“Taking the p*ss”

Now my wifi kettle is basically taking the p*ss. Told me it had found network, now you need to recalibrate me, oh btw I didn't rly connect pic.twitter.com/WbGsIrzBio

— Mark Rittman (@markrittman) October 11, 2016

“Hacked that together myself”

It is, and OK apart from flaky WiFi connectivity; main issue is that there's no IFTTT or HomeKit integration, so hacked that together myself https://t.co/0IjD7q4wzM

— Mark Rittman (@markrittman) October 11, 2016

Life is increasingly like the iKettle, a complicated system.

System

• composed of parts, which can be decomposed and recomposed;
• it is governed by rules, which can be understood, optimized, and subverted.

Two rule-sets

Every system has two sets of rules: The rules as they are intended or commonly perceived, and the actual rules (“reality”). In most complex systems, the gap between these two sets of rules is huge. Sometimes we catch a glimpse of the truth, and discover the actual rules of a system. Once the actual rules are known, it may be possible to perform “miracles” – things which violate the perceived rules. (Buchheit 2009)

Hacking

Hacking isn’t limited to computers though. Wherever there are systems, there is the potential for hacking, and there are systems everywhere. Our entire reality is systems of systems, all the way down. This includes human relations (see The Game for an very amusing story of people hacking human attraction), health (Seth Roberts has some interesting ideas), sports (Tim Ferriss claims to have hacked the National Chinese Kickboxing championship)… (Buchheit 2009)

Life hacking sits …

at the intersection of technology & culture

and larger concerns about work, wealth, health, relationships, and meaning.

The hacker uses…

…an individualistic and rational approach of systematization and experimentation.

(Levy 1984/2010, “Hackers”; Raymond 2001; Thomas 2002; Suiter 2013; Eschenroeder 2015; Thomas 2015)

Individualistic

Knowledge is power, and whether you use that power for good or evil depends on you. Sometimes evil is justified, or sometimes it can help you fight evil. Learning to crack passwords teaches you security practices. A better understanding of lying and manipulation earns you the ability to detect such tactics (or use them in situations where it’s actually the lesser of two evils) (Gordon 2015).

Rational

• LessWrong is an online community dedicated to “refining the art of human rationality” (LessWrong 2009).
• The Center for Applied Rationality (CFAR) is a small Bay Area non-profit that offers workshops on “patching the problems” of human thinking (CFAR 2016).
• Algorithms To Live By: The Computer Science Of Human Decisions advocates approaching personal and social concerns the same way computer scientists think about and solve their challenges (ChristianGriffiths 2016, “Algorithms to live by”, p. 5).

Where do you fall?

Systematization

Computer programmers have a very systematic way of looking at life, so I think that life hacks come from them taking that mindset and applying it to anything that they do, not just writing computer programs… So the idea of a life hack is you kind of reprogram the way that you perform tasks, to make them a little faster and a little more efficient. (TrapaniDaoud 2010)

Experimentation

Generational context

Self-help books … reflect their sociocultural context, revealing something of the needs, wishes and fears of individuals of their period. (Starker 2002, “Oracle at the supermarket”, p. 38)

Every generation gets the self-help guru that it deserves. (Mead 2011)

The critical sneer

It is terribly easy to accord self-help books the usual pop-culture treatment: the shake of the head, momentary sneer, superior smile, and benign neglect. (Starker 2002, “Oracle at the supermarket”, p. 2)

“GTD: A New Cult for the Info Age”

A HOLY BOOK for the information age is turning stressed-out worker bees into members of an unlikely new cult obsessed with keeping an empty inbox. (Andrews 2005). . . .

“Creative Class”

Members of the Working Class and the Service Class are primarily paid to do routine, mostly physical work, whereas those in the Creative Class are paid to use their minds. (Florida 2012, p. 9)

“a technologized form of self-help”

[premised on] the idea that we must all master ourselves using technology, make do with less, ignore structural conditions, forget about the past, and work, work, work to make ourselves more productive like good little robots.(Thomas 2015, p. 210)

Tech criticism

Constructive tech criticism

Criticism that only offers rejection doesn’t do us much good in the real world.

Criticism that instead takes into account the realities and practicalities of users’ lives guides readers in choosing how to use technologies for themselves, and can also influence how technologies are designed to meet users’ needs. (Watson 2016)

Distinctions

1. Geek and gurus
2. Nominal and optimal
3. Ethical gradations
4. Near enemies

The difference

Geeks are the enthusiasts looking to improve their lives.

Gurus sell lifestyle advice and their role as its vendor.

Geeks

Many geeks share their hacks and experiments, but few desire or manage to become lifestyle coaches.

Gurus

Even if guru is not always flattering, I don’t use it as an insult.

Nominal

is within the expected range.

Optimal

is at or pushing the leading edge.

Their difference for hackers

is related to intention: of keeping up versus surpassing.

Punting on “normal”

• Critique of “normal” is important, but
• my distinction is like that between:
  • reconstructive and cosmetic surgery, or
  • therapy and enhancement.

This distinction can be seen in every domain of life.

Self-optimizing can be suboptimal

• … optimize the wrong thing.
• … optimize one thing at the expense of everything else.
• … optimize for too long, especially when the context has changed.
• … optimize when you should do something else.

Hacking as rule breaking

Ugly and imaginative solutions have something in common: they both break the rules. (Graham 2010, “Hackers & painters”, p. 50)

Little thought is given to the ethics of rule breaking.

Virtuous hacks are “white hat,” and the most hawkish are “black hat.”

There are many shades of gray between.

Is a hack…

• self- or other-oriented?
• exceptional or universal?
• beneficial or harmful?

Virtues’ enemies

virtues often have an obvious opposite

animosity is the far enemy of compassion

Gina Trapani

Tim Ferris

Tynan

In an economy that prizes immediacy and flexibility, how do we manage time?

In a culture that values autonomy and self-reliance, how do we motivate ourselves?

In a world in which material excess is now as much a problem as deficiency, how do we relate to stuff?

In a period of increasing uncertainty but ubiquitous monitoring, how do we know what really works?

When others are within a finger’s reach on our devices, how ought we connect and relate to one another?

When we realize that nothing, even the most clever hacks, will save us from uncertainty and loss, how do we find meaning in life? (p. 10 )

Wrap up

• Write a “3-minute paper” (bullets are fine) summarizing
  • how is life hacking a type of self-help?
  • what is unique to it among others types of self-help?

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