Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

391–400 of 468 posts

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#391

Post by demosito666 »

wpietri wrote: post #228
maggotbrain wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are commenting here, you haven't really quit "social media".

How helpful to have a person who knows nothing about my situation police my behaviors because of a vague congruence and an apparent desire to score internet points. No, for the purposes of what I'm doing, HN was not included in that. From my perspective, HN isn't really designed for addiction in the same way. No personalized, UAM-optimized algorithmic feed, no infinite river of small content bites, no rich mechanisms…

I'm not trying to be judgmental, but I believe it might be worth it for you to re-evaluate some activities to assess what they really are at their core if you're pursuing mindfulness in time spending. Not acknowledging things for what they are can hold you back.

Just because HN doesn't have formal attributes of addictive social media like tailored feeds, shiny pictures, endless scrolling, etc., it doesn't mean that it's very different. I'm saying that, because I managed to get rid of almost all addictive sites, but HN sticks, and I still spend far more time here than I'd like to admit. If you look at it closer: this is an _endless_ list of _news_ with _a lot_ of _comments_ from your _peers_ that you _engage_ with. If you take words in italic it's obvious that this is exactly what makes other social media addictive. "News" and "peers" are the most important words here of course.

In a way, I believe sites like HN are even worse than others because they are somewhat disguised. I shrug FB, twitter and instagram easily (never actually even got into them), Reddit was harder but their stupid redesign made it much easier, HN sill stands for me.

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#392

Post by wool_gather »

gambiting wrote: post #237
wpietri wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How helpful to have a person who knows nothing about my situation police my behaviors because of a vague congruence and an apparent desire to score internet points. No, for the purposes of what I'm doing, HN was not included in that. From my perspective, HN isn't really designed for addiction in the same way. No personalized, UAM-optimized algorithmic feed, no infinite river of small content bites, no rich mechanisms…

"From my perspective, HN isn't really designed for addiction in the same way." I mean, it's fine that you feel this way, and you are probably correct - it wasn't designed for it. But I suspect for a lot of us , me included, it serves that exact purpose. I post so that strangers on the internet read it and give me likes. I compulsively check my comments section on my account to see how many upvotes my comments have. E…

Kudos for your self-awareness. Have a squirt of dopamine^W^W^W upvote. ;)

I have noticed the same reactions myself, and dislike them. I am slowly and gradually learning to be able to deflect that angry defensive reply impulse. Simple awareness seems to be the first step. I don't know yet what to do about the upvote thrill.

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#393

Post by SyzygistSix »

rosywoozlechan wrote: post #47
dedev54 wrote: post #7

Sorry for the morbid take, but the reason why we cannot sit quietly alone is to distract ourselves from our eventual demise.

While still of course afraid of actually dying, instead of being perennial fearful of death I am instead now grateful for being alive this day. Try that change in perspective. Background anxiety about our "eventual demise" is the consequence of false entitlement to life and health. Young and healthy people imagine good life without end, the dying and people who've lost health and ability often know better. This chang…

>will not want to have spent them in waste.

And will at least think about what this means.

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#394

Post by majewsky »

tectonicfury wrote: post #378
pmoriarty wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Published in science journal PLOS ONE in March 2013, the study documented reliable core body temperature increases for the first time in Tibetan nuns practising g-tummo meditation... "The researchers collected data during the unique ceremony in Tibet, where nuns were able to raise their core body temperature and dry up wet sheets wrapped around their bodies in the cold Himalayan weather (-25 degree Celsius) while me…

So is it scientific or a mystery? If it’s scientific then it must be well understood in terms of cause and effect. In which case, it is like any other physical phenomenon, nothing special. And if it’s not scientific, rather if it’s a mystery, then scientists will have to take a call on what is.

Science is not as black and white as it's made out to be. In this particular case, the observation seems to have been made with scientific rigor, so this part is definitely scientific. As for the parts of the causal chain that are not fully understood, these will be subject to further inquiry. It would be fair to call those parts "a mystery", but that doesn't imply them having any "mystical" properties. "Mystical" to me would mean "fundamentally outside the realm of scientific inquiry", not just "we have not gotten around to it yet".

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#395

Post by majewsky »

tharkun__ wrote: post #310
chordalkeyboard wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes! So one wonders if aboriginal foraging humans have a concept of enlightenment.

It is a misconception that all nomadic or foraging humans had to spend 100% of their time trying to stay alive. I'm fact, if you look at African tribes and their original lifestyle you will realize how little time they had to spend on getting food and how much time they were able to spend just being happy, playing, drinking hallucinogenic substances to get into an enlightening trance etc.

There's a German standup comedian (Volker Pispers) who did a bit about this. It goes a bit like this: People always think that nature is so efficient. But nature doesn't optimize. Nature is lazy and does as little work as possible. You'll never see a lion hunt down a zebra and then go like "Okay, that took me 30 minutes, so I could do 10 more zebras today before dusk". He'll eat part of the zebra, leave the rest for the hyenas, and then spend the rest of the day basking in the sun.

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#396

Post by spurgu »

d4nt wrote: post #267
hilbert42 wrote: post #235

"Modern humans spend virtually no time on "inward-directed thought", and not solely because we're too busy: in one US survey, 95% of adults said they'd found time for a leisure activity in the previous 24 hours, but 83% said they'd spent zero time just thinking." I think Pascal was correct because at least those people I know well enough to discuss such matters with tell me they don't spend much time thinking or cont…

I find it disturbing the way a trait that seems to be very common among humans is being framed as a problem. External stimulus means you’re with other humans that you can cooperate with. That you’re sharing stories and learning. That you’re hunting for food. That you’re building a shelter. All these things are necessary for survival. It seems possible that being sociable and industrious might well have been bread int…

The problem, in my opinion, is that/when those things are done compulsively. If you're hungry it's fine to have a compulsion to get food, but as a human you should also be comfortable doing nothing, otherwise you're essentially seeding misery.

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#397

Post by hindsightbias »

Aerroon wrote: post #275
hindsightbias wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before small screens and walkmans, millions of people flew every day in an airplane seat trapped with their own thoughts. For many, it was probably the only time they experienced this. I actually get comments from other passengers now how I can sit and look out the window for hours without music, movie or book. In their rooms, they have other venues and probably less fear of negative self-conscious thoughts (too fat,…

I don't understand. Most of the time you decide to go to sleep you are alone with your thoughts without any distractions. It might only be for a brief time, but it's still true, no?

I don’t think most people consider dreams to be a true internal dialog - at least a conscious one.

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#398

Post by majewsky »

guytv wrote: post #286
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is just depression. I don't think about dying, unless its the topic of conversation or whatever. I think about living. There's no real point in dwelling on the other.

I think there's a lot of merit on dwelling on death. Death can put your current life in laser like focus and perspective. Is what you're doing now really important? Is that what you want to do if you only had 1 year to live? Are you spending enough time on the things that are really important to you? All of these questions became clearer to me once I started realising and contemplating death regularly.

I appreciate what you're saying, but on the other hand, I wouldn't want to live in a world where everyone lived as if they had only one year to live. Most institutions are already waaaay too focused on short term profits.

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#399

Post by hindsightbias »

elcomet wrote: post #199
hindsightbias wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before small screens and walkmans, millions of people flew every day in an airplane seat trapped with their own thoughts. For many, it was probably the only time they experienced this. I actually get comments from other passengers now how I can sit and look out the window for hours without music, movie or book. In their rooms, they have other venues and probably less fear of negative self-conscious thoughts (too fat,…

And all of them had books or newspapers.

Somewhat, mostly crosswords and then vocal frustration when the travel mag crossword was already filled out.

I can think of half a dozen very personal conversations with random seatmates about their lives and problems. Something about opening up to strangers, and am pretty sure it wasn’t my personality or looks. Now that doesn’t happen anymore because you’re never trapped together with no outlets for hours on end.

One of my writing ideas (probably not original) was a retired psychologist who just flew on random flights and talked to whomever they sat next to. Now that plot would make no sense.

Re: All problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone (2014)

#400

Post by pmoriarty »

tectonicfury wrote: post #388
pmoriarty wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The truly vast amount of literature on both Buddhism and Hinduism argue to the contrary. Also, the ultimate reality in Buddhism, Hinduism, and (incidentally) mystic forms of Islam, is often described as being beyond words and even beyond conception, so there is a limited amount that could be said about it in ordinary language -- though that hasn't stopped people from trying. In Buddhism one often hears the teachings…

As a Muslim, I can assure you there’s no such thing as mystic Islam. Islam is foremost about clarity, simplicity and straightforwardness in its message of pure monotheism. It does not seek to lure people by mesmerising them with incomprehensible riddles. It hides nothing. The so called mystic Islam also known as Sufism, is a deviant sect, and is fundamentally a gateway to polytheism, as it borrows many practices from…

Who decides what orthodox Islam and what is heresy?

You'll find Sunnis who think Shiites are heretics, and Shiites who think Sunnis are heretics, and both are major branches of Islam.

Of course you'll find both Sunnis and Shiites who think Sufis are heretics, and Sufis who think Sunnis and Shiites are heretics (or at least don't understand the true or secret meaning of the Koran or of Islam).

And does the Koran have a secret meaning, or only a surface meaning? This important question itself is also a matter of opinion and will differ based on who you ask.

There have also been mystics in Islam apart from the Sufis: Avicenna, the Ismailis, and Alawites spring to mind.

As a non-Muslim, when I see the members of these sects disagree with one another as to who is a "true Muslim" or what is or isn't Islam, what reason do I have for believing any one of them over the others?

Their appeals to scripture, lineage, famous commentators and the like are not very convincing both because as a non-Muslim I have no reason to believe in any of them and because you can easily find other people who claim to be Muslims making pretty much the same appeals in support of completely different conclusions.

At this point in my life, anyone who considers the Koran their central scripture is a Muslim in my eyes.

If you have a better definition that doesn't rely on appeals to scripture, to lineage, nor to the authority of some person, I'd love to hear it.

Post reply on HN