The Whittling Part Of the Brain • Hacker News Board

Re: The Whittling Part Of the Brain

#21

Post by neutronicus » Sat, Mar 12, 2011, 7:43 AM UTC

Tycho wrote: post #12

Im always puzzled by the superiority complex people harbour about their 'traditional' pasttimes, especially reading newspapers, watching the 6 o'clock news as if it's important, watching wildlife documentaries, going for runs, etc. Anyway , in one of those half asleep dazes the other day, I swear I caught my brain 'compiling' or 'defragging' or something. I could feel my eyes doing REM, and I could see or sense a who…

In college I used to have dreams about differential equations all the time. I remember one in particular about dispersion relations and non-linear responses to oscillations that wound up with me realizing that the forcing function was a fire alarm and waking up.

Re: The Whittling Part Of the Brain

#22

Post by lurker14 » Sat, Mar 12, 2011, 9:47 AM UTC

killerdark wrote: post #4

I don't buy it. As far as I can tell the this thing Jeff calls Whittling is simply energy preservation behavior. Brains take up 30% of your overall energy consumption. Thinking has a relatively high energy cost to it and people are hardwired to prefer limiting their energy expenditure that does not generate a return (wage, food, etc).

It looks like you are mostly agreeing with Jeff.

The different is that Jeff gives an argument for why somone would whittle instead of just lazing like a lion or a dog does. Whittling is (slightly) more rewarding, but sleeping is more energy efficient.

Re: The Whittling Part Of the Brain

#23

Post by pbhjpbhj » Sat, Mar 12, 2011, 2:23 PM UTC

jtbigwoo wrote: post #15

sliverstorm wrote: post #3

I resent the suggestion that whittling is not productive. I've made utensils in the past while in the mountains when I forgot my fork or spoon.

In my neck of the woods, the common word for making something out of wood is "carving." "Whittling" generally means destruction of a piece of wood with a knife.

The only use I've seen for it is making trinkets (paper knife anyone) out of wood. Like carving but less refined, only using ones general duty knife not carving tools (chisels, etc.). Like scrimshaw but using wood only and not spending so much time and care.

Re: The Whittling Part Of the Brain

#24

Post by squasher » Sat, Mar 12, 2011, 7:52 PM UTC

Almaviva wrote: post #7

The argument that "the brain knows better" seems very weak. The brain also wants people to over consume fast food, reward itself with alcohol and drugs, and several other things which obviously aren't rewarding in the context of modern society.

Right, I second that. Also, I used to "take breaks" by playing games or putzing around on the internet, until I realized that it doesn't actually help me feel relaxed and energized. But stretching, walking around, getting a cup of tea, and most other things in meatspace get me ready to go back to work.

Re: The Whittling Part Of the Brain

#25

Post by Almaviva » Mon, Mar 14, 2011, 3:27 AM UTC

goodside wrote: post #19

Almaviva wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> people demonstrably have higher vigilance for repetitive attention-heavy tasks when they've been injected with sugar That's not at all the same as saying that more difficult tasks actually consume more sugar, any more than programming must consume caffeine because coffee makes some people more focused on it.

Meanwhile, in reality, where evidence extends further than whatever I happen to mention, it does deplete glucose.

I don't know why you need to be rude and condescending. I don't know much about these things, but cursory research shows that these are at least good questions: http://www.epjournal.net/filestore/ep08244259.pdf

"It does deplete glucose" seems to be in question, doesn't it?