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I Know the secret to the quiet mind. I wish I'd never learned it (2021)

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Re: I Know the secret to the quiet mind. I wish I'd never learned it (2021)

#121

Post by skeaker »

yawpitch wrote: post #59
sva_ wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're very intelligent for sure, but their neurons are also a lot bigger. About 500 million neurons in an octopus (whole body) vs 86 billion in a human (just the brain.)

Size and quantity of neurons isn’t known to determine intellectual capacity, plus for all we know that’s just RAM… they live a few years, max, we live considerable longer, maybe they literally don’t need as much long term storage to fill with, for example, misplaced nostalgia for 1980s toy commercials?

I would argue that having so much capacity for memory retention that our brains can spare space on frivolous things like that is marvelous in and of itself. Retention of information is arguably as important as the capacity for information. Humans passing down stories for generations, then inventing the written word to preserve ideas for years and year, is itself a beautifully complex thing.

Re: I Know the secret to the quiet mind. I wish I'd never learned it (2021)

#122

Post by anal_reactor »

hwbehrens wrote: post #86
Workaccount2 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 for wearing a helmet. I see so many people riding (both bicycles and even motorcycles) without one. Totally insane since even a minor accident can turn you into a drooling blob with an otherwise minor bump on the head.

Like the GP (and most people, I assume) I really value my mental faculties, but more relevant in my opinion is that in terms of time and often money, your collective knowledge and education is probably the most expensive thing you've invested in. To not do the bare minimum to protect that investment is incomprehensible to me. My friends will buy ergonomic keyboards, standing desks, monitor arms, etc. to keep them hea…

> but not wear a helmet because "they look dumb"

It's not about looking dumb. It's about ergonomics. Sure, helmets make cycling marginally safer, but they also make it considerably more tedious, which results in people simply deciding not to cycle at all, which results in decrease of both public health, and safety of cyclists.

https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/26subr/til_t...

Re: I Know the secret to the quiet mind. I wish I'd never learned it (2021)

#123

Post by nunez »

bluecalm wrote: post #83
nunez wrote: post #17

This sounds like an head-on collision that happened on a high speed rural two-lane road with an impatient driver thinking they could complete a tight pass in time. I absolutely hate these roads, for this reason.

It's not the road's fault. It's the psycho drivers who attempt speeding or worse passing at speed who are the danger. May I suggest you redirect your hate? If enough of us do it maybe we will see some change in driver's behavior one day.

It can absolutely be the road's fault.

Why does a two lane rural road, often without a shoulder, often cutting through large swaths of unpredictable wildlife need to be rated for 70mph?

I'm a cyclist and love walking. I've seen way too many drivers simply not give two fucks about pedestrians, cyclists or even other cars. I've seen way too many drivers pull out their phones at stoplights or on freeways where "nothing is going on". I've seen way too many drivers drive 30mph+ through parking lot spots thinking nothing of it.

Meanwhile, public transportation initiatives and city landscapes get shot down and destroyed constantly in favor of adding "just one more lane" because people can't be arsed to drive 30mph and NEED 45mph stroads they can blast through at 60mph.

Driving is one of the most dangerous activities we do on a daily basis and so many people treat it like absolutely nothing bad can happen. I hate it.

Re: I Know the secret to the quiet mind. I wish I'd never learned it (2021)

#124

Post by geon »

alexpotato wrote: post #29

Many years ago I read an article (which I can't seem to find) that had the following key points: - Very smart guy - Had some kind of blood circulatory issue so reduced oxygen to the brain - BUT was a very active cyclist so has very good cardio - due to both of the above, he was getting enough O2 to be functional but effectively had a lower IQ - circulatory issue was eventually identified and then corrected His commen…

There was a House MD episode about something similar. https://youtu.be/tLMzEOoSjc4?si=j08sc6pptBqWinbq

Re: I Know the secret to the quiet mind. I wish I'd never learned it (2021)

#125

Post by cowthulhu »

tmnvix wrote: post #118
cowthulhu wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not arguing that speed plays a factor, but you should still wear a helmet. I know two people who had brain damage (like, serious damage that persists years later) from low speed falls - one was literally standing still, and the fall sent them to the hospital for a week. The other one was low speed, just starting off after stopping at the bottom of an uphill section. Not sure the exact details of what happened, bu…

Would you argue that the woman in the article should have worn a helmet?

The woman in the article was driving a car, so no?

Re: I Know the secret to the quiet mind. I wish I'd never learned it (2021)

#126

Post by yawpitch »

skeaker wrote: post #121
yawpitch wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Size and quantity of neurons isn’t known to determine intellectual capacity, plus for all we know that’s just RAM… they live a few years, max, we live considerable longer, maybe they literally don’t need as much long term storage to fill with, for example, misplaced nostalgia for 1980s toy commercials?

I would argue that having so much capacity for memory retention that our brains can spare space on frivolous things like that is marvelous in and of itself. Retention of information is arguably as important as the capacity for information. Humans passing down stories for generations, then inventing the written word to preserve ideas for years and year, is itself a beautifully complex thing.

Marvelous, certainly… unique, not necessarily. Some corvids appear capable of passing down skills (tool use) and memories (which humans have harmed previous generations), and just because we lack the ability to understand their stories doesn’t mean dogs, birds, and octopi aren’t passing down just as immense and marvelous communal knowledge via scent, sound, and touch.

As for the written word… I’d call that a running experiment. It’s capable of beauty, certainly… but it’s also capable of Meta (née Facebook) and X (née Twitter). Of course the fact that we can readily coin new terms for new situations — I hereby dub the use of X by its current owner _muskturbation_ — is intrinsically complex, but I’m not sure it isn’t also a direct pathway to both babble and Babble and, ultimately, species-ending atrocity.

Re: I Know the secret to the quiet mind. I wish I'd never learned it (2021)

#127

Post by DiggyJohnson »

yawpitch wrote: post #117
DiggyJohnson wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> my chickens are visually processing far more than I possibly can This is what I'm responding to. I don't know how to reconcile your two sentences, but no problem.

Let’s put it this way… the common ancestor of humans and chickens is way back, well before the dinosaurs. Their visual processing systems are on an entirely different, essentially unrelated vector from our own… so are their eyes. They can see in ultraviolet, for one, and you can’t, so they’re literally processing far more information than you can even perceive… comparing these two visual systems isn’t apples and oran…

Thanks for the explanation. I see where you're coming from now.

Re: I Know the secret to the quiet mind. I wish I'd never learned it (2021)

#128

Post by cjameskeller »

jongjong wrote: post #36
lijok wrote: post #16

Amazing recount. I was fortunate to learn in 2018, at a relatively young age, that my mental faculties are the most precious thing I have in life (after my wife ofcourse). It was a very simple accident; chasing a high I let my bike get too fast going downhill on a wet road, a car on the other side was oncoming, I break, the back wheel slips out from under me, I hit my head on the road (with a helmet on). A bruised kn…

I had a similar moment when I was 16 and had my first migraine aura... Really bad one. I was looking at a billboard and I realized that I couldn't read anymore. Then I looked at people and part of their faces were missing from my field of view even though I was looking straight at them. Then I started feeling tingling in my fingers. I thought it was a stroke. No, just a bad migraine aura. I've had one every 6 to 12 m…

Wow, I've had this exact experience, as well! Two or three bad ones, with all the rest consisting of:

- a slight odd taste (this is my "early warning sign"), - then the vision loss (which is so hard to describe, because the missing portion doesn't become black/white/blurry/etc, it's just gone), - and sometimes the tingling fingers.

The worst one, which happened while I was in Spanish class at school, began with those symptoms, but then I noticed I couldn't understand the Spanish instructions on the worksheet we'd just been given, even though I'm usually good with languages. I went to read the English "cheater" instructions on the other side, and my ability to read & understand English drained away while I was in the middle of reading. I felt that something was very wrong at that point, and stood up to tell my teacher that I needed to go to the nurse, but as soon as I stood up, I realized I no longer knew how to transfer my thought into my teacher's mind (not only the ability, but even the concept of spoken language had vanished!) ...So I just sat back down and waited it out.

It is quite the experience...

Re: I Know the secret to the quiet mind. I wish I'd never learned it (2021)

#129

Post by jongjong »

toss1 wrote: post #73
jongjong wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a similar moment when I was 16 and had my first migraine aura... Really bad one. I was looking at a billboard and I realized that I couldn't read anymore. Then I looked at people and part of their faces were missing from my field of view even though I was looking straight at them. Then I started feeling tingling in my fingers. I thought it was a stroke. No, just a bad migraine aura. I've had one every 6 to 12 m…

>>a temporary dysfunction of the mind Interesting Seems the dysfunction could be either intrinsic, as in mis-processing data/information that is present, or extrinsic, as in not having or failing to obtain a suitable set of data/information on the topic. Does this match your model?

I believe it is a purely visual processing issue because, when I get a migraine aura, I can think and reason and communicate as normal. I walk normally too, I don't feel dizzy. It's only that parts of my visual field are missing. The missing parts seem to shift like blobs in a lava lamp so I can't just turn my eyes to 'look around them'. Also because visual info is missing (not blacked out or blurred out), it makes it impossible to figure out how much I should turn my eyes to look around 'it'... It's like a spacial distortion in my field of view. I wonder if this is a similar experience to dyslexia? Though for me it's only temporary and affects everything I see including faces... But who knows maybe dyslexics also have this issue but don't realize it because they don't know better?

I can still recognize people even though I can't see their face fully. It's like my subconscious is still seeing the full face.

Re: I Know the secret to the quiet mind. I wish I'd never learned it (2021)

#130

Post by chankstein38 »

wongarsu wrote: post #77
chankstein38 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how scientifically factual this is, it was presented as such but it's hard to believe it in a literal sense but there's a Benn Jordan video called "How The World SOUNDS To Animals" about how different animals perceive time differently. Like flies perceive life many times more slowly than we do which is, allegedly, why they seem to get away when we swat at them, no matter how quickly we move. If that's tr…

Humans have reaction times on the order of 100-200ms. But interestingly if you measure reaction by you moving your hands or torso about 10%-20% of that time is just the time it takes for the signal to travel from your brain to the right muscle. Nerves aren't all that fast. That's why many reflexes happen outside the brain, closer to the relevant body part. With that in mind, it would make a lot of sense if time perce…

That's a really interesting way to put it! Thank you! That makes a lot of sense!
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