I can't find a PDF version of Francisco Claro’s “De Newton a Einstein y algo más”, anyone's got a link?
De-Brainrot Vacations
181–190 of 218 posts
Re: De-Brainrot Vacations
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m a professional theoretical physicist in my 40s and I never thought the day would come that I would realize I became shit at mental math. I can do quantum physics in my head but don’t ask me to add 17 to 34
Thanks for mentioning this. It makes me feel better about stumbling with metal math in front of some colleagues that are faster.
I've also noticed that I drive more slowly/defensively, if only because I need more time to react to all these other bad drivers =P
You won't catch me (nor any of my brilliant brothers) doing math without a calculator... and I got a SAT790Math way-back-when (do they still score that way? I missed one question, only; many of my brothers scored 750+).
Re: De-Brainrot Vacations
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have another suggestion which doesn't contradict yours: This is only a small part of it (tech addiction 24/7 via phone); certainly there is something bigger at play, here (e.g: "the brain isn't the same anymore;" agreed). I do not use email nor a cell phone (several years; outgoing landline, only), so I have more than enough time to ruminate (and read a few dozen books, annually) – and yet agree very much with OC's…
> It's like: everybody is just mentally exhausted, mortal. Very much this. I think a lot of it is that the "slack" of our lives is being eliminated little bit by little bit to improve "productivity", and in so doing it is making life harder, mentally and physically, in ways that we don't really grasp because we're the frog being boiled. We are more "productive" and "efficient" than ever, but we're not happier or livi…
My favorite full-time schedule was four-10s: ten hour days Monday-Tuesday, and again Thursday-Friday.
This MT_RF schedule meant I never had to work a "Wednesday", and my Tuesdays became additional "almost Fridays".
I would often take part-time gigs on Saturdays, because my problem isn't that I need several days off in a row... it's that I don't want to work more than three days in a row.
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The only thing I lack in my self-induced retirement is healthcare (so a big thing for this American boo)... which within the decade might require me to work some minimal job just to get benefits – I dread this day enough to avoid the topic, furtherly.
Is Trader Joes still 28 hours/week [for bennies]? I can still sort grapes, friend-uh-ly.
Re: De-Brainrot Vacations
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
If AI at work is rotting everyone's brain then it should be like a superpower to be unemployed. But that doesn't seem to be the case...
That's because the folks who are unemployed, unfortunately, are largely those who already were further down the curve. We're destroying the minds of those who were supposed to move society forward and gaining nothing elsewhere.
Lol way to call me an idiot... thanks...
Re: De-Brainrot Vacations
#185I’m married and have kids so there’s always something going on in my life and I don’t get many opportunities for “peace and quiet”. What works wonders for me is swimming. I only do front crawl so I’m basically staring at the bottom of the pool for the entire duration of the swim. It’s incredibly boring . But something happens in my head, I can just think better. I will often take a problem from work and mull it over…
Beginner question, do you use a snorkel for this? I’d love to get into regular swimming
myself but not sure if I’d be a dork showing up at the pool with a snorkel. Freestyling with the breathing movements would take too much focus I think.
Re: De-Brainrot Vacations
#186I’m married and have kids so there’s always something going on in my life and I don’t get many opportunities for “peace and quiet”. What works wonders for me is swimming. I only do front crawl so I’m basically staring at the bottom of the pool for the entire duration of the swim. It’s incredibly boring . But something happens in my head, I can just think better. I will often take a problem from work and mull it over…
Beginner question, do you use a snorkel for this? I’d love to get into regular swimming myself but not sure if I’d be a dork showing up at the pool with a snorkel. Freestyling with the breathing movements would take too much focus I think.
Sorry, I guess that was confusing. I still turn my head at 3 or 5 strokes to breathe. But with some routine, the breathing movements become second nature and it feels like I’m looking down most of the time.
But I do see other swimmers use a snorkel mask for a few of their sets.
Re: De-Brainrot Vacations
#187[deleted]
Re: De-Brainrot Vacations
#188[deleted]
Re: De-Brainrot Vacations
#189I think the „my brain isn’t the same anymore“ sensation is pretty universal. Between addictive online media in our personal lives and AI at work, I think we’ve made mental effort largely optional. That must be a horrible thing. One of my favorite theories is the physical activity transition. In my grandparents‘ generation, physical movement became more optional as work shifted from manual labor to knowledge work or o…
But historically, I don't think people engaged as much intellectually or mentally as much as we do today. And I'm not just talking about people who need to do it at work, but even "mundane" things like watching TV or Film.
Heck, I have non-stem friends for which "pop culture" activities like wordle, pub quizzes, and film/TV are the most engaging thing intellectually. I'm not sure what they would have done if they live in the past. Would they find something else?
Re: De-Brainrot Vacations
#190I think the „my brain isn’t the same anymore“ sensation is pretty universal. Between addictive online media in our personal lives and AI at work, I think we’ve made mental effort largely optional. That must be a horrible thing. One of my favorite theories is the physical activity transition. In my grandparents‘ generation, physical movement became more optional as work shifted from manual labor to knowledge work or o…
I have another suggestion which doesn't contradict yours. When I was younger I used to get bored way more often. I had to wait regularly during a week (e.g. for a bus, friend, appointment) or even at work as a software dev (e.g. compilation which used to take more time). This was also the case when doing some physical activities which didn't require lot of thoughts. Back then, before mobile phones with internet acces…
I will often experience something I call "feeling addled" when I haven't taken this kind of downtime for too long, usually after about two days. It presents as a difficulty in thinking clearly, a compulsion for easy dopamine, and feeling kind of like I've taken too much caffeine. It is disturbing to imagine that this is the constant default for many people now.