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how can you comment on hacker news that you don't consume news?
Would assume its more about pop culture news
How to stay sane in a world that rewards insanity
231–240 of 284 posts
Re: How to stay sane in a world that rewards insanity
#232Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is it with HackerNews constantly recommending religion to people as some cure-all?
Anecdata: I've never seen so many Christmas lights go up this early in my little neck of the wood They started doing heavy Black Friday sales ads almost immediately after Halloween this year, more so than I remember from even covid (but that's just my memory) The Christmas radio station started a full 3 weeks early this year. Typically it's after 6pm on Thanksgiving day that they start. Overall, people are worried ri…
I saw a Halloween display at a Walgreens in late July. I saw artificial Christmas trees for sale at Home Depot in September. I don't know what's happening but selling goods related to a holiday 3 months early seems excessive. What's next? Back to school displays before school is even let out for summer? Easter displays just after New Year's? Valentine's Day cards for sale in mid-November?
Re: How to stay sane in a world that rewards insanity
#233This 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.
Scepticism taught in schools. Demonstrate manipulation on kids and conclude that even educated, intelligent minds can get entangled when they let their guard down.
> We talk a lot about polarization as if it were a disease that infected society, but we’re missing a key data point: polarization is a growth hack, and it works.
Unfortunately the article does not explain how it works and without a problem definition, you cant reach a solution. IMO it certainly behaves like a disease.
I consider identity politics as one vector how a mind virus can take over the hosts higher order reasoning. There are certainly other vectors (cognitive biases) but IP is definetly the biggest driving factor behind todays polarization. Calling others "liberals" is primarily a signal to label an outgroup.
On what political side do you see more symbols like flags, stickers, memes, etc? Entire news cycle narratives can get deprived of meaning and act as the most recent symbol, individuals can use to signal their group membership. Any counter argument against such a holy cow gets viciously attacked or ignored because to some degree, this counter argument is an actual attack on yourself, your identitiy. Admitting errors is no big deal when nothing is at stake. The opposite example would be a very religious person loosing faith with an adrenaline rush (sweat, shiver, high heart rate, flat respiration), when the body prepares a fight or flight response because a strong, non-ignorable and contradicting thought crossed its mind.
And on what political side do you see more intelligence and broader empathy? More cognitive flexibility?
Around 2000, the internet was considered a new "printing press 2.0" for making information widely accessible. This analogy fits very well, because the first ever western book to be printed was the f'ing bible.
Re: How to stay sane in a world that rewards insanity
#234Earlier quoted context omitted.
Search: Gen Z explains why they don’t want a family and kids All are rational arguments https://youtu.be/fHpgIvuETx0?si=zWIqJvQMeDcSD223
I felt the same thing when i was 22--kids aren't for me, this world sucks, etc etc. Eventually I "grew up," toned down short term hedonistic pleasures, read books that deepened my connection to humanity and realized family is extremely meaningful. First off, there's nothing new about interviewing people who are in their early 20s and hearing moaning and groaning about how this world sucks and it's not worth bringing…
> this world sucks and it's not worth bringing anyone into it
What exactly is wrong ("moaning and groaning", something that you "grew up" from), in your estimation, about that perspective?
> realized family is extremely meaningful
I believe that many people with the aforementioned perspective would agree with you, but would add that reducing further suffering is an overriding priority.
Re: How to stay sane in a world that rewards insanity
#235[flagged]
> Read the Bible. Even if you do not believe, Jesus is the most impressive human I've ever learned about. You might also find it edifying to learn about Socrates. His trial and punishment are as compelling as Jesus' and I his existence is more likely to be an historic fact.
Yes, they are similar and in both cases what we know about them was passed down by their unreliable students with an agenda. I have studied both over the past few years and I find myself disagreeing with Plato's Socrates often whereas I find the Jesus of the Gospels much harder to argue against.
Re: How to stay sane in a world that rewards insanity
#236As 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…
I'm not familiar with Ben Shapiro or Steven Crowder but what makes you so sure that their point of view is unreasonable? It seems you agree that their viewpoint is opposing, which likely means their premise are different, so isn't it entirely possible that their conclusion is reasonable and logical when one starts from their position?
Also, there isn't one source that can represent the "conservative" viewpoint because there isn't one conservative viewpoint. There are many factions within the Republican party with sometimes shockingly different points of view. Just like the Democratic party representing the "liberal" agenda.
I could just as easily ask, where is the one source I go to get an understanding of the liberal agenda? (Just a rhetorical question, I actually don't follow the news and don't plan to.)
Re: How to stay sane in a world that rewards insanity
#237Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Sure but fwiw in 30 odd years in large corps, I’ve never come across any corp that doesn’t succumb to a sanitised form of basic tribalism
Re: How to stay sane in a world that rewards insanity
#238Earlier quoted context omitted.
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> Jesus is not fictional. Strong claims require strong evidence. Some book written by many, some properly delusional or crazy folks, claiming various outlandish things not physically possible these days (staying away from word "lies" but not too far, basic physics laws worked the same 2000 years ago). Or preaching behavior absolutely unacceptable these days (Old testament would force you to be murderer pretty quickly…
Re: How to stay sane in a world that rewards insanity
#239Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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
#240Earlier quoted context omitted.
Great advice there, and I must especially echo bullet 5 here, read the Bible. One point of disagreement though: I don't believe Jesus left us the option of believeing he was just a good moral teacher. (Liar, Lunatic, Lord)
Shoot I don't think I can edit my reply via this app, but I think the misinterpreted the comment I was replying to. Apologies. Anyways read the Bible
No.