I was convinced by your argument that reading the news doesn't meaningfully improve my life, so I mostly stopped. I still read a few things now and then out of morbid curiosity, but I'm grateful to not be doing it regularly.
How can you not get good advice from a guy named Bryan? The most concrete example is how I stooped worrying about the impact of immigration on "our way of life" when one of your posts made me realize that my grandchildren have more in common with their first- and second-generation immigant friends than they do with me.
And recognizing social confirmation bias has shown me how little some people I know truly think about the issues they seem so passionate about.
"The Case Against Education" played some supportive role in my passing up the longer vacations of a university EFL instructor, committing myself to teaching kindergarteners the real, permanent, valuable skill of fluent English rather than playing the game of grade-hunting signalers. I feel far more fulfilled as a linguist and as an ethical consequentialist.
So. Many. Things. Bryan has probably influenced how I think more than anyone else I've ever met (Thomas Sowell for anyone else I've never met). Here are a few ways, in no particular order:
1. "Avoid News." I'm happier and more productive because I don't really keep up with current events. I skim the first section of the Wall Street Journal a few times a week, but when I start keeping up with current events again, I keep reminding myself that something only becomes newsworthy if it's unlikely.
2. The Ideological Turing Test. I really started asking myself, "do I understand this position well enough that I could pass for one of its advocates?"
3. Really enjoying my kids' company (and hoping they enjoy mine).
4. Understanding that the people higher up in my organization have a lot more information and different goals/incentives than I do, so I spend a lot less time second-guessing their decisions and grumbling when things don't go the way *I* think they should.
5. I don't say "I can't" as often as I used to. I make better choices when I refuse to let myself pretend to be helpless.
6. Looking past my emotional reactions and going deeper. With education, this means embracing the signaling model even though I don't want to, and with poverty studies, embracing the truth that "x cannot be a cause of poverty if poverty is a good reason to avoid x." Hence, I understand that a lot of individual pathologies are products of poor impulse control and low conscientiousness.
7. Throw Money At It. I'm good at some things, terrible at others, and there are plenty of things I hate to do. Bryan's right: money *can* buy happiness (at the margin!).
I have indeed had 2 additional kids to the 0 I expected based partly on reading your book. I have a lot of respect for your dedication to comfort. I remember an anecdote where you tried something like 15 chairs and cushions to relieve some symptoms. Sadly I have not been able to implement that in my own life.
My list could get rather long but I’ll stick to the highlights.
My wife and I both read SRTHMK. I think we had one or two at the time. Now we have six. We already wanted a large family, but the book certainly helped give us confidence.
I got a copy of Open Borders and my kids consumed it. One of my daughters got into a fairly heated discussion with her grandfather (my dad) about the effects of immigrants. He was repeating tired aphorisms and she was slinging data from your book. I don’t think she convinced him, but it was great to see how she took the book to heart. We have a house next door that we rent (heavily discounted) to a refugee family of 14 (12 kids) and while the book was not the sole reason for this, it had some influence on my kids being open to the idea of befriending this family.
I’m sure the Case for Education was helpful, too, but it really just felt like reading it was extreme confirmation bias. 😆
Reading *Case Against Education* convinced me to prioritize graduating a semester early in law school. That move enabled me to start work approximately six months earlier than otherwise. I even got to attend my graduation ceremony in May having already passed the bar exam.
You may wonder why/how your book caused this... In short, the book made it apparent that the material I learned in law school (including law school related activities like moot court) only somewhat or even poorly correlated with the practice of law, so I should get to the actual practice of law ASAP.
I've been a fan a long time, but two of your pieces of advice hit me at just the right time and made a significant improvement in my life and mental health: (1) a non-conformist can (and even should) be warm and polite. I used to feel like I needed to put my armor on when explaining why I think the right-think is wrong. Now I just take the approach of commenting like a passing friendly bystander, not particularly attached to the outcome, or to whether I am changing any minds. (2) don't identify with large groups (especially demographic groups!). Instead, identify either with no groups or with small, selective groups. I was having feelings of doubt about abandoning my commitment to being a "democrat" or a "feminist" out of concern that I might be a reactive non-conformist who can't be happy anywhere. Your posts along this theme made me realize that that's dumb, that I can and do strongly relate to a smaller subset of people based on their epistemic features (open-mindedness, humility, reason), and I can release my attachment to other larger groups.
As silly as it seems, I have lost significant weight thanks to your guest post from Jonah Franks. According to him, your dieting advice was: don't eat breakfast, exploit the natural appetite suppression effects of the sleep wake cycle, and delay mealtimes to later in the day; prefer high-volume low-calorie foods; avoid sugary, highly palatable and appetite-stimulating foods while dieting.
Mainly the part of skipping breakfast has helped me very much. (I was aware of the other things mentioned.) All my life, I had been hearing sayings like "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" or "if you do not eat your breakfast, you will be anxious and irritated". So I gave it a try and in the last ten weeks, I mostly ate only two (although large) meals a day: at 11 AM and 5 PM. And I have been feeling good.
Well, it’s not much compared to bringing new souls into the world, but as I already shared with you your advice to always request a discount on purchasing both goods and services has, in a relatively short time, saved me over $1000.
You helped me relax about the education of my 2 sons.
One graduated college with a degree in engineering the other took a job with a plumbing company as a helper after high school. The the college grad is now 30yo and the plumber is 29yo and the plumber still has higher net worth.
Bryan, I think you more than anyone alive today has influenced my thinking on a great number of different topics, but what has been most practically useful for me is what you've said about neuroticism and misunderstanding. These ideas have been really useful in my rocky marriage (2 kids though! working on more).
1. My wife is pretty neurotic. She is the first to admit it. Your writing helped me see that, the raw and intense unpleasant expression of her negative feelings are my main issue, rather than the direct subject matter she might be upset about. Usually she has some pretty valid needs and points, and it's just about getting my wife to express them clearly and calmly, and with patience as we mutually figure out what is going on.
2. Bizarrely, my wife often complains that I am _not_ showing enough anger. She has claimed I am secretly upset, and that I am covering it up, that me being spitefully upset is the main reason we have problems. This is surprising to me, but I've given serious consideration to this. I've even considered that maybe I have been deeply wrong, and open my mind to some pro-anger opinions online, and dabbled in consciously trying to be more upset and express it more (didn't work). Ultimately, I am pretty sure I am actually just rarely upset in general, that this is a really good thing, and that my wife and I actually just misunderstand each other. You've given me a good model of misunderstandings in relationships, and gradually I've been able to persuade my my wife that this is the case. Although to my wife's credit, deliberately making small irritated comments has done wonders for her. I find it very bizarre, and it's not natural to me, but I guess a little expression of negative emotions does something for her.
3. All the things you've said about "how to make friends and influence people" have put me on track to more actively and consciously reflecting on what other people want, what makes them happy, and what I can do to be pleasant to be around.
I was convinced by your argument that reading the news doesn't meaningfully improve my life, so I mostly stopped. I still read a few things now and then out of morbid curiosity, but I'm grateful to not be doing it regularly.
How can you not get good advice from a guy named Bryan? The most concrete example is how I stooped worrying about the impact of immigration on "our way of life" when one of your posts made me realize that my grandchildren have more in common with their first- and second-generation immigant friends than they do with me.
And recognizing social confirmation bias has shown me how little some people I know truly think about the issues they seem so passionate about.
"The Case Against Education" played some supportive role in my passing up the longer vacations of a university EFL instructor, committing myself to teaching kindergarteners the real, permanent, valuable skill of fluent English rather than playing the game of grade-hunting signalers. I feel far more fulfilled as a linguist and as an ethical consequentialist.
So. Many. Things. Bryan has probably influenced how I think more than anyone else I've ever met (Thomas Sowell for anyone else I've never met). Here are a few ways, in no particular order:
1. "Avoid News." I'm happier and more productive because I don't really keep up with current events. I skim the first section of the Wall Street Journal a few times a week, but when I start keeping up with current events again, I keep reminding myself that something only becomes newsworthy if it's unlikely.
2. The Ideological Turing Test. I really started asking myself, "do I understand this position well enough that I could pass for one of its advocates?"
3. Really enjoying my kids' company (and hoping they enjoy mine).
4. Understanding that the people higher up in my organization have a lot more information and different goals/incentives than I do, so I spend a lot less time second-guessing their decisions and grumbling when things don't go the way *I* think they should.
5. I don't say "I can't" as often as I used to. I make better choices when I refuse to let myself pretend to be helpless.
6. Looking past my emotional reactions and going deeper. With education, this means embracing the signaling model even though I don't want to, and with poverty studies, embracing the truth that "x cannot be a cause of poverty if poverty is a good reason to avoid x." Hence, I understand that a lot of individual pathologies are products of poor impulse control and low conscientiousness.
7. Throw Money At It. I'm good at some things, terrible at others, and there are plenty of things I hate to do. Bryan's right: money *can* buy happiness (at the margin!).
You convinced me to have kids
I have indeed had 2 additional kids to the 0 I expected based partly on reading your book. I have a lot of respect for your dedication to comfort. I remember an anecdote where you tried something like 15 chairs and cushions to relieve some symptoms. Sadly I have not been able to implement that in my own life.
My list could get rather long but I’ll stick to the highlights.
My wife and I both read SRTHMK. I think we had one or two at the time. Now we have six. We already wanted a large family, but the book certainly helped give us confidence.
I got a copy of Open Borders and my kids consumed it. One of my daughters got into a fairly heated discussion with her grandfather (my dad) about the effects of immigrants. He was repeating tired aphorisms and she was slinging data from your book. I don’t think she convinced him, but it was great to see how she took the book to heart. We have a house next door that we rent (heavily discounted) to a refugee family of 14 (12 kids) and while the book was not the sole reason for this, it had some influence on my kids being open to the idea of befriending this family.
I’m sure the Case for Education was helpful, too, but it really just felt like reading it was extreme confirmation bias. 😆
Reading *Case Against Education* convinced me to prioritize graduating a semester early in law school. That move enabled me to start work approximately six months earlier than otherwise. I even got to attend my graduation ceremony in May having already passed the bar exam.
You may wonder why/how your book caused this... In short, the book made it apparent that the material I learned in law school (including law school related activities like moot court) only somewhat or even poorly correlated with the practice of law, so I should get to the actual practice of law ASAP.
How did you pull that off? There are no APs for law school. Did you just do an extra class most semesters?
Yes.
I've been a fan a long time, but two of your pieces of advice hit me at just the right time and made a significant improvement in my life and mental health: (1) a non-conformist can (and even should) be warm and polite. I used to feel like I needed to put my armor on when explaining why I think the right-think is wrong. Now I just take the approach of commenting like a passing friendly bystander, not particularly attached to the outcome, or to whether I am changing any minds. (2) don't identify with large groups (especially demographic groups!). Instead, identify either with no groups or with small, selective groups. I was having feelings of doubt about abandoning my commitment to being a "democrat" or a "feminist" out of concern that I might be a reactive non-conformist who can't be happy anywhere. Your posts along this theme made me realize that that's dumb, that I can and do strongly relate to a smaller subset of people based on their epistemic features (open-mindedness, humility, reason), and I can release my attachment to other larger groups.
As silly as it seems, I have lost significant weight thanks to your guest post from Jonah Franks. According to him, your dieting advice was: don't eat breakfast, exploit the natural appetite suppression effects of the sleep wake cycle, and delay mealtimes to later in the day; prefer high-volume low-calorie foods; avoid sugary, highly palatable and appetite-stimulating foods while dieting.
Mainly the part of skipping breakfast has helped me very much. (I was aware of the other things mentioned.) All my life, I had been hearing sayings like "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" or "if you do not eat your breakfast, you will be anxious and irritated". So I gave it a try and in the last ten weeks, I mostly ate only two (although large) meals a day: at 11 AM and 5 PM. And I have been feeling good.
Thanks, Bryan!
Some people say they go crazy without breakfast, but you have to skip breakfast for a week to find out if you're really one of them!
That's just a form of intermittent fasting or time based eating. It would wonders!
Well, it’s not much compared to bringing new souls into the world, but as I already shared with you your advice to always request a discount on purchasing both goods and services has, in a relatively short time, saved me over $1000.
Where is this advice?
https://www.betonit.ai/p/the-non-shopper-problem
You helped me relax about the education of my 2 sons.
One graduated college with a degree in engineering the other took a job with a plumbing company as a helper after high school. The the college grad is now 30yo and the plumber is 29yo and the plumber still has higher net worth.
You've entertained me.
You inspired me to reach out to people I admire even if I don't know them, and this has sparked some nice collaboratinos and good friendships.
Bryan, I think you more than anyone alive today has influenced my thinking on a great number of different topics, but what has been most practically useful for me is what you've said about neuroticism and misunderstanding. These ideas have been really useful in my rocky marriage (2 kids though! working on more).
1. My wife is pretty neurotic. She is the first to admit it. Your writing helped me see that, the raw and intense unpleasant expression of her negative feelings are my main issue, rather than the direct subject matter she might be upset about. Usually she has some pretty valid needs and points, and it's just about getting my wife to express them clearly and calmly, and with patience as we mutually figure out what is going on.
2. Bizarrely, my wife often complains that I am _not_ showing enough anger. She has claimed I am secretly upset, and that I am covering it up, that me being spitefully upset is the main reason we have problems. This is surprising to me, but I've given serious consideration to this. I've even considered that maybe I have been deeply wrong, and open my mind to some pro-anger opinions online, and dabbled in consciously trying to be more upset and express it more (didn't work). Ultimately, I am pretty sure I am actually just rarely upset in general, that this is a really good thing, and that my wife and I actually just misunderstand each other. You've given me a good model of misunderstandings in relationships, and gradually I've been able to persuade my my wife that this is the case. Although to my wife's credit, deliberately making small irritated comments has done wonders for her. I find it very bizarre, and it's not natural to me, but I guess a little expression of negative emotions does something for her.
3. All the things you've said about "how to make friends and influence people" have put me on track to more actively and consciously reflecting on what other people want, what makes them happy, and what I can do to be pleasant to be around.
Tactfully speaking out against horrible ideas. Being a truth-seeking and polite role model. Being data-driven in your personal life.