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Ask HN: Unpopular ideas that you believe in and why?

9 pointsby galfarragem8 months ago
Sunday is a good day to challenge your assumptions. So I ask you unpopular ideas that you believe in and why do you believe them. HN is full of smart people,<p>I start...<p>I believe in the idea of secession. When the spectrum of beliefs becomes too wide, reaching a consensus can be impossible or established through force. A division of 80% versus 20% is fundamentally different from a close call like 52% versus 48%. In such cases, secession — whether literal or figurative — should be considered. It allows competing ideas to thrive independently, even if the &quot;logistics&quot; of a secession are scary. A classic example is the division of East and West Germany, though the scale can vary.<p>edit: You can generalise and&#x2F;or use a throw away account.

4 comments

big-green-man8 months ago
I believe that about half of people are unremarkable. All human beings have the <i>potential</i> to be remarkable I think, but for some reason or other, upbringing, exposure to ideas, conditioning, whatever, that half aren&#x27;t remarkable at all. It is very difficult to tell which people you meet are this way,remarkableness is not a constant, people have talents that they hide because they&#x27;re self conscious, because they&#x27;re none of your business or whatever reason, or just contextually, you&#x27;ll never see it, like a guitar virtuoso you only ever see when hes scanning your groceries at Walmart.<p>Additionally, because there are public social norms and people are reserved about demonstrating any talents they may have, many of those privately remarkable people won&#x27;t appear so to anyone outside. So to all of us, it appears that <i>the majority</i> of people are unremarkable.<p>For this reason, I believe that going along with what is expected, what the norm is, going with the flow, is almost always a losing proposition. Doing what most people do is a sure ticket to mediocrity. But just doing things because everyone else does not is not a ticket to happiness either, you have to use reason and understand what is good for yourself, period, there&#x27;s no silver bullet to greatness. I think everyone that can do this should do this, differentiate themselves how they please, without harming others or themselves of course.
PaulHoule8 months ago
Last time I answered that question honestly I got kicked out of a web site. No thanks.
bartonfink8 months ago
It is both possible and simple to outrun your fork. Anyone who says it is impossible has never made a serious attempt.
illuminant8 months ago
We are not alone in alone in our own minds. There is a secret culture, a secret governance, and a secret war upon us all. This has always been among us (one in six of us know exactly what I&#x27;m talking about, however you will be punished for speaking of this greatest taboo.) These &quot;thought control&quot; us, in a meddlesome immoral and lawless ways, and are responsible for much of the insanity plaguing our world.