High Existence

To whoever out there that hasn’t read the two greatest short stories by Asimov, here they are: The Last Question - https://www.multivax.com/last_question.html The Last Answer - https://www.highexistence.com/the-last-answer-short-story/

See also “The last answer” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Answer Full text: https://highexistence.com/the-last-answer-short-story/ These 2 are my favorite Asimov stories.

In general I think it's a bad idea to take advice from successful people. There's a thing that goes around, a piece by Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes[1], talking about how great it was to quit his safe job and become a cartoonist. Except... how many famous cartoonists are there? How many other people quit their advertising job and just failed? If each of their stories were circulated as much, would we see this swamped by a thousand heartbreaking memes instead? Doing what Warren Buffett does works very well for Warren Buffett. The odds are good that it won't work for you. "Choose the right things" is pretty vacuous advice. [1] https://highexistence.com/images/view/illustrated-advice-from-bill-wat…

Don't forget The Last Answer! These are possibly my two favorite sci fi short stories: https://highexistence.com/the-last-answer-short-story/ There is another story I like about a planet of high-IQ beings noticing patterns in stars blinking (like binary) and going into suspended animation to observe the data over extended periods of years, but I can't remember the name of it or the author.

Neil Postman wrote about this at length in _Amusing Ourselves to Death_. There's a classic comic strip based on it: https://highexistence.com/amusing-ourselves-to-death-huxley-vs-orwell/

Another classic anti-utopia becoming relevant today is 'Brave New World' by Huxley. See brilliant comparison with '1984' on comic [1] which summarizes Neil Postman's book 'Amusing Ourselves to Death'. [1]: http://highexistence.com/amusing-ourselves-to-death-huxley-vs-orwell/

I suspect that this article makes more sense if you've read his book, which hits on the same themes with a lot more context, and a lot more history. Youtube optimizes for grabbing attention in well-defined bite sized chunks that people think they can spare. A little dopamine hit, followed by another, followed by another, followed by..why didn't I get anything done today? The interaction isn't meaningful. It isn't rich. It doesn't improve our lives. But it is addictive. If you don't see what is wrong with this, I recommend reading http://www.highexistence.com/why-you-should-avoid-the-news/ until you think you understand it. Then re-read the article above with that in mind.

I strongly recommend "Buddhism Plain & Simple" by Steve Hagen. It's much more meditation / awareness than Buddhist practice, so don't worry much about the title. I also really enjoyed "10% Happier" which was way more of a practical story vs. instruction manual. In general, meditation is NOT about "not thinking" - a major misconception about the practice. It's always helped me to view it less as a "mental getaway" and more as "training my mind like a muscle." The practice, btw, is the whole point, it's not a means to getting to "the real part." That's a difficult point for some to grasp. Every time you sit and your mind wanders, that's the practice right there. This might be the most accurate image of what meditation is: http://www.highexistence.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/meditation1.jp… A few links that might help: http://buyalex.com/2015/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/breatheAware_gif-01… http://i.imgur.com/75wn1o9.jpg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze6t34_p-84

this story has arguably aged worse in that respect than asimov's similarly titled "the last answer". that one still evokes a "whoa" when I think about it. https://www.highexistence.com/the-last-answer-short-story/

Read Isaac Asimov's The Last Answer: https://www.highexistence.com/the-last-answer-short-story/

I fundamentally disagree with the premise that all art is social Kurt Vonnegut expressed this better than I ever could in a letter to schoolkids, in it he persuaded them to write a poem then tear it into pieces without showing anyone.. "you'll find that you've already been gloriously rewarded for your poem. You have experienced becoming" Full letter here: https://highexistence.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/10536532984_f44c3… Further evidence is the 'outsider artists' who never show their art to anyone and are only discovered on their death

'Negative' thoughts are thoughts. Maybe consider it as cleansing that is taking place. https://highexistence.com/100-hours-meditation-10-days-vipassana/

Looks like https://highexistence.com/amusing-ourselves-to-death-huxley-vs-orwell/ via https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5433283

Fuck. I wrote this before and then edited, without realizing that now my main argument has become for the opposite of what I intended it to be for. Now I can't edit it. Original post: "Wow very selective mind you've got there. Please tell me this is a joke? In the digital age, information is everything. And information usually precedes action, so in my eyes your argument is wilfully ignorant to the larger reality of a complex globalized world. I think the US and other Global North countries have a massive shadow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j800SVeiS5I Guide to Jung and the shadow: https://highexistence.com/carl-jung-shadow-guide-unconscious"

> probably always been the case Yeah was thinking that. Not sure what's changed. sci-fi authors used to get started in magazines, with limited page count, which the internet is killing/has killed. I have the impression authors now jump straight to novels (with no short-story market, what alternative?) OTOH Andy Weir arguably got his start with The Egg https://highexistence.com/images/view/the-egg-by-andy-weir/ and Ted Chiang here got a short story optioned into a movie.

Listen to stuff from Dan Munro. Honest words, no BS. You can start here: https://highexistence.com/dan-munro-honesty-podcast/

From someone who had to google that: http://highexistence.com/culture-is-not-your-friend-terence-mckennas-r… >McKenna saw modern culture as a sort of engine detached from the interests of the individual and serving the manipulative, power-focused agendas of various institutions and wealthy individuals. That said there are quite a variety of cultures out there that you can choose to be part of. I'm currently in a yoga culture area and maybe as a counterpoint to "demanding never ending work weeks and 24/7 attention to work" I've hung a bit with landlord types who have bought a house, do it up buy another etc. If anything they tend to suffer from the opposite problem of not being very occupied much of the time. Plus awkward tenants - nothing's perfect.

I'm not interested in paying for the online video course - does this article http://highexistence.com/the-wim-hof-method-revealed-how-to-consciousl… capture the gist of it? Does the book include anything else that's significant?

Confirmed in 1999 in the US and apparently known as the Dunning-Kruger Effect. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect It is apparently not confirmed in other cultures, where interpersonal relationships are traditionally conceived of differently. Corresponding advice from http://highexistence.com/dunning-kruger-effect/: Be confident in the areas that you suck at.

Relevant comic: http://highexistence.com/amusing-ourselves-to-death-huxley-vs-orwell/

"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt." - Bertrand Russell Read about the Dunning Kruger effect and relax. http://highexistence.com/dunning-kruger-effect/

http://highexistence.com/amusing-ourselves-to-death-huxley-vs-orwell/ (source: http://www.stuartmcmillen.com/blog/cartoon-blog/amusing-ourselves-to-d… )

For those who found that interesting - There's an also a comic made using the foreword to ' Amusing ourselves to death ' which also contrasts the two: http://highexistence.com/amusing-ourselves-to-death-huxley-vs-orwell/ It's a pity the comic had to be removed from its original site citing copyright reasons. imho, it could have been considered as fair use. Sad.

>If you succeed in achieving your nightmare Orwellian scenario, I promise you this: I'll emigrate to an extradition-free country. It appears as if we have already succeeded at creating this Orwellian scenario and seems as if Huxley was correct and we are currently amusing ourselves to death. The truth is being drowned out by and infinite amounts of triviality and the masses are begging for more. This Orwellian world has no boundaries and there is no escape to some Utopian country. For better or worse this is the world we have created and we need to realize that is not a situation that will be solved by leaving the country. Crypto is going to be a Forever War. Perhaps it will be more effective if we take the long view. Huxley vs Orwell http://highexistence.com/amusing-ourselves-to-death-huxley-vs-orwell/

For anyone looking for a data-driven example, check out Wim Hof. This article does a good job of explaining his method at a high level. http://highexistence.com/the-wim-hof-method-revealed-how-to-consciousl…

ah, I copied the wrong link in a hurry here's a lot more about the method http://highexistence.com/the-wim-hof-method-revealed-how-to-consciousl…

> But you said that if we knew why it worked, it would have become science. No, I said if we explained it, that would be science. For God's sake, read the words. Explaining something like gravity doesn't try to justify why it is that way, it only shows that we understand it in depth. > General relativity may describe gravity, but it doesn't explain it. FALSE! GENERAL RELATIVITY IS THE PRESENT EXPLANATION FOR GRAVITY. http://www.highexistence.com/einsteins-theory-of-relativity/ Title: "Einstein’s Theory of Relativity: Explained" Circle the word you don't understand, and raise your hand. > Consider this a final response ... Unfortunately, you are among the science-illiterate.

The Last Answer - Isaac Asimov https://highexistence.com/the-last-answer-short-story/ Murray Templeton was forty-five years old, in the prime of life, and with all parts of his body in perfect working order except for certain key portions of his coronary arteries, but that was enough. The pain had come suddenly, had mounted to an unbearable peak, and had then ebbed steadily. He could feel his breath slowing and a kind of gathering peace washing over him. There is no pleasure like the absence of pain – immediately after pain. Murray felt an almost giddy lightness as though he were lifting in the air and hovering. He opened his eyes and noted with distant amusement that the others in the room were still agitated. He had been in the laboratory when the pain had struck, quite without warning, and when he had staggered, he had heard surprised outcries from the others before everything vanished into overwhelming agony. Now, with the pain gone, the others were still hovering, still anxious, still gathered about his fallen body –– Which, he suddenly realised, he was looking down on. He was down there, sprawled, face contorted. He was up here, at peace and watching. He thought: Miracle of miracles! The life-after-life nuts were right. And although that was a humiliating way for an atheistic physicist to die, he felt only the mildest surprise, and no alteration of the peace in which he was immersed. He thought: There should be some angel – or something – coming for…