Ask HN: I feel like I'm in a filter bubble. How can I “expand my horizons”?

[rayalez]

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?

[ajdecon]

Go to the library. (Yes, the place with all the books. ;-) ) Wander through the nonfiction section and scan the titles. If anything catches your eye, pick it up and read the first couple pages. If it seems at all interesting, check it out and read it.

This 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. :)

[dalke]

I'll add that one shouldn't exclude older books for being old. I've been reading scientific literature from the 1960s, and it's full of similar topics to now (information explosion, data science, organizational principles). They, like we, are in a bubble formed by the general cultural expectations of that era and topic.

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 ;)

[AnkhMorporkian]

A hundred times this. I was at the library with my nephew a few years ago. He was watching a magic show the library was putting on, so I just wandered around. If I hadn't done that, I never would have gotten into homebrewing and the surrounding theory, which has been a huge horizon broadener and eats up a good portion of my time.

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.

[design-of-homes]

Excellent advice about the library. An anecdote from me: a few years ago I was researching the Swiss architect Le Corbusier. I wanted to find out about his famous housing complex called Unité d'habitation (Housing Unit) first built in Marseille in France. I started my research online looking for floorplans and commentary or critques. I found very little (there is a lot more available online today, but not when I was looking).

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.

[jlees]

Someone once gave me a great piece of advice - read a book that you might not "normally" read, especially an autobiography. Doing so can give you a glimpse into a wholly different way of thinking about the world than you might be used to. I follow this advice whenever I'm in an airport and the results are always interesting.

[devalier]

Most of my knowledge exploration comes from real world encounters.

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.

[tanderson92]

Please do! I at least would enjoy reading about any and all of those topics. The learning about new things is what fascinates and interests me and I would prefer reading about things I have previously no idea about. Very much appreciated if you could share some of these things you've learned.

[mindcrime]

What do you do about that?

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.

[scholia]

You're in a filter bubble because you're doing your own curation. Historically, many if not most thinking people let someone else do their curation, ie they read a good newspaper or magazine.

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.

[thenomad]

The Economist is particularly good. Definitely worth reading if you don't already do so.

Although they have a filter bubble of their own, it probably doesn't perfectly align with yours.

[jerf]

Take advantage of the fact that everything is connected to everything. You know one of those programming blog posts you're already reading? You know how there's that link you didn't follow because it was a reference to a show you've never heard of or something? Follow it. You know that article you read that yells something or other about what somebody else said, and has you nodding your head vigorously about how stupid that person must be, but, suspiciously, doesn't link to the original content, or worse, fails to even quote it? Go seek out the original content. Then follow a couple of those links. You get linked to a YouTube video... actually look at the "similar video" links that YouTube spits out, try out a couple that you don't know what they are. (This works surprisingly well for "real content"; linkbait viral videos will of course produce just more linkbait viral videos but when you hit the good stuff the first few links are often also quite good.)

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.

[buddydvd]

Get a copy of Merriam Webster's Visual Dictionary and just go through its approx. 1000 pages of high-quality illustrations. It efficiently introduces you to countless tip-of-the-ice-berg topics/industries that are very much remotely related to tech. It humbles you and evokes that feeling of self-insignificance like when you look at aerial view of cities through an airplane window.

[Dewie3]

> It humbles you and evokes that feeling of self-insignificance like when you look at aerial view of cities through an airplane window.

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".

[sebslomski]

Go read about stocks/etfs/etc. This topic is very underrated, but it's so important! Getting to know more about this topic changed the way I read the news and see the world/politics. Also money.

[freefrag]

Can you recommend any good introductory material or websites?

[ohnomrbill]

I would try any one of these:

* 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]

[francis-]

Quit your job. Drop LSD repeatedly over the course of a week. Stop reddit usage (reddit is a watering hole for morons). Learn LISP (it is more of a trip than acid). Find controversial people, read and understand their viewpoint.

Do mathematics. Good luck.

[francis-]

I almost forgot - don't interact with people for several months at a time - the meaningless interactions of everyday life get in the way of significant thoughts.

[kirang1989]

> Stop reddit usage (reddit is a watering hole for morons).

Disagree. Reddit is a treasure trove if you're subscribed to the right topics.

[funkyy]

Go bankrupt/totally broke, start using website blockers.

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.

[jakeogh]

It's been more than 5 years, but researching the science behind 9/11/01 has been extremely rewarding for me (in the sense that you seem to be asking about). It's difficult to articulate this to someone who has not looked into it (for all I know you have), but things that didn't make sense become much more intuitive. It's a very interesting window into human psychology. I couldn't have explained this to myself 10 years ago, I would have tuned my older self out. There's links in my profile and I make a comment about it from time to time. The biggest hurdle is that the subject is (by no accident) littered with disinformation designed to poison the well. I'm more than happy to talk about it, but some folks have a negative reaction (I did) if it's brought up so I usually dont.

The AIA's upcoming convention program has some solid starting points: http://www.aia.org/aiaucmp/groups/aia/documents/pdf/aiab1058...

[walterbell]

Pick a random interesting page from a reference below, then use a search engine to find and connect with people who care about the topic:

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

[jgh]

Check out the local poetry scene. If you're in/near a big city it will almost certainly exist and you'll definitely be exposed to a whole host of new ideas from all sorts of socioeconomic strata. The events are generally free or you can donate. Often the poets will have self-published (or small-time-published) chapbooks for a few dollars.

[somberi]

I hear you and you raise a valid point, especially for the Internet generation. NYtimes stated this elegantly - Algorithms lead us to anagrams.

My suggestion is go to a library.

Even after 15 years of living in the US, I am surprised at how few Americans use its impressive library system.

I have heavily used the public libraries in NYC and London.

NY Public Library for example, at 53 million titles, is the fourth largest library in the world. The books and other media available is just mind boggling.

The Editors Picks (both fiction and non-fiction) in NYPL is fantastic and has yielded many gems. I am sure it is similar in other library systems as well.

A few years ago, I decided to "outsource" all my book needs to NYPL and as a result donated all the books I had. Now I use NYPL as my knowledge search and discovery "tool".

They also have a e-books issuance service, which I use even when I am not in NYC (where I continue to pay taxes).

[m52go]

Email me at [email protected]. I'm solving this exact problem right now at peruse.meteor.com. It could be valuable for both of us to exchange ideas.

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

[egusa]

The best thing you can do is travel, and also aim to learn a new language (it'll open up your eyes to how much else is out there). Particularly today, where most cities have co-working spaces with strong communities & community platforms like StartupDigest.com are active around the world with weekly events, it's easier today to travel & work for a few weeks than ever before. Whenever I find myself in a predictable routine as well, I like to attend conferences; I find the energy there is always helpful.

[Nutella4]

Besides looking for different topics as many have suggested, look for different authors. If you find that everything you read is written by people from your own country, search out readings from authors of other nationalities. If you find that everything you read is written by people of your own race, search out readings from authors of other races. If you find that everything you read is written by men, search out readings by women.

[im3w1l]

Find a random person using facebook, try to become friends.

One unbiased procedure goes like this. Choose a sufficiently large number N. Choose a sufficiently large number M(N). Choose yourself as starting person. Now, do the following M times. Generate a random number r between 1 and N. Change the current person to be the r'th friend of the previous person. Or if r is less then number of friends, then the person in question does not change.

[joezjwang]

The world is not all described in English. Not all ideas originate from the English sources like HN. If you have friends from other parts of the world ask them what books/blogs they read in their own language. This goes along with comments about learning a new language

[trwhite]

Why don't you try reading outside of the subject areas with which you're familiar? Or perhaps you could take up a hobby that requires a different frame of thought to the ones you already do? There's plenty more out there beyond science & tech.