4 ms·

That's a touching story, and it illustrates something I've been thinking about recently: that we're not as "rational" as we think we are, to a certain extent, b

That's a touching story, and it illustrates something I've been thinking about recently: that we're not as "rational" as we think we are, to a certain extent, because all of our current rationality depends on everything that has happened, not everything that will happen in the future. Paul Dirac, an absolutely brilliant man, decided early on that his life "was mainly concerned with facts and not feelings." In a sense he planned his life out with imperfect information--as we all do--until something came along and completely turned his life around, in this case his future wife. I think that's a hopeful message? That your life and your thoughts are limited by all that has happened to you, not by what hasn't happened to you yet, by definition, because you can't imagine a future that hasn't happened to you. I know, anecdotally, a handful of people who swore off marriage in their 20s, only to turn right around and get married in their 30s after meeting somebody who changed their minds. The same is true for academics and, really, everything--a student who resigns himself to hating math until he finds a teacher who understands his feelings, etc. Or maybe it's late and I'm rambling. Either way, I really enjoyed reading this essay.

raducu 6y ago
That's not rambling at all. No matter what you believe about humans -- that we have a soul or we are (just) very complex biological machinery, in the end, everything scientists do, do for human kind. High achieving scientists tend to start by focusing on logic and "reason", and that's why they become high achieving. But there is no reason not to explore our humanness later in life. Even if MBTI is regarded as pseudoscience, as an INTJ, I know that later in life I must explore and improve my not so developed soft skills, and it only feels natural.
- lain__ 6y ago
  I, and everyone I know, have found the enneagram to be much more predictive and comprehensive of people's behaviour and how they think. (And much more helpful too) https://www.eclecticenergies.com/enneagram/test https://www.eclecticenergies.com/enneagram/test https://www.reddit.com/r/Enneagram/comments/dc4g4i/a_comprehensive_guide_to_all_things_enneagram/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Enneagram/comments/dc4g4i/a_compreh...
mywittyname 6y ago
People need to experience love to know that they want it. I suspect most people develop a desire for love from their parents, family, peers, and books/media. And that desire evolves into a more romantic notion of love as they mature. The article briefly suggested that love was not something Dirac had received from his family, so he likely didn't know. If he indeed was a strange outsider among his peers and only read technical books, I can see how he managed to go so many years without developing much desire for an emotional connection with someone else. It's not mentioned in the article, but I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that his reticence to engaging with Manci was probably the result of one or more terrible experiences with women which were likely caused by his social awkwardness. I feel like "rationality" is really a mask that people use to avoid addressing difficult emotions like this. Growing up to be socially stunted is a very difficult handicap to deal with. Not least of all because it's imperceptible to the very people it effects.
SideburnsOfDoom 6y ago
"A man can do what he wants, but not choose what he wants" - Schopenhauer

raducu 6y ago

That's not rambling at all. No matter what you believe about humans -- that we have a soul or we are (just) very complex biological machinery, in the end, everything scientists do, do for human kind. High achieving scientists tend to start by focusing on logic and "reason", and that's why they become high achieving. But there is no reason not to explore our humanness later in life. Even if MBTI is regarded as pseudoscience, as an INTJ, I know that later in life I must explore and improve my not so developed soft skills, and it only feels natural.

lain__ 6y ago
I, and everyone I know, have found the enneagram to be much more predictive and comprehensive of people's behaviour and how they think. (And much more helpful too) https://www.eclecticenergies.com/enneagram/test https://www.eclecticenergies.com/enneagram/test https://www.reddit.com/r/Enneagram/comments/dc4g4i/a_comprehensive_guide_to_all_things_enneagram/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Enneagram/comments/dc4g4i/a_compreh...

mywittyname 6y ago

People need to experience love to know that they want it. I suspect most people develop a desire for love from their parents, family, peers, and books/media. And that desire evolves into a more romantic notion of love as they mature. The article briefly suggested that love was not something Dirac had received from his family, so he likely didn't know. If he indeed was a strange outsider among his peers and only read technical books, I can see how he managed to go so many years without developing much desire for an emotional connection with someone else. It's not mentioned in the article, but I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that his reticence to engaging with Manci was probably the result of one or more terrible experiences with women which were likely caused by his social awkwardness. I feel like "rationality" is really a mask that people use to avoid addressing difficult emotions like this. Growing up to be socially stunted is a very difficult handicap to deal with. Not least of all because it's imperceptible to the very people it effects.

SideburnsOfDoom 6y ago

"A man can do what he wants, but not choose what he wants" - Schopenhauer