I wonder how often this is the case, where the shortcomings of language, the medium, and many other things, result in incorrect perceptions of disagreement, where none actually exists.
That's the kind of thing I wish people would be able to take away from essays like this.
> ...and began to understand, on an emotional plane that overshoots the academic level at which I’d only previously understood this— that all that’s come today comes from all that’s come before, and as all things must pass, so must we always find ourselves fighting the same battles forever and ever, until the lesson is learned.
> I emerged from that realization inspired, empowered and with a newfound sense of gravitas where rage and anger once resided. Where we are, now, as a human collective, is further along on the continuum of progress, yet no closer to achieving it. The moral arc of the universe is long, and bends toward justice, but that bend is fraught with fractious regressions, pauses, and misfires.
> ...continuing for the next several paragraphs.
> I began to confront things I felt I had forgotten. People I’d hurt. People I’d wronged. People who’d hurt me. People who’d wronged me. Traumas of every degree, gradient, and sub-genre stretching as far back as preschool. My brother who severed contact with me five years ago. Friends I’d let down. Bosses who’d fired me. Drugs I wished I’d never done. Drinks I wished I’d never drank. Decisions I made and regretted. Decisions I never made and regretted not making.
> I was not scared — I gazed at them right in the eyes, and forgave them right in the moment. I forgave myself, too. “It’s okay,” I told them. “You are free.” And then they would leave, or I would leave. Determining who “leaves” during a ketamine trip is a bit like trying to choose which half of the car you want to drive while the other half is a boat. I rose in a grain elevator I didn’t willingly enter, and I escaped the minus-world as it crumbled and roared behind me. Safe.
And so on.
These sorts of sentiments seems potentially more productive than the "You're wrong, no you're wrong, and stupid..." mode that much of humanity seems stubbornly dedicated to currently, but then it doesn't seem clear to me that everyone experiences these things in the same way, and many seem(!) opposed to the very idea.
This place seems a little less infuriating taken into context, much in the "zen" spirit of the article that you quote.
Ten years ago I used to find tech news from other forums. The two more popular were Reddit and Slashdot. Both had unfortunate trends that made discusion tiresome to follow. Reddit had those pun threads in which everybody seemed to compete to be the funniest guy in the room while Slashdot was the church of the Free Software and Saint IGNUtius.
It was as if in any conversation that you tried to have, a bunch of laughing teenagers making jokes, or a bunch of quasi-religious zealots took over. Hacker News on the other hand was the forum for YC startup founders, with a practical approach to the same subjects, so it was a welcome change.
Ten years later it has been slowly degrading. It's full of self-serious young people that instead of making tons of jokes, frown upon any attempt of humour and, instead of the classic FSF zealotry, we have the usual offline causes, trying to shame everybody into thinking "the right way". If you take this place as some kind of contest to defend the best ideas, you're going to be sorely disappointed. Such place doesn't exist. It's enough that there's a place where interesting ideas are at least presented as articles and some comments.
About the drugs discusion, there has been a couple of topics here that may explain the caution some of us have. One was modafinil. A few years ago a bunch of articles were posted telling wonders about it. A guy said that he had learnt quantum physics in an infamous article, other guy that his procrastination problems had disappeared thanks to the drug.
You'll see that recent comments that appear in the search were starting to be negative. Modify the search to show last years results. There is none. That was a fad, people spent their money because what do you expect in a site like this where everybody wants to be more creative, smart and procrastinate less?
Similar things are being said now about hallucinogens. Most repeated line is that the experience is life changing. I dropped an acid more than 30 years ago. It was spectacular, but I wouldn't call it "life changing" and I haven't had the desire to repeat since. I don't feel like I have the right to recommend against it because "do as I say, not as I did" doesn't seem like honest advice. But I wouldn't tell anybody to do it, specially after I've seen three acquitances to lose their minds because they abused LSD.
Ketamine seems very promising. But it's illegal, unless you want to spend big dollars in it. The problem I see is: should we recommend a drug that will probably be acquired illegally and taken in unknown sets to a bunch of people that might be desperate to find something to cure chronic depression, burnout or blocking? I'm sure you understand what could go wrong. I know what I would do, but I know myself, I don't know what's in the minds of everybody reading HN, so I would be very catious to create false hopes and real risks.
Comments
Ah, well thank you for your patience!
I wonder how often this is the case, where the shortcomings of language, the medium, and many other things, result in incorrect perceptions of disagreement, where none actually exists.
That's the kind of thing I wish people would be able to take away from essays like this.
And so on.
These sorts of sentiments seems potentially more productive than the "You're wrong, no you're wrong, and stupid..." mode that much of humanity seems stubbornly dedicated to currently, but then it doesn't seem clear to me that everyone experiences these things in the same way, and many seem(!) opposed to the very idea.
This place seems a little less infuriating taken into context, much in the "zen" spirit of the article that you quote.
Ten years ago I used to find tech news from other forums. The two more popular were Reddit and Slashdot. Both had unfortunate trends that made discusion tiresome to follow. Reddit had those pun threads in which everybody seemed to compete to be the funniest guy in the room while Slashdot was the church of the Free Software and Saint IGNUtius.
It was as if in any conversation that you tried to have, a bunch of laughing teenagers making jokes, or a bunch of quasi-religious zealots took over. Hacker News on the other hand was the forum for YC startup founders, with a practical approach to the same subjects, so it was a welcome change.
Ten years later it has been slowly degrading. It's full of self-serious young people that instead of making tons of jokes, frown upon any attempt of humour and, instead of the classic FSF zealotry, we have the usual offline causes, trying to shame everybody into thinking "the right way". If you take this place as some kind of contest to defend the best ideas, you're going to be sorely disappointed. Such place doesn't exist. It's enough that there's a place where interesting ideas are at least presented as articles and some comments.
About the drugs discusion, there has been a couple of topics here that may explain the caution some of us have. One was modafinil. A few years ago a bunch of articles were posted telling wonders about it. A guy said that he had learnt quantum physics in an infamous article, other guy that his procrastination problems had disappeared thanks to the drug.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=site%3Aycombinator.com+modafinil
You'll see that recent comments that appear in the search were starting to be negative. Modify the search to show last years results. There is none. That was a fad, people spent their money because what do you expect in a site like this where everybody wants to be more creative, smart and procrastinate less?
Similar things are being said now about hallucinogens. Most repeated line is that the experience is life changing. I dropped an acid more than 30 years ago. It was spectacular, but I wouldn't call it "life changing" and I haven't had the desire to repeat since. I don't feel like I have the right to recommend against it because "do as I say, not as I did" doesn't seem like honest advice. But I wouldn't tell anybody to do it, specially after I've seen three acquitances to lose their minds because they abused LSD.
Ketamine seems very promising. But it's illegal, unless you want to spend big dollars in it. The problem I see is: should we recommend a drug that will probably be acquired illegally and taken in unknown sets to a bunch of people that might be desperate to find something to cure chronic depression, burnout or blocking? I'm sure you understand what could go wrong. I know what I would do, but I know myself, I don't know what's in the minds of everybody reading HN, so I would be very catious to create false hopes and real risks.