3 ms·

- Ishmael and Story of B by Daniel Quinn His thoughts on religion and interpretation of religion as propaganda and how we've framed our taker society very much

by xemoka 10y ago

- Ishmael and Story of B by Daniel Quinn His thoughts on religion and interpretation of religion as propaganda and how we've framed our taker society very much influenced my young mind. - 1491 and 1493 by Charles C. Mann The way we look at the new world and how vastly different standard teachings and what actually happened are. - A Guide to the Good Life by William Irvine Put to words what I already mostly practise, it identified my issues I had with buddhism. - A Dictators Handbook by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita An interesting flip on politics, it made me stop worrying so much about the here-and-now of it, and quelled my anger with the (further?) realisation that it is a game. If we want to fix what's happening we need to fix the rules, not the players.

RachelF 10y ago
Dictators Handbook was interesting for me too, showing politics as a game of patronage. Once you look at the world through these eyes, a lot more makes sense. N.N. Taleb's "Fooled by Randomness" fundamentally changed the way I look at the world in seeing so much of what people ascribe to skill or errors, just to randomness or bad luck.
simongray 10y ago
> A Guide to the Good Life by William Irvine > Put to words what I already mostly practise, it identified my issues I had with buddhism. Could you elaborate a bit on this? What issues did it identify?
- xemoka 10y ago
  One of the problems I have with buddhism is the withdraw from society and the world around you, it behests you to focus on your internal mindfulness at all costs. The way Irvine describes Stoicism (and the tenets set forth elsewhere) puts the stoic into the world for their own and everyone else's betterment. There's nothing wrong with the way buddhism says to withdraw, it's just one of the reasons I don't fully jive with it—then again, you don't exactly have to love it or lump it, you can pick and choose for sure. It's just an observation.

by xemoka 10y ago

RachelF 10y ago

Dictators Handbook was interesting for me too, showing politics as a game of patronage. Once you look at the world through these eyes, a lot more makes sense. N.N. Taleb's "Fooled by Randomness" fundamentally changed the way I look at the world in seeing so much of what people ascribe to skill or errors, just to randomness or bad luck.

simongray 10y ago

> A Guide to the Good Life by William Irvine > Put to words what I already mostly practise, it identified my issues I had with buddhism. Could you elaborate a bit on this? What issues did it identify?

xemoka 10y ago
One of the problems I have with buddhism is the withdraw from society and the world around you, it behests you to focus on your internal mindfulness at all costs. The way Irvine describes Stoicism (and the tenets set forth elsewhere) puts the stoic into the world for their own and everyone else's betterment. There's nothing wrong with the way buddhism says to withdraw, it's just one of the reasons I don't fully jive with it—then again, you don't exactly have to love it or lump it, you can pick and choose for sure. It's just an observation.