Part of my extreme, EXTREME shock at the tragic, horrible news about Aaron was quite how much I enjoyed this series + found it utterly engaging. Usually stuff on this topic is full of bullshit, but Aaron really had some very interesting things to say here.
I think that when you're young and really smart you think you can reason your way through tough problems because for a lot of problems other people find difficult it's been true. Eventually you'll learn that for many of the toughest problems in life, no clever algebraic trick exists to sort it all out, and you either learn something or you go down the rabbit hole. My first rabbit hole was mortality (I lost sleep for months trying to reason my way around mortality), and my second was simple financial transactions. Relationships, kids, politics, justice -- anything involving other people -- tend to be intractable problems.
One of my "great insights" was figuring out that I didn't understand how I made decisions -- that when I consciously made a decision wasn't when I decided but more like when I became aware that some kind of unconscious tipping point had already been reached. When I have mentioned this to other people I have never ended up in an argument -- they either nod at me as though it's about time I figured this out, or they stop and think about it and agree.
This insight is almost a cliche in matters such as romance, but really it applies to almost everything. When you realize how little we know about our own consciousness, how our rational minds are constantly fooled into thinking they're in charge, the idea we can truly just reason our way out of every kind of problem quickly becomes laughable.
I'm very sad that such a brilliant guy killed himself, but looking at all his blog posts with dewy eyed admiration is morbid, silly, and perhaps even dangerous. Suicide is stupid and -- worse -- selfish. It's not cool or tragic or deep — just sad.
How to be productive, achieve great things, etc.? Hint: do not kill yourself.
I completely agree with the parent, and yes, I think trying (at least trying too hard) to "hack" life makes it much harder to accept the things you just can't change.
Raw Nerve is the best series I have ever read on getting better at life. In the last email communication I had with him (when he wrote only 4 parts of the series), I suggested that he turn it into a book. This was his reply,
yep he had many controversy too but he did many good things too.
Dan Haubert,Ilya Zhitomirskiy and now Aaron Swartz dont know what is happening.
is the situation so bad that life has no meaning.
Why are people posting all of his stuff after he's died? Because I'm pretty sure it's not because the 3 part trilogy of his life just ended and now it is the best time to marathon. Karma whoring at its finest.
You could be just as easily be accused of karma whoring for posting this reply. As could I for responding to you like this. But the truth is, you felt strongly enough to post the reply, as did I in responding to you, as did the original posters. Any action in a karma-rewarded community can be brushed off as karma whoring, but that doesn't mean it should.
It’s like when you discover a new artist you like and you work through the back catalogue. Today’s news has made lots of people discover Swartz simultaneously.
Personally why I posted this: loved the essays when they came out. And I know many people have not read them. More than that, even many people here on HN had never heard of the guy or don't know his mindset. Those essays open up a lot of who he was.
Thanks for posting them. I admire Aaron's work very much but will admit to not knowing of everything that he has written. I guess I don't have the photographic memory like the parent commenter
Another wonderful, challenging and important article was the one on faith in science - http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/sciencefaith.
RIP Aaron.