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Anxiety as an algorithm

adamjuliangoldstein.com

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Re: Anxiety as an algorithm

#11

Post by gloriousduke »

nineteen999 wrote: post #8

I have noticed a tendency (especially amongst HN articles and readers) to continually compare our bodies, minds, souls etc. to machines, as if they could be "biohacked" into perfection with just the right patches or software updates. Or that we could easily be replaced by the "correct AI" algorithm, if we could just get the simulation close enough. Not that I don't believe we aren't complex systems, we are, to be sur…

A world of only perfect beings does sound pretty boring. I'm not sure if anything worthwhile would actually happen in such a place. That being said, mental (rational) tools that help one recognize the origin of anxiety and reduce its deleterious effects are quite welcome. I think this article could help programmers/founders do just that.

Re: Anxiety as an algorithm

#12

Post by exrook »

nineteen999 wrote: post #8

I have noticed a tendency (especially amongst HN articles and readers) to continually compare our bodies, minds, souls etc. to machines, as if they could be "biohacked" into perfection with just the right patches or software updates. Or that we could easily be replaced by the "correct AI" algorithm, if we could just get the simulation close enough. Not that I don't believe we aren't complex systems, we are, to be sur…

Personally, I like that as a human, I have the capacity to use tools as an extension of my being to improve myself and my place in the world. I don't think applying the same tools I use to solve problems in the physical world to solve problems in my mind makes me any less human. Sure, those tools may not be a perfect match for the problem domain and provide the wrong answers sometimes, but it doesn't hurt to try applying them. I don't think this makes me a cyborg any more than lighting a fire or driving a car does.

Re: Anxiety as an algorithm

#13

Post by mjevans »

acephal wrote: post #10
mjevans wrote: post #6

I only skimmed so I might have missed these points being discussed... The 'mental immune system', which uses imagination to search for potential paths to classify likely future outcomes suffers from one very critical issue. Selection bias / neural network (literal) training set problems. Repeated failures without success lead to the weight of that success against the failures skewing the prediction algorithm. Reality…

Are you saying talking to an encouraging family (encouraging being re-normalization) was the ancestral solution for depression?

While Having family can be part of a solution (or a treading water situation), and lacking family could be part of the problem...

No, I chose the word __community__ for good reason.

Re: Anxiety as an algorithm

#14

Post by thrwaway69 »

gloriousduke wrote: post #11
nineteen999 wrote: post #8

I have noticed a tendency (especially amongst HN articles and readers) to continually compare our bodies, minds, souls etc. to machines, as if they could be "biohacked" into perfection with just the right patches or software updates. Or that we could easily be replaced by the "correct AI" algorithm, if we could just get the simulation close enough. Not that I don't believe we aren't complex systems, we are, to be sur…

A world of only perfect beings does sound pretty boring. I'm not sure if anything worthwhile would actually happen in such a place. That being said, mental (rational) tools that help one recognize the origin of anxiety and reduce its deleterious effects are quite welcome. I think this article could help programmers/founders do just that.

If you had a world of perfect human beings, then they would create imperfections to stop themselves from getting bored. I know, I would.

Re: Anxiety as an algorithm

#15

Post by an-allen »

nineteen999 wrote: post #8

I have noticed a tendency (especially amongst HN articles and readers) to continually compare our bodies, minds, souls etc. to machines, as if they could be "biohacked" into perfection with just the right patches or software updates. Or that we could easily be replaced by the "correct AI" algorithm, if we could just get the simulation close enough. Not that I don't believe we aren't complex systems, we are, to be sur…

Well there are computational underpinnings to any form. Even those that are stochastic processes still have computational basis to some degree. So any cognitive process - which is quite literally the mind attempting to create form from various input signals - is going to be computable.

Wolfram's A New Kind of Science really changed my thinking about how we look at computational spaces.

Re: Anxiety as an algorithm

#16

Post by derefr »

gonehome wrote: post #4

> Developing a habit of recognizing thoughts as distinct from reality has been shown to reduce anxiety. For more information on this approach see here. I think this helps with catastrophic thinking (i.e. "I'll never pass another technical interview if I quit my job -> My girlfriend will leave me -> I'll run out of money -> I'll be on the street" etc.), verbalizing this kind of thing can help show that often the extre…

> I've also found it personally helpful to reframe failure as 'learning experience' and now you know more of what works and what doesn't (rather than a direct evaluation of some fixed ability), this helps embrace failure and growth without constantly doubting yourself or thinking that you may just not have the capacity to do what you want.

In fact, you can go further, and aim to fail. (Not in the sense of sabotaging yourself, but in the sense of doing things you're pretty sure are above your skill level, in the knowledge that you're unlikely to succeed at them, but are likely to learn from them.) Go in with the goal of learning as much as possible from the experience; and if you actually succeed, well, that's a pure bonus.

This is what Rejection Therapy is about, but it's also the basis of scientific positivism: you aim to prove the null hypothesis ("there is nothing interesting going on here.") Then you either succeed at proving that—and learning more about what hypotheses are worth making—or you fail to prove the null hypothesis, and instead discover some entirely-novel piece of knowledge about the world.

Re: Anxiety as an algorithm

#18

Post by westoncb »

nineteen999 wrote: post #8

I have noticed a tendency (especially amongst HN articles and readers) to continually compare our bodies, minds, souls etc. to machines, as if they could be "biohacked" into perfection with just the right patches or software updates. Or that we could easily be replaced by the "correct AI" algorithm, if we could just get the simulation close enough. Not that I don't believe we aren't complex systems, we are, to be sur…

It may be useful to consider either metaphor—humans as robots / humans as monkeys—as just giving some insight into what it means to be human, rather than defining what a human is.

When it's pointed out that our minds are computer-like, it's because they include aspects which resemble computers: e.g. when some subset of its behavior is describable by an algorithm that could in principle be executed by a computer (even if that algorithm is just an approximation).

Same with the idea that we're monkeys: it's true that we have shared characteristics with other animals, that while we're unique in some ways we are not totally apart from the rest of life on earth.

> I like being a monkey

Unfortunately the only option is to be a human: part monkey, part computer :P

Re: Anxiety as an algorithm

#19

Post by jborichevskiy »

gonehome wrote: post #4

> Developing a habit of recognizing thoughts as distinct from reality has been shown to reduce anxiety. For more information on this approach see here. I think this helps with catastrophic thinking (i.e. "I'll never pass another technical interview if I quit my job -> My girlfriend will leave me -> I'll run out of money -> I'll be on the street" etc.), verbalizing this kind of thing can help show that often the extre…

> I suspect that a lot of anxiety comes from too actively predicting future negative outcomes along with too much uncertainty, as you get more comfortable with things anxiety tends to go down

Well put. I've found this applies to most things in life: relationships, moving cities, switching jobs. I feel over the past year or so I've gotten better at identifying that thought spiral and stopping it before it consumes me (usually). Therapy and journaling have been most helpful here.

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