Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

economist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 257 posts

Re: Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

#121

Post by hertzrat »

2112 wrote: post #82
Barrin92 wrote: post #58

In chess there's an idiom for this. "Long think, wrong think" because it's a quite common phenomenon that very good players will ruin positions by rather than playing with their good instinct, over-analyzing a position, there's a related situation of the hardest games to win being already won positions because there's so many ways to win that people will on occasion start doing something really stupid akin to the exa…

“In the words of the ancients, one should make his decisions within the space of seven breaths. Lord Takandobu said, “If discrimination is long, it will spoil.” Lord Naoshige said, “When matters are done leisurely, seven out of ten will turn out badly. A warrior is a person who does things quickly. When your mind is going hither and thither, discrimination will never be brought to a conclusion. With an intense, fresh…

What about when there is a huge length of time between the plan and the final execution? Do you just not let yourself think about it after the 7th breath? In the context of the hagakure, I suppose it would apply to battle strategy?

Re: Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

#122

Post by prionassembly »

hertzrat wrote: post #121
2112 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“In the words of the ancients, one should make his decisions within the space of seven breaths. Lord Takandobu said, “If discrimination is long, it will spoil.” Lord Naoshige said, “When matters are done leisurely, seven out of ten will turn out badly. A warrior is a person who does things quickly. When your mind is going hither and thither, discrimination will never be brought to a conclusion. With an intense, fresh…

What about when there is a huge length of time between the plan and the final execution? Do you just not let yourself think about it after the 7th breath? In the context of the hagakure, I suppose it would apply to battle strategy?

The "Hagakure" literally starts with something like "The art of the samurai lies in a way of dying. A samurai warrior enters battle as if already dead."

Re: Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

#123

Post by chii »

ylem wrote: post #118

It reminds me of a graduate quantum class I had. The professor gave what he called "infinite time length exams". We would come in during the afternoon and we could stay as long as we wanted to work on the exam--though we had to slip it under his door by say 9:00am. You could bring as many books as you wanted (apparently at one point you could bring "anything" and someone brought a professor--but that could just be a…

i really like this sort of exams, where some artificial condition isn't imposed on the examinees for ranking purposes.

I had a computer science exam where you are allowed to bring any text book/reference book you wish, and any notes you've written yourself. The exam was long and hard yes, but it was also thorough. One of the more enjoyable exams i recall taking - vs all of the other types.

Re: Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

#125

Post by zshift »

ylem wrote: post #118

It reminds me of a graduate quantum class I had. The professor gave what he called "infinite time length exams". We would come in during the afternoon and we could stay as long as we wanted to work on the exam--though we had to slip it under his door by say 9:00am. You could bring as many books as you wanted (apparently at one point you could bring "anything" and someone brought a professor--but that could just be a…

My modern physics professor did this for all our assignments. He didn’t want to rush students to fill out answers, so he made the questions very hard. We had to really understand the mechanics in order to answer the questions. I retained so much more by learning this way when compared to wrote memorization, and it was fun having discussions with other students to help each other understand the concepts.

Re: Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

#126

Post by efiecho »

airhead969 wrote: post #78
HugoDaniel wrote: post #41

thinking too much certainly does not help with sex

Absofuckinglutely. Too much mind. My arsenal for this includes: Beer, wine, wine coolers, hard cider, stoli vodka, malibu, rum, champagne, cbd isolate sublingual tincture, music, Hue mood lighting, candle-like scents, soft sheets, massage, MIV, cell phones in the microwave (faraday cage), and not talking about anything current. If involved parties aren't relaxed, it's unlikely to be that good.

Ever heard about Bill Cosby's Special Barbecue Sauce? I think it was called BarbeQuaaludes. Anyways, it definitely made the women relax ;)

Re: Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

#127

Post by harry8 »

ylem wrote: post #118

It reminds me of a graduate quantum class I had. The professor gave what he called "infinite time length exams". We would come in during the afternoon and we could stay as long as we wanted to work on the exam--though we had to slip it under his door by say 9:00am. You could bring as many books as you wanted (apparently at one point you could bring "anything" and someone brought a professor--but that could just be a…

Isn't this just an assignment where you're not sufficiently trusted to be in the location that suits you best (eg library, your desk?) A fully proctored assignment, you may not ask questions once you've read the problem.

I guess it has merit if cheating of that nature is a big problem.

Re: Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

#128

Post by randmeerkat »

prionassembly wrote: post #122
hertzrat wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about when there is a huge length of time between the plan and the final execution? Do you just not let yourself think about it after the 7th breath? In the context of the hagakure, I suppose it would apply to battle strategy?

The "Hagakure" literally starts with something like "The art of the samurai lies in a way of dying. A samurai warrior enters battle as if already dead."

The samurai died out though, where as Japan’s unchanging ancient businesses managed to remain. I wonder if quick thinking isn’t just what leads one to an early end, business, life, or otherwise.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25281164

Re: Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

#129

Post by rfrey »

prionassembly wrote: post #122
hertzrat wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about when there is a huge length of time between the plan and the final execution? Do you just not let yourself think about it after the 7th breath? In the context of the hagakure, I suppose it would apply to battle strategy?

The "Hagakure" literally starts with something like "The art of the samurai lies in a way of dying. A samurai warrior enters battle as if already dead."

It also started 150 years after the last Samurai battle, during a time when the Samurai were a bureaucratic clerical class. A fantasy nostalgia written by a clerk who had never seen battle or a fight of any kind.

Re: Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

#130

Post by threatofrain »

Barrin92 wrote: post #58

In chess there's an idiom for this. "Long think, wrong think" because it's a quite common phenomenon that very good players will ruin positions by rather than playing with their good instinct, over-analyzing a position, there's a related situation of the hardest games to win being already won positions because there's so many ways to win that people will on occasion start doing something really stupid akin to the exa…

But most people are noticeably stronger with longer time than with shorter time. You need merely play a long time control and not give yourself the benefit of using that time and see whether your rating drops.
Post reply on HN