Anti-advice

Advice is just someone’s opinion. No matter how thoughtfully its shared. But it’s hardly seen that way.

The world is stacked with advice. Some being entirely contradictory.

Young people seek advice. “What advice do you have for people in their 20s?” would probably be in the top 10 most commonly asked interview questions.

But I find the best advice as not being any advice at all.

Advice is often authoritative. It doesn’t create a healthy relationship between the seeker and the teller. It compels people to do a certain thing even if it’s wrong for them or wrong objectively. And if you think Elon Musk cannot go wrong, you’re mistaken.

The seeker and the teller perceive the world differently. In this sense, practically, there is no universal advice: no universal how to lose weight, no universal how to be happy, and no universal how to live a good life.

There is experience itself and the critical nature of the mind to carve its own way.

Advice used uncritically and perhaps only on the assumption of the authority who gives the piece of advice can be dangerous.

The Amazing Things & Ideas List

Will Smith on advice:
“The thing I’ve learned over the years about advice is that no one can accurately predict the future, but we all think we can. So advice at its best is one person’s limited perspective of the infinite possibilities before you. People’s advice is based on their fears, their experiences, their prejudices, and at the end of the day, their advice is just that: it’s theirs, not yours. When people give you advice, they’re basing it on what they would do, what they can perceive, on what they think you can do. But the bottom line is, while yes, it is true that we are all subject to a series of universal laws, patterns, tides, and currents—all of which are somewhat predictable—you are the first time you’ve ever happened. YOU and NOW are a unique occurrence, of which you are the most reliable measure of all the possibilities.”
I wouldn’t miss watching this documentary:
Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things

A documentary very influential to me is exiting Netflix on June 15, 2022. It totally changed my mind on the view I held of the good lifestyle. It’s likely you wouldn’t want to miss it.

You can watch it on Netflix here (until it’s gone).
Aldous Huxley on the nature of experience:
“Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.”
A revolutionary on revolutionary thinking:
“Merciless criticism and independent thinking are the two necessary traits of revolutionary thinking.”
— Bhagat Singh (Why I am an Atheist)

An episode from my podcast this week:

#2 –Sarah Fitz-Claridge: Taking Children Seriously, Fallibilism and the Growth of Knowledge
A very fun conversation with Sarah on the manner in which children are generically raised and why that is not helpful, the importance of Taking Children Seriously and raising a child without coercion, fallibilism, the growth of knowledge, problem-solving, her inspiration for founding Taking Children Seriously and much more.

Listen to the full conversation here:

Posts from my blog this week:

Chauvinism and being blindly guided by dogmatic religion:
On a mind-blowing study on the effect of what’s “written in the Bible” on the way people uncritically perceive good or bad
Leaving Earth:
On the interesting problems that arise with "Leaving Earth". Written for the Eon Essay Competition on the book 'The Precipice'.

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Thank you for reading.

Onward,
Arjun