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The Right Kind of Stubborn

paulgraham.com

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Re: The Right Kind of Stubborn

#71

Post by Suppafly »

arp242 wrote: post #59
wkcheng wrote: post #44

This is a great article on the difference between an obstinate person and a persistent person, but I'm not sure the general public perceives them the same way that Paul does. What I've found is that many times, people like the perceived confidence that obstinacy can bring. For example, let's say that someone points out a flaw in a plan. Person A responds by saying "That's not a real problem. It doesn't matter." Perso…

There's an old anecdote where I think Pascal, but I'm not sure, argued the existence or non-existence of God in front of the king with another philosopher. Maybe-Pascal exclaimed loudly and with great confidence "A plus C equal B squared! Therefore God exists! COUNTER!" The other philosopher didn't know much about mathematics, had no idea to reply, got flustered, and "lost" the argument.[1] And honestly, I'm not sure…

>I found that no, it really is that dumb, and I had understood it correctly months ago, and all the jargon was just meaningless bollocks word salad.

My brother is an artist and absolutely refused to believe that the hype around NFTs was just bullshit. I'm sure if I called and asked right now, he'd still give me some word salad about how it's going to start paying off any day now. Now if anyone talks to me about NFTs, I send that me that Folding Ideas youtube video, 'Line goes up' and refuse to engage with them.

Re: The Right Kind of Stubborn

#72

Post by sitkack »

dvt wrote: post #35
konschubert wrote: post #25

I often wonder into which of these two categories I fall with my epaper calendars. On the one hand, I’ve been working on this product for four years, put every free minute into it, and it still doesn’t make enough money for me to quit my job. On the other hand, the product keeps getting better as I work on it, and I have now sold 500 of them. But sometimes I feel like I can’t keep going like this. Two jobs and a fami…

This would probably kill it on Instagram ads honestly. Price point is a tad high, but it's like the perfect "not sure what to get someone" gift.

Price point is high? Based on what? I'd say the price is too low for the expected volume.

Re: The Right Kind of Stubborn

#73

Post by _xnmw »

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Re: The Right Kind of Stubborn

#74

Post by cassepipe »

wkcheng wrote: post #44

This is a great article on the difference between an obstinate person and a persistent person, but I'm not sure the general public perceives them the same way that Paul does. What I've found is that many times, people like the perceived confidence that obstinacy can bring. For example, let's say that someone points out a flaw in a plan. Person A responds by saying "That's not a real problem. It doesn't matter." Perso…

Could we say that biologically/culturally receptive to performed dominance and being dominant has nothing to do with rationally understand the world. I think this is the whole point of the jock/geek binary opposition in culture even though, as all oppositionnal pairs in culture, they are often porquenolosdossed : Some people can perform dominance and do master rationality quite well and some can do neither. Maybe we don't notice it either because they don't fit the cultural mental map or because they are not part of our social milieus (too high or too low status) ?

https://youtu.be/wmVkJvieaOA?feature=shared&t=276

Re: The Right Kind of Stubborn

#75

Post by RcouF1uZ4gsC »

> But is there any real difference between these two cases? Are persistent and obstinate people actually behaving differently? Or are they doing the same thing, and we just label them later as persistent or obstinate depending on whether they turned out to be right or not?

I actually think this turns out to be the case most of the time. Look at Linus Pauling. Two Nobel prizes and then he fixated on Vitamin C. Did he all of a sudden forget how to be persistent and became obstinate?

Re: The Right Kind of Stubborn

#76

Post by m3kw9 »

Sort of obvious, but he expertly made the distinction very clear and maybe even made it look easy. The extreme of obstinate is insanity: "The definition of insanity is -- doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result."

Re: The Right Kind of Stubborn

#78

Post by w10-1 »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #64

I used to work for a corporation that was legendary for their Quality (note the capital "Q" -I got used to denoting it that way). They have been making precision optical gear for over a hundred years, and fetch many thousands, for their consumer (really, professional) kit. Thousands of successful people have built their entire careers around this company's gear. If you want to see "stubborn," look no further than the…

The Quality perspective seems more like persistence to me, attacking every potential issue (like Howard Hughes polishing rivets).

Persistence to me extends the reality principle to even minor and potential issues: they *must* be addressed (the "almost predatory" response) - driving engagement.

Obstinance to me reduces the reality principle to consistent facts, and serves more as avoidance.

(The flaw of the Quality perspective stems more from expanding bureaucratic incentives and achieving scale through excessive punishment driving aversive behaviors.)

Re: The Right Kind of Stubborn

#79

Post by breck »

konschubert wrote: post #45
breck wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1.) I don't like your name. Your computers are not invisible. They are definitely visible. If you were making an Alexa/Siri smart speaker computer that you hid in the walls, that would make sense to call it Invisible Computers. But your computer is a screen. The definition of a screen is something you look at. 2.) Simplify your workflows: combine with your github profile. This is clearly your passion. Own it. Move al…

I'm not sure about the name either. I think I need to get some help with that. Out of the blue, what would you call it?

> what would you call it?

It depends what your long term vision is?

What is the essence of your product? What won't change in the next 5 years? 10 years?

Is it the wood bevel? If so, maybe something like the "Core Display" or "Tree Screen" or "Forest Frame".

Do you not care about the bevel at all and it's the zen of the eInk? Then maybe call it the Zen Screen or Air Display.

Re: The Right Kind of Stubborn

#80

Post by w10-1 »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #75

> But is there any real difference between these two cases? Are persistent and obstinate people actually behaving differently? Or are they doing the same thing, and we just label them later as persistent or obstinate depending on whether they turned out to be right or not? I actually think this turns out to be the case most of the time. Look at Linus Pauling. Two Nobel prizes and then he fixated on Vitamin C. Did he…

Both persistence and obstinance are somewhat social.

Many persistent leaders become obstinate when they develop a success history that surrounds them with positive feedback - yes-men, resources to waste, etc.

Obstinate people flock together for mutual validation (and form protective bureaucracies).

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