The science of having ideas in the shower

Post by beams_of_light » Sun, Jan 08, 2023, 5:28 AM UTC

sowbug wrote: post #50

This article is teaching me that I misunderstood what the default mode network (DMN) is. I was introduced to the term while reading how psychedelics affect the brain. As I understood it, the DMN is a mediator among the many thoughts that normally compete for your brain's attention. By temporarily suppressing the DMN, psychedelics give the weirder thoughts a better chance at center stage. Thus the black dot on the wal…

Post by ehnto » Sun, Jan 08, 2023, 5:31 AM UTC

ahzhou wrote: post #134

mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weed is the secret behind my ability to debug really gnarly problems that others get stuck on. I'm not the best coder, and I'm incapable of finishing projects, but most workplaces I've been at I've quickly become the "hey could you look at this heisenbug" guy. I never smoke in a professional setting of course. I read the code, set breakpoints, debug prints, yadda yadda. Then when I get home I smoke some hashish and s…

I used to believe this was true, but I tested it and found that I was performed noticeably worse while high across a variety of tasks. The weed made me feel like a million bucks, but actually put me at ~80% capacity. I don’t know your brain chemistry, but I’d encourage you not to sell yourself short and believe that you’re only capable of performing well in an altered start of mind. You’re probably better than you be…

Post by pbhjpbhj » Sun, Jan 08, 2023, 5:51 AM UTC

FlyingSnake wrote: post #23

math_dandy wrote: post #2

Anecdotally, Americans tend to shower more often than Europeans. Perhaps this explains why more tech innovation tends to happen in America these days? I suspect a major cause of the shower gap is energy price gap, leading one to conclude that cheap energy increases innovation!

> I suspect a major cause of the shower gap is energy price gap What a funny assertion. Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Gulf states etc have bottomless supply of cheap energy, where are their innovations?

Post by dudeweed567 » Sun, Jan 08, 2023, 6:10 AM UTC

mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #136

ahzhou wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to believe this was true, but I tested it and found that I was performed noticeably worse while high across a variety of tasks. The weed made me feel like a million bucks, but actually put me at ~80% capacity. I don’t know your brain chemistry, but I’d encourage you not to sell yourself short and believe that you’re only capable of performing well in an altered start of mind. You’re probably better than you be…

Uhm, my post said explicitly it impairs working memory and focus and is limited due to that. It plays a rather small role in just providing an extra push for that aha moment. But the aha moment can't come without doing the leg work of digging into the problem first, and that's hard, thankless work that often amounts to hours, if not days of time spent sober and working. The drugs and the work happen mostly completely…

Post by dv35z » Sun, Jan 08, 2023, 6:43 AM UTC

linsomniac wrote: post #120

sammalloy wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I didn't end up finishing the book, because it was all just too foreign a subject for me to get into. Might I recommend starting it again? The beauty of the book has more to do with Wolfe’s writing style than anything else. And if you think about it, it’s not all that foreign. Much of it comes from the spirit and ethos of the Beats (with Neal Cassady at the wheel no less); it might help you get into what Wolfe is t…

See, the names Neal Cassady and Ken Kesey don't mean anything to me. I enjoyed the writing, but I think it was a story for people who knew the people involved. I honestly spent much of the time trying to decide if it was fiction or biography. I do have On The Road on my list, I figure I'll give it a try. Also figured I should try Bonfire of the Vanities. Especially once I finish building the new vanity for the bathro…