I personally find the word “need” (like in the title) a bit aversive. I think it’s generally meant as, “the benefit is higher than the opportunity cost”; but even that is a difficult statement. The word itself seems to imply necessary, and my guess is that some people would read “need” thinking it’s “highly certian.”
While I obviously have hesitation with religious groups, they have figured out a bunch of good things. Personally my gym is a very solo experience; I think that the community in churches and monasteries may make them better as a thing to learn from. I thought Sunday Assembly seemed interesting, though when I attended one, it kind of had a “Sunday School” vibe, which turned me off. I think I like the futurist/hackerspace/unconference/EA/philosopher combination personally, if such a combination could exist.
1. I did think about that when I wrote it, and it’s a bit strong. (I set myself a challenge to write and publish this in 15 min, so didn’t spent any more time optimising the title.) Other recommendations welcome. Thinking about the actual claim though, I find myself quite confident that something in this direction is right. (A larger uncertainty would be if it is the best thing for us to sink resources into, compared to other interventions).
2. Agree that there seems to be lots of black-box wisdom embedded in the institutions and practices of religions, and could be cool to try to unwrap it and import some good lessons.
I will note though that there’s a difference between:
the Sunday sermon thing (which to me seems more useful for building common knowledge, community, and a sense of mission and virtue).
the gym idea, which is much more about deliberate practice, starting from wherever you’re currently at
My main issue with “need” isn’t really that it’s strong, but that I predict it’s often misunderstood; people use it for all different levels of strength.
Fair point about the Sunday sermon thing. Some religious groups though do encourage lots of practice in religious settings though. (Like prayer in Islam)
Few small points
I personally find the word “need” (like in the title) a bit aversive. I think it’s generally meant as, “the benefit is higher than the opportunity cost”; but even that is a difficult statement. The word itself seems to imply necessary, and my guess is that some people would read “need” thinking it’s “highly certian.”
While I obviously have hesitation with religious groups, they have figured out a bunch of good things. Personally my gym is a very solo experience; I think that the community in churches and monasteries may make them better as a thing to learn from. I thought Sunday Assembly seemed interesting, though when I attended one, it kind of had a “Sunday School” vibe, which turned me off. I think I like the futurist/hackerspace/unconference/EA/philosopher combination personally, if such a combination could exist.
1. I did think about that when I wrote it, and it’s a bit strong. (I set myself a challenge to write and publish this in 15 min, so didn’t spent any more time optimising the title.) Other recommendations welcome. Thinking about the actual claim though, I find myself quite confident that something in this direction is right. (A larger uncertainty would be if it is the best thing for us to sink resources into, compared to other interventions).
2. Agree that there seems to be lots of black-box wisdom embedded in the institutions and practices of religions, and could be cool to try to unwrap it and import some good lessons.
I will note though that there’s a difference between:
the Sunday sermon thing (which to me seems more useful for building common knowledge, community, and a sense of mission and virtue).
the gym idea, which is much more about deliberate practice, starting from wherever you’re currently at
My main issue with “need” isn’t really that it’s strong, but that I predict it’s often misunderstood; people use it for all different levels of strength.
Fair point about the Sunday sermon thing. Some religious groups though do encourage lots of practice in religious settings though. (Like prayer in Islam)