A modern philosopher

The great era of the popular philosopher is far gone.  Who do we have that has the ideals, the ideas, and the impact of Socrates? Not many, perhaps none. We've left our philosophy to the academics.

But I'd like to nominate one among us, still living, who I think fulfills all that a philosopher should be.  He has created powerful new ideas about a subject that did not exist in ancient Greece, but is a major force in modern society.  He's pursued those ideas for a lifetime, constantly forgoing material reward for the sake of fighting for those ideals.  He is unwavering and uncompromising, and is subsequently widely disparaged by his colleagues.  And he's undoubtedly changed the world already.

Best of all, he even has a beard.

Have you guessed who it is yet?

I'll reveal the answer in my next post.

Personality, Part 2

In a previous post, I wondered whether personality can be overcome.  I doubted that it could.  Reading Seneca's Epistles (aka Letters from a Stoic), I came cross the following in Epistle XI:

That which is implanted, and inborn can be toned down by training, but not overcome.

 And later in the same Epistle:

Whatever is assigned to us by the terms of our birth and the blend of our constitutions, will stick with us, no matter how hard or how long the soul may have tried to master itself.

Seneca seems to have reached the same conclusions.

Switching to a modern scientist, I recommend reading Stephen Pinker's The Blank Slate for much more on this topic.  In fact, I should re-read it.  It's one of those books that makes a powerful argument against some very nice-sounding but in fact harmful ideas on human nature.

Remember, we can't change our personality, nor our faults.  But we can mitigate them, and sometimes to a large degree.  My own personality has shown itself to result in many careless mistakes in my work.  I don't think I can overcome this, but I can be aware of it, and I can control my actions. I've gotten into the habit of forcing myself to double-check my work, which has helped a lot.  Even though I am careless, I have found a way around it as long as I can keep up an artificial carefulness.

Less is more

The happiness of staying in cheap hotels amongst other travelers is the subject of David Brooks' recent column The Haimish Line.  Those who spend more on luxury only get luxury, and miss out on the real warmth and congeniality of the simpler lifestyle.  It's one of those examples of less is more.  We have been conditioned to think that nicer & fancier is unquestionably better.  But it doesn't bring any more happiness.  This is the sort of thing that reminds us that Stoicism is not a philosophy of self-denial, it is one of self-fulfillment.

McAfee on possessions

We all know McAfee's virus software.  Evidently the man was quite rich, but lost almost all of it in the recession, according to an ABC news article.  On the way, he learned a Stoic-like attitude.  I especially like the quote at the end of the article:

"I think most people don't sit down and ask, 'What do I need?" not "What do I want?" Because we all want everything," he explained. "But what do we need? We don't need very much. We really don't ... The things we want and the things we need are two different things."

Cyberstoic

I discovered a promising new Stoic blog, Cyber Stoic, through one of my Twitter followers, @NeoStoicism.  I'm looking forward to reading more!

Dwarf Fortress

Normal person: I must win.
Stoic: Winning isn't important.
Dwarf Fortress fan:  Losing is fun!

The recent story in the New York Times about a game called Dwarf Fortress strikes some Stoic chords.  The authors of the game aren't particularly concerned with becoming famous.  They just want to create an interesting game, even if it takes 20 years to finish.  The fans of the game aren't concerned with winning.  They just like creating a world, managing it, and then watching as it all inevitably goes horribly wrong.  It's a different approach to gaming.

I still don't think it's a great idea to spend much time playing games, but reading about this game seems refreshing.  I hope the ideas here catch on.

Personality

Sometimes I wonder if Stoicism, as a philosophy, can be taught to anyone.  I know several people that are decidedly non-Stoic. Not bad people at all, just people that are natural worriers and pessimists. They fret over things that they have no control over, repeatedly bashing their heads against the walls of their problems.

That's just their personality. And I don't believe you can change personality to any great extent.

Could these people be taught Stoicism? I haven't attempted it.

I wonder what the success rates were in the days of Epictetus?