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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)

#51

Post by yawpitch »

DiggyJohnson wrote: post #48
Solvency wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

my 3 chickens have deep and complex social dynamics all while being able to pinpoint grains of quinoa off the ground faster than a robot while being able to spot the faintest outline of the tiniest potential threatening hawk 2 miles away in the sky, fully discerned from various crows flying around that don't phase them at all. their little brains are processing far more than me.

Why would you expect the last sentence to be true? Wouldn't you expect the brains of chickens to be vast, and yours to be even more so?

Why, precisely? Larger volume?

Don’t know about you, but over the years I’ve met a lot of humans that can’t obviously outthink a higher-end chicken.

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

#52

Post by jtolster »

yawpitch wrote: post #49
FredPret wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Human cognition belongs on the timeline of significant events in the evolution of universe. We may be only in the tiniest of corners (for now), but probably nothing beats it in complexity (... for now).

> but probably nothing beats it in complexity Spend a little while seriously watching an octopus, and you may move that needle.

Are you intimating that an octopus is more complex than human cognition? Or just that an octopus is complex?

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

#53

Post by ltbarcly3 »

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…

I believe it was a hn or reddit post, I remember it also.

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

#54

Post by sva_ »

yawpitch wrote: post #49
FredPret wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Human cognition belongs on the timeline of significant events in the evolution of universe. We may be only in the tiniest of corners (for now), but probably nothing beats it in complexity (... for now).

> but probably nothing beats it in complexity Spend a little while seriously watching an octopus, and you may move that needle.

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.)

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

#55

Post by giraffe_lady »

kayodelycaon wrote: post #12
sph wrote: post #4

What a well-written story. I don't have much to add, but I can say her humour or writing talent seems to be quite sharp for someone that feels she has not completely regained her mental faculties. Also the joke about opening a spa where she whacks stressed people with a bat so they find respite from our busy world: we already do that ourselves when we reach mental burnout. I did, and in some ways, I feel that years l…

> Perhaps burnout is as traumatic to the brain as a massive brain injury Wouldn’t surprise me. I had a massive psychotic break 5 years ago. I’m pretty sure it came with physical brain damage. My memory isn’t what it used to be. There are holes in it. Apparently some of it is so completely gone, I don’t know I’ve forgotten it. Usually I know if I forgot something because there is a dangling pointer to it. Brain damage…

After a bout of psychosis I was told by a psychiatrist treating me that acute psychotic episodes are physical events with lasting structural consequences in the brain. The more you have the more likely you are to have more of them.

Which all makes sense, but I don't think is part of the general awareness of these conditions. I get the feeling that most people think of them as "only" mental experiences.

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

#57

Post by yawpitch »

jtolster wrote: post #52
yawpitch wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but probably nothing beats it in complexity Spend a little while seriously watching an octopus, and you may move that needle.

Are you intimating that an octopus is more complex than human cognition? Or just that an octopus is complex?

I mean that it appears that octopus “cognition” — dangerously a word we control and can easily twist to only apply to us — is almost necessarily more complex than human cognition, if for no other reason than they seem to have distributed their “thinking” — another dangerously solipsistic word — into their arms and out into their body, well away from merely their brains.

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

#58

Post by chankstein38 »

Solvency wrote: post #47
Helmut10001 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you ever observed animals, e.g. just observing how chickens socialize, it becomes absolutely clear that they have similar cognition and perception than humans.

my 3 chickens have deep and complex social dynamics all while being able to pinpoint grains of quinoa off the ground faster than a robot while being able to spot the faintest outline of the tiniest potential threatening hawk 2 miles away in the sky, fully discerned from various crows flying around that don't phase them at all. their little brains are processing far more than me.

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 true, I'd expect they just perceive time more slowly than we do which is why they're able to appear so much more quick. I still agree they've got a lot going on in those brains I just think this aspect of it is interesting!

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

#59

Post by yawpitch »

sva_ wrote: post #54
yawpitch wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but probably nothing beats it in complexity Spend a little while seriously watching an octopus, and you may move that needle.

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?

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

#60

Post by tsunamifury »

didgeoridoo wrote: post #25
nunez wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As horrible as this accident is, this is also a testament to modern automotive safety. If this had happened in the 70s or 80s, they all would've been done for. I've seen reports of recent model year cars surviving these kinds of accidents while leaving their drivers unscathed.

My 8mo pregnant wife and 4yo daughter just walked away completely unscathed from a 40mph T-bone collision where the other driver blew a stop sign. Their car was hit so hard it spun around twice. The impact was directly into the driver side, where they were both sitting. By the time I got there barely 5 minutes later my daughter was sitting and joking with the police on scene. Found out later the VW Atlas essentially…

It does not. VW products probably have the lowest safety of all the German products. BMW probably being the highest.

Watch the president of the NTHSA talk about how his M5 saved his life.

Porsche is the safest of all as it is statistically the least likely to get in an accident by a significant margin (even accounting for per mile driven)

… that being said VW is likely much safer than your average American cost-cutter econobox crossover made of plywood and newspaper.

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