they should test these augmentation techs on people who ride horses as it requires using thought and micro gestures to operate an entire second body in real time using each limb independently.
How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?
91–100 of 155 posts
Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?
#92I broke my Achilles tendon - had to have a FULL reconstruction - they took a tendon that used to help waggle my big toe (the muscle is in my leg) wrapped around my heel and back up my leg and rebuilt my achilles around that - now I have a muscle that used to wiggle my toe than moves my entire foot. How hard was it to relearn? at first I'd try to move my toe and something else would move, it felt weird - but doctor's…
Yes - I'm learning singing at the moment and just the other day the teacher fed back - don't try to over-conceptualise what you're doing. Just do it, focus on the outcome, stay relaxed and the body will figure it out. I've been through enough learning cycles to appreciate this but this was a real hurdle for me when I was young because my default was to rely on systems and rules. Ironically as a swimmer my biggest bre…
Maybe not really the same thing, but for some reason it reminds me of learning to roll your Rs, when learning Spanish or Italian as an English speaker.
When you try too hard to make the sound it doesn't really work.
But then after a while it just happens as you don't think about and are just speaking with natives.
Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?
#93they should test these augmentation techs on people who ride horses as it requires using thought and micro gestures to operate an entire second body in real time using each limb independently.
I used to feel similar about riding a motorcycle.
Of course it's not the same as it's a machine, not a living animal your are communicating with.
But so much it feels like it becomes an extension of your body and you just move by pure thought.
Similar to using a game controller I guess but more of a whole body experience.
Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?
#94I broke my Achilles tendon - had to have a FULL reconstruction - they took a tendon that used to help waggle my big toe (the muscle is in my leg) wrapped around my heel and back up my leg and rebuilt my achilles around that - now I have a muscle that used to wiggle my toe than moves my entire foot. How hard was it to relearn? at first I'd try to move my toe and something else would move, it felt weird - but doctor's…
Nowhere near as extreme but I broke my leg and there was a weird sensation if I touched my leg near the break, my toes would tingle even though they were quite a ways away. Years later, it no longer does that and feels normal in that area.
Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?
#95I once saw a documentary on a haptic compass, built from some rumble packs. It allowed people to improve their way-finding skills, and if I recall correctly, people accustomed to the idea of having this extra sense after about a week or so. I can’t easily find the original research (somewhere in the 1990s), but several hackers and artists have rebuilt or rediscovered the idea. See for example https://blinry.org/compa…
Reminds me of when people used to get magnet implants in their fingers so they could sense electric fields.
Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?
#96Marshal McLuhan's book Understanding Media had the full title "Understanding media: the extensions of man." And he had a chapter about the automobile. If you've ever had the chilling experience of a skid, the terrifying adrenaline surge during that second where it is clear the car is no longer under your control, you know the dude was onto something. The car is an extension of our bodies. An extra body part.
I have pressed an imaginary "brake pedal" with my foot many times when travelling as a passenger in vehicles with someone else driving, just because i was watching the traffic and sensed the need to slow down. Another instancee -- In my country growing up we didnt always have "blinkers" on our vehicles (light motorbikes, scooters, bicycles) -- so it was common to use "hand signals" to indicate your intention to turn…
I have a Jeep and do the "Jeep Wave" when I drive past other Jeeps. It's mostly an automatic gesture.
When I go out for a walk on the street, I have to fight the urge to wave when I see a Jeep.
Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes - I'm learning singing at the moment and just the other day the teacher fed back - don't try to over-conceptualise what you're doing. Just do it, focus on the outcome, stay relaxed and the body will figure it out. I've been through enough learning cycles to appreciate this but this was a real hurdle for me when I was young because my default was to rely on systems and rules. Ironically as a swimmer my biggest bre…
Similar here. For a very long time, I thought that being good at something was knowing the system and rules, and applying them consciously every time. It's funny because I legit thought that that's what I was doing while playing video games or doing martial arts (the only things I was reasonably good at for quite awhile). It turns out the learning and doing processes are both deeply subconscious; very little goes on…
There is a new shift in the understanding of coaching in sports called the Constraints-Led Approach (CLA). It's both super nerdy and practical (i.e., based on practitioners' empiric experience). Basically, it sees the body as a complex system of organs/tissues/cells that tries to solve movement problem under the pressure of different constraints. In a simple words, coaching then is the art of creating/manipulating constraints in order to optimize that search for the solution to the movement problem.
In a way, it's way deeper than "subconscious". A large portion of the science behind CLA is based on Nikolai Bernstein's works from the 1930-s (the guy who coined the term "biomechanics"). He wrote about the hierarchical model of motor control, where 5 different systems (that evolutionary are completely different) must work in synergy to solve the movement problem.
There is a great book that explains the science behind CLA called "How we learn to move" by Rob Gray.
Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?
#98There's this thing called the "curb-cut effect," where you make a change in order to accommodate people with a specific disability, and it turns out that the change is way more broadly useful than you anticipated. It's named after the ramps at intersections that were mandated by the ADA for folks in wheelchairs, but they turned out to be really good ideas in general and helped folks with strollers, on bicycles, and m…
This is absolutely the case - in software, accessibility features are in many cases identical to power user and engineering quality features. Color-theme support is necessary functionality for color vision deficiency modes, labels and tags on UI elements enable screen-readers just as much as they enable automated testing suites, configurable keybindings make it easier to get your app working with assistive input devi…
If anyone needs further convincing, remember that the journey from power user to experiencing disability is inevitable (age-related sensory & skeletal-muscular decline) and in some cases, abrupt (traffic accident, keyboard/mouse related RSI). We all eventually benefit from accessibility features.
Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?
#99I once saw a documentary on a haptic compass, built from some rumble packs. It allowed people to improve their way-finding skills, and if I recall correctly, people accustomed to the idea of having this extra sense after about a week or so. I can’t easily find the original research (somewhere in the 1990s), but several hackers and artists have rebuilt or rediscovered the idea. See for example https://blinry.org/compa…
I vaguely remember one of them being sad after the experiment ended, since it felt like they lost one of their natural senses. Slight ethical concerns were raised, afair.
Re: How do our brains adapt to control an extra body part?
#100I started wearing a bath robe belt as a tail and my brain quickly starts telling me I am wearing it when I am not. I also had a phantom watch ⌚ on for a week after losing it.
Did HN start allowing emojis or did that one slip through the cracks because it pre-dates the inclusion of Japanese emojis?
Emoji
Looks like a wingding to me, let’s just have it maybe.