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Astronauts describe persistent 'observer' sensation after 6 month missions

spacedaily.com

91–100 of 119 posts

Re: Astronauts describe persistent 'observer' sensation after 6 month missions

#91

Moving this out of a subthread, but I can't find any sources corroborating the the phenomenon described in this article. In fact a lot of the literature from NASA seems to explicitly contradict the claims in the article[0][1]. Obviously not dispositive, but this article reads to me at least partially like AI confabulation. Perhaps my Google-fu is lacking here but I had Claude do a search as well for good measure and…

Yep, the article doesn't have a single link reference supporting its claims, and of the four (unnecessary) links in the article, one doesn't say anything related to the text link.

Re: Astronauts describe persistent 'observer' sensation after 6 month missions

#92
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 'Dunning-Kruger effect' of internet folklore is not what was in the original paper. And the original paper hasn't held up to well either: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect#... (and Wikipedia is very mild and nice to the authors). See eg https://replicationindex.com/2020/09/13/the-dunning-kruger-e...

Not disagreeing on that front. But the article I saw on /new and the spacedaily one, regardless of their accuracy, certainly looked like wholly AI generated writing to me

[deleted]

Re: Astronauts describe persistent 'observer' sensation after 6 month missions

#93
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a popular clip from Joe Rogan out there where he says "Be the hero of your own movie. If your life was a movie and it started now. ... What would the hero of your life’s movie do right now? Do that. Do those things." So it's interesting that this cognitive state is helpful for some people to visit in a transient or metaphorical way but becomes weird when it's persistent. But it does seem potentially related i…

Don't take life advice from Joe Rogan.

This seems like a non-sequitor. If the original post had attributed the quote to Stephen Speilberg, would you have responded similarly? I doubt it. My point: It's a great quote and some good life philosophy to consider. It doesn't really matter who said it.

Re: Astronauts describe persistent 'observer' sensation after 6 month missions

#94
post #3

I spent months underwater on a US submarine and felt the same thing. Later the Navy pdoc labelled it dissociation, which is in the DSM. Common Types and Symptoms Depersonalization: Feeling detached from your own body, mind, or actions, like watching yourself in a movie. Derealization: Feeling that the outside world is fake, dreamlike, or foggy. Dissociative Amnesia: Forgetting important personal information or blocks…

I’d be curious to learn about what you were experiencing, what the astronauts experience and the third man syndrome that Everest hikers experience. I don’t know if they are similar but I’d be curious to learn more about how our perception and attachment to our bodies changes while enduring these extreme conditions. As a side note, it seems pretty naive to believe that humans would be able to handle going to Mars with…

Humans as a species are rather adaptable (based on the number of climates and ways of life they adapted to on earth).

Finding the type of human that would thrive in the environment is a different story. Currently astronauts are highly selected (as the investment in them is huge) and the selection attributes might not be ideal with regard to psychosis. Probably one solution would be to make it that cheap to allow a significant sample of humans to go and see which one survives.

Re: Astronauts describe persistent 'observer' sensation after 6 month missions

#95
post #7

Being an astronaut seems cognitively expensive. Your time is regimented down to the minute. Your space is regimented down to the inch. The things you bring up and down, including yourself, is measured to the pound. I would imagine you have to constantly be evaluating, assessing, and thinking critically about everything you do all the time. And then to suddenly not have to do that and just live in the moment has to be…

Your comment lead me down a rabbit hole of space micromanagement. OSTPV (onboard short-term planner viewer) is the software they use to basically schedule every minute of your space flight. Basically every day someone from earth decides what you do, when you eat, when you exercise and will make changes in realtime. Great read here with a video of someone using the actual software: https://blogs.esa.int/iriss/2015/09/…

Cool. Just to note, the video demos Playbook, the proposed replacement for OSTPV.

Here’s OSTPV: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s2gUOV3KK2k

Re: Astronauts describe persistent 'observer' sensation after 6 month missions

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife informed me that I always comment on the hardness of the floor, regardless of where we are. (I will take off my footwear to stand on novel surfaces with my bare feet. Situationally, ofc.) Anyways, there's dozens of us!

Is there much variation in floors? I assume most people think floors are either hard or soft - maybe we're missing a whole facet of experience!

Marble, tile, hardwood, softwood(?), vinyl, stone, smooth concrete, textured concrete, short carpet, long carpet, grass, turf, sand, asphalt, gravel, hay, moss, plastic, foam, rubber. Plus the combination of different subfloors.

Lots of unique floor feels.

Re: Astronauts describe persistent 'observer' sensation after 6 month missions

#99
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve always thought the same thing with regards to early explorers. Being on a ship, sailing into the complete unknown, for months. How would you not go insane?

Wow, I would sign up instantly for such a voyage to Mars. I am probably too old but knowing why you are engaged in a heroic task makes one happy to tolerate all kinds of problems. Sure they might get a bit twitchy but gonna stay basically glued.

People assume they handle hardships one way, and then when SHTF and their mind starts coming off seams under severe stress and fear they often realize reality is someplace else.

For many of us exposed to mortal dangers in one way or another via more or less extreme sports with little margins for errors, we realized our limits are often much further than we thought. Training and exposure hardens mind too. But it also goes the other way - without that training and experience, its all just a projection and wishful cosplay thinking that looks nice on the paper and even may give warm fuzzy feeling, but not much more.

And I am old enough to know how many folks have some deep issue (usually some unresolved shit form childhood) that they sort of handle during normal days, but it comes back knocking on the door in less pleasant times. Also, for such long missions, one has to handle periods of boredom very well and be exceptionally well in tune with their inner self (for the lack of better words) - most folks reach for phone within 5 seconds of quiet time at the desk.

So your enthusiasm is commendable, but thats not how to select for such mission.

Re: Astronauts describe persistent 'observer' sensation after 6 month missions

#100
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a popular clip from Joe Rogan out there where he says "Be the hero of your own movie. If your life was a movie and it started now. ... What would the hero of your life’s movie do right now? Do that. Do those things." So it's interesting that this cognitive state is helpful for some people to visit in a transient or metaphorical way but becomes weird when it's persistent. But it does seem potentially related i…

Don't take life advice from Joe Rogan.

Don't take life advice from anyone. Evaluate who is successful (according to your definition of success), what they do with their time, how they think and act and speak, and do more of that. To most people, Joe Rogan is wildly successful. He says lots of things which are wrong, but he also does lots of things which have led to a very happy life. I would love to spend my days working out, smoking weed, speaking to interesting people, and being paid billions to do so.
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