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The science of having ideas in the shower

nationalgeographic.co.uk

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Re: The science of having ideas in the shower

#121

Post by labrador »

sammalloy wrote: post #114
linsomniac wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> 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…

On the other hand, I went back to reread it 30 years later and found that everyone since has copied Wolfe’s writing style so it's not as compelling.

Re: The science of having ideas in the shower

#122

Post by sammalloy »

labrador wrote: post #121
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…

On the other hand, I went back to reread it 30 years later and found that everyone since has copied Wolfe’s writing style so it's not as compelling.

It’s a time capsule, for sure. For me, the most compelling thing about the book is the strange dichotomy between the sober author dressed in his three-piece white suit on a bus with young hippies and old beatniks in 1964, trying to write it all down for posterity. That’s compelling when you start to look at the entire book from that POV. It couldn’t have been an easy task.

Re: The science of having ideas in the shower

#123

Post by frogulis »

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).

Tell ya what, I come up with some damn catchy gibberish tunes in that state.

Here's some recently written-down lyrics from sleep-composition. Meant to be sung in a call and response hip hop kinda style, I think.

Professor: freedom's under your desk (desk)

Audience: huuuh?

Professor: freedom's under your desk (desk)

Audience: ohhhhh...

Re: The science of having ideas in the shower

#125

Post by mtlmtlmtlmtl »

e40 wrote: post #99
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…

Be careful, THC messes with your REM sleep.

This is true, although sporadic "single-dose" use will allow enough rem sleep towards the end of your sleep cycle.

Heavy use leaves enough of an after effect to supress rem almost entirely, which is partly why it causes issues with long-term memory

Re: The science of having ideas in the shower

#126

Post by mtlmtlmtlmtl »

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).

The chess genius David Bronstein famously dreamt a game of chess, woke up and wrote it all down.

Re: The science of having ideas in the shower

#127

Post by idontwantthis »

sph wrote: post #109

This is my ADHD super power. When I have a problem I take a shower, a walk, play a video game, just to let it stew in the background, sometimes for days. Get intoxicated. You'll eventually get that eureka! effect. It has never failed me. It's often suggested that one needs to work hard to crack a hairy problem. Nonsense. You've got a subconscious system always processing some idea, integrating external unrelated stim…

This is why I’ll never work in an office again. Why would I want to get stuck on a problem and be actively working against solving it because I’m stuck at work with nothing else to do?

Re: The science of having ideas in the shower

#129

Post by wildpeaks »

telchior wrote: post #112
leetrout wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can force the hypnagogic state by holding something heavy that you drop as you fall asleep. https://institutducerveau-icm.org/en/actualite/sleep-and-cre...

Cellphones are perfect for this. For maximum effect, hold it above your face while falling asleep. (Only semi-joking, I've done this multiple times.)

Tangentially, it's one of the reasons why I'm still using an older iPhone for my daily life because the haptic Home button (which was removed in newer models) makes it easier to use in an half-asleep state whereas I end up tapping on things accidentally when using my 13 Pro in that state: that button is the escape hatch, like ESC on a keyboard.

Any friction between the time I have an idea and the moment I can capture it increases the risk I will forget it before I have time to write it down.

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