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Mental Liquidity

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Re: Mental Liquidity

#31

Post by kubanczyk »

javajosh wrote: post #24

The prerequisite for "mental liquidity" is articulated by Aristotle: "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." If you entertain the thought, this gives you the chance to try out a new belief network. If you find your belief network would be strengthened by its inclusion, then you adopt it. Otherwise, you reject it. In this way, ones interconnected set of beliefs grow…

You cannot say belief. Say hypothesis while leaving rest of your argument intact. If you value that kind of score in your life.

Re: Mental Liquidity

#32

Post by javajosh »

kubanczyk wrote: post #31
javajosh wrote: post #24

The prerequisite for "mental liquidity" is articulated by Aristotle: "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." If you entertain the thought, this gives you the chance to try out a new belief network. If you find your belief network would be strengthened by its inclusion, then you adopt it. Otherwise, you reject it. In this way, ones interconnected set of beliefs grow…

You cannot say belief . Say hypothesis while leaving rest of your argument intact. If you value that kind of score in your life.

What is a belief it not the highest-ranked hypothesis of all possible options? Obviously beliefs are more complex than that, since we have a default set installed in us as children, and only a subset of humans are taught the rational methods of improving those beliefs over time. I consider myself a member of that subset.

(Quoting Aristotle always puts me in the mood to rank things.)

Re: Mental Liquidity

#33

Post by mattgreenrocks »

krm01 wrote: post #9

One of the biggest beliefs I keep struggling with is the need to be perfect. I've been jamming away for many many weekends on a side project that literally was done. I just kept adding tiny tweaks left and right, until I literally just now launched it ( https://amee.la ). Nothing ground breaking, and in the end nothing that needed to have so much perfectionism around. The belief of having to need something perfect is…

Am partially convinced that overexposure to the comment section can encourage perfectionism in those that are already disposed.

And the comment section is rarely a representative sample of your target audience.

Re: Mental Liquidity

#34

Post by zug_zug »

trentnix wrote: post #25

I've heard it also said "strong opinions, weakly held". Unlike "mental liquidity", it doesn't require explanation.

I disagree, I just heard this phrase from you the first time just now, and I don't think it's self-explanatory.

It's unclear to me in what respect the opinions are "strong" if not one's conviction in them. To my mind a strong opinion is an opinion one is confident in.

Also it's unclear to me if/how/why this is better than "less opinions". Like is it better to have a "strong opinion weakly held" on topic X versus "My opinion is pending scientific research will answer this"?

A nitpick -- I actually have a pretty big distaste for maxims that have some cutesy rhyming/wordplay to them (in this case it's X y, !X z, X = strong).

Re: Mental Liquidity

#35

Post by cubefox »

The best way to test your "mental liquidity" is to think about some hypotheses that are outside the "Overton window" or even outright taboo.

"What if ***** were true? Surely it can't be true. If it were, that would be terrible."

That's motivated reasoning. Remember that the truth of any hypothesis is not influenced by how much you want it to be true, or false. Some hypotheses are deeply uncomfortable, but you should nonetheless strive to believe the truth. Or rather, what is best supported by the evidence. Even if it hurts.

Re: Mental Liquidity

#36

Post by dang »

rgrieselhuber wrote: post #27
javajosh wrote: post #24

The prerequisite for "mental liquidity" is articulated by Aristotle: "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." If you entertain the thought, this gives you the chance to try out a new belief network. If you find your belief network would be strengthened by its inclusion, then you adopt it. Otherwise, you reject it. In this way, ones interconnected set of beliefs grow…

[flagged]

Your experiment has a confounding variable—it broke the penultimate guideline.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Mental Liquidity

#37

Post by nathants »

haswell wrote: post #22
ben_vueJS wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has been a mental barrier for me as well. I’m not sure if it’s in the realm of belief or rather fear of failure. Personally more inclined to say it’s the latter.

I’d argue that the fear of failure still boils down to underlying beliefs about: - What it actually means to fail - That failure is inherently bad - What will happen next after failure occurs - What it says about me when fail - What others will think about me when I fail - That I can’t recover from failure etc. If you grow up hearing that failure is bad/wrong/implies something about you as a person, it might never oc…

the best attitudes are an acquired taste. losing is fun!

Re: Mental Liquidity

#39

Post by moneywoes »

krm01 wrote: post #9

One of the biggest beliefs I keep struggling with is the need to be perfect. I've been jamming away for many many weekends on a side project that literally was done. I just kept adding tiny tweaks left and right, until I literally just now launched it ( https://amee.la ). Nothing ground breaking, and in the end nothing that needed to have so much perfectionism around. The belief of having to need something perfect is…

Is this project just a funnel for your SaaS as a graphic design? Reminds me of that Twitter user who popularized that model.

If so does it matter if it’s perfect when yore goal is just to boost top of funnel for the agency?

Re: Mental Liquidity

#40

Post by Mutlut »

xyzelement wrote: post #14

Perhaps unexpectedly, I find that thoughtful engagement with religion (Judaism in my case) has helped me become much more liquid on other topics. When you accept on faith a handful of principles that deal with an unknowable domain, it becomes much easier to be less attached to the other stuff.

You just might discovered yourself what others did without thinking: Following some given path to stop worring and using it as 'this can't be wrong because its old and others are doing it and enabling me'.

Perhaps community fits even better.

I personally am free enough to design my own life without boundaris.

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