Comment by itissid
4 months ago
"It's the economy stupid" is what I would say. Mental capacity is capacity. Most of us don't study math not because we don't want to but because we can't.
I bet if you asked in a survey of people that if you were given a UBI that covered all your expenses and needs what would you do? It would be perfection of the self or art. Both of these are what is practicing and learning math.
One thing I can agree with is that if one is stressed out and have poor psychological habits you will suffer and be miserable regardless.
I would say focusing on mindfullness(like vipasaana) can go a long way in this. But mindfulness is not an intellectual exercise, one has to live it. Do multiple hours of meditation a day and it gets you somewhere good in a few months.
I can actually tell you how to do this right now. Take a 10 day vipassana course and practice the recommended two hours a day. If you use only therapy, seriously follow the therapist, but do some meditation too.
Once you do this, you will soon develop Attention(Concentration) and Equanimity(Inner Calmness in the face of tremendous external circumstances).
Soon you start realizing some inescapable facts:
1. Your current moment is ever changing.
2. One attaches more of the self(the ego, I me and mine) with the past and tries to predict his state in the future and ends up miserable. Don't think with the I, you are bound to suffer. The right action is timeless and free of the I. This is the reduction of the ego.
3. There is tremendous joy in focusing on being present in the moment. If you are into running and all you are doing is taking joy in your feet, breath and posture all the time for 5,10 miles you know what I mean.
This is the key to everything. No amount of book reading on self improvement can get this to you
Didn’t we have that experiment during Covid? A bunch of people got paid to stay at home, sometimes for 2 years. How many Grammy nominations since then have gotten to musicians that came out of that? A new face at the Oscars? MOMA exhibiting an artist that was a barista before the pandemic?
At least anecdotally, many people around me now have more children, on the other hand.
I must disagree. I consider art same as entertainment to the most part. I would want to be good at math and I also disagree that it has anything to do with mental capacity. It's not a competition, I don't need to be better at math than others but my pursuit of other things like cryptography, better algorithms, and understanding physics is limited by my primitive understanding of mathematics.
If I was a multi-millionaire, learning lots of math on my free time would be one of the things I would pursue while chilling at my beach house.
Thanks.
> art same as entertainment
Could you volunteer me how much time you spend on it? And how is your day job?
> my pursuit of other things like cryptography, better algorithms, and understanding physics is limited by my primitive understanding of mathematics.
Could you volunteer why you would want to learn these subjects? Is it your day job or is it something you would like to pursue in the future.
> If I was a multi-millionaire, learning lots of math on my free time would be one of the things I would pursue while chilling at my beach house.
I said UBI
I don't think UBI is feasible, it is anathema to the human condition to be content with the bare minimum. if not for our own selves, we would want the best life possible for our loved ones (present or future). my "UBI" would be a couple of million dollars.
I want to learn those subjects because I enjoy learning and understanding. Life should be lived with knowledge applied through wisdom.
> Could you volunteer me how much time you spend on it? And how is your day job?
On entertainment? I can't tell you, I like to watch a movie or a tv show whenever I have time for it. There are more enjoyable pursuits in life, and most worthy pursuits involve adversity and require perseverance.
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UBI scoped for self-actualization would be nice, imagine all the mighty works people would make if not for The Markets making us organize around badware.
Come on, get real. If people had all of their needs covered a lot more of them would sit around getting high and playing video games than perfecting their art.
Perhaps some, but why is that a problem? There are already people who do this.
I would perfect my video gaming art. Teenagers in their basement would fear me after school.
And how far would that get one doing that? 1, 5, 10, 40 years?
Is that not better than the current alternative where they're forced to become grifters?
No one is forced to become a grifter.
Yeah, but we are all in software so for us economy is not a concern. All of us should learn maths.