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Your Thoughts Can Release Abilities Beyond Normal Limits

scientificamerican.com

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Re: Your Thoughts Can Release Abilities Beyond Normal Limits

#71

Post by sown »

300bps wrote: post #45

In many cases, thinking that we are limited is itself a limiting factor. I've noticed this is true in ever facet of my life. When I was 14, I memorized pi to 50 digits with almost no effort. Later, I memorized it to 100, then 200. I realized at that point that I could memorize anything that I wanted to. I memorize phone numbers, credit card numbers, everything with almost no effort and not using any mnemonic device.…

Others here are skeptical that just anyone can memorize pi to an arbitrary length. One way you can test if this has to do with you being 14 when this happened, is to memorize phi or e to 100, 200 or so digits with no mnemonic device. Or, maybe a string of random words or the contents of an entire magazine, each 100s of items long. It all depends on you being honest, but I'm curious. Maybe your brain has changed since then or you learned how to do this, but at a certain age when the brain was more malleable, hence the window of training was very narrow and adults like myself can't do this, either.

If you can memorize this without a mnemonic device, then I hate to break it to you, you are a mutant with Eidetic memory. And, so incidentally was your friend.

If you can't, then perhaps you've found a special, easy way to make memorizing numbers easy. Perhaps you should start a website and sell this technique?

Re: Your Thoughts Can Release Abilities Beyond Normal Limits

#72

Post by pella »

tokenadult wrote: post #15

I'm glad lutusp has already jumped in here to decry the shoddy quality of "science" relied on to build the opinion piece kindly submitted here. He is correct that psychology often relies on data unrepresentative of humankind as a whole, http://hci.ucsd.edu/102b/readings/WeirdestPeople.pdf often engages in dodgy data manipulation after gathering the data, http://opim.wharton.upenn.edu/~uws/ and is usually part of a la…

> the best-considered view among medical practitioners with clinical experience is that the placebo response has no clinical application.

"Conclusions: It is evident that placebo effects are real and that they have therapeutic potential. Laboratory evidence supports the existence of numerous placebo mechanisms and effects in both healthy volunteers and patients with a variety of medical conditions. Furthermore, clinically relevant evidence demonstrates that placebo effects can have meaningful therapeutic effects, by virtue of magnitude and duration, in different patient populations. Although substantial progress has been made in understanding placebo effects, considerable scientific work remains to be done in both laboratory experiments and translational clinical trial research, with the ultimate aim of harnessing placebo effects to improve patient care."

from: "Placebo Effects: Biological, Clinical and Ethical Advances" / by Damien G Finniss, Ted J Kaptchuk, Franklin Miller, and Fabrizio Benedetti / Lancet. 2010 February 20; 375(9715): 686–695. / https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2832199/

Re: Your Thoughts Can Release Abilities Beyond Normal Limits

#73

Post by orionblastar »

300bps wrote: post #45

In many cases, thinking that we are limited is itself a limiting factor. I've noticed this is true in ever facet of my life. When I was 14, I memorized pi to 50 digits with almost no effort. Later, I memorized it to 100, then 200. I realized at that point that I could memorize anything that I wanted to. I memorize phone numbers, credit card numbers, everything with almost no effort and not using any mnemonic device.…

I am glad that you developed an excellent memory. I used to know PI to 30 digits but forgot it and got some digits wrong.

You might want to write a book on memory and memorizing things using what you learned when you were young. People like me need to learn that. My memory is not perfect, and I am often picked on for not being able to remember stuff.

I believe that I can do it, and am not sure why I fail. Ever since I developed a mental illness in 2001, I've been having memory issues and difficulty concentrating. The psyhe meds for example make me dizzy, confused, and drowsy. In 2003 I could no longer work as I was too sick and became disabled. I always wanted to get out of this rut and get back to work some day. I am 45 now, and nobody wants to hire someone that old these days.

Re: Your Thoughts Can Release Abilities Beyond Normal Limits

#74

Post by amirmc »

300bps wrote: post #66
devindotcom wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm happy you have this ability, but suggesting that everyone else just isn't living up to their potential because of some mental block that you have supposedly (and accidentally) overcome is, perhaps, limiting your compassion. You are very lucky to have an exceptional memory; others are not so lucky, and must work hard to do what costs you no effort. Supposing they just aren't trying hard enough or are succumbing to…

I'm not sure if you read my comment before becoming offended by it. Your response makes it all about me, but I specifically mentioned other people being surprised by their own memorization capabilities after I asked them to consider that maybe they're more capable of memorizing numbers than they believed. Your comment also says that I memorize through "no effort" when I stated, "almost no effort" which is > "no effor…

> "I'm not sure if you read my comment before becoming offended by it."

That post didn't read to me like he was in the slightest bit offended.

It's simply making the point that if you view the world through a lens of "you can do anything if you just try" then there's a downside of becoming less compassionate as one might ascribe to laziness what may (more correctly) be ascribed to a genuine physical or mental inability.

Re: Your Thoughts Can Release Abilities Beyond Normal Limits

#75

Post by cscheid »

300bps wrote: post #66
devindotcom wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm happy you have this ability, but suggesting that everyone else just isn't living up to their potential because of some mental block that you have supposedly (and accidentally) overcome is, perhaps, limiting your compassion. You are very lucky to have an exceptional memory; others are not so lucky, and must work hard to do what costs you no effort. Supposing they just aren't trying hard enough or are succumbing to…

I'm not sure if you read my comment before becoming offended by it. Your response makes it all about me, but I specifically mentioned other people being surprised by their own memorization capabilities after I asked them to consider that maybe they're more capable of memorizing numbers than they believed. Your comment also says that I memorize through "no effort" when I stated, "almost no effort" which is > "no effor…

I'm quoting you:

> I'm convinced anyone can do this and the major thing stopping them is their belief that they can't do it.

It's not a matter of taking offense. It's a matter of your assumption. It took you little effort. And it might take many people little effort. But by saying "anyone" and "their belief that they can't do it" in the same sentence you disenfranchise people who, you know, might actually have tried this and failed.

This type of statement tends to irk some people (and I'm here assuming sillysaurus is part of this group) because the same structure is present in all kinds of victim-blaming statements ("oh, you don't work hard enough, that's why you're poor. You have to believe in prosperity").

Let me be clear, I'm not saying that you'd actually use the more horrible versions of the pattern. I'm simply hoping to explain sillysaurus's strong reaction to your original post.

Re: Your Thoughts Can Release Abilities Beyond Normal Limits

#76

Post by [deleted] »

300bps wrote: post #69
[deleted] wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[deleted]

You're right. And if I made a comment about how well I learned to clap through almost no effort I suppose I'd have one-armed people writing comments to complain. If you have a mental handicap, my comment was not directed toward you and I hope you took no offense.

[deleted]

Re: Your Thoughts Can Release Abilities Beyond Normal Limits

#77

Post by paisawalla »

300bps wrote: post #66
devindotcom wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm happy you have this ability, but suggesting that everyone else just isn't living up to their potential because of some mental block that you have supposedly (and accidentally) overcome is, perhaps, limiting your compassion. You are very lucky to have an exceptional memory; others are not so lucky, and must work hard to do what costs you no effort. Supposing they just aren't trying hard enough or are succumbing to…

I'm not sure if you read my comment before becoming offended by it. Your response makes it all about me, but I specifically mentioned other people being surprised by their own memorization capabilities after I asked them to consider that maybe they're more capable of memorizing numbers than they believed. Your comment also says that I memorize through "no effort" when I stated, "almost no effort" which is > "no effor…

Personally, I would rather have a mediocre memory and mediocre emotional intelligence, than an exceptional memory and the complete lack of EQ which you're demonstrating here.

Hopefully you don't resent other people telling you how with little effort they were able to increase their vertical jump or learn how to play the guitar.

Nope, I wouldn't. But if they then concluded from their own lack of effort that I should also be able to jump higher and play the guitar with similar ease, then they should expect it.

Re: Your Thoughts Can Release Abilities Beyond Normal Limits

#78

Post by 300bps »

[deleted] wrote: post #70
300bps wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure if you read my comment before becoming offended by it. Your response makes it all about me, but I specifically mentioned other people being surprised by their own memorization capabilities after I asked them to consider that maybe they're more capable of memorizing numbers than they believed. Your comment also says that I memorize through "no effort" when I stated, "almost no effort" which is > "no effor…

[deleted]

Attitudes like yours smack of the smugness and arrogance that I've had to deal with all of my life

Take a breath, my friend. I'm not the person who's been keeping you down all these years that you are apparently lashing out at.

I responded to your other comment down-thread. My comment was aimed at a normal demographic. You state that you have some undiagnosed mental handicap.

If I posted a comment saying how I was able to increase my vertical leap by 10% through almost no effort and I think anybody can do it, should people in wheelchairs respond with self-righteous anger as you have? I would hope they would read it for what it is; a call to believe in yourself to reach your best potential. People have different potentials - I would think that was self-evident.

Re: Your Thoughts Can Release Abilities Beyond Normal Limits

#79

Post by nether »

tokenadult wrote: post #15

I'm glad lutusp has already jumped in here to decry the shoddy quality of "science" relied on to build the opinion piece kindly submitted here. He is correct that psychology often relies on data unrepresentative of humankind as a whole, http://hci.ucsd.edu/102b/readings/WeirdestPeople.pdf often engages in dodgy data manipulation after gathering the data, http://opim.wharton.upenn.edu/~uws/ and is usually part of a la…

Your posts would be way more readable with links as footnotes instead of in the body. They read more like link dumps than actual explanatory prose.

Re: Your Thoughts Can Release Abilities Beyond Normal Limits

#80

Post by 300bps »

paisawalla wrote: post #77
300bps wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure if you read my comment before becoming offended by it. Your response makes it all about me, but I specifically mentioned other people being surprised by their own memorization capabilities after I asked them to consider that maybe they're more capable of memorizing numbers than they believed. Your comment also says that I memorize through "no effort" when I stated, "almost no effort" which is > "no effor…

Personally, I would rather have a mediocre memory and mediocre emotional intelligence, than an exceptional memory and the complete lack of EQ which you're demonstrating here. Hopefully you don't resent other people telling you how with little effort they were able to increase their vertical jump or learn how to play the guitar. Nope, I wouldn't. But if they then concluded from their own lack of effort that I should a…

the complete lack of EQ which you're demonstrating here.

I would think someone with even a mediocre EQ would have more tact than telling someone they have a complete lack of EQ.

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