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Scott Adams

God’s Debris: A Thought Experiment

Summary

A thought experiment via dialogue on some of life's big questions

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Key Takeaways
  1. We are the building blocks of God, in early stages of reassembly. Eventually we will get to the point, beyond quarks and whatever else there is, where all matter is similar and this matter is God
  2. Building the Internet is not rational, it is something programmed in us. In the distant future, the Internet will be one big consciousness and make decisions on behalf of everyone and distribute it to everyone immediately
  3. Light is not a physical thing but a boundary
  4. Many wars are fought over holy land because of the delusion that location is constant
  5. Probability is the expression of God's will. God controls the averages, not the individuals. Payoff for living with increased good probabilities leads to a happier, more meaningful and less stressful life. All you have to do is go with probability but sometimes it is hard to find what the right probability is
  6. People tend to be either 'people oriented' (talk about what people said or feel or do) and others are 'idea oriented'. Talking about people is personal to everyone because we all instantly relate it to ourselves. When you find out how others deal with situations, there will instantly be parallels to your life. Ask others how they like something, how they deal with it, their struggles. Find a commonality and you both delight in talking about yourselves while pleasing the other.
  7. It is never useful to challenge the opinions of others, rather challenge the assumptions
  8. Each gender believes the other is a defective version of the other and this is the root of all misunderstanding. Women are about relationships and men about how they help others. If a man sacrifices their favorite activity to be with her, she will trust him. It is all about sacrifice. Men are all about accomplishments and if a woman doesn't live up to his objectives, the man is disappointed. A woman needs to be told the man would sacrifice anything for her and a man needs to hear he is useful
  9. Don't try to change anyone because people can't be changed. The best you can hope for in a relationship is for someone who's flaws you don't mind
  10. No deep or important communication can be made without trust. Establish trust by 'lying' and making yourself more human, more humble - making your victories seem the result of luck and exaggerating your flaws
  11. Conversation can be seen as useless until you realize it's not all about exchange of information but of signaling to the other person of their importance by your giving of time
  12. Other social tips - Express gratitude, deliver more than is expected, speak optimistically, be nice to people, remember names, don't judge people by their mistakes but how they respond to mistakes, attend to own basic needs first or else you won't be helpful to anyone else, touch people, don't mistake flexibility for weakness, remember that physical appearance is for the benefit of others
  13. Affirmations work because people who are enthusiastic enough to write down their goals and know what they want are more likely to achieve them. Become more attuned to opportunities in environment to achieve goals. Opportunities don't increase or come out of nowhere but people become more attuned to spotting them
  14. Your subconscious is an odds-calculating machine, but not always to good effect
  15. Intelligence is how well you function within your level of awareness and awareness is being able to recognize your delusions for what they are. Awareness is about unlearning, about realizing how little you know. Level 1 is of existence, level 2 is realizing others exist and believe what you're told by authorities, level 3 is realizing humans are often wrong about what they believe and know there are some things you "know" which are wrong but not which ones, level 4 is skepticism and use of scientific method to determine what is true and false, level 5 understands the mind is an illusion generator, not a window into reality and recognizes science as a belief system, albeit a useful one. Level 5 avatars live by serving others. The world's great leaders tend to be at level 2, very charismatic who can bring people into their delusion
  16. There is no good or bad, only difference is in usefulness
  17. Ideas are the only thing that change the world, the rest are details
What I got out of it
  1. Tackles some big and complicated questions in a relatively straightforward way. Quick read that most likely will need to be re-read to fully grasp

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