What recent books or articles have shifted your worldview?
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What books or articles have you read recently that fundamentally shifted the way you think about the world, and how you interact with it (work, social, play, whatever)?
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What books or articles have you read recently that fundamentally shifted the way you think about the world, and how you interact with it (work, social, play, whatever)?
I've been working on deconstructing my childhood, being raised as a young earth creationist. I long since dropped theism, but am still trying to clean up some of the side effects. The talk.origins newsgroup has been invaluable. So many of the things I was taught, I didn't even know were specifically creationist BS because they were all I heard from the time I was a baby.
I'm always down for recommendations on "adults should know this basic science 101".
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What books or articles have you read recently that fundamentally shifted the way you think about the world, and how you interact with it (work, social, play, whatever)?
wrote last edited by [email protected]It wasn't recent, but I remember being wide-eyed when I read Manna by Marshall Brain. But even then, I knew the optimistic half was very optimistic and... Yeah. Now it depresses me to think about it.
In terms of worldview, it made me consider that optimism at least. -
It wasn't recent, but I remember being wide-eyed when I read Manna by Marshall Brain. But even then, I knew the optimistic half was very optimistic and... Yeah. Now it depresses me to think about it.
In terms of worldview, it made me consider that optimism at least.What's the gist? Or, what did it change about your worldview?
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I've been working on deconstructing my childhood, being raised as a young earth creationist. I long since dropped theism, but am still trying to clean up some of the side effects. The talk.origins newsgroup has been invaluable. So many of the things I was taught, I didn't even know were specifically creationist BS because they were all I heard from the time I was a baby.
I'm always down for recommendations on "adults should know this basic science 101".
Interesting. I grew up in a science-heavy family, and eventually became a scientist. A LOT of what's been changing my worldview recently has been a kind of deprogramming from science - reductionist science. Complexity theory in particular, as well as breaking down the dominant cultural view of linear technological progress.
I don't have anything really super useful at the 101 level, but I'll definitely plug some of the stuff on [email protected] community - it's not necessarily introductory material, but some of it is super accessible and fun to engage with (especially some of the videos).
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I've been working on deconstructing my childhood, being raised as a young earth creationist. I long since dropped theism, but am still trying to clean up some of the side effects. The talk.origins newsgroup has been invaluable. So many of the things I was taught, I didn't even know were specifically creationist BS because they were all I heard from the time I was a baby.
I'm always down for recommendations on "adults should know this basic science 101".
I can recommend A brief history of time by Stephen Hawking as a good scientific read with very clear and simple explanation of the topic.
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What books or articles have you read recently that fundamentally shifted the way you think about the world, and how you interact with it (work, social, play, whatever)?
I'm currently reading 4000 weeks by Oliver Burkeman and it really hits home.
Burkeman is a former productivity guru that has tried all kinds of productivity tools and lifehacks only to realize that trying to get more efficient only results in keeping you even more busy.
People are always striving for that next step to get to a mythical point in life where they think they can relax and enjoy life, and for most of us, that point never comes, because we're too busy trying to get there
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I'm currently reading 4000 weeks by Oliver Burkeman and it really hits home.
Burkeman is a former productivity guru that has tried all kinds of productivity tools and lifehacks only to realize that trying to get more efficient only results in keeping you even more busy.
People are always striving for that next step to get to a mythical point in life where they think they can relax and enjoy life, and for most of us, that point never comes, because we're too busy trying to get there
I've done almost the opposite lol. I've got my shit dialed I can get paid more for less. We gotta live life, not be a slave to it.
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I've been working on deconstructing my childhood, being raised as a young earth creationist. I long since dropped theism, but am still trying to clean up some of the side effects. The talk.origins newsgroup has been invaluable. So many of the things I was taught, I didn't even know were specifically creationist BS because they were all I heard from the time I was a baby.
I'm always down for recommendations on "adults should know this basic science 101".
There’s some great podcasts out there that really focus on the science. Science VS comes to mind, as does Factually
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I'm currently reading 4000 weeks by Oliver Burkeman and it really hits home.
Burkeman is a former productivity guru that has tried all kinds of productivity tools and lifehacks only to realize that trying to get more efficient only results in keeping you even more busy.
People are always striving for that next step to get to a mythical point in life where they think they can relax and enjoy life, and for most of us, that point never comes, because we're too busy trying to get there
What does the name refer to?
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What books or articles have you read recently that fundamentally shifted the way you think about the world, and how you interact with it (work, social, play, whatever)?
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality is a great read that really explains how to think rationally, and also fixes some issues with the source material.
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Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality is a great read that really explains how to think rationally, and also fixes some issues with the source material.
For a really fun rabbit hole, follow author Eliezer Yudkowsky to LessWrong, his community blog/forum/rationalist community, to the Zizians with their attempted seasteading and string of murders.
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What's the gist? Or, what did it change about your worldview?
Bearing in mind it came out in 2003? It basically predicted how the rich would try to use AI to replace as many of the working poor as possible. It was incredibly bleak, talking about how as the software and hardware advanced, more and more people's job's were destroyed and slowly people were rounded up into government housing projects. If memory serves, it was almost like a prison.
Then the main character/narrator gets to escape to Australia (which is kind of lol but I digress) where they used AI to create a utopian post-scarcity society, and it went over all the way you could use things like brain-interfacing chips to make life easy and wonderful; how people shared what resources they had so everyone had plenty. You could basically 3-D print yourself a house if you wanted.
Seeing how things have developed much more closely to one timeline than the other is very depressing. But it definitely woke me up to thoughts like "Tech is not inherently evil but can be used in very evil ways." (Which feels like not much of a revelation but I was a teenager then, so it was a shock at the time.)
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What does the name refer to?
wrote last edited by [email protected]4000 weeks is about the average lifespan
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For a really fun rabbit hole, follow author Eliezer Yudkowsky to LessWrong, his community blog/forum/rationalist community, to the Zizians with their attempted seasteading and string of murders.
Behind the Bastards did a four-part series on the Zizians, I highly recommend it
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What books or articles have you read recently that fundamentally shifted the way you think about the world, and how you interact with it (work, social, play, whatever)?
I read it a couple years ago, but Doppelgänger by Naomi Klein. It did such a good job helping me understand what happened with the conspiracy mirror world that rose up during Covid.
More recently? Yes, You Are Trans Enough by Mia Violet helped me come to understand myself a lot better.
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What books or articles have you read recently that fundamentally shifted the way you think about the world, and how you interact with it (work, social, play, whatever)?
Quantum Psychology by Robert Anton Wilson.
So fun.
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I've been working on deconstructing my childhood, being raised as a young earth creationist. I long since dropped theism, but am still trying to clean up some of the side effects. The talk.origins newsgroup has been invaluable. So many of the things I was taught, I didn't even know were specifically creationist BS because they were all I heard from the time I was a baby.
I'm always down for recommendations on "adults should know this basic science 101".
It took me a long time to recover from the cult I was raised in, too. Every time I think I've got it all out of my system, some new insight comes to light and shocks me all over again. Like reading Chris Hedge's 2006(or 7, I forget) book Totalitarianism in America. It goes over how the Dominionism Cult my mom was in in the 90s started in the 70s and is behind the US's current political takeover attempt.
Just keep educating yourself like you have been, and you'll be alright
Just don't get down on yourself when more ingrained dogma pops up, be glad you noticed it instead! -
Quantum Psychology by Robert Anton Wilson.
So fun.
What's the gist?
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What books or articles have you read recently that fundamentally shifted the way you think about the world, and how you interact with it (work, social, play, whatever)?
The opening of the wikipedia article on feedback systems:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feedback
The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled carefully when applied to feedback systems:
Simple causal reasoning about a feedback system is difficult because the first system influences the second and second system influences the first, leading to a circular argument. This makes reasoning based upon cause and effect tricky, and it is necessary to analyze the system as a whole.
Almost all real world systems are feedback systems, from biology, to politics and government, to interpersonal relations. Yet people's instinct is almost always to try and reason through things using cause and effect when that's often not helpful. When people realize this, they often say 'oh it's a chicken and egg thing's or 'oh it's impossible to say who did what' and throw up their hands and give up. But it's not impossible to analyze feedback systems, nor to figure out relative contributions to them, nor to figure out ways to break out of cycles. But you need to impartially examine the system as a whole, you can't just try and play the blame game.
