Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene

 Laws of Human Nature is a great book by Robert Greene. It contains very basic but counter-intuitive facts about how the human mind works. It is similar to Greene's other books in terms of style: very relevant examples mixed with a good amount of theory/suggestion. Here are a few snippets:

Children are smarter than us

We should never believe evidence until we ourselves are satisfied...evidence may be faked or used to support anything - like petroleum companies telling us to switch our lights off to save electricity!

Superiority Bias, ladies and gentlemen

 

 

Observation is one hell of a lesson.

 

If you want to test a man's character, give him power.

 

The true spirit of conversation

The importance of being confident

New word: schadenfreude

 

 

The quote at the end....

Aggression

Some more on aggresson

A really great book, Laws of Human Nature deserves to be a part of school syllabus along with personal health, personal finance and critical thinking.

Crocodiles

I have always been in awe of Crocodiles.

These animals come in varying sizes and are found in almost all places in the world where the climate allows them to exist.

Their intelligence and problem solving ability is great. A variety called the Siamese Crocodile even has the mother and father taking care of the offspring.

However, it appears that crocodiles can never be truly reliable pets.

One very interesting thing about crocodiles is that when crocodiles born and bred in captivity are left in their natural habitat, they do not need to adapt at all. Its like a duck taking to water.

Now, is this because crocodiles are more evolved than other species? Or because they are less evolved? Food for thought.

Take that, lions and other evolved animals.

How technology relates to respecting your elders

Like today's written word, there was a time when the only things in someone's knowledge were the ones they heard from their elders.

Almost all the ancient world's literature was passed on from generation to generation in this matter. The only way to learn was to listen to your elders.

This is true not only for literature. Agriculture, cooking, prediction of seasons and all sorts of art, science and heuristics would have required learning from elders - relatives or respected people in one's tribe or village. Like ancient literature, other things too must have had a generation to generation passage.

And how do we make dal makhani today? Look up the recipe online! Wow. Where is the part when one calls their mom and asks what kind of tadka to do?

It feels that the more a society advances, the less respect for seniors is there. Not a bad thing, this means that instead a lack of respect, there is less need for guidance from seniors or elders.

I am sure there are a lot of other, better reasons for lesser respect to elders in today's world. But no matter how small, technology sure plays a role.

Happiness And Suffering

Happiness multiplies when shared. We have heard so many versions of this quote. There is a similar sentiment that sorrows end on sharing. Or that sorrows get less. Or something like this. However, on looking closely we find that happiness and sorrows are totally, totally unrelated to sharing. In fact, most of the pain and suffering in this world is hidden from us. Most of our happiness in a so called connected world comes from materialistic things. The procurement and manufacturing of most of these materialistic things is the source of a lot of suffering. Mining, agriculture, horticulture, fishing/fisheries, shipping, manufacturing, and even in some cases the domestic help we use are full of suffering. This suffering usually manifests in the form of low pay, low time for leisure or even sleep, and in most cases even the choice to quit work is not there. Dignity, education, healthcare - these are not even afterthoughts. Thinking about these things becomes a burden after a while. Realising that the food we eat has led someone to forego education, that the jewellry we wear has led people being displaced, that the laptop I am writing my stupid thoughts was most likely at some point in the hands of multiple Chinese workers in an assembly line can not be easily ignored. The scary part is that in a couple of minutes I am going to watch some football, have something to eat and then completely get off this train of thought.