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Is this actually true? I know the text sounds really nice. Also citing nicely crafted words from famous poeple helps. I guess roughly, this is right. But there

by mo_42 2y ago

Is this actually true? I know the text sounds really nice. Also citing nicely crafted words from famous poeple helps. I guess roughly, this is right. But there's more to add. I have a brain with a certain configuration. This configuration is partly genetic and partly environmental. The environmental part has been shaped by every sensory input so far, including all the books. However, some books resonate well. They make me think about the topic weeks after finishing them. Other books don't resonate at all. My brain's is not fit for them. It just ja sequence of words (e.g., the books my high school literature teacher made me read). I guess humans aren't a ANN that treats every training sample equal. Our brain has a mechanism to put more or less weight on sensory input given previous input. Some ideas are utterly confusing and don't stick at all. I think this happens a lot when people of different religions or political camps interact.

cdrini 2y ago
I think everything you're saying is correct, but doesn't discredit what the post says. I think even books we don't necessarily resonate strongly with can have small, hidden impacts on our behaviour and thinking. They might give us an example of what a person does in a certain situation, and we internalise how we might respond in a certain situation. In this I think it is kind of similar to an LLM, where we kind of predict what our response to something should be, drawing from our past experiences on an abstract level. I think books we do resonate with can have a larger impact for the reasons you mentioned, but I think they all have an impact. I like to think of books as planets, and you're a spaceship. If you're not paying attention, as you graze a planet it'll slightly alter your course. Maybe in perceptibly so. If you are aware of it and resonate with it, you can kind of use its gravity to swing you into a different direct -- presumably onto a direction you want to go in.
- onemoresoop 2y ago
  Almost everything we do, everything we hear, everything we see, everything we experience etc.. they all have an impact. And while books do shape our thinking the statement "You are what you read" is nothing different from the hyperboles/metaphors "You are what you eat" or "You are who you associate yourself with" etc.
pixl97 2y ago
>Our brain has a mechanism to put more or less weight on sensory input given previous input I've always liked to say "free will isn't your current decision, but your previous one"
- no-reply 2y ago
  "free will is your current decision (possibly influenced by) your previous ones" ? At the end of the day, you are still making the choice, even if you are using your previous experiences. As in you would still have the option to disregard your previous experiences and arbitrarily make a new decision.

by mo_42 2y ago

cdrini 2y ago

I think everything you're saying is correct, but doesn't discredit what the post says. I think even books we don't necessarily resonate strongly with can have small, hidden impacts on our behaviour and thinking. They might give us an example of what a person does in a certain situation, and we internalise how we might respond in a certain situation. In this I think it is kind of similar to an LLM, where we kind of predict what our response to something should be, drawing from our past experiences on an abstract level. I think books we do resonate with can have a larger impact for the reasons you mentioned, but I think they all have an impact. I like to think of books as planets, and you're a spaceship. If you're not paying attention, as you graze a planet it'll slightly alter your course. Maybe in perceptibly so. If you are aware of it and resonate with it, you can kind of use its gravity to swing you into a different direct -- presumably onto a direction you want to go in.

onemoresoop 2y ago
Almost everything we do, everything we hear, everything we see, everything we experience etc.. they all have an impact. And while books do shape our thinking the statement "You are what you read" is nothing different from the hyperboles/metaphors "You are what you eat" or "You are who you associate yourself with" etc.

pixl97 2y ago

>Our brain has a mechanism to put more or less weight on sensory input given previous input I've always liked to say "free will isn't your current decision, but your previous one"

no-reply 2y ago
"free will is your current decision (possibly influenced by) your previous ones" ? At the end of the day, you are still making the choice, even if you are using your previous experiences. As in you would still have the option to disregard your previous experiences and arbitrarily make a new decision.