I’m a software developer. I like fantasy novels, Slate Star Codex, and art that knows what it is. My current project is a celebration of early 2000s web aesthetics, viewable at VivaLaPanda.moe
VivaLaPanda(Adrian Smith)
Karma: 66
Currently going to Japan with a layover in Taiwan. Any advice there?
I’ve been getting some critique from friends so I may do some fairly significant edits in the coming days.
Honestly I think part of that is that right now the people who are interested in designing those platforms are largely the more “technical” software devs who get more excited about interesting algorithms and infrastructure vs usability.
Thanks, fixed.
Thanks! It’s my first proper long form thing I’ve spent time on. Glad to see people enjoying it.
The New Age of Social Engineering
Where this becomes difficult is when your control on outcomes is uncertain.
More specifically, it’s quite often that it looks like you probably can’t do anything to change the situation, but it’s also plausible that if you considered the problem more you would discover something. In that case knowing what amount of consideration is worth it is a hard to determine thing. Presumably there is some sort of diminishing returns curve you could use, but obviously you don’t have access to that so you have to estimate the effectiveness of your estimation.
Luckily, I think there are huge number of situations where this consideration isn’t relevant, such as being struck in traffic.
Yeah, I was hesitant over whether to start with the disclaimer from Scott’s Bravery Debates or end with it. I couldn’t find a nice way to make the post flow with it at the beginning, but I think it should really be kept in mind any time you read self-help advice (or share it).
I’ve updated the headings to be a bit more direct, hopeful that’s an improvement.
Yeah, my second round of edits involved replacing Stoicism with “stoic mindset” in most of the post, but I agree a word that has less attached baggage might be better. I couldn’t think of anything ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I’m definitely a fan of this mindset, though I think there are some caveats that are worthwhile to explore.
I wrote up a response based on some of my own experiences with living this way here.
This is true, and a big part of why I brought up the above advice. Most of the things in this post are mainly about being aware of secondary effects from a stoic mindset and how to adjust for them.