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It's true that the story lionized Bilbo and mostly ignored the other hobbits. We tend to like weirdos and rebels in stories, but really, at a personal level, we often tend to prefer nice, predictable, friendly folks in real life. Those are the reliable people that we depend on.

But I think what people may overlook in the story is that not just any old hobbit would have succeeded at the quest or been fulfilled by the journey of it. If the story is intending to say that we're all Bilbo (which I'm not sure it is), I think it's wrong. Bilbo never would have grown into himself if he hadn't left his comfort zone, true, but the overlooked flipside is that not everyone becomes Bilbo when they leave their comfort zones, especially if you only limit the legitimate activities to be uncomfortable with to a very narrow band of things considered sufficiently "adventuresome." We can't all be Bilbo because we're not all the same. That make sense? That's kind of what I was trying to point out with my analogy.

Personally, I believe that growth requires discomfort, and I'm not fulfilled unless I feel like I'm growing. So while I might be momentarily amused to stay at a comfortable plateau, it drives me batty in the long run. But I'm willing to consider the idea that other people aren't like that and don't need to live the way that I do in order to be fulfilled. After all, I'm an introvert. I tend to push myself by studying and learning about new things or picking up new artistic practices and hobbies. More extroverted people go to crazy parties and live music and huge social events. I sometimes wish I could be more like that because--due to the way our society validates extroverts and pathologizes introverts--I sometimes feel like I'm missing out. But I can't change how I'm built, and that kind of stuff just doesn't fulfill me in the same way. So, I guess I kind of understand a bit of where you're coming from. Are you an introvert, too? Have you ever read a book called Quiet?

Very good comment here. The dual forces of competition and cooperation in biology have always interested me as well. And this:

>Eventually, cooperation always becomes the most efficient means of expressing self-interest.

I think is quite well phrased and summed up.

You might be interested in this book: https://www.amazon.com/Limited-Wants-Unlimited-Means-Hunter-Gatherer/dp/155963555X

It's an economic analysis of hunter gatherer societies and lifestyles, quite well grounded in legitimate anthropological science/understanding.

I don't think our way forward from here will look quite like this way (namely the way we existed for the majority of human history), but it is interesting and perhaps very telling to look through and read/understand this history, and the differences between it and our current survival strategy.

I think the real thing to look at in thinking about human forms of organization in the future is how we are going to face the future where climate change, food instability, and population crises hit. It's clear that long term human survival is going to have to be both resilient and sustainable. And I think that mutual cooperation in the face of crisis is a more resilient strategy. Crisis seems to breed cooperation.

There's so many variables at play it's almost impossible to say what human society will look like in the future. But I think that one thing I can say is that cooperative human societal strategies are likely to win out over uncooperative ones. And perhaps the reintroduction of strong survival pressure might push us towards something much more equitable. I hope, anyway :)

Read Thomas Sowell's book: Black Rednecks and White Liberals

"The notion that the ghetto black was the authentic black not only spread among both
white and black intellectuals, it had social repercussions far beyond the intellectual community.

Rooting black identity in a counterproductive culture not only reduced incentives to move
beyond that culture, it cut off those within that culture from other blacks who had advanced
beyond it, who might otherwise have been sources of examples, knowledge, and experience
that could have been useful to those less fortunate. But more successful blacks were
increasingly depicted as either irrelevant non-members of the black community or even as
traitors to it.

In turn, this meant that many blacks who had a wider cultural exposure and
greater socioeconomic success felt a need to conform, to some degree or another, to a more
narrow ghetto view of the world, perhaps using ghetto language, in order to prove their
“identity” with their own race. "

Clearly we don’t see eye to eye.

Here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0743270754/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519088748&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=a+team+of+rivals+book&dpPl=1&dpID=51bpOR8qigL&ref=plSrch

One of my favorite books about him. It’s excellently sourced at the end of the book. It’s not whitewash, it’s factually accurate. He was an amazing guy. I’m pretty sure it will change your tune about his motivations and beliefs.

Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World

One of my favorite excerpts:

>"Fortunately, there is now a reasonably substantial body of evidence in evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and other fields suggesting that, even from the most rigorous scientific perspective, unselfishness and concern for others are not only in our own interest but also, in a sense, innate to our biological nature. Such evidence, when combined with reflection on our personal experiences and coupled with simple common sense, can, I believe, offer a strong case for the benefits of cultivating basic human values that does not rely on religious principles or faith at all. And this I welcome."

You say that like the defense industry isn't worth hundreds of billions of dollars annually, or that Arundhati Roy isn't an award-winning author who's book has sold millions of copies and has been translated into 40 languages.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/sofex-the-business-of-war-full-length

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arundhati_Roy#Advocacy

By all means, please link to your published works so we can know that you're in a position to judge Ms. Roy. I'm sure you're busy winning literary prizes and not wanking and playing video games. Certainly you're not a nameless, faceless internet nobody who's highlight every day is the small dopamine rush you get from upvoted comments on Reddit?

Could you post your collection of published essays or articles so we can know you're older than 14 yourself, Spencer? Or is it Chad?


https://www.amazon.com/Algebra-Infinite-Justice-Arundhati-Roy/dp/014302907X

I don't know. It could be the founder of AA, as veverkap suggests, but since I can't find the quote until around the year 2000, I doubt it. It might be this Bill Wilson, but since I don't have any specific source attribution, I'm not going to worry about it.

Since this morning, I've found a slightly earlier use, in Life's Little Instruction Book From Mothers to Daughters: Sound advice and thoughtful reminders for creating a happy life and a loving home, p. 127. It might be original to that.

Still no sign that it came from Dr. Seuss.

If anyone is interested in more Feynman, I suggest checking out The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman (links to Amazon). He had a fascinating outlook on life and learning.

If you're interested in Feynman's life and his great stories: "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" and "What Do You Care What Other People Think?" are great reads. The guy was a goddamn rockstar.

Luckily Caesar was important enough that multiple copies of his works were preserved in many European Monasteries, so the texts are accurate as we have many manuscripts.

If you are interested Penguin has a good modern translation of his memoirs of the wars in Gaul.

In high school it is one of the assigned books in Latin class, because he had a very clear and precise prose style, and is considered one of the best prose writers, After Cicero, in Latin. In my exams I had to do countless translations of his works.

>"Learning about nature is a lifelong quest with an almost limitless subject matter. People are part of nature, and, of course, I love people. The good ones make me feel as though we were made for one another. Even the bad ones intrigue me - how do they reconcile their actions with the web of relationships in which we're all embedded? I'm not talking here about the love I feel for my family and friends, which is so ingrained as a sense of faith that I don't question it. I'm talking about a love amenable to investigation. We are only beginning to understand the nature of human contact, good and bad, and the motivations behind human actions. My love of people helps satisfy my curiosity as naturalist. If there is no destiny, there is no design. There's only life and death. My goal is to learn about life by living it, not by trying to figure out a cryptic plan that the Creator had in store for me." - Greg Graffin, Anarchy Evolution.

Greg Graffin is the lead singer for Bad Religion, but also a proffesor in Biology. I bought Anarchy Evolution about a year ago and this quote has stick with me ever since. It's also my first post to Quotesporn.

If anyone's interested in the book, here's a link to amazon (KingsRoadMerch has it out of stock):

http://www.amazon.com/Anarchy-Evolution-Science-Religion-Without/dp/0061828505

Yeah. Well perhaps "equally" lonely.

Anyhow, I'm sure many artists wander these boards. Letters to a Young Poet was ineffably helpful in holding loneliness/solitude as something valuable.

And also, a nice quote from the great American painter, Andrew Wyeth:
>"I think anything like that - which is contemplative, silent, shows a person alone - people always feel is sad. Is it because we've lost the art of being alone?"

Cheers man. I've just finished the book Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! and I'll be going on to the one you've recommended next :)

http://www.amazon.com/Surely-Feynman-Adventures-Curious-Character/dp/0393316041/ref=pd_sim_b_2/175-5309930-4744562?ie=UTF8&refRID=1DCAC154J2CFHZSADHPZ

We can talk about this all day. Information asymmetry in particular can cry out for dialing back a free market. Just realize that it still has an inefficiency cost. Society just needs to make sure it's willing to pay that cost for equality. It needs to be balanced. In some situations its a great idea. In others, I think market intervention causes too little equality in exchange for too much inefficiency. Thus, too much free market and too much socialism are both bad things, in my opinion.

This book (which has it's flaws, like any human endeavor) has influenced me quite a bit on this point: Arthur Okun, Equality and Efficiency: The Big Tradeoff

Here's the blurb:

> Behind our democracy lurks a powerful but unaccountable network of people who wield massive power and reap huge profits in the process. In exposing this shadowy and complex system that dominates our lives, Owen Jones sets out on a journey into the heart of our Establishment, from the lobbies of Westminster to the newsrooms, boardrooms and trading rooms of Fleet Street and the City. Exposing the revolving doors that link these worlds, and the vested interests that bind them together, Jones shows how, in claiming to work on our behalf, the people at the top are doing precisely the opposite. In fact, they represent the biggest threat to our democracy today - and it is time they were challenged.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Establishment-how-they-get-away-x/dp/0141974990

There's a pretty good comic book based on his life, which really captures the feel of his humour and work.

I know the song. It was on the radio for like a year and a half. I believe that Hunter Thompson is the best (or at least most publicly exposed) example of a person that has taken this quote to heart.

That's why they wrote the song... the quote, plus the excerpt from Fear and Loating equals that song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8gAtTxWhUY

http://www.amazon.com/Fear-Loathing-Las-Vegas-American/dp/0679785892/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373775814&sr=8-1&keywords=fear+in+loathing+in+las+vegas

Please read this book! It's improved my life tremendously and it could help you just as much! <3

• The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a Fuck - https://www.amazon.com/dp/0316270725/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_Q9Urzb50QNRXP

Neither author was wrong, they were just targeted at different systems.

Read 1984 and then Lian Heng's Son of the Revolution, a first hand account of a man growing up in Maoist China. Be prepared to literally drop your jaw at how accurate Orwell was.

Then read Brave New World and turn on MTV for five minutes. The next time somebody tells you either book is overrated, laugh and walk away.