbatim from the book author from the last chapter

Re: Four thousand weeks

#216

Post by localghost3000 »

itsallinyahead wrote: post #80
localghost3000 wrote: post #3

I’m impressed by the beauty of this site and sophistication of the UI. However I _hate_ this type of messaging that does nothing for you except make your mental health worse. I don’t want to think about how many weeks of life I have left! Inducing existential dread is NOT what any of us need to start living our lives more fully (which I assume is the intent of this site). You wanna zone out on YouTube? Go for it. Tha…

If you let the bad emotions and feelings do their business, instead of constantly trying to escape from them, you wouldn't be feeling this way. You, and many others in this modern world, remind of Dostoyevskian characters: neurotic, overly-emotional, busy buzzing around, the cause of all their own problems. No one can sit still in silence, alone with themselves -- they're always running away. There's always some emot…

You've made a fresh HN account and made a lot of broad character assessments about me from a single comment. I am happy with where I am in life and what I've done with it. I just had a critique about the website having unintentional side effects. I've read 4k weeks and actually like that book. Perhaps instead of lecturing strangers on the internet with your enlightened views, you take a second to meditate and access some humility? Kind of annoying when someone suggests that isn't it?

Re: Four thousand weeks

#217

Post by localghost3000 »

cpsns wrote: post #204
itsallinyahead wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you let the bad emotions and feelings do their business, instead of constantly trying to escape from them, you wouldn't be feeling this way. You, and many others in this modern world, remind of Dostoyevskian characters: neurotic, overly-emotional, busy buzzing around, the cause of all their own problems. No one can sit still in silence, alone with themselves -- they're always running away. There's always some emot…

> Perhaps you people need to try ayahuasca? I seriously wish people on HN and more broadly would stop suggesting drugs and tripping out so often as a solution to any depression or existential dread. I get it's one of several suggestions you made, but it's the most dangerous suggestion of all of them. People end up seriously harmed by this stuff, it's not to be taken lightly.

Ugh. Yeah I was annoyed at that one. For one, I've been sober for about 10 years. Taking some mind altering substances would probably result in me waking up in a hotel room in TJ 2 weeks later. :)

Re: Four thousand weeks

#218

Post by localghost3000 »

tayo42 wrote: post #28
localghost3000 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m 45. Wife. Kid. The works. Painfully aware of how precious life is. 20 years ago when I was your age (which btw feels like only a few years ago…) this type of content resonated a lot more with me. I assume it was because the concept of aging was still pretty abstract. Now I’m in the shit so to speak. My point is that I’ve seen a million of these. Hell I’ve read 4K weeks! You’ll get no argument from me that spendin…

> spending your time wisely is important but try to keep in mind that making the most of Every Second Of The Day is a sure way to make yourself miserable. That was the whole point of the book though? Stop trying to make the most of every second and do what you think is important.

I'm not critiquing the book. I am critiquing the site.

Re: Four thousand weeks

#219

Post by localghost3000 »

skytrue wrote: post #53
localghost3000 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m 45. Wife. Kid. The works. Painfully aware of how precious life is. 20 years ago when I was your age (which btw feels like only a few years ago…) this type of content resonated a lot more with me. I assume it was because the concept of aging was still pretty abstract. Now I’m in the shit so to speak. My point is that I’ve seen a million of these. Hell I’ve read 4K weeks! You’ll get no argument from me that spendin…

It’s great you read 4000 Weeks, but as others have mentioned, I’m not sure you gathered the major takeaways. 4000 Weeks is about embracing finitude and accepting that you can’t do everything. The notion is freeing, because once you acknowledge you are finite, you can then make conscious decisions about how you want to spend your time. The intent of the book is to encourage people to choose time wisely, not “fill ever…

> It’s great you read 4000 Weeks, but as others have mentioned, I’m not sure you gathered the major takeaways.

I've commented this many times but I'll say it here again: I am not critiquing the book. I understand its message fine. I am critiquing the site.

Re: Four thousand weeks

#220

Post by localghost3000 »

nativecoinc wrote: post #184
localghost3000 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m 45. Wife. Kid. The works. Painfully aware of how precious life is. 20 years ago when I was your age (which btw feels like only a few years ago…) this type of content resonated a lot more with me. I assume it was because the concept of aging was still pretty abstract. Now I’m in the shit so to speak. My point is that I’ve seen a million of these. Hell I’ve read 4K weeks! You’ll get no argument from me that spendin…

> I’m 45. Wife. Kid. The works. Should someone who is 45 years of age who has none of those things perhaps visit that website?

I guess that depends. Do you want those things and feel like time is running out to get them? If so, maybe not the best for your mental health.
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