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I’m a very slow thinker (2016)

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Re: I’m a very slow thinker (2016)

#141

Post by MichailP »

westoncb wrote: post #134
techstrategist wrote: post #63

We slow thinkers are among good company, including Charles Darwin: "I have no great quickness of apprehension or wit which is so remarkable in some clever men, for instance, Huxley. I am therefore a poor critic: a paper or book, when first read, generally excites my admiration, and it is only after considerable reflection that I perceive the weak points. My power to follow a long and purely abstract train of thought…

Interesting. I've also considered myself on the slow end of the thinking-speed spectrum, and have the other memory traits too: not so good with precision/particulars (instead I depend on being able to go back to sources as necessary), and I basically can't memorize anything. I don't know even half the lyrics to a single song. My personal take is that it's largely a matter of intellectual values. I think that if I con…

Can you share your definition of common law?

Re: I’m a very slow thinker (2016)

#142

Post by nabla9 »

Netcob wrote: post #110

That's why I don't like meetings where you're supposed to come up with a solution on the spot and then break it down into tasks immediately. That only works if you have lots of closely related experience so that the solution is trivial to you anyway, or if you're a genius. Most of the time you end up with shitty "knee-jerk" software that focuses on technical details way too much instead of solving the problem. I'll t…

Being a smartass is a real problem. Jeff Bezos style meetings try to solve this issue.

> "If we don't, the executives, like high school kids, will try to bluff their way through a meeting,"

Re: I’m a very slow thinker (2016)

#143

Post by growlist »

andai wrote: post #132
growlist wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've often thought about this - I suffered at school because the subject matter quickly seemed to arrive at one or more foundational concepts to not be explored further, whereas my brain would constantly ask, 'but why?'. The relentless pace didn't suit me at all. Nevertheless I learnt to override this in time and now have a BSc and MSc.

Did you begin a parallel learning project for actually understanding the material?

When I was at school you mean?

Re: I’m a very slow thinker (2016)

#144

Post by akvadrako »

kwhitefoot wrote: post #121
techstrategist wrote: post #63

We slow thinkers are among good company, including Charles Darwin: "I have no great quickness of apprehension or wit which is so remarkable in some clever men, for instance, Huxley. I am therefore a poor critic: a paper or book, when first read, generally excites my admiration, and it is only after considerable reflection that I perceive the weak points. My power to follow a long and purely abstract train of thought…

I wonder how many of us slow thinkers are of the same calibre as Darwin but never achieve anything because life doesn't afford them the leisure to doggedly pursue their thoughts. In my case I think I only share Darwin's disadvantages but perhaps there are others out there who could have the same impact as he did if only the circumstances were right.

Life does give you the chance to doggedly pursue your thoughts; you just have to devote yourself to it. I personally live this way, freelancing about 3 months a year and spending the rest of it on whatever interests me.

Re: I’m a very slow thinker (2016)

#145

Post by neillyons »

I'm the same. I often feel like my brain is a Pentium ii (256Mhz) processor and my peers have a modern 2.8Ghz processor. They seem to grasp things so much quicker. I can't but I do have the confidence that given enough time I'll figure it out.

Re: I’m a very slow thinker (2016)

#146

Post by bsaul »

i felt that with age it took me more and more time to feel that i understood something. At first i thought it was age, but whenever i compare with younger colleagues, i realize it's often that i have higher standards for what "understanding" means. Whenever you've had the experience of realizing how much more complex something that looked simple was, you start to look at every problem with much more care.

That may makes me look like a a "slow" person or someone a bit thick, but then i often come up with interesting questions that makes everyone realize they didn't understand the problem as well as they thought.

Re: I’m a very slow thinker (2016)

#147

Post by fjsolwmv »

kqr wrote: post #111
usgroup wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve wondered recently if speed and intelligence have anything to do with each other at all. It does in IQ tests but Darwin by his account would have been average at best. Further, the argument goes that there exists a g factor, and performance in a test that is sufficiently complex will be predictive of performance at anything else sufficiently complex ... Yet if we allow time to vary this seems to be so obviously f…

When I had my IQ test results it seemed like standard practise where I was to give two numbers: one total, and one when not counting the tests relying on speed. Not too surprisingly to anyone who knows me, the difference between the two numbers was for me unusually high. On the other hand, contrary to the Darwin quote, I scored very high on abstraction capabilities -- although before getting my results, I had assumed…

This is indeed known in the psychological practice in general (it's called "processing speed"), but most lay people aren't aware of it. Ask your friends if they ever got a professional IQ score and if they got the the different scores you describe. You tend to see it with people whose parents notice a high intelligence with learning difficulty and fight for thorough diagnostic testing and educational services.

Common tests don't explicitly measure it, but the test design either implicitly demands processing speed (timed tests, or rapidly spoken prompts/questions) or avoid it.

Re: I’m a very slow thinker (2016)

#148

Post by fjsolwmv »

nabla9 wrote: post #142
Netcob wrote: post #110

That's why I don't like meetings where you're supposed to come up with a solution on the spot and then break it down into tasks immediately. That only works if you have lots of closely related experience so that the solution is trivial to you anyway, or if you're a genius. Most of the time you end up with shitty "knee-jerk" software that focuses on technical details way too much instead of solving the problem. I'll t…

Being a smartass is a real problem. Jeff Bezos style meetings try to solve this issue. > "If we don't, the executives, like high school kids, will try to bluff their way through a meeting,"

Jeff Bezos meetings are extremely high processing contests of wit. Everyone reads a long document at the same time at the start of the meeting and then immediately starts debating and asking pointed questions. Only the presenter has time to prepare in advance.

Bezos meetings solve the problem of people not reading the material at all, not the problem of not thinking about the problem.

Re: I’m a very slow thinker (2016)

#149

Post by fjsolwmv »

dredmorbius wrote: post #115
Netcob wrote: post #110

That's why I don't like meetings where you're supposed to come up with a solution on the spot and then break it down into tasks immediately. That only works if you have lots of closely related experience so that the solution is trivial to you anyway, or if you're a genius. Most of the time you end up with shitty "knee-jerk" software that focuses on technical details way too much instead of solving the problem. I'll t…

"Creativity is not a team sport", an observation from Prof Vincent Walsh on neuroscience of creativity: [There's] a very long and well-established literature in psychology that getting groups of people together is no way to come up with ideas. Creativity is not a team sport. What you're looking for is somebody's individual, intellectual trunk to make new connections and come up with something new. Let's imagine billi…

Creativity is absolutely a team sport. It's just not a timed sport.

Re: I’m a very slow thinker (2016)

#150

Post by fjsolwmv »

Brian_K_White wrote: post #78
brookside wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

David E. Davis, founder of Automobile magazine was known to ask "Is your life a rich tapestry?" instead of the usual "How are you?". I like that.

I would not like to put random people on the spot like that. That is frankly a supremely inconsiderate thing to ask along the lines of "Are you wealthy?" "Do you have a lot of sex?". Fine if your answer happens to be yes, or fine if you happen to be quick with some deflecting come-back about the metaphorical "interesting times". At least now, thanks to this post, I can -slowly, haha- develop an angle on an answer, al…

Therapists are people to you pay to talk to you when you've got no one else. Why spurn free therapy?

It's a great question because if it draws out a rude response like yours, the questioner knows to not waste more time on small talk.

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