3 ms·
Do not, I repeat, DO NOT read Dostoevsky. It's full of harmful memes which are very likely to impair your subsequent functioning, and spread out into your surro
by kuramitropolis 4y ago
Do not, I repeat, DO NOT read Dostoevsky. It's full of harmful memes which are very likely to impair your subsequent functioning, and spread out into your surroundings, by way of contaminating your intentional actions with paradox (not the fun kind, either.)
I would generally suggest avoiding Russian literature entirely, especially if you're a programmer. Unless you've somehow made yourself basilisk-proof (and note that the reverse Algernon method won't work, their whole deal's bootstrapped)
EDIT:
OP says:
>
Try applying the scientific method to define the psychology of the criminal. You will end up writing and sending a questionnaire, then publishing a paper in Science of how 80% of respondents (n=12) selected option A in the questionnaire. Try even finding 12 criminals willing to reply honestly to your questionnaire. Then ask yourself why social science papers don't replicate.
Now imagine a society with institutions that have the knowledge of how to force their way through the above issue, and decide for yourself whether you really wish to integrate any intellectual outputs from that society in your decision making process.
- Bakary 4y agoCould you give some examples of these harmful memes you have found in Dostoevsky's works? Although I suppose by definition you might not be willing to do that...
- kuramitropolis 4y ago>Although I suppose by definition you might not be willing to do that... That's not part of the definition. Would have much fewer of the things kicking around if they precluded their own distribution, no? Thankfully the ones that do are a subset, otherwise basilisk spotting would be a much more introspective activity.
- EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 4y agoI could totally imagine how out of 100000 programmers having read Crime and Punishment, a few would take an axe to their local pawn shop.
- kuramitropolis 4y agoThe ones that don't are the ones to be afraid of. Classics are such for a reason. They don't get republished for 150 years because they had an one-time influence on people once. Picture the pawnbroker, having remained on the market precisely due to some insights from Dostoevsky, which had come in handy when dealing with the dregs of society. He buys the axe, kills the programmer with it, then fast-tracks redemption and just, like, carries on. Russian literature has so many different ways of fucking with your head. Savage stuff, in the best of senses. I start finding it relevant to anything at all, I nope the fuck out of there. After all, life is known to imitate fiction, esp. when there's the less friendly kind of crazy aboard. Best outcome for a programmer from reading Dostoevsky would be to stop being a programmer.