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Gödel, Escher, Bach completely blew me away and quite radically changed the way I looked at the world. Highly recommended.


Same here. If you're looking for fiction that felt (at least to me) to cover similar themes, I would suggest Greg Egan's Permutation City.


Can you elaborate on how it changed your way?

Would help in understanding context.


For me, systems thinking, incompleteness theorem, writing style, consciousness... Definitely helped set my path in building thinking tools as a career.


Could always be a personal conflict with other technicians/personnel, of course - or a curious form of sabotage. However, on the political front, renewing the F16s in Belgium has been a point of some controversy. The other EU countries (and the US, through the NATO) expect us to stay up to date with military hardware, but Belgian politicians are hesitant to actually spend the money, as it puts the budgets under heavy pressure (and because - presumably - large parts of the public will claim that we did not actually need them, so that we spent billions 'for nothing', billions we could have spent on 'more useful' items). The military is not too happy with this hesitation, so if some speculation is allowed: this situation might move some in the military to take (potentially strange kinds of) action.


I was in Belgium last year (visiting where dad fought at Elsenborn Ridge[0]) and something I was curious about - after Belgium had been occupied in WW-I, and it became obvious during the inter-war years[1] that Germany was rearming, why didn't they launch a crash defense program?

With Russia now becoming increasingly aggressive, I would think the time to prepare a deterrence is now.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Elsenborn_Ridge [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxkk8CuejV4


They mobilized 20% of the male population, built large modern fortifications and had a strong air force. The germans just had better weapons and better tactics and rolled over them in 18 days.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Belgium


My Flemisch grandad was in the second WW. Back then all official things in Belgium were in French. Can you imagine a Flemisch farmer getting French instructions? Must have been real chaos I suppose.


So many nationalities served in so many armies with officers that didn't speak their own language (think of the USSR, the Italian colonies, the French colonies, the British colonies, the French enlisted in the RAF in WW2...). It isn't so hard to understand military orders when you're doing it on a daily basis.


Belgium was bristling with defenses in WW2. In the same way France, Poland and the Western front of Russia were. They had networks of expensive forts with numerous gun turrets on them.

eg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Eben-Emael

Wars tend to expose obsolete military doctrines. Big fortresses on land and sea (battleships) that can bombard targets many miles away are great if the enemy doesn't just fly in.


Sabotage is possible. Several people in EU militaries have joined ISIS.


Source?




Exercise. It does wonders for your energy levels and your mental well-being. Plus it will make you feel you having done 'something useful' by the end of the day. The hardest part is getting out and starting - once you are busy, it is fun.

Otherwise, reading. If you have enough energy, read literary classics or non-fiction, the type that challenges you and/or teaches you new things. If you don't have enough energy, read something lighter - I am reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland currently, for example, which is fun and relaxing. Finishing a book is a nice feeling, plus the mental focus on the story and on yourself can give rise to some nice insights on yourself, people, and the world.


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