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

The science of having ideas in the shower

nationalgeographic.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 178 posts

Re: The science of having ideas in the shower

#81

Post by linsomniac »

Waterluvian wrote: post #75

Maybe I’m discovering the obvious, but I began using THC for sleep in my 30s and as a side effect, I kinda get a little bit high for about 20 mins before bed. I’ll be having a shower that usually turns into a bath for safety and I just close my eyes and think. And it’s truly miraculous… My brain just wanders so freely among the ideas of the day. But what interests me most are these “eureka!” moments. They’re so fast…

I started reading _The_Electric_Kool-Aid_Acid_Test_ by Tom Wolfe a few months ago. He relates how Ken Kesey would write while high as a kite, to help the flow of ideas, and then edit sober.

I didn't end up finishing the book, because it was all just too foreign a subject for me to get into.

Re: The science of having ideas in the shower

#83

Post by Existenceblinks »

bertjk wrote: post #72
Existenceblinks wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ahh funny my country is very hot, in summer I'd shower 3 times (I wish for 4 sometimes). It's too hot to come up with any idea. It's only thankful to have water run through.

Can I ask, in places where showering that often is the norm, does one change into a new set of clean clothes each time? And does this basically triple the laundry chore burden?

I'm in Thailand. Same should be applied with "tropical climate" countries. Basically it's hot and humid. Cloths are usually not thick as it's hot, so 2-3 days per laundry for 2 people is ok. It's only annoying when there's not enough favorite cloths.

Smell of sweat / odor happens very soon than those who live in cold+dry area.

Re: The science of having ideas in the shower

#84

Post by gazby »

inplubius wrote: post #82
gazby wrote: post #46

This effect used to be the bane of my ADHD-addled existence until I found these: https://www.myaquanotes.com/ . I buy them in 5 packs now.

I just write on the wall with a window marker. Less elegant, but works too.

I tried a dry-erase patch for the shower wall but it didn't go well with water/steam. Will try a window marker, thanks!

Re: The science of having ideas in the shower

#85

Post by corobo »

hbarka wrote: post #74
jonsen wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of what constitutes art,...": https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art

If I quoted ChatGPT for this question, how does HN feel?

Personally if I want ChatGPT's opinion I'll just ask it myself. I'm here for the human comments.

Re: The science of having ideas in the shower

#87

Post by alexpetralia »

One thing I noticed is that while I had good ideas in the shower, I couldn't remember them! (no pen/paper, phone, etc.)

So, I started using mnemonics to remember my thoughts[0]. Now I take showers without feeling the anxiety of forgetting all the thing I thought about (e.g. chores, talk to someone, respond to email, write down an idea, etc.).

[0] https://alexpetralia.com/2017/12/31/shower-recall/

Re: The science of having ideas in the shower

#88

Post by stavros »

boredemployee wrote: post #69
diemes1 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never seen John Carmack described as an artist before

could writing code be considered as an art? genuinely asking

Everything can be considered art depending on who you ask, I don't think anyone agrees on what actually is or isn't.

Re: The science of having ideas in the shower

#89

Post by corobo »

gazby wrote: post #59
mmaunder wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brilliant! I use the iPhone for my purposes because it’s waterproof. At least the newer models are. Have dropped it in deep water with no ill effects.

My understanding was that both heat and steam are bad for waterproof electronics, just be careful mate Edit: Aww HN strips emoji, should have seen that coming lol

I was warned of this one (like the parent comment I use my phone in the shower for notes).

Not had a problem in 2 years* of daily showers. I realise I'm taking a bit of a risk but nothing bad has happened so far. Could always just be luck of course. iPhone 11 for reference.

* Almost exactly, ha. 24mo contract expired last week. Sod's Law says my next shower will destroy the phone having written this down.

Re: The science of having ideas in the shower

#90

Post by Hbruz0 »

thewizardofaus wrote: post #78
Waterluvian wrote: post #75

Maybe I’m discovering the obvious, but I began using THC for sleep in my 30s and as a side effect, I kinda get a little bit high for about 20 mins before bed. I’ll be having a shower that usually turns into a bath for safety and I just close my eyes and think. And it’s truly miraculous… My brain just wanders so freely among the ideas of the day. But what interests me most are these “eureka!” moments. They’re so fast…

I experience EXACTLY the same thing moments before falling asleep (no thc). It's truly amazing. If I manage to jolt myself awake I will write them down, otherwise they will be surely forgotten. And the ratio is similar to yours, good idea/gibberish(or not feasible).

I've also experienced that a few times while semi-asleep, it is really intriguing. I haven't been able to write the ideas down yet, and had a tendency to discrad them at the thought that being in that state made the ideas sound amazing but wouldn't be in retrospect. I wonder how that phenomenon works, and if taking any psychoactive drug would produce similar results.
Post reply on HN