34 ms·

Don't forget that you are the result of all the past sensory interactions that you experienced in your whole life, people you interacted with, books you read, a

• p0w3n3d 2y ago
  Very close to "I am a product of my environment"
  • Nevermark 2y ago
    You are a product of how you process and interact with your environment. Be alert, situationally aware. Process actively, notice and distill patterns. Try things. Push the environment.
  • TeMPOraL 2y ago
    Which also reminds me of "You are the average of the few people you interact the most with".
  • wyclif 2y ago
    I don't think it's quite that close. There is still a distinction between being a product of your environment and being influenced by your environment. My HS college prep English teacher, who was one of the best teachers I ever had, put it this way: "Garbage in, garbage out." His point was that it simply isn't rational to believe that you can read nothing but National Lampoon, Mad Magazine, or the county newspaper and become a great writer. You have to read, digest, and breathe the air of the great works of fiction and literature and allow it to do its work in influencing your prose style, cadence, and structure.
• daniel_reetz 2y ago
  Hmm. The experiences that changed and benefited me most were least predictable. As a result, I try to manage experiences less, and choose the unknown more. But in the spirit of what you've said, I try to avoid doing dumb, damaging, or boring things twice.
  • edanm 2y ago
    That's a good point. I'm a big reader - and I have lists of thousands of books I want to read. But one reason I semi-on-purpose still pick up random books that I stumble across and look fun, even if they're less "optimally chosen" by me, is exactly so that I sometimes stumble on things I would otherwise miss. Or maybe just, like many readers, I love buying new books almost as much as reading them, and this is just an excuse to buy more... :)
    • feyman_r 2y ago
      That last bit resonates with me so much! In fact, there’s a word in Japanese for it - ‘tsundoku’! Ever since I stumbled upon it, I feel almost vindicated :)).
      • edanm 2y ago
        The funny thing is, I do the same with Audible books too, even if they aren't something I normally physically see. I just can't help buying books :)
    • reaperman 2y ago
      For many things in life I try to find and loosely follow some ideal ratio of explore vs. exploit. For restaurants I've found 1:3 ratio works well - 3 times eating at restaurants I know I love, then the fourth time eating somewhere I haven't been yet. Usually the new restaurant doesn't live up to my favorites, but sometimes I find a new favorite.
  • madaxe_again 2y ago
    I just got into the habit of saying “yes” to pretty much anything. It has taken me on some wild rides indeed, and I am richer in spirit for it. It forged the bond between my wife and me - “shall we do a road trip across Eurasia?”, she idly asked, expecting at the very most a “maybe” - instead I grasped that nettle and applied for visas that day. Six weeks of utterly madcap adventure ensued. Since, I’ve found myself in an unending series of odd adventures of one variety of another, from fostering rare donkeys to… other stuff I’d be wise to not mention. Some episodes I would call ill-advised in the extreme, but all have been enriching. There’s always a reason to say no, and it’s probably bullshit. It also has the added benefit of uplifting others - it transforms their idle thought into something that actually happens.
• asimovfan 2y ago
  Karma
• sublinear 2y ago
  I don't think the blog post necessarily supports this view. You still have your free will. Your past experiences also teach you what to ignore. You are free to do that to my comment. :)
  • empire_and_sun 2y ago
    Looping Soup
  • mysecretaccount 2y ago
    > You still have your free will. Highly debatable.
    • mrkstu 2y ago
      If we don't what's the point of debating it?
      • mysecretaccount 2y ago
        Debating its existence serves the same purpose regardless of its existence.
      • vasco 2y ago
        Free will doesn't matter, there's a deeper level, which is, what is the meaning of all this, the universe, us, our place in it. And yet we dance. The point in debating is enjoying the debate, learning new things. What else is there to do?
      • VMG 2y ago
        To satisfy the predetermined desire to debate it.
        • FrustratedMonky 2y ago
          Monkeys are determined to argue, so they will argue about free-will, and wonder if they could have chosen not to argue, and then argue about that also.
• empire_and_sun 2y ago
  Yes, humans are entirely predictable; that's why i deliberately act random sometimes, to prove I am aware of this predictability, albeit this is still predictable.
• the-mitr 2y ago
  you are your long term memory,
• achow 2y ago
  There is a subtle difference to that than what the author was trying to say in his blog. The thing is when we read, particularly in growing years, the expectation is that we would remember most of things from the book and apply it somewhere else, ex. in a discussion "...agree, the same I gathered from this excellent book that I read couple of years back...". And frankly, I'm bummed by it still. I read a lot but when certain situation comes I cannot remember things & facts vaguely, even though I had finished 300 pages of that page turner in one night.
• somenameforme 2y ago
  I'd challenge this with a thought experiment. Imagine we put a group of toddlers on an island and somehow give them knowledge of language (and enough sustenance to survive), but absolutely 0 external input otherwise. These people, as they grow, would gradually develop their own views, values, and perspectives. Do the exact same thing on another island and you'd get entirely different results! One can see this very thing with the various isolated/uncontacted tribes. Obviously our environment influences us, but we are largely a product of ourselves. And that aspect is what drives us to seek out the things we do. Which can then, in turn, make it seem that the things we seek out have turned us into who we are.
  • affgrff2 2y ago
    This thought experiment is deeply flawed as it assumes that what you propose is possible and the outcome would be as you suggest. I am not convinced that people can bootstrap themselves like this and that language itself does not contain views, values and perspectives.
    • loceng 2y ago
      Step one with someone locked or frozen-stuck in such belief-logic is that improvement is possible - which is part of developing psychological flexibility. You'd have to pay attention and find any step forward possible for them to begin to enter the discomfort that is holding them back - which may be the biggest challenge of their lives up until that point. Ideally though, as we're all sheep to some degree - which is exactly what this HN post is stating in a more sophisticated way, and attempting to warn for this - ideally there's a culture of practices that develop oneself, so you're just going along with the "herd" - that path hopefully not corrupted and led by bad actors attempting to send us off a cliff or into their totalitarian pen.
    • fransje26 2y ago
      > that language itself does not contain views, values and perspectives. Language itself does, in fact, very much contain views, values and perspectives. As an example, there are population groups that do not have a word for the color blue, and that cannot, in consequence, distinguish between green and blue objects. [0] [1] And that's an example that has been noticed throughout the world. [0] https://www.sciencealert.com/humans-didn-t-even-see-the-colour-blue-until-modern-times-evidence-suggests https://www.sciencealert.com/humans-didn-t-even-see-the-colo... [1] https://news.mit.edu/2023/how-blue-and-green-appeared-language-1102 https://news.mit.edu/2023/how-blue-and-green-appeared-langua...
• loceng 2y ago
  This is missing the understanding that there is a lever to mitigate what you describe above that I believe likely everyone, or close to everyone, is able to develop through practice. Four factors that are party to this mechanism of not "being what you eat" are: - developing attention and aim, - self-awareness/emotional regulation development [which will clear past trauma and allow you to 1) be processing fully int he present moment or 2) extrapolate and prophesying-predicting into the future more accurately], - developing a dynamic weighting process, and - honing your judgment, compassion, and forgiveness practices - as any logic for judgements you apply to others, that logic is also applied to yourself - whether you realize it or not, and will weigh you down - depress you and can increase your baseline stress and anger levels. The above will raise your vibratory frequency from the patterns of thoughts and beliefs of yourself or others, which if they are negative then they will knock you and keep you down [and/or require unnecessary and excessive energy to trying to prop yourself up with active motivation]; keeping you at a lower vibration - where like attracts like. I do however do everything to avoid very low quality content - that we could call candy - like advertisements, however avoid may be the wrong word - I consciously act for high yield outcomes and quickly respond consciously to note when an unavoidable ad is present - and arguably am good at not getting distracted by them or go into a studying mode to analyze them to see what tactics they are deployed; ultimately they are a waste of time and can cause a misdirection of attention, but the consequences are far worse than that. There are many very effective and efficient practices to help with all of the above - natural medicinal as well as things like yoga as a framework.
  • justsid 2y ago
    This reads like a scene from Silicon Valley. Good for you my man, but what does that have to do with being shaped by one’s experiences?
    • loceng 2y ago
      The TL;DR would be that you can regulate-manage how, how much, or if you are shaped by an experience. And understanding this and factors that help or factors that may make you more prone or fragile, make it more difficult to regulate, is valuable knowledge as well - such as if you're high in conscientiousness and/or negative emotion ["neuroticism"] - and further knowing if that's the case it usually merely means it will simply to take to master than the average, so then to learn to be more patient with yourself. P.S. Are they still producing new seasons of Silicon Valley?
• znpy 2y ago
  I have realised this a while ago and this made me hate advertising even more. Particularly sudden advertising in youtube videos, it really feels like some kind of rape of the mind.
• redbell 2y ago
  > at one point in your life it was processed by your brain and may have changed some posterior decisions you made I believe this is called subconscious mind
  • pyinstallwoes 2y ago
    I prefer Logos personally.
• keiferski 2y ago
  This is pretty trite if you stop to think about it. “Everything in your life that you experience has an effect on your experience of life.” We all exist in the world, not apart from it, and no amount of exclusion or creation of “sterile spaces” will change that.
  • b112 2y ago
    Indeed. Although as with anything, moderation is key. Not too much, or too little. Listening to 4 hours a day of Tiktok or Youtube boneheads, probably isn't all that good for the average person. (I'm not referring to intellectual videos, but instead just "some random person" that has amassed 10M followers because they .. well I don't know what they do, except market themselves well. Then start blathering on about literally the dumbest blather ever. For example, taking medical advice from some guy living in a van, or taking scientific advice from some dude who doesn't even understand ... anything. Populism to the extreme. Lookit me, I'm purdy, ergo my opinion on everything supersedes everyone.)
    • 4ggr0 2y ago
      Well, why should I listen to a random person commenting on HN? ;D
      • xolox 2y ago
        [dead]
    • helboi4 2y ago
      Hard agree. I have really tried to make sure I spend most of my time reading high quality material these days. I realised my brain being saturated with a lot of drivel was actually having a notable impact on me. Much more than I expected.
    • FrustratedMonky 2y ago
      Having watched a lot of educational and scientific videos, I'm beginning to think there are diminishing returns, and they can be just as addictive and non-valuable. Filling the day with any video's seems to have downsides.
• pyinstallwoes 2y ago
  You are precisely the continuous difference of everything else.
  • dchichkov 2y ago
    There is no You.
    • pyinstallwoes 2y ago
      Exactly. That poignant realization that (you == void). It's a hollow existence, I mean, a single pointed one, it feels like a dimension of dimensionless, am I zero or everything? Both? Ugh, compare me not to other for I am in all things as other. Oi vei, turn the damn thing off, it's spewing nonsense again.
• starbugs 2y ago
  Even more important might be the realization that most of it is not within your power to control. You didn't come up with the vast majority of what's shaped you.
• leobg 2y ago
  Plus of doing them in that sequence and in their particular context. No wonder there is nobody in the world alive today or from the past or future who understands the world in the same way as you do.
• seydor 2y ago
  It's as if life was tokenized and fed to an LLM
  • zer0tonin 2y ago
    I'm going to add "Can AIbros survive 5 seconds without mentioning LLMs in irrelevant conversations?" to my list of unanswered existential questions, alongside "Is time travel possible?" and "Why did Bodhidharma come to China?".
• HenryBemis 2y ago
  > ..am more meticulous when choosing what I do and don't do.. There are plenty of books and other resources that speak to the power of "no". To the phrase I quote above, yes you need to have a good 'diet' of what you put in your mind. Some junkfood is ok, mostly junkfood is not. A quote that has shaped me is: ""The less time one gives to the newspapers the better," he replied. "Do you like books on travels?"" by Hector Malot on his book En Femille (Nobody's Girl)(https://www.gutenberg.org/files/27690/27690-h/27690-h.htm https://www.gutenberg.org/files/27690/27690-h/27690-h.htm) Btw, others write about ads. We can only (perhaps) avoid some on the internet (ad-blockers, NoRoot Firewall on Android devices and block certain IPs/URLs) but there are many ads we don't block, in movies (product placement), posters on bus stops, etc. Fun fact: Apple doesn't allow its devices to be used by "baddies", so if you see an actor holding/using an iPhone, and you are not sure if they are Nice or Evil, chances are there will be a last-minute-twist and that actor will be/become Nice.
• Cthulhu_ 2y ago
  There was a thread yesterday about closing public libraries, and this sentiment ties into that; open and free access to information is important, because a lack thereof causes people to become blinkered and close-minded, which in turn makes them more susceptible for populist talking points (that is, a populist politician or propaganda telling you there is a Problem; when people don't have factual information to the contrary, or even a mindset of curiosity ("is that actually true?") they are more likely to accept it). Hence, book burnings, censorship, and suppression of free speech are problematic. (That said, I also believe that free speech should be curtailed on platforms with large audiences)
  • tomByrer 2y ago
    With web or other searching, every 'platform has a large audience'. One of the worst censor/suppressor of free speech is also the largest web search.
  • tmnvix 2y ago
    I have a great appreciation for public libraries. I consider them to be one of the best examples of a public institution. They provide much more than just information. Everyone has the same access and privileges. They are just about the only warm, quiet, and comfortable space that isn't somehow exclusive or privately controlled. For someone without access to their own space (i.e. a stable home) they provide a place to find respite from an often hostile environment. Libraries are a treasure that represent the best of humanity. Having lived in quite a few different cities and towns, I've come to the conclusion that the quality of the library (i.e. of the space, atmosphere, and resources provided) correlates with the quality of the community.
    • Sleepful 2y ago
      As a student that can't focus in loud places and that had to live in a loud place... Gah.
• jajko 2y ago
  > I am more meticulous when choosing what I do and don't do, there is no going back And whom you surround yourself with in both professional and personal life, whom you listen to as an authority on topic XYZ. Work has massive effect on our personality long term. There is no way to separate those 2, so its smart to anticipate things before you realize that decade(s) in some toxic place dragged you nanometer by nanometer into some dark pit.
• tyler33 2y ago
  just like an artificial neural network in training mode :/
  • diedyesterday 2y ago
    Exactly. That's what I also thought the last time someone brought this up in these forums (couple of years ago). It's a hint to the structure of the brain and also the mind (we can observe it at the consciousness level in ourselves and others, too). Algorithmic (von Neumann) computers/programs do not usually exhibit this; but neural networks do. If we are good readers, a book helps up achieve better generalization (in the machine learning sense). That's its main contribution not the specific facts it contained.
• ctrw 2y ago
  The idea that you can understand what experiences produce what behaviours is as much crazier than the idea you can manually tune the weights of gpt4 and get better results.
• 7thaccount 2y ago
  Agreed. It is a profound realization once you grasp it. There are genetic factors and then the overall sum of your experiences. What you read, what you watch, what you listen to on the radio, who you hang out with, what you do for a living, what organizations you belong to, what family life was like as a kid...etc. It all adds up in little ways. I try to keep this in mind when raising kids. In hindsight, my father and mother-in-law listening to Rush Limbaugh everyday was probably not very good for them. It is a small sample size, but I can remember as a kid how negative and angry the program was and how it certainly didn't put my father into a good mood and how it was kind of like a mind virus. I try to be more aware of advertising and propaganda, but it isn't easy. You have to be vigilant as even the news will use clips out of context. I'm not just saying conservatives are guilty of this either, but am using an example from personal experience.
• beltsazar 2y ago
  > you are the result of all the past sensory interactions that you experienced in your whole life That's only the mental aspect. Physically, you are also what you eat and how often you exercise.
  • ab8 2y ago
    Right! You are your body. Not just your mind.
  • layer8 2y ago
    Right, but (not) changing what you eat and how often you exercise is also heavily dependent on mental aspects.
    • beltsazar 2y ago
      And vice versa. Your mental function won't work optimally if you're not fit.
• nathias 2y ago
  this isn't really the same you read something impactful that changes the way you think, your mind will stay changed even if you don't remember the actual reasons or point made, but advertisements, news, etc. will not change the way you think, they are just noise
• leke 2y ago
  > at one point in your life it was processed by your brain I'm pretty sure my ADD brain fails to do that on a regular basis.
• jebarker 2y ago
  If there's "no going back" doesn't that imply you don't have free will and therefore you can't really choose what you do and don't do?
  • qwery 2y ago
    If you want to read it literally, no. They can't "go back" without deciding to do so, which would be continuing to choose what to do. If you read it as the common English phrase "there's no going back", no. It's just a thing people say in place of something more dry like "I will continue doing this for as long as I feel I should which I currently think is a long time or forever but saying that would be a bit ridiculous".
  • layer8 2y ago
    You can choose what you do, but you cannot choose what you want to do. Choices are usually heavily biased by who and what we are.
• deleted 2y ago
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• deleted 2y ago
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• xnx 2y ago
  Information is tricky that way, it's like food your mind consumes on sight.
• EricMausler 2y ago
  I think everything is ultimately net positive if you strengthen and condition the way you internalize all the sensory exposure. To me, the risks are being overwhelmed by internalizing too much at once, and the opportunity cost of having a limited amount of time to take things in to your senses. Influence is a very nuanced thing so I don't want to sound too black and white here, but I think it's like a brainstorm session. You take what you like best from your senses/inputs/etc
  • gmassman 2y ago
    That’s a nice sentiment, but I don’t think it can reasonably be applied to most people. Consider the kids brought up around gang culture and taught to sling dope in middle school. Is that experience a net positive for them?
    • EricMausler 2y ago
      Yes, it can be net positive. Ill clarify a bit, because text is easily misunderstood. I would not assume someone is a "bad" person just because they grew up around gang culture and drugs. I am talking "positive" in terms of understanding the world and determining the type of person you are proud of being. I'm not saying everything is enjoyable. I think our brains are capable of recognizing good things regardless of how much bad exposure we've had. That's more what I mean by net positive, not that everything we do is net pleasant
• sharpshadow 2y ago
  That’s why I never started to watch horror movies.
• Blundermuffin 2y ago
  1) Love what you said here and ingesting this may have changed my outlook on things. 2) Couldn't help but think of this quote from Kamala Harris that has been of recent memery. :P You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.
  • deleted 2y ago
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• noqc 2y ago
  I have tried very hard not to realize this, to avoid making the mistake that you have.
  • gffrd 2y ago
    What is the mistake that parent has made?
• consf 2y ago
  [dead]