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Hacking the Brain

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Re: Hacking the Brain

#41

Post by traverseda »

iikoolpp wrote: post #24
manmal wrote: post #16

I haven’t found near infrared radiation referenced in the article - I‘m using near infrared as a brain hack, by shining a cheap 850nm LED light on my forehead. This has, over the last 2 years, enabled me to code for weeks on end, for 12+ hours a day, with only minor cognitive decline. It’s not something I really want to do, but sometimes it’s useful. Before I started the near infrared routine (~5 minutes every other…

This is the funniest post I've ever read on this website Either it's entirely the placebo effect, or it somehow actually does something and you're cooking your brain to wage slave even harder

Or we live in a reality where that just works, no cooking involved. That would also be amazing and hilarious.

"This one simple trick..."

Re: Hacking the Brain

#42

Post by heyoni »

manmal wrote: post #16

I haven’t found near infrared radiation referenced in the article - I‘m using near infrared as a brain hack, by shining a cheap 850nm LED light on my forehead. This has, over the last 2 years, enabled me to code for weeks on end, for 12+ hours a day, with only minor cognitive decline. It’s not something I really want to do, but sometimes it’s useful. Before I started the near infrared routine (~5 minutes every other…

Wouldn’t get the same if not more of all the wavelengths by just sitting outside for 5 minutes? Is that maybe what you’ve been missing?

Re: Hacking the Brain

#43

Post by oasisbob »

spydum wrote: post #18
manmal wrote: post #16

I haven’t found near infrared radiation referenced in the article - I‘m using near infrared as a brain hack, by shining a cheap 850nm LED light on my forehead. This has, over the last 2 years, enabled me to code for weeks on end, for 12+ hours a day, with only minor cognitive decline. It’s not something I really want to do, but sometimes it’s useful. Before I started the near infrared routine (~5 minutes every other…

how powerful is this LED? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4870908/ seems to suggest you need several watts.. "snouf and colleagues reported that only 34% of an 850 nm continuous light source at 100 mW could penetrate 0.784 mm of human skin. Approximately 89% of 820 nm light will penetrate 0.4 mm of epidermis (Kolari, 1985) and about 13.5% traverses 2 mm of skin (Henderson and Morries, 2015a). Our laborat…

Interesting article. The dosage is controlled by J/cm^2 in most of the studies I'm looking at - so time and distance from the emitter are the other factors.

eg, This study used an array of 500mW LEDs and a 10 minute exposure to achieve 13 J/cm^2.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4043367/

Re: Hacking the Brain

#44

Post by heyoni »

throwawawathrow wrote: post #8

It really takes a special kind of mind to take something originally intended to be fun, subversive and/or spiritual (recreational drugs) that's existed for decades or even centuries, and turn it into yet another tool to boost your React productivity by 12.3% on Friday evenings, under the new brand of 'enhancement' or 'hacking'. Because to what other end would that 'performance' boost be put to use?

Are you gatekeeping drugs for fun only?

What kind of mind does it take to do something like that? And is it ok to repurpose drugs for productivity if you channel that energy into solving the worlds problems?

Re: Hacking the Brain

#45

Post by jhardy54 »

iikoolpp wrote: post #24
manmal wrote: post #16

I haven’t found near infrared radiation referenced in the article - I‘m using near infrared as a brain hack, by shining a cheap 850nm LED light on my forehead. This has, over the last 2 years, enabled me to code for weeks on end, for 12+ hours a day, with only minor cognitive decline. It’s not something I really want to do, but sometimes it’s useful. Before I started the near infrared routine (~5 minutes every other…

This is the funniest post I've ever read on this website Either it's entirely the placebo effect, or it somehow actually does something and you're cooking your brain to wage slave even harder

This is peak n-gate.

Re: Hacking the Brain

#46

Post by oasisbob »

Tenoke wrote: post #36
manmal wrote: post #16

I haven’t found near infrared radiation referenced in the article - I‘m using near infrared as a brain hack, by shining a cheap 850nm LED light on my forehead. This has, over the last 2 years, enabled me to code for weeks on end, for 12+ hours a day, with only minor cognitive decline. It’s not something I really want to do, but sometimes it’s useful. Before I started the near infrared routine (~5 minutes every other…

Can't tell if satire but if not can you provide us with some links as to why you decided to try it and how you decided on the specific setup?

> Scalp application of red and NIR light is a new application for LED technology. More than 30 years ago, however, it was observed in human cadaver studies that red (600 nm) and NIR (800–900nm) wavelengths could penetrate through the scalp and skull (∼ 1 cm). Two physiological changes associated with exposure of cells to red and NIR wavelengths of light are: 1) Increased production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) by the mitochondria, and 2) Increased vasodilation/regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF), explained subsequently.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4043367/

Re: Hacking the Brain

#48

Post by bboygravity »

throwawawathrow wrote: post #8

It really takes a special kind of mind to take something originally intended to be fun, subversive and/or spiritual (recreational drugs) that's existed for decades or even centuries, and turn it into yet another tool to boost your React productivity by 12.3% on Friday evenings, under the new brand of 'enhancement' or 'hacking'. Because to what other end would that 'performance' boost be put to use?

According to what bible/religion are "recreational drugs" (whatever the definition of that is) "intended to be" for fun, subversive and/or spiritual use only and why should anybody care?

A random fun hypothesis by Paul Staments (in my own words): that the neocortex in humans evolved the way it did, because hominids have been consuming Psilocybin mushrooms for millions of years (until Christians and Nixon banned them and pushed the rest of the world to follow). In other words: there's symbiosis between hominids and Psilocybin mushrooms. Psilocybin mushrooms as food = more intelligent hominids (after the trip) = higher survival rate of hominids = higher survival rate for the mushroom due to active conservation by hominids.

Fun fact (according to Staments): Psilocybin mushrooms occur in higher concentrations around human settlements than in "wild nature" (still today).

Re: Hacking the Brain

#49

Post by carapace »

whereareyo wrote: post #39
carapace wrote: post #34

The word "hypnosis" does not appear anywhere in this document, that's a pretty glaring omission, IMO.

This is interesting, more?

In re: hypnosis in general the books I recommend are: "TRANCE-formations" by Bandler and Grinder, and "Monsters and Magical Sticks: There's No Such Thing as Hypnosis?" by Heller.

For specifically improving "cognitive enhancement" the easiest, safest, and most far-reaching technique involves modifying your self-image. You can reprogram yourself to believe that you're smarter and your mind will modify your behaviour to meet your belief. For better or worse one's intelligence level is generally tied into one's self-image, and the only barrier to being smarter is your natural reluctance to become a different person.

For self-image engineering the best books I've found are "Psycho Cybernetics" by Maltz and "With Winning in Mind" by Bassham.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/447454.Monsters_and_Magi...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/956297.Trance_Formations

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/155981.Psycho_Cybernetic...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/208926.With_Winning_in_M...

(But really, read "Prometheus Rising" by R. A. Wilson and do the exercises.)

Re: Hacking the Brain

#50

Post by varjag »

curo wrote: post #5

I have a tangential question around brain hacking. The Flynn effect says we're gaining an avg of 3 IQ pts every decade since the early 20th century. Meaning our great grandparents, on average, would be considered mentally handicapped compared to today's intellect. Now certain biochemical explanations for the Flynn effect explain raw neurophysiological gains (e.g., iodine fortification in the early 20th century added…

Most of the things worth mentioning were invented by these "mentally handicapped" generations. Not sure how that works.
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