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My Subconscious Is a Better Developer Than I Am

blog.johnnyreilly.com

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Re: My Subconscious Is a Better Developer Than I Am

#91

Post by wyager »

sweetjesus wrote: post #89
wyager wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet the vast majority of experimental and even theoretical physics was correct (and simply a limiting case of a more general theory), in diametric opposition to psychology. Physics has never thrown the baby out with the bathwater, but psychology does it every generation or two. > computational neuroemotional physiology Not sure what you mean by this. Computational neurophysiology would obviously subsume emotional…

You seem to have nothing to say on the topic of emotion, except that the 1000's of people who study it in universities, clinics and hospitals around the world have nothing correct to say... I am certain that your emotions on the subject are clouding your judgement. But to be the consistent razor of occam as you present yourself, shouldn't your term be computational neuro? what does physiology have to do with it?

What are you on about? I'm not talking about emotion; in case you forgot, we're in a thread where you provided some pseudo-scientific claim about the nature of consciousness. I'm questioning the validity of that claim. You seem to have gone off on a tangent about the nature of emotion.

Re: My Subconscious Is a Better Developer Than I Am

#92

Post by morgante »

sweetjesus wrote: post #89
wyager wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet the vast majority of experimental and even theoretical physics was correct (and simply a limiting case of a more general theory), in diametric opposition to psychology. Physics has never thrown the baby out with the bathwater, but psychology does it every generation or two. > computational neuroemotional physiology Not sure what you mean by this. Computational neurophysiology would obviously subsume emotional…

You seem to have nothing to say on the topic of emotion, except that the 1000's of people who study it in universities, clinics and hospitals around the world have nothing correct to say... I am certain that your emotions on the subject are clouding your judgement. But to be the consistent razor of occam as you present yourself, shouldn't your term be computational neuro? what does physiology have to do with it?

In what way would computational neurophysiology not capture emotions? Nobody is claiming that emotions don't exist, but I should hope we can agree that they arise within our neurons.

Re: My Subconscious Is a Better Developer Than I Am

#93

Post by dmfdmf »

thomyorkie wrote: post #82
dmfdmf wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Say that you believe X and I believe Y. If I present an argument for Y that amounts to presenting evidence for your consideration that Y is true and X is false. The implicit assumption behind arguing with anyone (even your self!) is that your mind is free to choose to believe X or Y, THAT is freewill. If freewill is an "illusion" then "argument" is a hollow concept as well. If we don't have a choice in what to believ…

I think argument still has a place in a world where freewill is illusory. Surely, one's opinions can change when presented with new evidence, regardless of whether that change originated from a free agent's conscious choice or a more deterministic background process of which one's consciousness is only partially aware. Furthermore, that change in opinion can have a meaningful effect either positively or negatively fo…

Again, for the benefit of those who want to understand, you are smuggling in freewill via the concept "argument". You have no right to use that concept given your denial of freewill and it doesn't matter how many exceptions, qualifications or obfuscations you put on the concept "freewill", it is either a real capacity of our minds or it is not.

The essence of your position is that you are trying to convince me to change my mind and agree with you that I do not have the capacity to change my mind. It is a self-contradiction, as all forms of determinism are, and if you were consistent with your belief you wouldn't be arguing at all, yet here you are. I think (beyond a certain point) denying freewill is an inherently dishonest position but unfortunately you have plenty of company.

Re: My Subconscious Is a Better Developer Than I Am

#94

Post by brianwawok »

GuiA wrote: post #49
charlieflowers wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think about what happens when you decide where to eat for lunch. There's an internal process whereby you propose various images (hamburger? pizza? Mexican?). Something else "inside you" says, "Nah, that doesn't sound good. Hmm, maybe. Yeah, that!" Who are you asking? Who is answering?

I circumvent that by eating pizza for every meal. It is the only way I can truly know that I, am me.

Can confirm. Eating pizza.

Re: My Subconscious Is a Better Developer Than I Am

#95

Post by dualogy »

inopinatus wrote: post #69
sdfjkl wrote: post #66

I used this a lot while consulting (as System Architect). I usually instantly knew if something was a good or bad idea of going about things (or a technology to use), but would then often have to go off and do some intense research to provide the evidence of my totally gut-based opinion. Often I found such evidence sooner rather than later, but sometimes I did not. Since it still felt right, I'd present whatever I di…

This is your limbic system calling. The hypothalamus and amygdala together produce judgements based on experience. The dopaminergic signal they send is what we call a gut feeling. They excel at managing/judging large amounts of information, especially in the absence of tools. You might also call them the seat of learning. Dopamine is very sensitive to errors in prediction, which is how learning is mediated. What they…

> You might also call them the seat of learning. Dopamine is very sensitive to errors in prediction, which is how learning is mediated. What they are not is the seat of reason.

Dopamine in what way? Since so many things affect its levels, from sexual stimulus to most drugs to simple sugars, are we at risk/chance of helping or hurting the seat of learning through such factors materially in your opinion?

Re: My Subconscious Is a Better Developer Than I Am

#96

Post by dualogy »

alsetmusic wrote: post #11
BatFastard wrote: post #7

Personally I find when I run into an intractable problem, what works for me is to exercise. For me that is riding my bike on quite paths. It sets my mind free and increases blood flow. Fertile ground for solving problems.

I second the exercise approach, as I used to solve tough problems over quiet twenty minute rides on back streets with low traffic. But the more I've learned (thus the more complex the block), the less effective this became. I worked on a passion project a few years ago where I was coding between twelve and sixteen hours a day for several months. When I was finally so burned out and weary that nothing worked anymore,…

> The next morning, almost without fail, I had an elegant solution in mind

So many here (and I and folks I know) had this experience that it might be productive to schedule 1 or 2 naps into such long work days. Could very well enhance the total daily outcome of the 12-16 hour day and nights will be proportionately shorter more or less. Will try.

Re: My Subconscious Is a Better Developer Than I Am

#98

Post by ericlewis »

Klathmon wrote: post #53
charlieflowers wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think about what happens when you decide where to eat for lunch. There's an internal process whereby you propose various images (hamburger? pizza? Mexican?). Something else "inside you" says, "Nah, that doesn't sound good. Hmm, maybe. Yeah, that!" Who are you asking? Who is answering?

I had a discussion with my friends many years ago that your comment reminded me of. I don't "visualize" things I think about automatically. I'd need to concentrate on trying to visualize pizza to see it and even then it's a vague visualization with no real defining features. When casually thinking about pizza I don't visualize anything. Some of my friends couldn't not visualize what they were thinking about. If they…

I've always wondered if I had this too. I'm wondering how you describe visualize? I understand the concept and the parts and everything that pizza is but I don't necessarily visualize it. But if I was required to, I could probably draw one. Is that similar?

Re: My Subconscious Is a Better Developer Than I Am

#99

Post by inopinatus »

dualogy wrote: post #95
inopinatus wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is your limbic system calling. The hypothalamus and amygdala together produce judgements based on experience. The dopaminergic signal they send is what we call a gut feeling. They excel at managing/judging large amounts of information, especially in the absence of tools. You might also call them the seat of learning. Dopamine is very sensitive to errors in prediction, which is how learning is mediated. What they…

> You might also call them the seat of learning. Dopamine is very sensitive to errors in prediction, which is how learning is mediated. What they are not is the seat of reason. Dopamine in what way? Since so many things affect its levels, from sexual stimulus to most drugs to simple sugars, are we at risk/chance of helping or hurting the seat of learning through such factors materially in your opinion?

I mean that an error in prediction will cause a rapid drop in dopamine levels, which motivates a desire to correct one's understanding. There's a limbic structure, the anterior cingulate cortex, that seems likely to be the origin of this.

As for those well-known dopamine stimuli like alcohol, sugar &c, I believe the worst case scenario is that you reinforce an incipient dependency on those things, thus contributing to addiction. I'll hold back on having an opinion about whether the reward sensitization itself directly harms learning. When it comes to sugar overuse, I'd worry more about insulin resistance having an effect on glucose uptake throughout the brain rather than specifically harming the limbic structures.

Re: My Subconscious Is a Better Developer Than I Am

#100

Post by dvcrn »

lazydon wrote: post #31

If you look carefully enough its not only the developer in you but anything meaningful or living in your life is done by someone other than what you usually refer to as me. Normally, such phenomenon is mostly associated with ideas we get on waking up or during shower or exercise. My observation is that whenever you do anything that's unscripted or unplanned - it's "someone else". Say - answering well an interview wit…

I have been thinking about this for a while now. Occasionally I get bursts where I am truly "myself" and start to realize what is actually happening before going back into observing the "someone else" doing things. Feels very surreal and at the same time "real". Like "this is life and not the other dude". I find it very hard to describe these kind of things to other people but your comment nails it.

Though I am more curious how you can "turn it off" and be the one who does all the things all the time. Some people suggested meditation but I have yet to try.

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