I won't offer names, but I have a contrarian piece of advice: whenever you find yourself 'resonating' too much with a certain thinker, a certain religion, ideology etc. stop, take a deep breath and start asking why that is.<p>The odds that any particular person will always be right are basically zero. It's way more likely that you're just consuming things that reinforce prior beliefs and make you feel good.<p>Make sure that you're periodically engaging with people who challenge your beliefs.
Michael Sugrue<p><a href="https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB5ShJRcpNFPz_2uazuT4XJ3yP3O4fH1H" rel="nofollow">https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB5ShJRcpNFPz_2uazuT4XJ3y...</a><p>I didn’t think it possible to learn this much this quickly.
- Jean-Claude Vandamme esp. his life advices
- Jean-Pierre Raffarin "Ze yes nid ze no"
- Lorie who artistically taught us about "La positive attitude"
I'm not an expert on this topic, but one author in particular that I came across as a younger man was James Allen and his writings:
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Allen_(author)" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Allen_(author)</a><p>And in particular there is a 3-volume series that was available for a few years that put together a lot of the work he had done during his lifetime, even though his most popular seemed to be "As a Man Thinketh".<p>The Wisdom of James Allen I, II, and III:
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-James-Allen-Including-Prosperity/dp/1889606006" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-James-Allen-Including-Prosperi...</a>
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-James-Allen-Difficulties-Triumphant/dp/1889606073" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-James-Allen-Difficulties-Trium...</a>
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-James-Allen-III-Heavenlylife/dp/1889606081" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-James-Allen-III-Heavenlylife/d...</a><p>It's been a number of years since I last read them, and unfortunately the publisher above went out of business so you can generally only find the titles above used, but I did enjoy the philosophy/thinking shared in the writing, even if their titles may indicate a somewhat religious slant, overall I'd say the writings focus more on leading a good life.<p>This is a good reminder I should read them again to refresh my memory on all that is discussed within the pages however, since it has been probably over 15+ years since I first read them thoroughly.
Jeffrey Sachs is my favorite public intellectual these days.<p>He has known a lot of powerful people, so when he discusses world events, he doesn't need to talk out of his behind. He's a serious enough scholar that there's substance behind his views.<p>He's not particularly iconoclastic. His opinions are mildly progressive, nothing outlandish.<p>What I value about him is that he's relentlessly reasonable, and that's hard to find online.
Hard to pick just one, but a couple of top choices would include:<p>Ben Goertzel<p>Joscha Bach<p>Michael Munger<p>Michael Posner<p>Miguel Nicolelis<p>Melanie Mitchell
Epicurus. In addition to his life changing philosophy, check-out his physics. His notion of Clinamen [0] is basically quantum mechanics from 23 centuries ago.<p>[0] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinamen" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinamen</a>
Right now, I'd say Robin Hanson (@robinhanson <a href="https://www.overcomingbias.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.overcomingbias.com/</a>).<p>Mostly resonates with me because he seems to freely challenge established norms in very thought provoking ways.
David Chapman, hands down. The kind of insights I get reading his pieces can't be found anywhere else on the internet: <a href="https://meaningness.com" rel="nofollow">https://meaningness.com</a>
Peter Zeihan seems to have a very strong handle on geopolitics. Do not approach his work lightly... it's very depressing if you're not in the US.<p>Daniel Schmachtenberger gave me a strong heads up on societal energy blindness<p>Kevlin Henney taught me far more about programming than I thought I even needed to know. I'll never approach multi-threaded programming the same way again.<p>Eric Weinstein made me aware of the embedded growth obligations that have de-ranged so many of our institutions. It was quite a wake-up call.
Frederic Bastiat [0] is very underrated in my opinion.<p>John McWhorter, whom I admire very much as a person and a thinker.<p>[0] = The Law by Bastiat <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gob_pa3BAU" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gob_pa3BAU</a>
For me personally:<p><pre><code> Alan Turing for model of computation
Kurt Gödel for incompleteness theorem
Erwin Schrödinger for "What is life?" book
Hugh Everett for many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics
Seth Lloyd for ultimate physical limits to computation
John von Neumann for self-replicating spacecraft or von Neumann probe
Robin Hanson for Grabby Aliens model
Nick Bostrom for idea of existential risk
Richard Dawkins for many God debates and books
John Stuart Mill for Harm principle
Elon Musk for rockets reusability
Diogenes for simplicity and Diogenes and Alexander anecdote
Horace for Exegi monumentum poem</code></pre>
Prof. Jordan Peterson<p>He has fundamentally changed some of my values and thoughts about me, the world and my place within it.<p>Highly recommend some lectures or talks from him.
In alphabetical order,<p>Ayn Rand<p>Elon Musk<p>Eric Weinstein<p>Jordan Peterson<p>Joscha Bach<p>Noam Chomsky<p>Paul Graham<p><pre><code> Yeah that's cheesy, but his essays had a big influence on me and is the reason I'm on this forum.
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Peter Thiel<p>Thomas Sowell
<i>Some More News</i> had a great, if too brief, takedown of Jordan Peterson<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSNWkRw53Jo&t=6719s" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSNWkRw53Jo&t=6719s</a>
Venkatesh Rao (??? post-postmodernist tech philosopher?).<p>Nicholas Taleb (skeptic/economist), Alexander Wales (rationalist author), /r/rational (rationalist fiction), Chapo Trap House podcast (leftist politics, comedy), Richard D Wolff (economist), Stephen West (philosophy historian), Jonathan Blow (game designer, skeptic programmer), Vitalik Buterin (kinda the only crypto person I trust who is genuinely smart)<p>Then of course Noam Chomsky / Slavoy Zizek (famously-rigorously-intelligent leftists). William Macaskill (Effective Altruism, moral utilitarianism at its finest). Adam Curtis (prescient documentary-style reporter).<p>Long list to not have a female on... feelsbad. Um - not sure how to change that - it seems like at least partially a general topic of interest thing? Not so many women in the philosophy/tech/economics/world-politics space? Kinda should actively search for that now tbh<p>Edit: I was downvoted to negatives presumably for saying "ngl some cringe names around here"... referring of course to the much larger collection of Rand and Peterson fans than I expected. I have since acknowledged my mistake, that use of woke terms like "cringe" in this neutral-thought safe-space is itself clearly a far greater crime and thus my post should be cancelled, and there is no irony in that or inherent political bias embedded in the platform by maintaining such neutrality as sacrosanct above passive-aggressive behavior like mine