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Taking a walk may lead to more creativity than sitting, study finds (2014)

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Re: Taking a walk may lead to more creativity than sitting, study finds (2014)

#141

Post by card_zero »

astura wrote: post #130
stego-tech wrote: post #42

I was a doubter until COVID. Then I built a habit of 30 to 60+ minutes of walking a day, ~1.5 to 5mi depending on length and pace. Geez , the amount of stuff I got done, problems I solved, and general boost to well-being I achieved was lost on me until a job pushed those walks out of the workday. My productivity wasn’t the same. Definitely going to block off a walk around the harbor during most workdays going forward…

Exactly the opposite for me, I tried to add 10 minutes of walking to my workday (midday) and I only lasted a month. I found it so distracting; I lose so much productivity, would be unable to concentrate for at least an hour afterwards, and sometimes for practically the rest of the workday. I absolutely do think exercise can help with work, in general, just not immediately after for me. A walk after work is much bette…

Meanwhile, another commenter who walks around Manhattan says that "distraction is the catalyst", and in the article they have participants walking on a treadmill in front of a blank wall, and others walking "outdoors along a predetermined path" (but where?) with the same results. Furthermore, what they measure and call creativity is thinking of uses for a button or thinking of the word "cheese".

Re: Taking a walk may lead to more creativity than sitting, study finds (2014)

#143

Post by Keyframe »

Hear me out. One of the better things I did for myself. Electric standing desk (IKEA idasen, it's cheap and good), samsung ultrawide oled 49, and a small walking pad. Walking pad is like a treadmill, but small so I can easily put it aside and I can switch between sitting and standing and walking and I do all three during the day. It doesn't need much space even. I also have two chairs, one regular (also ikea, marcus - not great, not terrible) and a kneeling one for posture so I switch between when sitting. Really not much of an investment but overall great QOL improvement.

Re: Taking a walk may lead to more creativity than sitting, study finds (2014)

#144

Post by exe34 »

toilet wrote: post #135
exe34 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why fight the system when you can just leave the system?

It would save people money, you wouldn't have to sacrifice security, and they wouldn't complain about losing Google maps or Signal.

Paper maps still work. What do you sacrifice in security in a dumb phone? A dumb phone is much cheaper. You can still call your friends.

Re: Taking a walk may lead to more creativity than sitting, study finds (2014)

#145

Post by Trufa »

jschveibinz wrote: post #4

There is even a latin phrase for it: solvitur ambulando. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solvitur_ambulando

This is not what this means. This is not, "had an idea by walking", this means, I can prove the absurdity of certain philosophical ideas by just common sense observation (roughly).

Re: Taking a walk may lead to more creativity than sitting, study finds (2014)

#146

Post by granra »

freetime2 wrote: post #126

With agents, you can set them to work on a task, and then head out for a walk while having a think about next steps. Come back, review the results, give it the next steps, and then head out for another walk. I wonder how hard it would be to get an agent to send me a text message if it gets stuck on something.

I made an MCP server that basically implements all the tools an agent harness would provide. The code is checked out on my server, the MCP server creates git worktrees on "activation" and it can read, modify files, run bash commands etc. I have this setup in typingmind so I can do everything from my phone :p The only problem is that typingmind needs to be in the foreground on my phone, otherwise it will kill the connection.

There was a time where I was often stuck for an hour with nothing but my phone and I kept copying file contents into chat for context so I made this and it works surprisingly well.

Re: Taking a walk may lead to more creativity than sitting, study finds (2014)

#147

Post by perarneng »

Keyframe wrote: post #143

Hear me out. One of the better things I did for myself. Electric standing desk (IKEA idasen, it's cheap and good), samsung ultrawide oled 49, and a small walking pad. Walking pad is like a treadmill, but small so I can easily put it aside and I can switch between sitting and standing and walking and I do all three during the day. It doesn't need much space even. I also have two chairs, one regular (also ikea, marcus…

"a small walking pad" - which one did you end up buying and are you happy with it or secretly wished you would have bought a different one?

Re: Taking a walk may lead to more creativity than sitting, study finds (2014)

#148

Post by rob »

stego-tech wrote: post #42

I was a doubter until COVID. Then I built a habit of 30 to 60+ minutes of walking a day, ~1.5 to 5mi depending on length and pace. Geez , the amount of stuff I got done, problems I solved, and general boost to well-being I achieved was lost on me until a job pushed those walks out of the workday. My productivity wasn’t the same. Definitely going to block off a walk around the harbor during most workdays going forward…

You were a doubter… as in you thought it was normal to sit inside your house the entire day (or for over 12 hours) without going outside at all? Or what?

Re: Taking a walk may lead to more creativity than sitting, study finds (2014)

#149

Post by iammjm »

echelon wrote: post #129
kristiandupont wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It reminds me about this video where John Cleese talks about creativity. One of his points is that his work was better than some of his more talented peers simply because he set aside more time to let ideas mature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb5oIIPO62g

It's our evolutionary background. Land animals first evolved intelligence when we emerged from the cloudy, murky sea and developed the ability to see shapes (predators, prey) really far into the distance. This required the ability to understand the future and perform spatial reasoning. Not all aquatic species were exposed to such pressures (opportunities), since line of sight vision (especially traveling at speed) is…

There are highly intelligent species such as whales and dolphins, which cannot walk nor run. There are also highly intelligent species that generally do not walk, such a octopuses and birds. Also you skipped other ways of locomotion, such as crawling and climbing. Sure locomotion is crucial, but it's not a simple just a switch to walking. You made it seem like intelligence is only about walking and running, but in reality intelligence was acquired as a long process of various adaptations. Other examples for crucial adaptations that are completely missing from your narrative would be communication, prosociality, or tool-using
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