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Ryan Holiday
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2 months ago
in Stoicism 101: A Practical Guide for Entrepreneurs on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss
@Robert
Believe it or not Cicero has an essay on just the topic you mentioned (could you be happy while on the rack being tortured?) Perhaps someone else could take a crack at answering but it could be possible, especially with a mix of some Epicurean principles. No one ever said it would be easy or fun or painfree, though. That's your straw man.
Believe it or not Cicero has an essay on just the topic you mentioned (could you be happy while on the rack being tortured?) Perhaps someone else could take a crack at answering but it could be possible, especially with a mix of some Epicurean principles. No one ever said it would be easy or fun or painfree, though. That's your straw man.
1 reply
4 months ago
in Journalism, or irresponsible rumour-mongering? on Mathew's comments
This is going to be an interesting reality to deal with going forward. Blogs, because they're are more of them and can respond faster, get more stories right in the aggregate. But on an individual basis there are going to be complete disasters like this one. So, how does society learn to adjust and "deal with it"? I'm not sure. The influence of a blog like TechCrunch is so big that the damage from its mistakes reverberate everywhere.
We face the same question with Wikipedia. In the long run, the amount of knowledge it puts in people's hands is spectacular. But the consequences of a false report are still very real. If Last.Fm was a publicly traded company what would TC's report have done to the stock price over the last few days?
I'd be curious to see with what solutions you think there are Matt.
We face the same question with Wikipedia. In the long run, the amount of knowledge it puts in people's hands is spectacular. But the consequences of a false report are still very real. If Last.Fm was a publicly traded company what would TC's report have done to the stock price over the last few days?
I'd be curious to see with what solutions you think there are Matt.
1 reply
mathewi
That's a good question, Ryan. I guess the simple solution is -- try harder :-) But seriously, I think journalists (broadly defined) have to resist the urge to publish immediately and damn the consequences -- but readers also have to learn to think critically about what they're reading, regardless of where it is published -- on a blog, or in a mainstream newspaper.
5 months ago
in What If Your Model Is Wrong? on A VC
If the President's job isn't at the most fundamental level to influence the direction, tone and ethics of a nation, I'm not sure you could really ever call him a leader. Would you honestly say that the role of General is to decide only where battles are fought but not how and why? That's ridiculous.
1 reply
Andy Freeman
The President is not the General of the country.
For example, a General can order soldiers to things. A president doesn't get to order most folks.
For example, a General can order soldiers to things. A president doesn't get to order most folks.
6 months ago
in Pepsi & Twitter as early-warning device on Mathew's comments
The one thing I think people are forgetting to raise is this: Is the audience on Twitter really the canary you want to trust? There is certainly a pretty skewing self-selection bias there that doesn't reflect much of the population and in fact is dominated by a very specific type of person. Is that person that person that you're attempting to appeal to? Because if it's not, it doesn't matter if they're upset by your ad or not.
I just know Microsoft probably made a mistake using blog reception to judge their Seinfeld commercials considering that the entire point of the campaign was to appeal to normal people, not techies.
I think that may be something brands should consider.
I just know Microsoft probably made a mistake using blog reception to judge their Seinfeld commercials considering that the entire point of the campaign was to appeal to normal people, not techies.
I think that may be something brands should consider.
1 reply
mathewi
I think you're right, Ryan -- I made a similar point in a column I wrote for the Globe about the Motrin episode: http://tinyurl.com/5j3kx8
7 months ago
in Talking Blackberry on A VC
Fred,
I agree with you but have to raise a constant issue I have: the trackball. I am on my 4th blackberry having completely worn out the trackball. I had at 8830 with the trackwheel that never had any problems and when I was upgraded, I got stuck with the trackball.
Being that I'm not 40 years old, I can't wear a pda holster and have to keep it in the backpocket in my jeans. I can feel it on this phone that I'm about a month away from having to replace it (topping out at about 2 months usage). I only use blackberries because of the keyboard but the trackball is forcing me to have to reconsider.
I agree with you but have to raise a constant issue I have: the trackball. I am on my 4th blackberry having completely worn out the trackball. I had at 8830 with the trackwheel that never had any problems and when I was upgraded, I got stuck with the trackball.
Being that I'm not 40 years old, I can't wear a pda holster and have to keep it in the backpocket in my jeans. I can feel it on this phone that I'm about a month away from having to replace it (topping out at about 2 months usage). I only use blackberries because of the keyboard but the trackball is forcing me to have to reconsider.
1 reply
fredwilson
i can't wear a holster either. try the front pocket. that's what i do. sitting on the phone might not be so great for it!
8 months ago
in Ze Frank knows about community on Mathew's comments
Mathew,
I tend to understand where you're coming from normally and appreciate that it comes from a different angle than most tech writers. I've spoken with Ze Frank befoe and generally agree that he's prescient with his moves, but how is this knowing his community? I don't see what this even has to do with community at all. He asked a question and people answered. You don't think this might be a reach?
I tend to understand where you're coming from normally and appreciate that it comes from a different angle than most tech writers. I've spoken with Ze Frank befoe and generally agree that he's prescient with his moves, but how is this knowing his community? I don't see what this even has to do with community at all. He asked a question and people answered. You don't think this might be a reach?
1 reply
mathewi
I appreciate that it might be a stretch, Ryan, but it wasn't so much about knowing his community as actually having built a community that felt comfortable contributing those kinds of thoughts with so little encouragement or prompting.
I could be wrong, but I don't think most people, or even most blogs, would get that many heartfelt comments with so little effort. Ze has shown time and time again that he has built a huge and devoted community, and this was just another small example of that. Maybe I didn't really make my case very well.
In any case, thanks for the comment.
I could be wrong, but I don't think most people, or even most blogs, would get that many heartfelt comments with so little effort. Ze has shown time and time again that he has built a huge and devoted community, and this was just another small example of that. Maybe I didn't really make my case very well.
In any case, thanks for the comment.
I will rephrase the question to be, "Can a philosopher remain happy despite torture?"
The stoic James Stockdale, USN (1923 – 2005) answers yes.
From "The Stoic Warrior's Triad":
"In a crucible like a torture prison, you reflect, you silently study what makes those about you tick. Once I had taken the measure of my torture guard, watched his eyes as he worked, watched him move,felt him move as he stood on my slumped-over back and cinched up the ropes pulling my shoulders together, I came to know that there was good in him. That was ironic because when he first came in with the new commissar when torture was instigated after I got there, I had nicknamed him "Pigeye" becauseof the total vacancy of the stare of the one eye he presented as he peeked through cell door peepholes. He was my age, balding and wiry, quick, lithe and strong, like an athletic trainer. He was totally emotionless, thus his emotionless eyes. He had almost no English-language capability, just motions and grunts. Under orders, he put me through the ropes 15 times over the years, and rebroke my bad leg once, I feel sure inadvertently. It was a court martial scene and he was having to give me the ropes before a board of North Vietnamese officers. The officers sat at a long table before Pigeye and me, and behind us was a semi-circle of soldiers bearing rifles with fixed bayonets at a kind of "dangle" position, the bayonet pointing at the cement floor ahead of them. This was in the "knobby" torture room of "New Guy Village" at Hoa Lo prison in August 1967-so-called because the walls had been crudely speckled with blobs of cement the size of an ice cream scoop in a "soundproofing" attempt. I could tell Pigeye was nervous because of these officers whom I had never seen before, and I don't think he had, and he pressed me flat over my bad leg instead of the good one he had always put the tension on before. The healing knee cartilage gave way with a loud "pop," and the officers looked at each other and then got up and left. I couldn't get off that floor and onto my feet for nearly two months. In all those years, we probably had no more than 24 hours, one-on-one together. But neither of us ever broke the code of an unvaryingly strict "line of duty" relationship. He never tricked me, always played it straight, and I begged no mercy. I admired that in him, and I could tell he did in me. And when people say: "He was a torturer, didn't you hate him?" I say, like Solzehnitsyn, to the astonishment of,those about me, "No, he was a good soldier, never overstepped his line of duty." By that time, I had learned that fear and guilt are the real pincers that break men's wills. I would chant under my breath as I was marched to interrogation, knowing that I must refuse to comply, and take the ropes: "Your eyes must show no fear; they must show no guilt." The North Vietnamese had learned never to take a prisoner "downtown"-to the payoff for what our
whole treatment regime was about-public propaganda exploitation-unless he was truly intimidated, unless they were sure he felt fear. Their threats had no meaning unless you felt fear. They had suffered the political damage of several, including myself, who had acted up, spoken up, and blurted out the truth to the hand-picked audience of foreigners at the press conference. Book IV of Discourses: "When a man who has set his will neither on dying nor upon living at any cost, comes into the presence of the tyrant, what is there to prevent him from being without fear? Nothing."
http://www.usna.edu/Ethics/Publications/stoicis...