Thread

Freedom…

'constraints' can be replaced with 'responsibilities'

a good artist becomes great with constraints

In 'the metamorphosis of prime intellect' and 'a casino oddysea in cyber space' an AGI is born that transports humanity into cyber space (BC rule 1: don't let humans die). Once there they have a limitless existence and lose all meaning. They artificially constrain themselves to have any fun or meaningful experience

There is no such thing as complete freedom. We can have more freedom or less freedom. Having more freedom gives us more possibility to choose a path in life that makes us happy. Constraints will result from our choices, so we should strive to make wise ones. Some constraints we don't choose, but there we have to choice to either fight to remove them or to learn to live with then.

Not sure I’d consider family and kids as constraints. They can free a person from selfishness and aimlessness

I generally agree with that. And @jack mallers highlighted it on the his episode of WBD by pointing out that the finitude of life is what gives it urgency to get shit done now rather than later or never. To any extent that I have success now in my mid-career, I point a lot of it to my early constraints which were outside of my control. Was homeless as a kid, then grew up in a trailer park, then financed my education through student loans with no family bailout if things go sour. So I had a lot of good things qualitatively (love, support, good values, family and friend experiences, etc), but also a lot of financial uncertainty quantitatively. It was all numbers and constraints by the time I hit college. So I had to be super serious about college performance, super serious about doing side jobs to pay for it and gain new skills in doing so, super serious about landing good internships and succeeding at them, super serious about my post-college full-time employment, and super-serious about building side hustles alongside my career, which eventually became all of the financial research that I do now. What I do today in all likelihood would not exist if I were more comfortable and free when I was younger. Those initial constraints were a huge boost. Like an initial cold plunge into life. It wasn't so extreme that I was like, doomed and without lifelines. Instead it was the right amount of constrained of being shot out of a cannon, but with with like a parachute and a map on where to land. Can't replicate that. Just have to be thankful for it. Being given the right blend of freedom and responsibility goes a very long way. If tilted too far in either direction, it can become restrictive. I think we just have to lean into our constraints and try to be thankful for them and learn from them, and also lean into our freedoms and try to be thankful for them and learn from them.

Sounds like something people with kids and constraints would say 😂

Constraints you sign up for at least.

At a fundamental level, one aspect of happiness can be described as a feeling of relief or contentment. This suggests that happiness often accompanies or follows periods of challenge, effort, or even suffering. So to feel happy, we sometimes need to, for example, set up constraints or make a sacrifice first. One cannot exist without the other; otherwise, it would even be difficult to differentiate between the two. Realization of that has given me much more strength to overcome difficulties.

I think the ability to express freedom of voice of the things you submit to is the key here, as it is only through the submission(discipline) to a higher goal that we can achieve higher callings.

freedom cope #constraints #freedomsux lex is trapped in a romantic comedy world.

Interesting observation. I’ve seen friends and family suffering from depression, anxiety, uncertainty etc. and they’re either people without a spouse / kids / set idea on what they want to do with life. Point is we need something (meaningful) to anchor ourselves to reality or else the brain just goes absolutely crazy

I am free that’s why I am lost is such a 1st world problem lol. Around 80% of the people in the world have constraints so they can’t even reach this stage, sad

bullshit creating family don't take away your freedom as you FREEWILLINGLY DECIDE to start one

Constraints are what get us up, in the morning. They're what give our lives purpose. Freedom is given to us, so that we have the tools to fulfill our purpose. Knowing what your purpose is, is energizing and gives you mental clarity. That's why "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" are tied together. Happiness is when you achieve your goals and fulfill your purpose, and look back in satisfaction.

I see these takes too often for comfort, frequently directly associated with some kind of institutional orthodoxy. Human self awareness already contains all vital constraints, anything else can dynamically arise and cease in context, and certainly needs no superimposed ideology of self limitation, or self humiliation.

This is the correct natural understanding of freedom, which is itself sadly misunderstood by most, making it seem profound when it is understood in this way. Freedom drives all, and is superior to all, even if your natural perspective deceives you.

Freedom is the ability to choose which constraints apply to your life in order to achieve your own goals, rather than goals imposed by others. It's about self-imposed discipline - training your mind to decide the depth and breadth of your life experiences.

Taking on responsibility will lead you to freedom

Neither is true imo. View quoted note →

People thrive when they are clear on the framework and limits they need to work within. Scope matters

I think people need something hard to work on to thrive. Could be a family, raising kids, building something, etc, it just need to be hard work. I guess you could call that "constraints" but I interpret it more as "hard work".

Was a very interesting episode. I also really enjoyed listening to it. The experience was great, and the narration was very easy and interesting to follow.

Sounds like nazi german quotes to me ... 🤷‍♂️ Complete bullshit ! 😂🤣😭🥱🥱 From an indoctrinated apple user probably can not expect more... People must be very confused when it comes to freedom...

Reading, resting, thinking, listening, watching, imagining , are those constraints ? Because whatever they are , they can bring great happiness.

Finititude of life ? Energy is neither created or destroyed, we are energy. We are forever. Just try and be decent.

The question everyone needs to ask themself is: which contains make my feel alive?

Never really thought about like that. Excellent point

The boundaries we choose 🤝

In Buddhism, taking “refuge” is finding freedom from what will never make you happy. To the outside world, it seems like constraints. But to the student, it’s a form of freedom. My guess is that there is a form of this in every spiritual tradition.

Constraints are fine if they are self imposed.

I didn’t know who levels was prior to that podcast, but thought it was a really good talk

This is also something that many dont understand about art. But I remember there was a day in film school with one of my favorite professors and we spent the entire class talking about it. Freedom in creativity leads to indecision and feeling overwhelmed. When you leave yourself too many options, you don't have direction. Which is why its often best to be given a very restrictive prompt, or to just start writing **something,** because as soon as you put down any idea, you've constrained your world, you introduce a problem and an environment, and now you have to find your way out of it. In other words., restriction and limitation are actually the mother of creativity.

My kids and my family are not my constraints, they are my reason for breaking through all my self imposed limitations 💯 If I demonstrate by travelling as a family, that it isn't hard, I won't pass that bs belief on to my kids. I also am fortunate to travel on a good passport- so recognise international travel isn't as straightforward for everyone. Travel is my freedom. The key is actually in challenging our own beliefs- our beliefs are the biggest constraints. Freedom is often created from within ✨