Steven_Bukal comments on How To Have Things Correctly - Less Wrong

57 Post author: Alicorn 17 October 2012 06:10AM

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Comment author: Steven_Bukal 17 October 2012 09:37:03PM 2 points [-]

My default position towards things is hate. I hate stuff. It gets dusty, it has to be managed, it takes up space. A room with lots of stuff in it is cognitively difficult for the brain to process; having lots of stuff around actually drains your mental energy.

http://www.paulgraham.com/stuff.html

I generally dislike owning things that I can't physically carry with me at all times (because "if you don't have something with you, owning it probably hasn't made you more powerful"). Consequently, the majority of what I own I carry with me. The only real exceptions are clothes and books, and I launched a project this week to replace the latter with digital versions which is moving at a decent rate of ten shelves a day.

Comment author: wedrifid 18 October 2012 01:52:38AM 20 points [-]

I generally dislike owning things that I can't physically carry with me at all times (because "if you don't have something with you, owning it probably hasn't made you more powerful").

This seems false on all sorts of levels.

  • I own a kettlebell. It makes me literally and figuratively stronger.
  • I have shelves full of performance enhancing substances. They make me stronger and not all of them require that I have them with me or even have a dose currently in my system.
  • The Nuclear ICMB that I own is too big to carry around but being able to have it launched at will (or even if I fail to report in with a don't-launch code at regular intervals) certainly makes me more powerful.
  • I can't carry a mansion with me, or a racehorse, yacht or business. Yet owning these things changes the way people perceive me and makes them more likely to do what I want. That is power.
  • Owning the tools of my professional trade has made me more powerful---they allow me to earn more money. I don't carry them with me at all times.
  • Owning jacket suitable for wet and cold conditions increases my power---it means I can go to cold wet places without getting cold. I don't carry with it with me when it's summer at the beach. I carry my surfboard instead. Generalising this principle I can't use all my power at once, so I only carry the power enhancing objects that are relevant to the immediate task.
Comment author: Steven_Bukal 18 October 2012 02:27:10AM *  4 points [-]

The phrasing I used there is indefensible, but the general idea I'm trying to get at is that many people acquire tons of things which in theory increase their power but in practise don't because they are never on hand when needed. Added to this are the tons of things many people acquire whose uselessness goes unnoticed because of a general failure to criticize potential acquisitions for power increasing ability at all.

Comment author: Kaj_Sotala 19 October 2012 11:27:34AM 1 point [-]

The Nuclear ICMB that I own is too big to carry around but being able to have it launched at will (or even if I fail to report in with a don't-launch code at regular intervals) certainly makes me more powerful.

Remind me not to get on your bad side.

Comment author: wedrifid 19 October 2012 02:11:55PM 3 points [-]

Remind me not to get on your bad side.

Or, I suppose, live within the fallout radius of anyone on my bad side

Comment author: Kaj_Sotala 19 October 2012 04:51:51PM 1 point [-]

That, too.

Comment author: RichardKennaway 19 October 2012 01:40:11PM 0 points [-]

I launched a project this week to replace [physical books] with digital versions which is moving at a decent rate of ten shelves a day.

I have a question about this, but I decided to put it in the open thread.

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