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How to live an intellectually rich life

utsavmamoria.substack.com

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Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#271

Post by sillysaurusx »

phrotoma wrote: post #31
tomrod wrote: post #12

I tried this for awhile, but was dissatisfied. I found myself a constant consumer of intellectual material instead of being an engaged participant. Once I realized that, I set course to become more of a producer of useful things. That's led me to woodworking, to running a consultancy, to producing AI/ML for nonprofits, and to writing academic works. All in all, I enjoy life substantially.

Years ago I realized that if I bluntly categorize the things I do with my free time into buckets of "productive" and "consumptive" it's the productive things that make me feel pretty great.

I think this is a common viewpoint, because no one wants to say "yeah, being a consumer makes me feel pretty great" publicly. But arguably most people fall into that camp. Even someone who lives an intellectually rich life.

It’s also not exclusive. Different phases of life yield different productivity levels.

Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#272

Post by pb7 »

jacobgkau wrote: post #249
RajT88 wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Places you go for work are mostly corporate parks in the suburbs. Of course they all feel the same. I had the same experience and that was why - rarely did I get to visit the big cities. I went to places which had Chili's and Target and Outback Steakhouse. On the odd times I visited DC or SF or Toronto - really amazing and different experiences.

Both the DC and SF metro areas have Chili's, Target, and Outback. Can you articulate what made DC and SF "really amazing and different experiences" from one another, beyond vibes? Asking as an American who's pretty sure it's all the same here (and has traveled internationally to places where it's not).

There are actually no Chili's or Outback or Applebee's or most national chains you can think of in San Francisco. You said "metro area", I have no idea what this means in this context given most people like the city itself, not the sprawling strip mall towns on the peninsula which is not San Francisco. The city limits are pretty well defined here.

Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#273

Post by wahern »

gradstudent wrote: post #253
bpshaver wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you conflating "best" with "what you would recommend a friend"? Many of the best things in life are hard. And you wouldn't necessarily recommend them to a friend. When you consider specific domains, often the best instances of X tend to be harder versions of X. Or, when people become familiar with many instances of X they seek out the "best" instances of X. Its natural that those best instances would be diffi…

>Or, when people become familiar with many instances of X they seek out the "best" instances of X I think you're saying the same thing as the GP? Ulysses is a book for lit nerds, which I suppose the Modern Library board were. Looking at the list, there's hardly any books from after mid 20th century. That makes me think that the board comprised primarily old lit nerds, who stopped reading long before voting. The list…

According to the NYT[1], between 1950 and 2018 95% of published English-language fiction authors were white. That Top 100 Novel list contains at least 3 black authors, Ellison, Wright, and Baldwin. Considering that the percentage of black authors for the period 1900-2000 was probably even less than for 1950-2000, and that there are actually only 75 unique authors in that list, on its face I don't see the bias by the voters. The bias is in the disproportionate share of published white authors.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/12/11/opinion/cultu...

Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#274

Post by creer »

dayvigo wrote: post #220
creer wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would love to hear more! We rarely hear stories of people "stuck" on the making/ creative side. Exciting yes - but rarely addictive in the sense of taking so much time that the rest suffers?

It's common enough that there's a well-known term for it: workaholic.

For work work, I don't think this is what we were talking about.

But yes, not unfair, one example then might be some free software maintainers.

Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#275

Post by andrepd »

jimbokun wrote: post #230
concerndc1tizen wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A simpler explanation is that Americans have succumbed to consumerism to such an extent that the absence of it feels enlightened. Of course the reality is just that the US has become the axis of evil, and perhaps always was, it just had the best PR. I think you're doing yourself a disservice by belitting Asian cultures and what insights they may have, that are apparently incomprehensible as more than a trope to Ameri…

> Of course the reality is just that the US has become the axis of evil, and perhaps always was, it just had the best PR. Sigh. Yes, the Soviet Union really was the worker's paradise with free, prosperous, happy people! Can we get away from the sophomoric idea the USA was ALWAYS the ONLY source of badness in the world, just because right now it's the most powerful nation in the world and also a complete mess?

Damn, in 2025 the USSR is still an excuse for the US? x) Come on.

Saying that US-exported consumerism is a blight on the world is a perfectly valid thing to say. No need to invoke "the Reds" to pretend it's not.

Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#276

Post by andrepd »

sepositus wrote: post #257
andrepd wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sucks that the vast majority of those books were lost forever. Early Christianity was a scourge in that regard, how much culture we lost forever because of those zealots.

I didn't realize Early Christianity had a monopoly on the destruction of books? As far as I know the burning of rival civilizations has been happening for thousands of years.

I'm speaking specifically about Western classics (esp. Roman).

Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#277

Post by jhanschoo »

RajT88 wrote: post #22

> In August 2018, in the last month of my three-month sabbatical, I arrived at the Hamta village in Himachal Pradesh. I rented a one-room cottage, and my caretakers were Dolma Aunty and Kalzang Uncle, a couple well into their 70’s. I got to this part and realized: I've read this article before in some form. It's a really common trope to head out to some remote area of Asia and admire how happy people are. There's oft…

I think that as tropey as such a practice is, there's a fundamental valid reason to do trips of this sort. You want to meet people as culturally remote and distant from you as you think exist, that you are still theoretically comfortable with. Then you want to be assured or refuted directly through your direct senses on things that you think are fundamental to the human condition. From such an experience you gain confidence on what you think is important to life and living.

Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#278

Post by MarkusQ »

whatnow37373 wrote: post #104
crims0n wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am about a quarter of the way through Modern Library’s top 100 and it has been a worthwhile journey. It is “just” literary fiction but it is among the best humanity has produced. I have learned so much about the human condition, my ability to articulate ideas has improved tremendously, and I feel like my mind has been “freed from the tyranny of the present” (to quote Cicero). https://sites.prh.com/modern-library-to…

Seeing that I am on HN and can unleash unrestrained pedantry I wish to ask where Cicero actually writes that because I cannot find it?

I dodn't think it's a quote; more a paraphrase of: https://www.loebclassics.com/view/marcus_tullius_cicero-orat...

Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#279

Post by kylecazar »

WillAdams wrote: post #32

For my part, one of the most striking things which I recall from my youth was reading Dumas' _The Count of Monte Cristo_ and the Abbé Faria contending that everything a gentleman needed to make his way in life was contained in less than 100 books --- which he had memorized the content of, and could impart to the young Edmond Dantes. A naïve younger me tried to brute force this by reading one non-fiction book from eac…

I'm sure you're familiar with the Harvard Classics (5 foot shelf) and have browsed their volumes?

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

Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#280

Post by ruraljuror »

iandanforth wrote: post #126
crims0n wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am about a quarter of the way through Modern Library’s top 100 and it has been a worthwhile journey. It is “just” literary fiction but it is among the best humanity has produced. I have learned so much about the human condition, my ability to articulate ideas has improved tremendously, and I feel like my mind has been “freed from the tyranny of the present” (to quote Cicero). https://sites.prh.com/modern-library-to…

Anyone who puts "Ulysses" at the top of a best books list is suffering from expertitis. Ulysses has a massive user experience problem. It's hard. Dense, convoluted, absurd. If your friend asks you for a good book, you don't recommend it. The only time you do is when your college English major, or advanced highschooler, who is bored with the tropes of even very good novels wants to stretch themselves. Then you hand th…

Expertitis is not a thing and your criticism is based merely on public perception of the book and not the book itself. In case it wasn’t clear, I disagree completely: Ulysses is very worthy of the honor. It is as approachable as it is lofty.
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