Hi all, time for an open thread. I thought I’d start this one with a request. what would you like to see me write about? I’ve been blogging for years now, and one does tend to run out of ideas for topics.
You can suggest a topic if you like. I might be able to write something on it.
A more likely proposition would be a book or journal article to review or comment on, anything is possible.
This one is a very long shot, but I’m interested to dabble in a bit of journalism, if you’re aware of a story you’d like told, feel free to contact me.
I’ll definitely consider all proposals seriously but I reserve the right to refuse any suggestion about what to write about for reasons including, but not at all limited to: numerology, prophecy, caprice, whim, randomness, political bias, a grudge, tea-leaf reading, weird aesthetic concerns, laziness, intellectual arrogance, emotional arrogance, mortal fear, existential fear, a desire to behave unjustly, etc. etc.
If you’ve got something confidential, send it to, sumdeponyATgmailDOTcom - otherwise post it in the comments below.
I'd be interested in knowing how your OCD affects your intellectual abilities or intellectual output. Does it make you a perfectionist and produce mind-blowing things in record time, for instance? I realize that this may be too personal a question, instead of a more generic suggestion for a topic that you were looking for.
The first two articles here about OCD cover everything interesting I've been able to come up with about how OCD has affected me that I can put into written form. There may be other points worth making, but I haven't found them yet:
To answer your question about speed/perfectionism and the interplay between them- I am remarkably sloppy and focus on producing more content rather than more perfect content. This is partly because that's the way I am, and partly because of something it says in the book Art and Fear, which my experience has borne out:
"The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality.
His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pound of pots rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot – albeit a perfect one – to get an “A”.
Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work – and learning from their mistakes – the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay."
Yes I think I read that quote in one of your posts, and I felt something profound change in me. I haven't really been able to change my life to reflect this, but I hope that something changes soon.
I'd love to hear any of your answers to your 3 am questions, in any form of completeness or length. Here are my top five:
What would be an acceptable false positive rate in a just criminal law system?
What percentage of convicted incarcerated people are innocent?
Under what conditions -if any at all-, and in what ways -if any at all-, should society informally punish people for whom a criminal conviction is likely impossible?
Our period is defined by greater political divergence on the basis of age than ever before seen since we started taking polls on this sort of thing.
Is there a compact definition of what it means for a person’s life to go well for them which doesn’t imply that we should do something absurd- like tile the universe with people enjoying their best moment over and over again?
This may fall under existential, but I would really like to hear your advice on how to live a meaningful life. Or just a few words about your own values, something like that.
I don't know that I have a full article that I can publish on this without seeming really vain, but I'm happy to share the pointers that have helped me.
1. At some point in life you're going to have to decide whether you're on the side of all humans- even the really bad ones, or whether you're only on the side of the virtuous. I strongly urge you to try to side with everyone- to take a broad humanism. If you align yourself only with the virtuous and care only about their good fortune, you're going to find that your concept of virtue shrinks further and further, and in the end, you effectively end up a misanthrope. Love everyone, or you risk loving no one.
2. Extend this love to yourself. Not the grandiose love of a fan, but the amused love of a parent watching a toddler babble. Patronize yourself, and entertain your foibles and flaws in good humor, and the same unconditional affection you extend to others.
3. Avoid black and white thinking about the virtues and vices of yourself and others. People are complex and shift from situation to situation.
4. Reputation is valuable. Try not to tear the reputation of others down unless it must be done.
5. If it helps, amuse yourself with grand narratives about what you're trying to do. I once did a bunch of writing and research that was really useful both than and later on the premise that it was to impress this guy for romantic purposes. When I actually had a chance to pull that off, I realized I thought of him more as a friend anyway. But the narrative about my actions as part of a grand quest was useful in helping me get stuff done. Always watch in on them with semi-ironic detachment though, don't want to get too caught up.
6. You know less about the machinations of politics, why your friends are acting that way, why strangers are acting that way, how the human world is structured etc. than you think you do.
I'd be interested in knowing how your OCD affects your intellectual abilities or intellectual output. Does it make you a perfectionist and produce mind-blowing things in record time, for instance? I realize that this may be too personal a question, instead of a more generic suggestion for a topic that you were looking for.
The first two articles here about OCD cover everything interesting I've been able to come up with about how OCD has affected me that I can put into written form. There may be other points worth making, but I haven't found them yet:
https://philosophybear.substack.com/p/the-best-things-ive-ever-written
To answer your question about speed/perfectionism and the interplay between them- I am remarkably sloppy and focus on producing more content rather than more perfect content. This is partly because that's the way I am, and partly because of something it says in the book Art and Fear, which my experience has borne out:
"The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality.
His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pound of pots rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot – albeit a perfect one – to get an “A”.
Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work – and learning from their mistakes – the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay."
Yes I think I read that quote in one of your posts, and I felt something profound change in me. I haven't really been able to change my life to reflect this, but I hope that something changes soon.
I'd love to hear any of your answers to your 3 am questions, in any form of completeness or length. Here are my top five:
What would be an acceptable false positive rate in a just criminal law system?
What percentage of convicted incarcerated people are innocent?
Under what conditions -if any at all-, and in what ways -if any at all-, should society informally punish people for whom a criminal conviction is likely impossible?
Our period is defined by greater political divergence on the basis of age than ever before seen since we started taking polls on this sort of thing.
Is there a compact definition of what it means for a person’s life to go well for them which doesn’t imply that we should do something absurd- like tile the universe with people enjoying their best moment over and over again?
Alas! I don't think I have any of the answers to a satisfactory level to write about it. However, I'll keep this in mind as an option.
This may fall under existential, but I would really like to hear your advice on how to live a meaningful life. Or just a few words about your own values, something like that.
I don't know that I have a full article that I can publish on this without seeming really vain, but I'm happy to share the pointers that have helped me.
1. At some point in life you're going to have to decide whether you're on the side of all humans- even the really bad ones, or whether you're only on the side of the virtuous. I strongly urge you to try to side with everyone- to take a broad humanism. If you align yourself only with the virtuous and care only about their good fortune, you're going to find that your concept of virtue shrinks further and further, and in the end, you effectively end up a misanthrope. Love everyone, or you risk loving no one.
2. Extend this love to yourself. Not the grandiose love of a fan, but the amused love of a parent watching a toddler babble. Patronize yourself, and entertain your foibles and flaws in good humor, and the same unconditional affection you extend to others.
3. Avoid black and white thinking about the virtues and vices of yourself and others. People are complex and shift from situation to situation.
4. Reputation is valuable. Try not to tear the reputation of others down unless it must be done.
5. If it helps, amuse yourself with grand narratives about what you're trying to do. I once did a bunch of writing and research that was really useful both than and later on the premise that it was to impress this guy for romantic purposes. When I actually had a chance to pull that off, I realized I thought of him more as a friend anyway. But the narrative about my actions as part of a grand quest was useful in helping me get stuff done. Always watch in on them with semi-ironic detachment though, don't want to get too caught up.
6. You know less about the machinations of politics, why your friends are acting that way, why strangers are acting that way, how the human world is structured etc. than you think you do.
Thanks a lot for your answer. Not vain at all :) And I feel like the first point is very important, but you don't hear people saying it often.