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What If You Could Do It All Over?

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Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#441

Post by srean »

war1025 wrote: post #420
srean wrote: post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He often uses false dichotomies to advocate his views, for example, the left is against freedom and liberty, you have to decide if you are for the Gulag Archipelago society or a capitalistic society etc; as if they were the only two possible options. I can possibly sift through YouTube to get to the videos where he claims these things, but it will not be the most palatable of chores.

Having just gone through and looked up a bunch of articles criticizing Jordan Peterson (Most of them seem to be written by Matt McManus, so I guess he's trying to make some sort of name for himself by association), it seems to me that basically the people who like Peterson like him for his life advice and the people that don't like him don't like him because of his political and philosophical views. I guess it seems…

I agree with what you are saying, but there is a huge gap between a pedestal and the advocacy of evidently false and polarizing dichotomies -- Gulag or conservative capitalism, pick one; terrorists attack us because they hate our freedom etc, etc.

Given the yard stick / metric you are measuring him with there would be teeming millions who would qualify -- anyone who is capable of a half decent parenting. In the kind of life advice he offers, Peterson feels quite unremarkable.

I live in the US and not that interested in US politics, so no dog in the fight -- just an fly on the wall observation.

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#442

Post by andi999 »

redisman wrote: post #287
jes wrote: post #252

I'm 61, male, and started in software back in the mid 70s. First computer that I could physically touch was a PDP-8/M with an ASR-33 teletype with paper tape reader and punch. In my mid-50s, I started listening to Alan Watts and learning about ancient Indian religions / philosophies. My world-view today is some kind of cross between Zen Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta. I'm a free will skeptic, as well. While I'm not par…

That's funny, I just got a few books on Zen and while I don't know what to think of a lot of it, it's definitely a very new way of thinking (or not thinking I guess). It's almost an alternate universe version of Stoicism which I was pretty interested in when I was younger and harder on myself. I definitely agree people way overestimate what they can predict about their choices. There are a few choices you can't take…

Probably the literature about ten is better these days. When I read about it, it was mostly from D. T. Suzuki. I was surprised when I attended a zazen meditation in Kyoto a few years ago about the differences. It seems (after reading about it) that Suzuki was part of a fringe branch and not telling us about 'mainstream' Zen.

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#443

Post by andi999 »

superkuh wrote: post #119
acwan93 wrote: post #8

This reminds me of “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath, which has a quote Aziz Ansari used in his series “Master of None”: > "I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor,…

It reminds me a lot of "The Guy I Almost Was" (Patrick Sean Farley) http://www.electricsheepcomix.com/almostguy/ . It's an old (from the early 2000s) comic about trying to get into the tech scene in the 90s. Alternate life paths are explicitly explored.

Thanks! That was very interesting. Luckily today's new hip culture (IT nomad) is original and not pushed by some authors..... Wait a minute...

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#444

Post by bvcvbuiy »

fy20 wrote: post #271

Last year I had my first kid, and it has really got me thinking about a lot of things in life including whether I want to continue my career in software developer. Sure the pay is good, it's a pretty cushy job (compared to something like a labourer), and I feel I'm pretty good at what I do... but I wish for something more fulfilling. I just feel that in my career path, all my jobs have been about making other people…

Do something meaningful in your free time (and try to work less and have more free time).

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#445

Post by matthewdgreen »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #378
matthewdgreen wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can tell you that you’re way more prepared to be a parent a decade later. Bodies be damned.

Also a good point, trade offs all around to consider! I had mine in 30 to 35 range, but if I could go back in time and had found my spouse, I think I would have opted to have them in 25 to 30 range. However, no one in my social circles has kids in their 20s and barely anyone is married by 30 so we also may have been socially isolated if we had chosen to do that. But I try to think back to what I did in my 25 to 30 ra…

Most of what we do in our 20s doesn’t seem that important after the fact (unless you’re an Olympic athlete or otherwise very lucky) but I think it’s an important part of growing up and feeling secure — in yourself, your career, and your relationship. All three types of security are very important to being a good parent.

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#446

Post by snakeboy »

joncrane wrote: post #171
Haul4ss wrote: post #23

You can't, so don't bother thinking about it. You can make changes today that will pay dividends in 10 years, so maybe focus on that instead. I was widowed pretty young (as widowers go), so I have done my share of playing the what-if game with the past. Ultimately it is not a productive exercise, and I try not to do it. If I catch myself dwelling in unlived lives, I try to refocus on the one still in front of me.

Exactly. Try to imagine the "what if" games you will be playing in your own head in 10 years, and try to optimize for that.

Reminds me of a touching moment in Before Sunrise.

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#447

Post by borroka »

sebmellen wrote: post #27
pdog wrote: post #5

“Someone once told me the definition of Hell: The last day you have on earth, the person you became will meet the person you could have become .”

This reminds me of David Goggins talking about how he wanted to "do better than God's chart." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fx1mGhTXdg

Whenever I get annoyed by the relentlessly banal life lessons of Goggins, I remind myself that his audience is mostly made up of troubled teenagers who took their latest shower 3 weeks ago and middle-age professionals of some sorts who cannot close their trousers anymore because of additional calories brought on by family life.

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#448

Post by borroka »

ALittleLight wrote: post #88
pdog wrote: post #5

“Someone once told me the definition of Hell: The last day you have on earth, the person you became will meet the person you could have become .”

I feel like this is a huge exaggeration of "hell" or a demeaning of the concept. For example, if you asked me if I'd rather meet my best possible self, or have my arm broken with a bat, it would be a no-brainer. I'm actually pretty curious to meet my best possible self and would probably pay some amount of money to do so, whereas I'd very much prefer to never have my arm broken again. And being hit with a bat is one…

It is a sentence that makes no sense whatsoever, but it feels slightly profound and gives a sense of smugness when liked. Similar to the Heinlein's quote about specialization being for insects, which for some reason attracts nerds like catnip attracts cats.

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#449

Post by borroka »

paulpauper wrote: post #346

How does this guy know so much. Reading this article is like an phone book of name drops and references. I know ppl with master's degrees who do not even know nearly as much. I should have stayed in school longer and done more reading so I would know more. I guess that answers the question of what I would do I if had to do it allover again. Sure beats what I am doing now. I think being a success writer is one of the…

The personal references were interesting, the literary references were way too many. This was not a scientific paper in which it is important to present what was done and when and how; here, the author is talking about a very common thought or reflection for any of us (what could have become of me if...?) and what a particular author thought about their un-lived lives at a certain point in time is largely irrelevant.

Re: What If You Could Do It All Over?

#450

Post by eeZah7Ux »

tomrod wrote: post #429
eeZah7Ux wrote: post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you add all the dog whistles he's even worse than that. He's good at manipulating the crowds - the amount of downvotes that you are getting say a lot.

Odd. I'm at a positive vote count. Did I say something controversial?

The whole threads critical of him are now flagged and grayed out...
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