MeaningCrisis

Have you noticed that despite the supposed information overload problem the incidence rate of your "how did I not know this!" flow of input-Aha moments has been slowly increasing over the last few years. Not signal-to-noise ratio, actual absolute signal levels? Mine has.

Signal to noise (SNR) is actually a bad measure for intelligent systems. You're not a simple amplifier or something. Noise should be weighted by how costly it is to tune out, and signal by how costly it is to tune in. Most noise is very cheap to cut out.

If you have clarity around what you care about, 90% of noise is filtered out by your unconscious. It doesn't even register. You have to learn meditation to even notice it.

Of the remaining 10%, 9% is classification errors caused by your own clarity issues. 1% is real noise.

Old thread on his to care more clearly https://t.co/tlqQwTbZiE

All human signal/noise filter problems are generalizations of picking out your name being mentioned in a crowded room with lots of conversations. Salience = identity = interest = attention.

Know thyself = know your True Name better = be Very Online better

I think it was @dhh who said something like burnout is due to being underpurposed rather than overworked. Tracks for me. Similar thing here. It's not a filter failure problem. It is desire imprecision problem.

Counterintuitive but... You don't get to accurate and precise desiring via being accurate but imprecise and narrowing the focus gradually. You get there by being precise but inaccurate and retargeting iteratively.

Tired: "meaning crisis!" -> spiritual zoom-in quest -> ??? -> "my life purpose is pottery"

Twitter stressful all the way, and low success rate overall.

Wired: writing meh, drawing meh, coding meh, 3d printing hmm! Pottery... yay!

Twitter helpful all the way! High hit rate.

Meta: this is actually the pottery parable... make 100 pots rather than trying to make 1 great pot. Try 100 things that miss the meaning mark to find the 1 meaningful thing. Ignore the abstract philosophy. That's better for reflection and insight after you lock on.

The philosophy is not optional though. It's what turns a seeming random walk in the moment into a path with hidden logic in hindsight, which makes looking for the next thing if you tire of pottery that much easier. And maybe you're a hedgehog and it will be the lifelong thing.

Philosophical insight is a lagging indicator of meaning. And you can only save time by borrowing from others if they're very like you. Otherwise you're just falling for time-wasting halo charisma.

For those who need refresher on accuracy vs precision https://t.co/zZEOS33LZY

"I don't know what to do with my life"

"Well what have you tried doing with it so far so far?"

😐

😐

"Well I watched YouTube videos about the meaning crisis"

😐

cheap seats version https://t.co/TNaP9iEA3t

One reason this whole thing works is nobody knows how to care about abstractions. Abstractions are intellectual scaffoldings that can help you see and think but cannot help you care. Caring is an emotional response only triggered by specifics. So a breadth-first algorithm is out. (AbstractionAppealsToThePowerless)

This is why nations have things like anthems. Specific melodies and lyrics. Or short independence declarations or constitutional preambles in resonant prose.

One death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.

Random metaphor. I just bought a compound microscope. At low magnifications, if your focus is off you get blurry images. But at high you get nothing. Not even blurry. Image pops only very close the near-exact focus setting. Caring is like that. Tight tolerance on focus level.

A good ratio for most people is probably one hour of philosophical reflection for every 20 hours of trial and error. So an afternoon a week. Most do too little and they suffer long-term drift into apathy. A minority do too much and suffer short term angst paralysis.

Angst paralysis is not the same as analysis paralysis. You're not overthinking but underfeeling. I suspect ASMR is popular now because of this. Heals and rejuvenates numbed feeling ability. ASMR trend is a much healthier, more positive thing than meaning crisis cottage industry.