Ask HN: I feel like I'm in a filter bubble. How can I “expand my horizons”?
Hi! I've noticed that I've stopped rapidly expanding my knowledge about the world. I hang out on the same websites(HN, reddit), learn the same topics(programming plus couple of hobbies), hear the same ideas.
Nothing has dramatically "expanded my mind" or changed my opinion in the past couple of years. I try to read a lot but it seems like all the books I read are on the same topics, and just repeat the same ideas.
How do I fight that?
I think there's a lot of great areas of knowledge and new ideas in the world that I have no idea about, but I don't know how to find them.
I feel like I've explored pretty much everything that I care to know about the world, and all that is left is to go deeper into the areas I'm already aware of(science, tech, etc), but of course it's probably not true.
What do you do about that? And what are some things that you've discovered in the past 5 years that you weren't aware of before?
54 comments
[ 2.1 ms ] story [ 95.9 ms ] threadThis technique is responsible for my reading in depth about the history of shipping containers, learning just a little bit about how to do interior design, and reading a large number of gardening books. (And doing some gardening!) Among other things.
You could probably come up with something similar online. (For example, clicking "Random article" on Wikipedia and actually reading it.) But I find that if I'm at a computer, I'm more prone to revert to narrow interests. Going to the real, physical library seems to make me less distractable -- or more so, depending on how you look at it. :)
So many things would never strike your interest on the internet as much as they would when you're holding a book. I'm not sure what the difference is, but your theory seems as good as any.
Only, it's a different bubble than now.
It also ended up making me less interested in following the new hotness, when I realize it's often little different from the new hotness of a few decades ago. Makes me jaded before my time ;)
Consider that Le Corbusier is one of the most famous architects of the 20th century so this was a surprise. Eventually, I did find what I was looking for by going to the library and visiting an architecture exhibition. The point of all this is that we assume everything is mostly online and so it's our first port of call for any research or knowledge gathering. But there is a huge amount of information and knowledge found in books that have never made it online. If you never go to the library, you simply won't realise what you're missing.
I moved to an older, partially-decaying, partially-gentrifying U.S. city and wanted to learn all about its history. What happened to all these crumbling old buildings? Why are certain areas blighted? Where did all the old ethnic communities go?
Back in 2008, shortly after I started earning money and investing in the stock market, the market crashed. So I went a long reading project trying to figure out what causes booms and busts, bubbles and crashes.
Then there are all sorts of political questions in the world. What drives terrorism? Who is right or wrong about policy argument X?
There are endless historical arguments. Why did the Roman Empire fall? Were the American colonists really right to rebel from the British, or is that just winner's history? Where did our modern customs and mores come from?
I've gone down other reading rabbit holes with other life knowledge areas - dating & relationships, management, startups, etc.
If there are certain areas that pique your interest, perhaps myself or someone else could make you a reading list that will break you out of your filter bubble. I've certainly come across a lot unorthodox material that is both edgy, novel, and more true than not. But it is hard to give you advice if you don't know what you want to learn about.
A study of "dating & relationships" would be good too (I assume this would cover all interpersonal relationships, i.e. how to be a good friend and win friends over)
Here's one easy option:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
Beyond that, if you think about it, this is actually a sort of paradox. Anything you consciously choose to do to break out of your filter bubble, could just be part of the very filter bubble you're in! How do you ever really "take the red pill"? I think one of the best ways is to interact with other people, who have different hobbies, interests, and ideas. Go to meetups and user group meetings, but make it a point to talk to people you wouldn't usually talk to, or identify and try to connect with the people who say things you instinctively find yourself disagreeing with, etc.
Try to cultivate friendships with people outside of your chosen field and discipline. If most of your friends are people you know through work and tech related stuff, start looking to make friends from other venues. Take up a hobby - salsa dancing, mountain biking, cooking, poetry, whatever, and start going to events that cater to those hobbies, and make friends with those people.
Learning a new language isn't just reading and writing some stuff in a different way. It exposes you to new TV programmes, new styles of music, new fashions and fads. You'll see different kinds of politics, where the duopoly of Liberal/Conservative simply doesn't apply. A different view on history. Different ways of separating people than "race" and different ways of grouping them together than rich or poor.
While the other suggestions have merit, I don't think any of them almost literally open up a whole new world to you the way learning a language does. It will help you view your own culture in a new way too.
[similar applies to computer languages ;-) ]
What does it matter how small you are compared to a city, the world, or the Universe? How is that supposed to be humbling? It's more inspiring than "humbling" to know that there is a vast world which I am not knowledgeable about. Being as big as a city, the world or the Universe wouldn't fill me with self-importance; it would fill me with "what's the point".
:-)
* Volunteer
* Take up an outdoor hobby
* Learn a new spoken language
* Read a seminal work in a vastly different field from computer science (say, "The Interpretation of Dreams" by Freud)
[Edited for formatting]
And if you've got some spare income, be willing to start buying a book here or there related to what you find.
I mean, if you have the desire and the stamina to make one of the big leaps here, do not let me stop you; those are good too. But you can incrementally escape from your current filter bubble, too, by growing it. There is no such thing as not being in one, because you have to have filters, it is literally impossible not to, so there's not much point in angsting about it, but it is possible to upgrade your bubble.
Wait, too late.
It is when you study nature and animals to find an innovative idea to solve a man made problem.
Magazines such as The Economist and New Scientist have journalists and editors who keep a close eye on significant parts of the world and then report them in digestible form.
With a good newspaper or magazine, you're exposed to a lot of subjects that you wouldn't normally see in your own filter bubble. Some of those you will find interesting enough to read, and reading even a few of those stories will expand your horizons.
Although they have a filter bubble of their own, it probably doesn't perfectly align with yours.
I guess you have to choose your publications wisely....
As people have mentioned here, wandering bookstores and libraries are excellent ways to get out of a filter bubble. That's exactly what we're simulating at Peruse.
EDIT for reference, I'm the one who recently posted on this topic, because it's an issue I've been having too: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9458829
Do mathematics. Good luck.
Disagree. Reddit is a treasure trove if you're subscribed to the right topics.
I got some serious depression when I got to the point of non-expanding (if you can name it like that).
I sold out all my business, throw a glow on everything else. Went full blown bankrupt. Do not drag your family in to this, it is lone journey. I went to very close of zero - barely possible to afford food. Rewritten myself and started from the beginning. It is amazing how you can rewrite yourself when back to basics.
6 months it took me to rewrite all the "downs" and once I started business it took me 2 weeks to earn as much as in last 6 months. Now everything is so much easier.
Harper's dictionary of classical literature and antiquities, https://archive.org/details/harpersdictiona00peckgoog
David Rumsey Map Collection (includes old "maps" of human knowledge, today could be called infographics), http://www.davidrumsey.com
The Ancient Engineers, by L. Sprague de Camp, http://www.amazon.com/The-Ancient-Engineers-Sprague-Camp/dp/...
Oxford English Dictionary, 1888 Edition, 15000 searchable pages as a Windows app, https://archive.org/details/oed11_201407