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Hacking the Brain

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Re: Hacking the Brain

#71

Post by manmal »

spydum wrote: post #18
manmal wrote: post #16

I haven’t found near infrared radiation referenced in the article - I‘m using near infrared as a brain hack, by shining a cheap 850nm LED light on my forehead. This has, over the last 2 years, enabled me to code for weeks on end, for 12+ hours a day, with only minor cognitive decline. It’s not something I really want to do, but sometimes it’s useful. Before I started the near infrared routine (~5 minutes every other…

how powerful is this LED? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4870908/ seems to suggest you need several watts.. "snouf and colleagues reported that only 34% of an 850 nm continuous light source at 100 mW could penetrate 0.784 mm of human skin. Approximately 89% of 820 nm light will penetrate 0.4 mm of epidermis (Kolari, 1985) and about 13.5% traverses 2 mm of skin (Henderson and Morries, 2015a). Our laborat…

Alas, I didn't measure it with a meter (since I don't have any), but according to the spec it draws 14W with a panel size of ~70 square centimeters. There's diffraction and everything, but since I put it directly on the skin, it's fair to assume that the theoretical absorption is 200mW/centimeter. BUT, power loss is huge (cheap infrared LEDs are below 50% efficiency), I don't think that, all in all, more than 30% of the input energy are preserved. So that would be 60mW/centimeter.

Re: Hacking the Brain

#72

Post by jamiek88 »

perl4ever wrote: post #65
jfoutz wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've got some incredibly lazy sunday afternoon non expert thinking. 200 years ago, just about everything was custom, bespoke. A carpenter would look for a piece of wood that was best for solving the problem at hand, that bit of warp was perfect for making a barrel stave. Work now, of all kinds, is more about minimum thresholds. classify objects or problems, and use standard approaches. Just about any piece of wood is…

I feel like data analysis is moving us into a new world where the assumption of interchangeability is ruthlessly exploited, so I suspect that there's a feedback where the older mentality is becoming more valuable again. At least until things reach a new equilibrium. Like, every product you buy has a million factors that affects its quality, and at best, you can test, directly or by proxy a very few. So, it used to be…

It’s like what happened in the physical and construction world. If the romans had computers their viaducts wouldn’t still be standing. If Caesar could use a tenth of the material for the same ends when invading Britain he would have. He didn’t so had to massively over engineer.

Hence why a Roman infrastructure is still used in the UK to this day.

Re: Hacking the Brain

#73

Post by heyoni »

dr_dshiv wrote: post #55
manmal wrote: post #16

I haven’t found near infrared radiation referenced in the article - I‘m using near infrared as a brain hack, by shining a cheap 850nm LED light on my forehead. This has, over the last 2 years, enabled me to code for weeks on end, for 12+ hours a day, with only minor cognitive decline. It’s not something I really want to do, but sometimes it’s useful. Before I started the near infrared routine (~5 minutes every other…

Improving executive function using transcranial infrared laser stimulation (2015) Abstract Transcranial infrared laser stimulation is a new non‐invasive form of low‐level light therapy that may have a wide range of neuropsychological applications. It entails using low‐power and high‐energy‐density infrared light from lasers to increase metabolic energy. Preclinical work showed that this intervention can increase cort…

I asked this elsewhere but I’ll ask again here: how is this any different from just going outside?

Re: Hacking the Brain

#75

Post by noonespecial »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #70
not_tobe wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagining a bunch of hacker news readers heading to purchase LED lights to shine at their heads just made my day.

In a noisy open plan office, with one of those noise reducing helmets, SADS lamp, earplugs, white noise, popping adderall, barista delivering espressos to feeding tube, etc.

I think I might have just figured out where Daleks came from... and why they're so angry all the time.

Re: Hacking the Brain

#76

Post by taneq »

heyoni wrote: post #73
dr_dshiv wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Improving executive function using transcranial infrared laser stimulation (2015) Abstract Transcranial infrared laser stimulation is a new non‐invasive form of low‐level light therapy that may have a wide range of neuropsychological applications. It entails using low‐power and high‐energy‐density infrared light from lasers to increase metabolic energy. Preclinical work showed that this intervention can increase cort…

I asked this elsewhere but I’ll ask again here: how is this any different from just going outside?

For the time periods described it's probably not significant but exposure to sunlight does increase risk of skin cancer.

Re: Hacking the Brain

#77

Post by icelancer »

iikoolpp wrote: post #24
manmal wrote: post #16

I haven’t found near infrared radiation referenced in the article - I‘m using near infrared as a brain hack, by shining a cheap 850nm LED light on my forehead. This has, over the last 2 years, enabled me to code for weeks on end, for 12+ hours a day, with only minor cognitive decline. It’s not something I really want to do, but sometimes it’s useful. Before I started the near infrared routine (~5 minutes every other…

This is the funniest post I've ever read on this website Either it's entirely the placebo effect, or it somehow actually does something and you're cooking your brain to wage slave even harder

>> wage slave

Keep the personal attacks off here. There is no need for this.

Re: Hacking the Brain

#78

Post by stompl »

not_tobe wrote: post #27
manmal wrote: post #16

I haven’t found near infrared radiation referenced in the article - I‘m using near infrared as a brain hack, by shining a cheap 850nm LED light on my forehead. This has, over the last 2 years, enabled me to code for weeks on end, for 12+ hours a day, with only minor cognitive decline. It’s not something I really want to do, but sometimes it’s useful. Before I started the near infrared routine (~5 minutes every other…

Imagining a bunch of hacker news readers heading to purchase LED lights to shine at their heads just made my day.

time to sell the shares

Re: Hacking the Brain

#79

Post by bobbylarrybobby »

heyoni wrote: post #73
dr_dshiv wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Improving executive function using transcranial infrared laser stimulation (2015) Abstract Transcranial infrared laser stimulation is a new non‐invasive form of low‐level light therapy that may have a wide range of neuropsychological applications. It entails using low‐power and high‐energy‐density infrared light from lasers to increase metabolic energy. Preclinical work showed that this intervention can increase cort…

I asked this elsewhere but I’ll ask again here: how is this any different from just going outside?

It’s easier to have a lamp at your desk than it is to work outside

Re: Hacking the Brain

#80

Post by itissid »

I recently read Andrew Gelman's description of these effect sizes from short studies. I think the idea was that if many small interventions created large positive effects then there could also be as many interventions on the negative side and we would not see any effects at all.

Yet there are interventions that clearly create massive net +ve effects, one just has to do experiments which is repeatable and stands the test of time.

Rhetorical Q: Does this IR thingy do that?

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