[HN Gopher] How to Think Clearly
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How to Think Clearly
Author : prostoalex
Score : 140 points
Date : 2021-06-11 15:14 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (psyche.co)
(TXT) w3m dump (psyche.co)
| gweinberg wrote:
| "Question: how can archaeologists translate ancient scriptures or
| languages? Answer: 'It's basically a giant jigsaw puzzle.' " Does
| the author actually think this is a good answer? I don't see how
| it tells you anything at all.
| haswell wrote:
| The author is using a variety of examples from ELI5, and goes
| on to clarify that the answers there are imperfect, debated,
| discussed, etc.
|
| Why would you conclude that the author thinks this is a good
| answer vs. just _an answer_ to help the reader understand the
| subreddit?
|
| With that said, it does tell you something if you're open to
| it. To me, it says: "there are a lot of pieces (often
| literally), and an archaeologist has to put those pieces
| together". Is it an oversimplification? Of course. But remember
| the age the answer is supposed to target.
| gweinberg wrote:
| I literally think it conveys no information at all. It's a
| metaphor, and a metaphor that the hearer won't understand
| unless he already knows the answer to his question. He could
| just as informatively have said "it's complicated".
| ludwigschubert wrote:
| Ah, I think I may see the missed connection! It's like a
| jigsaw puzzle because archaeologists really do assemble
| fragments of old scripts. Sometimes the translation efforts
| can only give you probabilistic answers that in turn
| influence where you're likely to place a fragment.
|
| A family member of mine works in the space academically,
| and they really have giant catalogues with pictures of
| fragments, and they experiment with different arrangements
| and what they would mean to their translation efforts.
| Unfortunately I don't have a link. :/
|
| EDIT: a random CS paper that talks about automated
| solutions to the pure assembly part of this (without the
| text translation): https://arxiv.org/abs/1812.10553
| armchairhacker wrote:
| IMO the best way to think "clearly" is to be patient. I find that
| when I try to figure out the best way to do something, just
| waiting on it I come up with a better way or at least get more
| confident. Even when I didn't consciously think anymore about it,
| and especially after I sleep.
| zyemuzu wrote:
| Finding solutions in your sleep is so incredibly satisfying
| when it happens.
| the_only_law wrote:
| Most of my dreams are interesting, but grounded at least
| somewhat in my real life, with the typical bits of surrealism
| mixed in.
|
| Recently, though, I've been having dreams that leave me
| waking up, reflecting on various things in my life, often to
| my detriment. Interestingly, in a recent dream, I found
| myself doing accurate math (nothing serious, very basic
| arithmetic, but I've never experienced that before)
| papito wrote:
| Many times when I am marinating on a problem, I come up with
| the most simple and obvious solution in 90 seconds after I
| open my eyes in the morning. I attribute it to the monkey
| brain not drowning your thoughts in crap, but then the
| tsunami comes in and you lost your chance.
|
| It's truly amazing what an uncluttered brain can do.
|
| I began seeing value in "practical" meditation. That is,
| focusing on something mundane like doing dishes, to distract
| the brain from those other things. Sometimes it's all the
| busy us can afford. Not everyone has Jerry Seinfeld money to
| meditate in peace for one hour each day (he does).
| mandmandam wrote:
| "Meditate for an hour every day unless you are too busy. In
| that case meditate for two hours."
|
| - many Buddhist teachers, in many variations.
| jbkkd wrote:
| You don't need money to meditate for an hour a day, you
| need a conscious decision to do so.
|
| Start small. Meditate for just a few minutes, as you
| currently do with the dishes, and slowly increase that,
| minute by minute. You'll might find that you have that hour
| in your day.
| papito wrote:
| I don't know.... The apartment won't clean itself and the
| food won't cook autonomously ;)
| perfmode wrote:
| meditation can help one to realize the various other
| unnecessary things we do on a daily basis.
| Meandering wrote:
| This may be partially caused by cortisol levels where
| cortisol levels are lower before, during, and after the sleep
| process.
| jstanley wrote:
| So, all of the time?
| axiosgunnar wrote:
| I think the poster meant RIGHT before/after.
| mercora wrote:
| i would generally agree but there were times were i had
| seriously abstract dreams about implementation details i
| needed to come up with before going to sleep. these dreams
| are really hard to describe because they are so abstract but
| it feels a bit like running the debugger in your head and
| imagine code execution with some visual feedback. They are
| very tiring to me as my sleep definitely takes a hit in
| quality. I try to avoid going directly to sleep after working
| on something harder that could trigger it.
| rufus_foreman wrote:
| It's the only way I passed calc 3.
| dgb23 wrote:
| ,,Hammock driven development"
| [deleted]
| almost_usual wrote:
| Context
|
| https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f84n5oFoZBc
| koolba wrote:
| I was expecting this:
|
| https://youtube.com/watch?v=IujLD7nSf8Q
| [deleted]
| mrjivraj wrote:
| i also find writing helps clarify thought
| Raidion wrote:
| There is something magical about the subconscious. I find this
| works best if you truly understand the problem, but can't quite
| reach the answer. For me this happens mostly when playing a
| musical instrument. If you understand what you want to play and
| how to play it, but can't quite make it all come together,
| that's a sign for me to go to bed. Next day, there is almost
| always a noticeable improvement. Brain seems to do it's linking
| over night.
| wyager wrote:
| It's hard to take seriously an article that purports to teach
| about moral decision-making and doesn't reference any kind of
| utility theory. The kind of black-and-white thinking espoused in
| the veganism example is one of the reasons most people are so bad
| at thinking clearly. Among other downsides, it makes you
| extremely vulnerable to manipulative platitudes.
| memling wrote:
| > It's hard to take seriously an article that purports to teach
| about moral decision-making and doesn't reference any kind of
| utility theory
|
| Can you clarify this a little? Utility is helpful, I would
| think, but there are cases in which utility isn't a reliable
| indicator. (For example, the utility of running into a burning
| building to save a stranger; or the utility of telling the
| truth when a lie would serve better.)
| GavinMcG wrote:
| > purports to teach about moral decision-making
|
| Where? The author's stated purpose is "I want to help people
| work out what they really think and mean." Decision-making
| isn't on the table.
|
| > The kind of black-and-white thinking espoused
|
| Again, where? The example isn't espousing black-and-white
| thinking, or anything about veganism. It's an _example_ and it
| 's exemplifying actively looking for further underlying reasons
| and further implications.
| yetanotherjosh wrote:
| > Decision-making isn't on the table
|
| If one of the main examples is a decision making process, I
| don't think it's fair to say decision making isn't on the
| table. You might say it's about evaluating claims, not a
| decisions per se, and the example happens to be a decision
| that is also a claim ("I should (not) be vegan, because..."),
| but this is still decision making.
| GavinMcG wrote:
| I can't tell whether you're just nitpicking my choice of
| words, or whether you're actually arguing that the article
| is "about moral decision-making" and should therefore
| reference utility theory, which is the substance I was
| responding to.
| obstacle1 wrote:
| It doesn't seem necessary for an article about moral decision
| making to contain anything about utility theory.
|
| For example, what if the author prefers a deontological
| framework? Then they'll write about that, and it'll be
| perfectly valid.
|
| In either case, it doesn't seem necessary to mention any
| particular framework by name in such an article. Because it's
| an article on the Internet aimed at a popular audience, not an
| undergraduate philosophy textbook.
| halayli wrote:
| [tangential]
|
| That's assuming that basic cognition is in good shape.
|
| During the pandemic and after I've noticed (and been told
| explicitly) about how their cognition took a bit hit in the past
| year+.
|
| I wonder how prevalent this is around the world. Especially that
| many people haven't had a proper vacation/time off.
| DenverCode wrote:
| >Sometimes, when I'm grappling with a tricky topic, I pretend
| that I need to explain it to a child.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging
| amelius wrote:
| Even better is explaining it to a computer.
| thisistheend123 wrote:
| Thanks for saying that. It is an underrated practice I think.
| Could you elaborate a bit more on this.
| underwater wrote:
| It's a joke. Explaining it to a computer means expressing
| it in code. (Not sure if I'm the one who got _whooshed_
| here)
| drooby wrote:
| Relevant video I stumbled across this morning:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR2P5vW-nVc
| ______- wrote:
| I've taken a liking to mulling over large pieces of content
| instead of paying attention to quick little soundbites that you
| find on social media. It makes me think clearly.
|
| Just taking the time to indulge in reading a lofty tome is a real
| social media killer.
|
| Although: I am prone to _distilling_ the gist of core concepts
| that took many pages to explain. I probably got that trait from
| social media. Everything has to be reduced down to a soundbite or
| clever haiku-like quote.
| flycaliguy wrote:
| Distilling many pages is the first step in writing your own
| response (over many pages). It's essential and a very healthy
| impulse.
| rumblerock wrote:
| Distilling to the core concepts is great if you've captured the
| most essential takeaways, unless you're looking to put the
| nitty gritty to work as a main occupation. They just become
| frameworks for lateral thinking and free association.
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