Cross-posting a 2023 Hacker News thread:
Everyone has different perspectives and values, so what do you personally think is the most important problem in the world right now? Is it something that one, or a group of early enthusiasts, can work on?
The original quote is from Aaron Swartz:
Life is short (or so I’m told) so why waste it doing something dumb? It’s easy to start working on something because it’s convenient, but you should always be questioning yourself about it. Is there something more important you can work on? Why don’t you do that instead? Such questions are hard to face up to (eventually, if you follow this rule, you’ll have to ask yourself why you’re not working on the most important problem in the world) but each little step makes you more productive.
The most important problem is bettering oneself. Aligning your subconscious with your rational mind and making sure that you don’t do stupid human things like greed, pride, jealousy, wrath, etc.
Almost everyone thinks they are a “good person” and “don’t do these things” but almost everyone has certain situations that trigger them or behavioral patterns that automatically include them, i.e. almost no one is actually as good as they think they are.
Identifying these triggers and patterns in you and taking steps to mitigate/remove them is the largest impact you can have on the world.
It’s also one of the hardest things because admitting your wrongs to yourself is very painful. One’s ego is a powerful thing that is one of the worst pains a human can feel when bruised. That’s why it’s so much easier to look for “other people to blame”, it keeps your ego from hurting you.
But each and every person thinks like that and thus becomes “part of the problem”. Even if you’re a “better person than X other person”, that doesn’t mean you should just stop improving yourself and try to change X instead, because chances are, you’ll never change how X behaves. But it’s much more likely you’ll be able to change how you behave yourself and actually have an impact on the world.
If you try it for a while, or if you experienced it yourself, it’s very ineffective to try to change other people. The only thing that really works is helping people change themselves. But if the will is not already there, there’s basically nothing you can do. And thus, creating that will in yourself is the best thing you can do.
according to whose standards?
i like to read books and learn and try new things. i also of a lot of athletics, like half marathon type stuff.
a lot of people think i’m a massive asshole for doing these things, as me merely talking about my interests and lifestyle ‘triggers’ them, as in makes them feel insecure about themselves. also they were not making me popular, famous, or rich, so what is the point of any of it?
according to my exes i would have been a better person if i gave up all my hobbies, got a soulless corporate job to make as much money as possible, and then spent most of that money on them…
a lot of people’s desires/goals require other people being subordinate to them, including you. and if you don’t comply, they will think you’re a shitty person.
I don’t really understand where you’re coming from here or rather what exactly you talk about. You reading, learning and doing athletics is exactly what I meant in my comment, so I think it’s amazing you’re doing those things.
But also yes, I intentionally made this comment because it seems like as you experienced, a lot of people need to do more of it, including your exes.
And the “being subordinate” is also exactly what I meant, they see you being amazing and comparison leads to them feeling bad about themselves, which is obviously your fault /s.
Are you lonely?
I mostly agree with you except that I believe we can change other people. Maybe we can’t change a specific person, but I think (or at least I would love to believe) that we can influence people we interact with, in big and small ways.