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> there's almost zero pieces of actionable information. I don't agree with this. The news is filled with actionable information. If nothing more than constant

> there's almost zero pieces of actionable information. I don't agree with this. The news is filled with actionable information. If nothing more than constant reporting of problems, many of which could be solved with new businesses - there is value in knowing about that if only to be better positioned to start businesses. The world is full of people in pain, and often the news reports on that. That is actionable information. Other people's pain is not your entertainment. It is actionable information about how to help improve the world and reduce suffering. Also, the news and happenings of the world do affect you every day even if you don't know it or notice it. "You may not care about politics, but politics cares about you"

pjc50 7y ago
I kind of agree with this, but: > The world is full of people in pain, and often the news reports on that. That is actionable information. Other people's pain is not your entertainment. It is actionable information about how to help improve the world and reduce suffering. There is far, far more of this than is actionable, and most of it isn't really actionable from this distance. You end up with "white saviour" disease. The news is also full of my fellow voters saying that those in pain are lying, or that we should inflict more pain on them as a matter of policy. Those are somewhat hard to stomach.
TeMPOraL 7y ago
Sure, if you approach it with a problem-solving mindset, you can ignore the content and the noise and the inaccuracies of the news, and dig into an issue to be addressed that underlies the story. But there's only so much thing you can act on at any given moment, and actions take a lot of time. In particular, you can execute one, two business ideas at a time; perhaps three if you're Elon Musk. So once you're engaged in action, what's the point of following the news? You aren't going to act on anything else for the next couple years anyway.
eric_cc 7y ago
How many times in your life have you personally watched a news story about somebody suffering that caused you to leap off your couch and take action?
- bjourne 7y ago
  A bunch of times have news stories caused me to donate money and write angry emails to politicians. Especially the horrifying 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

pjc50 7y ago

I kind of agree with this, but: > The world is full of people in pain, and often the news reports on that. That is actionable information. Other people's pain is not your entertainment. It is actionable information about how to help improve the world and reduce suffering. There is far, far more of this than is actionable, and most of it isn't really actionable from this distance. You end up with "white saviour" disease. The news is also full of my fellow voters saying that those in pain are lying, or that we should inflict more pain on them as a matter of policy. Those are somewhat hard to stomach.

TeMPOraL 7y ago

Sure, if you approach it with a problem-solving mindset, you can ignore the content and the noise and the inaccuracies of the news, and dig into an issue to be addressed that underlies the story. But there's only so much thing you can act on at any given moment, and actions take a lot of time. In particular, you can execute one, two business ideas at a time; perhaps three if you're Elon Musk. So once you're engaged in action, what's the point of following the news? You aren't going to act on anything else for the next couple years anyway.

eric_cc 7y ago

How many times in your life have you personally watched a news story about somebody suffering that caused you to leap off your couch and take action?

bjourne 7y ago
A bunch of times have news stories caused me to donate money and write angry emails to politicians. Especially the horrifying 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.