How to live an intellectually rich life • Hacker News Board

Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#331

Post by xphos » Sun, May 04, 2025, 4:50 PM UTC

uncletaco wrote: post #328

xphos wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One issue I have with modern teaching of both Math and Physics though is that they give the "correct" answer to fast which teaches the material and accelerates learning but I think it also leaves a lot of motivations for why certain decisions were come to and how which is important. Recently I've been following long with the Distance Ladder challenge I saw on 3 blue 1 brown with Terence Tao. Going through those quest…

This is how I feel about learning street fighter. On one hand yes I can learn how to do Ed’s dream combo by watching Momochi in tournament then reading a discord message that writes it in numpad notation, but I think it’s equally important to understand what motivated him to sit in training mode and figure it out. What was he trying to achieve other than an optimal combo? What situations was he looking for answers in…

I really like this analogy thank you :) It really captures the argument but in a totally different way know what to do is not quick useful if you don't know why you are doing it. One is entirely high level of thinking.

Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#332

Post by hermitShell » Tue, May 06, 2025, 5:02 PM UTC

jebarker wrote: post #285

I appreciate the spirit of this essay, but I think it overstates the idea that intellectual pursuits are an escape from modern dissatisfaction. I've spent most of my life driven by curiosity, forming my identity around being someone who seeks knowledge. But over time I’ve come to see how that, too, can become a kind of consumerism—chasing ideas for the dopamine hit of a new insight, then feeling the letdown and scram…

It's a great essay, and I came away with a similar thought. They mention Erdos and applaud his intensity, transparently mentioning that he was an addict to antidepressants and amphetamines, and without the substance abuse he wasn't able to get any mathematical work done.

To me this is the antithetical to being intellectually rich. More like enslaved to our own intellectualism.

I want to have the freedom to think about the things that I want to think about. Being forced instead to reason through problems, not of my choosing, on behalf of someone else... well that's life for most!

Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#333

Post by noduerme » Wed, May 07, 2025, 9:01 PM UTC

linguistbreaker wrote: post #17

noduerme wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Polonius. You forgot "never a borrower nor a lender be".

Polonius was famously wrong about everything.

That's why I wrote it. Well, that and the overall tone.

Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#334

Post by gofreddygo » Wed, May 07, 2025, 11:23 PM UTC

jebarker wrote: post #285

I appreciate the spirit of this essay, but I think it overstates the idea that intellectual pursuits are an escape from modern dissatisfaction. I've spent most of my life driven by curiosity, forming my identity around being someone who seeks knowledge. But over time I’ve come to see how that, too, can become a kind of consumerism—chasing ideas for the dopamine hit of a new insight, then feeling the letdown and scram…

This hits a nerve.

One's who are really learning aren't calling it out - look at kids learning to bike, new parents, early artists, new dancers, new swimmers, sports folks, researchers, journalists.

And there's pseudo learning, characterized by distinct effort to call the learning out. Reading 200 books a year, twitter, podcasts, hacker news. All cargo cult symbolism and consumerism.

Within real learning too, there's learning for a purpose and another just for the heck of it. Learning investments vs learning to run a marathon.

Learning sales is way different than learning piano, One where you learn mostly by doing, another by observing the delta between what is said and what actually happens.

Every form of learning is uncomfortable in its own way.

Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#335

Post by marcofloriano » Fri, May 09, 2025, 5:14 PM UTC

Ideas are not cells. They live in a different reality. Cells don't have quality. They can't have. But ideas can be good or bad. Bad ideas can kill you. There should be black cells and white cells in the game rules in order to this post make some sense.

Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#336

Post by jacobgkau » Wed, May 14, 2025, 12:32 AM UTC

pb7 wrote: post #272

jacobgkau wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

My saying "metro area" was in reference to the fact that your artificially drawn tax border defining "city limits" do not mean you live in a vacuum separate from the surrounding area or that your city has a unique culture just because it doesn't have one chain or another within its tax border.

Re: How to live an intellectually rich life

#337

Post by jacobgkau » Wed, May 14, 2025, 12:36 AM UTC

RajT88 wrote: post #269

jacobgkau wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm, thanks for going into detail. My point wasn't so much that you can experience everything a city has to offer in a corporate park. It was more that most US cities offer roughly the same things. I know I can get Greek and Asian food in both St. Louis and Denver. I just confirmed that both cities have Greek places with Taramosalata; I know from dating a Chinese girl for a year that both of those cities have extreme…

Well if it is the unique things, there is still many unique things in the big cities. If you are discounting the vibe, I guess I understand why you are disappointed. The vibe is a big part of what makes big cities feel so distinctive. If you think DC is samey, maybe your expectations around uniqueness are higher than your average person's. Lol. I have not gone out drinking (much) there, but I would wager it would not…

> If you are discounting the vibe, I guess I understand why you are disappointed. The vibe is a big part of what makes big cities feel so distinctive.

The reason I'm "discounting the vibe" is because "vibe" doesn't mean anything. It's a non-word. You need to say something specific to argue that a place is unique. What makes up the "vibe?" The fact that you heard someone playing music on the street, which you assume is indicative of the entire city and no other city? A style of graffiti that may or may not be special? Saying you got a "vibe" from a place tells me you had some experiences there that you associate with it. I only drank root beer while I visited Texas and now I remember my trips to Texas when I drink root beer, but that doesn't mean the root beer I drank and Texas would have anything to do with each other for anyone but me.

(That's why I said "beyond vibes," as in "in more depth than vibes," not just "aside from vibes." Because you could be right, the vibes could be different, but the word "vibe" is no way to explain it to someone who doesn't already know. So I can't know if your idea of a "vibe" is really unique or not without knowing what you actually mean by that.)

> I have not gone out drinking (much) there, but I would wager it would not take long to end up with insane stories about people you read about in the news.

I don't drink alcohol at all. Trying to see politicians act irresponsibly is probably something that's easier to do in a place where lots of politicians live/work, yeah.