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Huxley's Brave New World is sure to be more telling of how things will actually play out.

We won't give up our liberties if they are taken by force, but rather give them up out of apathy. Apathy as a result of the cessation of our easy desires.

There are many parallels between trends we all see coming in the 20s and themes of Huxley's '32 work.


An idea nicely distilled in this 2009 comic: https://biblioklept.org/2013/06/08/huxley-vs-orwell-the-webc...


I think it's a mix of both. And you could add Animal Farm to the mix as well.

Animal Farm is a book that is often forgotten and I think it's a must read. After you read it you can see things in politicians that you wouldn't before.


Came here to say this. Just finished reading it and there are so many parallels between the book and our current trajectory. Namely, as technology continues to abstract struggle from our daily lives and entertainment becomes more of an immersive escape, the motivation to solve true personal and societal problems slowly disappears.


This and messenger are the only reasons I haven't closed my account.


Same, but recently discovered you can continue using Messenger if you deactivate your account.


That might not be the case. A friend recently closed her account and I found out because Messenger gave an error (of course the type of error that really didn't convey what happened, but that's another story).


Smoked on and off between 17 and 21. Took me about 8 months full of relapses to finally stop completely - psychological addiction was far harder to break than I first anticipated.

In my case, I realised I had been self medicating for some mild pervasive anxiety without explicitly acknowledging it. Although smoking calms anxiety temporarily - it tends to exasperate it in the the longer term - creating a vicious cycle of excessive smoking for me. Once I started to take action on this underlying issue, smoking became far easier to quit. So, find the underlying issue, why do you feel the need to smoke so much? Lack of alternative activities? Loneliness? Mental health issues?

Hope my anecdote can help you out - my life is FAR better after investing the effort in quitting. You'll wish you had done it sooner, but do not underestimate the willpower it will likely take.


did you quit on your own? or did you seek a specialist to treat your anxiety. I think I am also self medicating because of anxiety. Like when I am sober after long day I am anxious for unknown reasons but after I smoke I get calm... yesterday I had a epiphany that I smoke because I don't really have any real long term hobbies. Only projects that I wnat to start or stuff that I want to learn... but everything is in a planning phase not in execution phase if you get what I mean.


I didn't have access to a specialist in this case but I have used one in the past for something else and he was super helpful for me.

Just the act of vocalising all your thoughts to someone can bring a great deal more clarity to the situation.


I feel I can relate to this somewhat - although in a slightly different context. I build a decent amount of side projects in my spare time with aspirations to take something seriously once I get traction/an interesting opportunity.

But, I'm at a mid-tier university in the UK, with a lacklustre hacking scene. Makes me think weather I made a big mistake not purposefully surrounding myself with more like-minded people - my probability of finding a cofounder in this situation seems slim and it seems that my only option is to relocate to more of a startup 'hub' once I'm finished education.


1) De Vita Beata ("On the Happy Life") - Seneca

2) Shoe Dog - Phil Knight

3) Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman! - Richard Feynman

No. 1 is a bit of a tricky read but completely worth it in my opinion, never have I read anything that has changed my everyday mindset so much.


"Fix ugly hack to at least be consistent with itself", haha, this is brilliant.


I know you're probably pissed off but HN is a free service and they have no duty to you. Having said that, mods are usually upfront about things like this.


I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed for an answer.


Just got an invite, thank you!


I don't think anybody has received anything yet, got a time frame? Ta


Don't bother with a youth hostel, go on AirBnB and find yourself a nice room.


As much as I would like to support the YC startup AirBnB, with a quick search on hostels.com I found a bed for €13/night. A similar bed on AirBnB costs €20/night. I'm not sure what price I can achieve if I find a private room that allows me to split the price with others.


If you haven't made an account yet I could refer you to airbnb and you'll get a $25 credit. http://airbnb.ca/c/aalshurafa


Thanks for the referral. The $25 credit only applies (to me or you) when I book something with over a $75 base rate. So you won't get it today but next time I go on vacation for longer you will get it.


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