mbrock

307 ms·

2491.
by mbrock 14y ago
The Luddites were a labor movement. They opposed what they saw as a system that replaced traditional craftsmanship with unskilled labor. This is a different issue. It's more about spare time than work life. (But now that we spend so much of
2492.
by mbrock 14y ago
No, but just because the users don't care (right now) doesn't mean it's not important. As a driver, I don't particularly care about bridge engineering, but I certainly want the people who build my bridges to care about it.
2493.
by mbrock 14y ago
Obligatory counterpoint: "Drivers don't care about different ways of reinforcing concrete or finite element modelling or yada yada, they just care if the bridge works." If the users don't care, it's because they don't really understand why
2494.
by mbrock 14y ago
Thanks for this insight! :)
2495.
by mbrock 14y ago
Oh, ok, I almost figured. :)
2496.
by mbrock 14y ago
"100% Secure/Durable." Okay, if you say so. Why should I trust this? Now I have to decide whether it's more likely that I get struck by lightning or you do. Well, you spent 17 whole hours on it... Sorry, I don't mean to diss your thing, it'
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Lowering the Bar (on obsession with excellence)(themyriadthings.com)
1 points by mbrock 14y ago|0 comments
2498.
by mbrock 14y ago
To someone who spends probably way too much time listening to dharma talks, reading Zen books, and meditating, it's always a bit jarring to see these paeans to walking and running that describe how this kind of exercise is a great way to j
2499.
by mbrock 14y ago
You point to the #1 biggest wonderful feature of email. Sending email is an act that incurs responsibility. WHY are we sending all this shit around? Email makes it clear. I have made a decision that you should spend your time reading and un
2500.
by mbrock 15y ago
Yes, quite perfect!
2501.
by mbrock 15y ago
I like that interpretation. These Zen stories always have many layers, I think, but for me, it's very resonant just as a simple story. Saying something like: don't go looking for mystical, sophisticated stuff when the proper thing to do is
2502.
by mbrock 15y ago
"Philosophy" sounds too much like just a set of ideas. "Religion" sounds too much like just a set of beliefs and rituals. "Way of living" sounds too easy and fuzzy! But Zen does incorporate elements of all those things. Zen is a tradition t
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by mbrock 15y ago
I think this question is deeply rooted in the zeitgeist! For me, investigation into it over the years has led me to Zen Buddhism, which though ancient seems to me almost incredibly relevant to our age. It's a question of attention, awarenes
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by mbrock 15y ago
Thank you!
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by mbrock 15y ago
Are there any books or something about how this contracting thing works? I'm just about to start my career in programming, and I don't really have a hang of the business side of things -- not hoping for a quick change to contracting, but I'
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by mbrock 15y ago
Kopimi is not primarily about file sharing. It is about copying in the basic sense — the kind that happens on dance floors, everywhere in nature, in all communication. There are connections to the sociologist Gabriel Tarde and his ideas abo
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by mbrock 15y ago
I think it's good to be interested kind of across the spectrum, both in abstract ideas and very concrete stuff. Some people never take the bird's eye view, but it can be a very powerful source of inspiration; some people stay there all the
2508.
by mbrock 17y ago
"There is, scientifically, a most profound break between the living and the non-living. Now life may be the spirit; the animals may be the forms of spirit and matter, in which matter predominates; man may be the highest form, the crown and
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by mbrock 17y ago
fair enough :)
2510.
by mbrock 17y ago
Wait, wait, what? This thread ... huh? It's weird to see someone you think of as writing in a genre that kind of combines Dostoevsky, Kafka, and Nabokov with an almost fanatic pleading for empathy and communion -- described as someone who