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Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

henrikkarlsson.xyz

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Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#161

Post by vachina »

abustamam wrote: post #152
causal wrote: post #27

This did not go where I thought it was going, and I'm glad. I enjoyed the read. I'm not versed enough in psychiatry to validate the brain-chemistry stuff but my practical experience lines up. Reminds me of the trick of telling yourself "let's give this my full attention for just 5 minutes, and if I still don't want to do it we can move on". I pretty much always end up wanting to keep doing that thing.

That's interesting. I really enjoy playing video games, when I have time. There are games that I objectively find fun, like recently, Clair Obscur Expedition 33. But oftentimes I'd play with my full attention, trying to absorb the beauty of the world and the music, and then I take my phone out during a loading screen and now I'm "second-screening" with my news feed or HN. And I'm still enjoying the game itself, but I…

If you’re second screening a movie you need to stop that movie and delete it from your library.

Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#162

Post by b_e_n_t_o_n »

BobbyTables2 wrote: post #8
Insanity wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of the Feynman quote “everything is interesting when you go into it deep enough” (or similar to that). Which I think is related to what you’re saying. Looking more closely at something and paying more attention can both unveil what’s “beneath the surface”.

Never realized Feynman said that but have discovered it true myself. Early on in my career, I thought a lot of technical topics wouldn’t be interesting. Especially things that aren’t new. Yet, when one gets down into it, mundane things end up being quite interesting. Even unit testing!

> Even unit testing!

Surely this principle has limits!

Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#163

Post by ants_everywhere »

onenite wrote: post #155

“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.” - often (incorrectly) attributed to Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu didn't say this. It appears to date from the owner of a supermarket chain in the 1970s

Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#164

Post by onenite »

ants_everywhere wrote: post #163
onenite wrote: post #155

“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.” - often (incorrectly) attributed to Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu didn't say this. It appears to date from the owner of a supermarket chain in the 1970s

D’oh! Should’ve done my research—It sounds so believable. Thank you for the correction.

Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#165

Post by onenite »

_mu wrote: post #160
onenite wrote: post #155

“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.” - often (incorrectly) attributed to Lao Tzu

Yes, it's a very ancient idea. "As we think, so we become." - Buddha

Thanks, i was about to share the first pair of verses of the Dhammapada (words of the Buddha. … allegedly), which perhaps would have been better than the misattributed quote in my initial comment:

Mind precedes all mental states.

Mind is their chief; they are mind-made.

If with an impure mind a person speaks or acts, suffering follows him like the wheel that follows the foot of the ox.

.

Mind precedes all mental states.

Mind is their chief; they are mind-made.

If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts, happiness follows him like his never-departing shadow.

Source: https://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/dp01/

Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#166

Post by fwipsy »

wtbdbrrr wrote: post #142
Nevermark wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's not a lack of mechanisms. It's buggy wiring in the brain where at some point in time t some substance or lack thereof forced the brain to reroute blood flow through "paths" that were less impacted by the bug. I don't think there is any solid basis to say this. There has been at least one study that linked greater differences between right and left prefrontal cortex blood flow, favoring the right, to greater AD…

awesome, thanks. > I don't think there is any solid basis to say this. The history of eugenic programs as well the blocking of male/female sex hormones to inhibit sexual development or for transitional purposes should reveal a solid basis. Brain/body are capable of recovering close to a genetic baseline, at least up to some age. > developmental signals have widespread cascades of impact throughout the body. I read to…

> > I don't think there is any solid basis to say this.

> The history of eugenic programs as well the blocking of male/female sex hormones to inhibit sexual development or for transitional purposes should reveal a solid basis. Brain/body are capable of recovering close to a genetic baseline, at least up to some age.

Showing that some effect can result from some cause is not sufficient to show that it does result from that cause. To be honest I don't even follow exactly what claim you're making here. But even if you show that e.g. certain mental problems can result from reduced or increased blood flow to certain areas of the brain, it does not follow that that is always the cause.

You're resting big confident assertions on "I read this somewhere, go look it up." In fact biology and mentation are complex and we don't have the whole picture. It's easy to put together whatever "just so story" you want by rearranging fragments of evidence, but it doesn't make it true.

Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#167

Post by onenite »

lo_zamoyski wrote: post #24

Sure. What you focus on will consume your mind and grow within it. The bad variety is often called dwelling or rumination. Some will find the desert father John Cassian[0] interesting in this regard. He uses the analogy of a water mill for the mind. You cannot stop a water mill from turning - the water keeps flowing and keeps turning the grindstone - so all you can do is choose what is poured into the grindstone. If…

Reminds me of the first pair of verses of the Dhammapada (words of the Buddha from ~2500 years ago. … allegedly):

Mind precedes all mental states.

Mind is their chief; they are mind-made.

If with an impure mind a person speaks or acts, suffering follows him like the wheel that follows the foot of the ox.

.

Mind precedes all mental states.

Mind is their chief; they are mind-made.

If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts, happiness follows him like his never-departing shadow.

Source: https://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/dp01/

Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#168

Post by virtue3 »

gtirloni wrote: post #135
sotix wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That interesting. I can hyperfocus without medication just fine. It's the choosing what to focus on that I take medication to solve.

I think "just fine" would imply you can invoke hyperfocus whenever you want. In my experience, it happens with the most undesirable things at the most undesirable moments.

But I know so much about randomly WW2 battle and military boats and airplanes that was critical to know at 3am when I had a full docket of stuff to do the next day...

Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#169

Post by abustamam »

SequoiaHope wrote: post #156
abustamam wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do I get diagnosed with ADHD? My sister just recently got diagnosed in her 40s (in another country though) and I'm like, well maybe I have adhd too, but I don't know who to ask, and the online quizzes all seem set up to sell you stuff.

I took an online quiz, then told my doctor, then my doctor administered an online quiz to me and subscribed me Adderall. It has taken me a year and a half to make sense of what Adderall means to me but it’s quite helpful. I’m 40. I had never had stimulants like that before! Be careful with the euphoria. For a while my dose was too high and it felt great at first but I crashed on the weekends. Now I keep my dose lower…

Thanks! I like to think that I have mindfulness and self control, but I might be overestimating myself.

Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#170

Post by ants_everywhere »

onenite wrote: post #164
ants_everywhere wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lao Tzu didn't say this. It appears to date from the owner of a supermarket chain in the 1970s

D’oh! Should’ve done my research—It sounds so believable. Thank you for the correction.

No problem :) It does sound believable.
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