Thought and Philosophy

Practice patiently improving →

Published March 6, 2018  ·  All posts on Mar 6  ·  

Too often nowadays Stoicism is brandished as a magic wand, as if one decides to “be” a Stoic and this, ipso facto, guarantees immunity from unhealthy emotions. It doesn’t, and Chrysippus, Seneca, and Epictetus would be astounded that anyone would think so. Stoic training is like training for the Olympics (a metaphor often used by Epictetus): you don’t just decide to be an athlete, start running, and win the race. You have to train, patiently, for years, improving gradually, and suffering setbacks. We are talking real life here, not wishful thinking.

~ Massimo Pigliucci from, Stoicism and Emotion, III

slip:4uwoso3.

More and more, as the years go by, I have been peering more closely into the dark corners of the basements of my philosophies, and ideologies.

ɕ

Honesty →

Published February 26, 2018  ·  All posts on Feb 26  ·  ,

Humans are the most communicative species on the planet, but we’ve come increasingly to rely on the very cheapest signals: words. The problem with words is that they aren’t a scarce resource. Which is a more honest signal of your value to a company: when your boss says, “Great job!” or when she gives you a raise?

~ Kevin Simler from, Honesty and the Human Body

slip:4umeho2.

I’m not sure I have a take-away from this. I don’t mean, “I’m not sure I have a take-away to share“, I mean I’m not sure I have a take-away, for me personally.

I’m sure only that this made me think.

ɕ

Perfect game theorists →

Published February 11, 2018  ·  All posts on Feb 11  ·  

…now I want to write a science fiction novel about a planet full of aliens who are perfect game theorists, but who always behave kindly and respectfully to one another. Then some idiot performs a census, and the whole place collapses into apocalyptic total war.

~ Scott Alexander from, Cooperation Un-veiled

slip:4usaco2.

That pull quote is simply fun. The article is actually a serious attempt to pick apart an interesting philosophical question.

I’m not sure I agree with his conclusions… actually, I’m not even sure I understand the question he’s thinking about. But I find that the more I peek in the dark corners of the basement of my philosophical ideas, the more comfortable I sleep at night.

ɕ

Eternal return →

Published January 29, 2018  ·  All posts on Jan 29  ·  

If you stay with your past regret, you’ll break through. You’ll realize that every moment spent in remorse is another regretful moment for eternity. You’ll finally understand, in your bones, the truth of Nietzsche’s wise advice: “Never yield to remorse, but at once tell yourself: remorse would simply mean adding to the first act of stupidity a second.”

~ Kyle Eschenroeder, from Your New, New Year’s Resolution

slip:4uaoee1.

We don’t literally live this exact same life over and over, as encapsulated by the idea of “Eternal Return”.

But it IS an interesting thought experiment. It is exceedingly difficult to break outside of my own self-perspective — arguably, it impossible to break out since what perspective do I have, other than MY own. But trying to think of things from new perspectives . . . it’s like trying to catch a glimpse of the back of my own head in a fun-house of mirrors.

ɕ

Agency from individual neurons →

Published January 25, 2018  ·  All posts on Jan 25  ·  

What I’m going to argue today is that agency is a fundamental property of the brain. Not only is agency the function of the brain — and thus it’s very reason for existence — but it’s also built into the brain’s fabric and architecture. Because even neurons have agency, in the form of (metabolic) selfishness, higher-order brain systems don’t need to create agency ‘from scratch’ out of mindless robotic slaves. They inherit agency pretty much for free.

~ Kevin Simler, from Neurons Gone Wild

slip:4umene1.

The question of agency occassionally sucks me into a deep whirlpool of introspection. The idea that it might arise as an emergent property simply from the huge number of neurons is intriguing.

ɕ

Rats? Moloch? →

Published January 7, 2018  ·  All posts on Jan 7  ·  

Like the rats, who gradually lose all values except sheer competition, so companies in an economic environment of sufficiently intense competition are forced to abandon all values except optimizing-for-profit or else be outcompeted by companies that optimized for profit better and so can sell the same service at a lower price.

From a god’s-eye-view, we can contrive a friendly industry where every company pays its workers a living wage. From within the system, there’s no way to enact it.

~ Scott Alexander, from Meditations on Moloch

slip:4usame2.

I confess to having had only the slightest awareness of Moloch in the biblical or general senses. So just skimming the WikiPedia article and then taking the time to read this piece from Slate Star Codex was like discovering a new window on the world from my mind-palace.

Moloch.

This is the problem. (With everything.) Individually, everyone acts according to their interests and beliefs. The result? …look at the world around you.

How could one go about changing the world? (That’s a rhetorical question.)

ɕ

Suffering →

Published January 6, 2018  ·  All posts on Jan 6  ·  

Krishnamurti has this definition of suffering that I really like, “Suffering is that moment when you see reality exactly as it is. When you can no longer run away from it, when you can no longer deny it.”

~ Naval Ravikant, from Naval Ravikant — The Person I Call Most for Startup Advice (#97)

slip:4utite1.

I don’t know anything about Krishnamurti. But I know a good statement that cuts right through all the day-to-day bullshit; That right there is one.

I’ll save you some digging: Naval is quoting Jiddu Krishnamurti, apparently from The Book of Life: Daily Meditations.

…also, go listen to this entire podcast. It’s insanely long at 2+ hours, but Naval is a real down-to-Earth guy with a lot of useful advice on how to live.

ɕ

slip:4c2se1j.

Living Stoically →

Published December 30, 2017  ·  All posts on Dec 30  ·  

William B. Irvine on Living Stoically

This podcast episode, from the superlative Philosophy Bites podcast, is a great, brief introduction to Stoicism.

ɕ

slip:4c2so2a.

The aims of education →

Published December 23, 2017  ·  All posts on Dec 23  ·  

Meira Levinson on the Aims of Education

This podcast — don’t misread that as “this episode” — is one of my favorites. In this episode they briefly mention the experience of the “Other.” Which I find is a large aspect of my reasons for travel.

ɕ

slip:4c2se1b.

How to keep time from moving so fast →

Published December 8, 2017  ·  All posts on Dec 8  ·  

Savoring what’s familiar does something similar. Instead of spending our time on autopilot mode, we notice the richness embedded in our familiar routines. Choose something familiar that you experience regularly—drinking your morning coffee, picking up your kids from daycare, or chatting with a coworker—and make a concerted effort to savor, and be grateful for that experience. I personally find meditation, more than almost anything else, helps me savor these small things every day.

~ Chris Bailey from, How to keep time from moving so fast

slip:4uaiho2.

ɕ