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Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

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Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

#251
I don't think I'm able to identify a blog post that truly had a major impact on my life, but the first thing that comes to mind was this really beautifully written piece about the life of a text message.

Original: https://scottbot.net/the-route-of-a-text-message/

VICE article for prettier version: https://www.vice.com/en/article/kzdn8n/the-route-of-a-text-m...

Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

#253

https://blog.tjcx.me/p/consume-less-create-more This article inspired me on two things : 1) Lots of the things I do in everyday life is just to consume: buying, watching, following, etc. These things either consume my money, or my time. These things make me feel good, but it does not generate real value. In order to get rich, I need to create things. I also start to realize that great people are great because they st…

Wow, thanks for this. Really eye-opening and I see a myself in authors shoes.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

#254

https://blog.tjcx.me/p/consume-less-create-more This article inspired me on two things : 1) Lots of the things I do in everyday life is just to consume: buying, watching, following, etc. These things either consume my money, or my time. These things make me feel good, but it does not generate real value. In order to get rich, I need to create things. I also start to realize that great people are great because they st…

I don't agree with the overall take that the world is binary in that way at all.. You create to sell? No, I think a fundamental part, for example of art, is that it can be created for no reason whatsoever. To give a personal example, I really enjoy music production and playing piano.. but I do it only for myself and have fun doing so.. i don't even share it with anyone. Does that mean I am creating but not selling? A…

One can argue that you are buying an experience with your time and services in this framework rather than money. Kinda just shortcutting the wealth transfer bit. Not that I agree with the framework at all. (It narrows down to Objectivism really and makes no real sense in long-form concepts. In what part of this framework does a mother jumping in front of a bus to save her child does this fit?)

Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

#256
post #128

7 years ago I had just aborted an internship, my foray into being an employed adult, because I found myself unable to deal with disagreements. Contrary to my naive hope that the confidence boost from being a Professional Software Developer(tm) would solve all my emotional problems I now knew that my limitations would follow me around anywhere I would go. But I had no idea how to change and was too stuck in my own anx…

Reminds me of stoicism. If it's outside your control, don't bother too much. Face your challenges and do the best you can, being a better you.

Great wisdom presents itself with different faces to different people throughout time, but maintains the same essence. That's what makes it wisdom. It is eternal and unchanging, it just takes perspective to see.

I had exactly the same epiphany while reading Meditations. I thought, "wow, this sounds an awful lot like the Buddhism I've read/heard about".

Again, after reading Ralph Waldo Emerson I saw the same wisdom with a different face. I realized that all these people throughout time came independently to precisely the same conclusions about how to live life as part of the great "wholeness" (for lack of a better word) to which we all belong.

My experience with Buddhism is mostly limited to interactions with an old Buddhist friend, but in terms of literature I found Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha and J. D. Salinger's Teddy to be very palatable from a western perspective.

For stoic philosophy you can really do no better than Marcus Aurelius's meditations, specifically the more modern Gregory Hays translation. Epictectus's discourses are pretty good too, but are less pithy and have a lower signal to noise ratio when it comes to true wisdom IMO.

Emerson's Self Reliance, History, and finally The Oversoul will reveal the same wisdom from all the other works I mentioned.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

#257
post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I participated in the Prosopagnosia study at Imperial a few years ago. I also don't hear any internal monologue; When I think, I think in words, and it is very similar to reading. I think I can imagine sounds in my head, but it is a little like singing, or humming a tune without making noise. I believe I have the cadence and rhythm of sounds, but it's not really easy to get words that way. I can also recognise some s…

I think something's amiss here. >I participated in the Prosopagnosia study at Imperial a few years ago. I also don't hear any internal monologue; When I think, I think in words, and it is very similar to reading. Isn't this exactly what an internal monologue is? Lack of internal monologue would be someone who thinks only abstractly or visually, without any words. >I think I can imagine sounds in my head, but it is a…

> Isn't this exactly what an internal monologue is? Lack of internal monologue would be someone who thinks only abstractly or visually, without any words.

I don't know. It's like reading though. I definitely don't hear a voice (mine or anyone else's).

> If you can think in words, watch a TV show and later picture what the characters look like, and listen to a song and have it get "stuck in your head", then I think you have an internal monologue and don't have aphantasia.

Nope. I can't picture what the characters look like. I can't get a song stuck in my head either.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

#258

https://blog.tjcx.me/p/consume-less-create-more This article inspired me on two things : 1) Lots of the things I do in everyday life is just to consume: buying, watching, following, etc. These things either consume my money, or my time. These things make me feel good, but it does not generate real value. In order to get rich, I need to create things. I also start to realize that great people are great because they st…

Something I think about is the desire to share especially when it's not done yet (ego satisfaction). I got into that cycle, sharing things that were like dreams before they even existed/noteworthy. "wouldn't it be cool if..."

Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

#259

I agree with others, there is no one thing that is going to change your life. You get there via experience. Experiencing the consequences at 30 of something may feel profound despite the fact your parents told you the same thing 100 times as a youth. My advice is this: Introspection is a super power. The more you take the time to step back and reevaluate all of your actions/assumptions in life, the more you will be a…

Your advice on introspection is helpful, especially for people who find themselves repeating the same mistakes.

However, I would like to add a caveat on introspection. For some people, an absorption with introspection and self-understanding can be a distraction from making concrete progress in life goals. Sometimes, it helps to shut off or turn away from the stream of thought to plug away at important tasks. An excess of introspection can create an illusion of progress, though it’s still a crucial habit to practice.

Re: Ask HN: What's the most life-changing blog post you've ever read?

#260
post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would argue that reading Moby Dick is of value to your quality of life in general. Good fiction speaks to the human condition and can help us live our lives more fully.

I will respectfully disagree that it leads to a more 'full life' for everyone. People have different perspectives, values, etc. and that type of experience is purely subjective. I personally think it's of some value, but not as much as some other content.

Yeah, so? The same applies to most of everything. Different things resonate with and provide value to different people.

What 'other content' are you referring to that is exempt from this?

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