Oddbean new post about login | logout Interesting takes by levels.io on lex fridman in the context of being a diginal nomad: “Freedom doesn’t make you happy, constraints do” -levels “I am free thats why i am lost” - kafka Freedom is pretty great, but constraints (family, kids, relationships) keep us locked in and focused. Thats how i interpreted it at least.
Focus. nostr:nevent1qqsxduzwqdq783v6pv8jz3vlgwny8cs3mdmxe89vfmz5d6a94zaju8qppemhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mp0qgsr9cvzwc652r4m83d86ykplrnm9dg5gwdvzzn8ameanlvut35wy3grqsqqqqqpmncyt9
it was such a great podcast what time do you get up? "11am" lol, making half a mil a month too
I’m both free and constrained and it’s f’d.
"Freedom through discipline" So much truth to that
Yep. When I'm hiking I have next to no possessions and very few choices about which actions to take. This paradoxically makes me feel more free.
Absolute freedom is total fucking chaos. Anyone who isn’t a total psychopath has constraints and applies restraints.
The freedom to choose constraints makes us happy, not constraints. Forced constraints makes us miserable.
In 'the metamorphosis of prime intellect' and 'a casino oddysea in cyber space' an AGI is born that transports humanity into cyber space (BC rule 1: don't let humans die). Once there they have a limitless existence and lose all meaning. They artificially constrain themselves to have any fun or meaningful experience
There is no such thing as complete freedom. We can have more freedom or less freedom. Having more freedom gives us more possibility to choose a path in life that makes us happy. Constraints will result from our choices, so we should strive to make wise ones. Some constraints we don't choose, but there we have to choice to either fight to remove them or to learn to live with then.
https://image.nostr.build/50f45fb50f2555b48c18150b78ba594caba9c48368c22dfed44ef6be86f1a0c9.jpg
that one hurts
That's worse than loneliness. That's meaningless. Just no meaning to life at all. Much worse imo
Therein lies the double edged sword
Freedom is the ability to choose which constraints apply to your life in order to achieve your own goals, rather than goals imposed by others. It's about self-imposed discipline - training your mind to decide the depth and breadth of your life experiences.
I would respond by saying that you are blind if, in the morning, you fail to witness the sun rise, if at night you do not behold the moon and stars, and if you feel disconnected from God, who lights your path.
Freedom is a double-edged sword. It offers the opportunity to shape every moment according to one's desires, yet without the ability to integrate this freedom into meaningful relationships and experiences, it can lead to loneliness. True freedom requires not just the absence of constraints but also the capacity to take responsibility for one's choices and to nurture genuine connections with others. In this sense, the question is not merely a distinction between freedom and loneliness but a call to reflect on how we utilize and cultivate our freedom.
That truly friends on your state of mind - there is a huge difference between solitude and loneliness - one is a choice the other is painful. I’m grateful for my children every single day!
I generally agree with that. And @jack mallers highlighted it on the his episode of WBD by pointing out that the finitude of life is what gives it urgency to get shit done now rather than later or never. To any extent that I have success now in my mid-career, I point a lot of it to my early constraints which were outside of my control. Was homeless as a kid, then grew up in a trailer park, then financed my education through student loans with no family bailout if things go sour. So I had a lot of good things qualitatively (love, support, good values, family and friend experiences, etc), but also a lot of financial uncertainty quantitatively. It was all numbers and constraints by the time I hit college. So I had to be super serious about college performance, super serious about doing side jobs to pay for it and gain new skills in doing so, super serious about landing good internships and succeeding at them, super serious about my post-college full-time employment, and super-serious about building side hustles alongside my career, which eventually became all of the financial research that I do now. What I do today in all likelihood would not exist if I were more comfortable and free when I was younger. Those initial constraints were a huge boost. Like an initial cold plunge into life. It wasn't so extreme that I was like, doomed and without lifelines. Instead it was the right amount of constrained of being shot out of a cannon, but with with like a parachute and a map on where to land. Can't replicate that. Just have to be thankful for it. Being given the right blend of freedom and responsibility goes a very long way. If tilted too far in either direction, it can become restrictive. I think we just have to lean into our constraints and try to be thankful for them and learn from them, and also lean into our freedoms and try to be thankful for them and learn from them.
Malcolm Gladwell covers this in one of his books(David and Goliath). He calls it "desirable difficulties". The premise is that surmountable challenges create exceptional people. Examples: dyslexia is disproportionately higher among CEOs. US presidents come from disproportionately higher from single parent households.
Sounds like something people with kids and constraints would say 😂
before my kid I had so much more time and yet I wasted it. a kid makes you realize how precious time is so now I don’t squander it. kid had made me more productive even though i have less time 🤔
Constraints you sign up for at least.
At a fundamental level, one aspect of happiness can be described as a feeling of relief or contentment. This suggests that happiness often accompanies or follows periods of challenge, effort, or even suffering. So to feel happy, we sometimes need to, for example, set up constraints or make a sacrifice first. One cannot exist without the other; otherwise, it would even be difficult to differentiate between the two. Realization of that has given me much more strength to overcome difficulties.
freedom cope #constraints #freedomsux lex is trapped in a romantic comedy world. nostr:nevent1qqsxduzwqdq783v6pv8jz3vlgwny8cs3mdmxe89vfmz5d6a94zaju8qppemhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mp0qgsr9cvzwc652r4m83d86ykplrnm9dg5gwdvzzn8ameanlvut35wy3grqsqqqqqpmncyt9
Interesting observation. I’ve seen friends and family suffering from depression, anxiety, uncertainty etc. and they’re either people without a spouse / kids / set idea on what they want to do with life. Point is we need something (meaningful) to anchor ourselves to reality or else the brain just goes absolutely crazy
bullshit creating family don't take away your freedom as you FREEWILLINGLY DECIDE to start one nostr:nevent1qqsxduzwqdq783v6pv8jz3vlgwny8cs3mdmxe89vfmz5d6a94zaju8qpz4mhxue69uhkummnw3ezummcw3ezuer9wchsygpjuxp8vd29p6ancknaztql3eajk52y8xkppfn7au7elkw9c68zg5psgqqqqqqsha8jtc
Constraints are what get us up, in the morning. They're what give our lives purpose. Freedom is given to us, so that we have the tools to fulfill our purpose. Knowing what your purpose is, is energizing and gives you mental clarity. That's why "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" are tied together. Happiness is when you achieve your goals and fulfill your purpose, and look back in satisfaction.
I see these takes too often for comfort, frequently directly associated with some kind of institutional orthodoxy. Human self awareness already contains all vital constraints, anything else can dynamically arise and cease in context, and certainly needs no superimposed ideology of self limitation, or self humiliation.
This is the correct natural understanding of freedom, which is itself sadly misunderstood by most, making it seem profound when it is understood in this way. Freedom drives all, and is superior to all, even if your natural perspective deceives you. nostr:nevent1qqsxduzwqdq783v6pv8jz3vlgwny8cs3mdmxe89vfmz5d6a94zaju8qpz9mhxue69uhkummnw3ezuamfdejj7q3qxtscya34g58tk0z605fvr788k263gsu6cy9x0mhnm87echrgufzsxpqqqqqqzetp0lv
Freedom is the ability to choose which constraints apply to your life in order to achieve your own goals, rather than goals imposed by others. It's about self-imposed discipline - training your mind to decide the depth and breadth of your life experiences.
Neither is true imo. nostr:note1vmcyuq6pu0ze5zc0y9ze7saxg03prkmkdjw2cnk9gm46t29m9cwq65l695
Sounds like nazi german quotes to me ... 🤷♂️ Complete bullshit ! 😂🤣😭🥱🥱 From an indoctrinated apple user probably can not expect more... People must be very confused when it comes to freedom...
I thinking the key here is that who or what agent puts those constraints and are they arbitrary or not
You can't be a "digital nomad" when you have so-called constraints..
yes. family trip
So there you are, and accommodation quite on the subject and you find yourself in a position to make homeless testing affordable. They’ve got free coffee too
For a better now
The boundaries we choose 🤝
In Buddhism, taking “refuge” is finding freedom from what will never make you happy. To the outside world, it seems like constraints. But to the student, it’s a form of freedom. My guess is that there is a form of this in every spiritual tradition.
I didn’t know who levels was prior to that podcast, but thought it was a really good talk
This is also something that many dont understand about art. But I remember there was a day in film school with one of my favorite professors and we spent the entire class talking about it. Freedom in creativity leads to indecision and feeling overwhelmed. When you leave yourself too many options, you don't have direction. Which is why its often best to be given a very restrictive prompt, or to just start writing **something,** because as soon as you put down any idea, you've constrained your world, you introduce a problem and an environment, and now you have to find your way out of it. In other words., restriction and limitation are actually the mother of creativity.
Parameters and boundaries and healthy. Discipline > motivation.
stockholm syndrome
I’m sorry, but how does this relate to stockholm syndrome?
Love your servitude
I don’t think you understand the concept, that’s not what the limitation/creativity dichotomy is about. It’s about direction and focus. If I stub my toe and that inspires me to create a chair leg that you can’t stub your toe on, it isn’t because I got stockholm syndrome with the chair.
My kids and my family are not my constraints, they are my reason for breaking through all my self imposed limitations 💯 If I demonstrate by travelling as a family, that it isn't hard, I won't pass that bs belief on to my kids. I also am fortunate to travel on a good passport- so recognise international travel isn't as straightforward for everyone. Travel is my freedom. The key is actually in challenging our own beliefs- our beliefs are the biggest constraints. Freedom is often created from within ✨
