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

On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

lithub.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 237 posts

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#81

Post by amvalo »

throwaway803453 wrote: post #49
andy_ppp wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you still believe they were murdered? Who were these people? Which country is performing possible assassinations in America? Why would they want to murder your family member? So many questions!

I wasn't sure if my comment was in the spirit of HN given it's overly personal and is now totally irrelevant to the lithub post. But since you asked -- before the PD's conclusion I told myself I would just accept whatever they report. But doing that has now left me with the lifelong burden of falsely accusing two people of murder. The people were desperately poor in-laws. He was becoming cash poor but was still home…

If he knew they were going to kill him why did he let them visit?

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#82

Post by Baeocystin »

irrational wrote: post #74

Now I’m feeling guilty for listening to audio books while walking instead of engaging in great thinking.

I listen to lectures on things that have nothing to do with my day job, and I love every minute of it. Listening to something you find interesting while walking is a delightful match.

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#83

Post by keerthiko »

jcq3 wrote: post #46

"Historically, however, walking has been the privilege of white men." Come on... Anyway, Nietzsche used to walk before writing like Darwin Long time ago I read that walking or taking a shower make your thinking more effective because it somehow enables automation mode and allow to be more focused

This statement is a bit broad and thus debatable in overall accuracy, but it is based on something real. It is probably overly centered on the western and white-centric world, since being white or not doesn't even come into question in many other parts of the world. But in the US/Europe...

Women have been, for valid reasons and patriarchal overprotectiveness, been trained to feel vulnerable and exposed when walking outside. Always half-focused on who may be looking at them or tailing them, it takes away the mental freedom needed for perambulatory reflection.

Black men, brown men, immigrants, similarly, have over time faced a variety of hate crimes and false incarceration, that they must again often pay attention to their perceived "suspiciousness" factor, such as wandering around late at night with a hoodie on, or idly staring into a park where kids may be playing, lest they be mistaken for a latent criminal and get apprehended or worse.

So "walking has been the privilege of white men" is a bit of an extreme, but "justifiably walking thoughts free with impunity" is indeed the privilege of white men in the lands of white men.

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#84

Post by jiocrag »

jcq3 wrote: post #46

"Historically, however, walking has been the privilege of white men." Come on... Anyway, Nietzsche used to walk before writing like Darwin Long time ago I read that walking or taking a shower make your thinking more effective because it somehow enables automation mode and allow to be more focused

“Come on…” said every person uncomfortable with the brutal history of race relations and living in denial about its long term effects.

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#85

Post by jiocrag »

klipt wrote: post #47
jcq3 wrote: post #46

"Historically, however, walking has been the privilege of white men." Come on... Anyway, Nietzsche used to walk before writing like Darwin Long time ago I read that walking or taking a shower make your thinking more effective because it somehow enables automation mode and allow to be more focused

Hunter gatherers (who mostly aren't white) probably do way more walking than most modern people.

He’s talking about walking to leisurely ideation, not walking and running to survive lol.

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#86

Post by jiocrag »

flippinburgers wrote: post #70
jcq3 wrote: post #46

"Historically, however, walking has been the privilege of white men." Come on... Anyway, Nietzsche used to walk before writing like Darwin Long time ago I read that walking or taking a shower make your thinking more effective because it somehow enables automation mode and allow to be more focused

Often new angles of thought come to me when walking. Also, as others have aptly pointed out, people who are not wealthy are in fact the ones who will end up doing the most walking. People who gravitate towards using the word privilege ... just yikes.

Poor walk to survive and work—often hungry, stressed or with a goal in mind. Goes without saying that this is different from strolling a private residence with the freedom to ruminate.

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#87

Post by twelve40 »

kumarvvr wrote: post #78
jcq3 wrote: post #46

"Historically, however, walking has been the privilege of white men." Come on... Anyway, Nietzsche used to walk before writing like Darwin Long time ago I read that walking or taking a shower make your thinking more effective because it somehow enables automation mode and allow to be more focused

It is true, in the sense that white men were the class that was privileged enough to have the free time to walk and think. Not all, but those who did were predominantly white.

What's a bit disgusting is that yes the privileged nature of thinking is of course accurate, and all the time before the 19th century was very oppressive to the women and other groups, but that's not quite relevant to the story of walking being good for thought. It's like in the USSR where Physics textbooks had to be prefaced with quotes from Lenin and Marx just to check off the current political agenda checkmarks and allow the otherwise completely unrelated to politics text to get published.

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#89

Post by betwixthewires »

jcq3 wrote: post #46

"Historically, however, walking has been the privilege of white men." Come on... Anyway, Nietzsche used to walk before writing like Darwin Long time ago I read that walking or taking a shower make your thinking more effective because it somehow enables automation mode and allow to be more focused

My words exactly, I even considered leaving a comment on the issue but decided to leave it to you I guess.

The author of this should've taken a walk before writing this, you've got to trudge half way through to finally get to the point, which is apparently "someone who walks to think walked to think on why we walk to think"

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#90

Post by betwixthewires »

jiocrag wrote: post #84
jcq3 wrote: post #46

"Historically, however, walking has been the privilege of white men." Come on... Anyway, Nietzsche used to walk before writing like Darwin Long time ago I read that walking or taking a shower make your thinking more effective because it somehow enables automation mode and allow to be more focused

“Come on…” said every person uncomfortable with the brutal history of race relations and living in denial about its long term effects.

Or maybe, and this might sound outlandish, we are tired of the tendrils of this insidious beast infecting every single thing. Walking. Walking? Yes, walking. "Come on" is right.
Post reply on HN