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Your Thoughts Can Release Abilities Beyond Normal Limits

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Re: Your Thoughts Can Release Abilities Beyond Normal Limits

#91

Post by 300bps »

gems wrote: post #86
300bps wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm just replying to tell you I'm not going to reply to you anymore. This has apparently stirred some serious anger in you and there's no point to any further discussion between us. I apologize for any offense and hope things get better for you.

Please just answer the question. You seem to be using the person (sillysaurus) as an excuse to avoid having to address problems in your own worldview.

In this short "debate", sillysaurus has called me "annoying", "smug", "arrogant", "biased" and referred to me repeatedly as "people like you".

He's not debating me. He's debating every person that ever insulted him and using me as the punching bag while he's doing it. He's not listening to what I'm saying. Every time I reply to him he hears the people who have been putting him down and becomes more angry. Why in the world would I type out another reply to him?

Anyway, I don't see the significance of his question as aimed toward me.

what the difference is between someone who has a mental handicap, and who just isn't very good at memorizing things

He used the word handicap - I was just quoting him. I don't know what a mental handicap that causes you not to be able to memorize might look like. Does he have a traumatic brain injury? That would be a handicap. But he says he was like this since birth. Did oxygen get cut off to him during delivery? I have no idea what he's talking about when he says he's handicapped. How in the world can I answer his question?

In any case, I was aiming my comment at normal people and to head off the next silly question of what normal is, I mean people of typical mental capacity.

Re: Your Thoughts Can Release Abilities Beyond Normal Limits

#92

Post by smokeyj »

[deleted] wrote: post #81
300bps wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ab…

[deleted]

I'm sorry about your memory problem, but I think you're being a little sensitive. OP's point was simple: if you believe in yourself, you'll be in a better position to succeed. No, this doesn't guarantee success. But it's better than not believing you can. You're correct, your crippled grandma won't be able to walk because she believes she can. Unfortunately that wasn't OP's point.

Re: Your Thoughts Can Release Abilities Beyond Normal Limits

#94

Post by 300bps »

gems wrote: post #89
300bps wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way I'm reading this, you've discovered that yourself and a few of your friends are tall, and now you think the world is divided into tall people and dwarves. It's more like my friends and I are of average height but discovered that through little effort we can dunk a basketball. Then a very short dude comes by and says he's vertically handicapped and that I don't know what I'm talking about because he can't dunk…

You said, with regards to memorization, in your OP: "I'm convinced anyone can do this and the major thing stopping them is their belief that they can't do it." If you want to now adjust that claim and say "some can do it", you better be able to tell us how to distinguish.

Oh you're just being so silly now. Here is my original comment:

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

Here is how I am comfortable revising it for the offended sticklers in this thread:

I'm convinced anyone (of typical mental capacity) can do this and the major thing stopping them is their belief that they can't do it.

Re: Your Thoughts Can Release Abilities Beyond Normal Limits

#95

Post by [deleted] »

300bps wrote: post #91
gems wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please just answer the question. You seem to be using the person (sillysaurus) as an excuse to avoid having to address problems in your own worldview.

In this short "debate", sillysaurus has called me "annoying", "smug", "arrogant", "biased" and referred to me repeatedly as "people like you". He's not debating me. He's debating every person that ever insulted him and using me as the punching bag while he's doing it. He's not listening to what I'm saying. Every time I reply to him he hears the people who have been putting him down and becomes more angry. Why in the…

[deleted]

Re: Your Thoughts Can Release Abilities Beyond Normal Limits

#96

Post by wamatt »

devindotcom wrote: post #63
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'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…

There is likely an element of truth to OP's general point.

For example, journalist and author, Joshua Foer[1], talks about the astonishing feats of memory by average people. It becomes more persuasive, when it turns personal. While he starts out by writing a story on memory championships, he decides to take it further and delves deep into learning the techniques himself. Some time later, he ends up becoming the USA Champion!

"In 2006, Foer won the U.S.A. Memory Championship, and set a new USA record in the "speed cards" event by memorizing a deck of 52 cards in 1 minute and 40 seconds"[1]

The Ted Talk provides more detail [2].

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Foer

[2] http://www.ted.com/talks/joshua_foer_feats_of_memory_anyone_...

Re: Your Thoughts Can Release Abilities Beyond Normal Limits

#97

Post by md224 »

[deleted] wrote: post #76
300bps wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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]

> I think your revelation that anyone can memorize anything is a load of silliness, and untrue for most people.

This entire debate:

300bpm: people with average memory skills can memorize far more than they realize

sillysaurus: I have a memory deficit, and by the way, you're also wrong about people with average memory skills

300bpm: no I'm not

sillysaurus: yes you are

This is an incredibly useless debate (made worse by nitpicking over semantics) and based entirely on anecdotal evidence on both sides. 300bpm was just trying to be inspirational, which I find to be harmless in moderation. The end.

Re: Your Thoughts Can Release Abilities Beyond Normal Limits

#98

Post by epidemian »

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.…

You've received a lot of criticism for that comment, but, considering myself as having a very bad memory, i'm grateful that you posted it. It made me reconsider how much of my "terrible" memory is because it actually sucks or because i already have a preconception that i'll forget about everything if i don't write it down.

You see, it's not that my memory is equally terrible for all things. Sometimes i forget about things i was told literally seconds ago; but somehow i remember quotes from The Simpsons episodes that i haven't seen in years, or equally seemingly useless stuff. So, what makes these things different? Maybe the situation of being told something and thinking "shit, i must remember this! [but i probably wont]" actually makes things much worse.

Re: Your Thoughts Can Release Abilities Beyond Normal Limits

#99

Post by GoNB »

300bps wrote: post #58
GoNB wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, no mnemonic device? Most people memorize things by simple repetition. If you're implying anyone can have eidetic memory by "removing their limits", I don't buy it. It's something developed at a young age.

If you're implying anyone can have eidetic memory by "removing their limits" What I said is that most people don't try to memorize things because they think that they can't. Most people memorize things by simple repetition Sure, and most people don't try to memorize things because (again) they think that they can't no matter what technique they use. I don't buy it I'm not selling anything. I'm merely passing on my ow…

> Sure, and most people don't try to memorize things because (again) they think that they can't no matter what technique they use.

Citation? I mean, you're saying "most people" after all. If we're just talking anecdotes here, I've never met anyone who couldn't memorize something with simple repetition technique. When people say they have "poor memory", they are referring to not having eidetic memory. For example: "I don't remember her name! I have terrible memory." Well, it's probably because you only met her once in passing. It's not like you went home, wrote her name on some flash cards and crammed it into your memory. You weren't holding yourself back thinking "I can't remember her name because I have terrible memory!" It's simply that some people have eidetic memory and some don't. You can't learn eidetic memory by "thinking you can" or sheer will. It's developed at early childhood. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eidetic_memory)

> I'm not selling anything. I'm merely passing on my own experiences and those of my friends. If you choose to continue to believe you can't memorize things because of some innate lack of ability, it doesn't affect me at all.

You are overly pedantic. It's just an expression.

Re: Your Thoughts Can Release Abilities Beyond Normal Limits

#100

Post by johnchristopher »

300bps wrote: post #78
[deleted] wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[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 ab…

If this page is anything worthwhile (and cross-referencing it with wikipedia, it just seems out-of-date) http://pi-world-ranking-list.com/lists/memo/ you clearly aren't in the normal demographic considering the few people who made it on that list.

15 minutes to memorize 100 digits of Pi should get you higher on that list if you dedicate some time to it ?

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