What's on your mind now?

[Bob]

I was amused.

[Bob]

So... post-concert... I guess while you're waiting in lines to leave, you could say...

"Great concert.... Hey, did you have piloerection during the music?  Any arasing going on?"


   Technically, it's not really offensive. 


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goose_bumps

YT-SQ

[visitor]

muffins.

[goldentone]

Come to the muffin table. . .

[visitor]

Someone is trying to steal my identity ( i do not use capital letters in my name)

[Bob]

Flip-side of 'what would it feel like to be more intelligent?'


What would it feel like to be stupider? 

Cloudy brain, right?  And isn't that what you feel like when you're tired, sleepy, or groggy in the morning?

There's...
The fatigued state.
The state where you're awake but you just can't process anything.  I run into that when I've got too many projects going on all at once and I've been thinking about things a lot/deeply.  I've heard it described as 'thrashing,' where you have to mentally transition thoughts to another project but there are so many projects that you get stuck.


Which means, going back to the intelligent-feeling side...
Just being alert and focused/having attention is what it feels like to be smarter.
And not having too many thoughts going on should keep the mind clear.
And not wearing the brain out by thinking too much, too long should keep the mind clear.


I suppose...
There's the angle of 'end result vs. just working hard.'  You could have super intelligence but still not produce any usable solution to a problem, right?  But working hard at something is good.  It could actually be a problem without any solution at all.  If it's not though, and you're just not coming up with *the* solution, then what would the super-intelligent thing to do be?  Vary ideas, try new thing, etc.  because whatever train of thought your on, it's probably wrong, and the real solution is something you're not thinking of yet.

[outin]

What would it feel like to be stupider? 

Cloudy brain, right?  And isn't that what you feel like when you're tired, sleepy, or groggy in the morning?

Actually I don't think general stupidity has nothing to do with being clear headed or not...Otherwise you wouldn't see so many stupid people achieving so much in such a short time. It's obvious they can be very clear headed and focused 

[Bob]

I guess I'm thinking short term.

Long term... Scarier.  Because you probably won't notice it.  Remember what you felt like ten years ago?  I don't.  Not really.

In the short term, if I'm half asleep... I don't think the intelligence is quite there for that moment.

So if you wanted to be smarter in the short term... Drinking some coffee might do it.  more alert... smarter.

[Bob]

Pattern recognition.

And that there can only be so many patterns.

[outin]

Long term... Scarier.  Because you probably won't notice it.  Remember what you felt like ten years ago?  I don't.  Not really.

I would assume stupid people are often unaware of being so?

Smart people who are stupid in a certain area usually are quite well aware of that though...

[Bob]

We might all be stupid.  An unaware of it.

<<


>>

[visitor]

subliminal messages and soup

[outin]

We might all be stupid. 

We probably are...compared to a superior alien species....

[Bob]

A few decades from now... A little AI... up our intelligence a bit... I have feeling we'll look a bit stupid now.

[Bob]

Attention... if that's related to intelligence...

You get physically tired during the day.  Sometimes energetic, sometimes wiped out.  The mind would be the same.  And attention.  So... intelligence would go up and down too... Unless we're defining intelligence as some general feature over a period of time I guess.  The basic point is that if you're tired and can't focus, you're stupider.

Although it always seems like the conscious part is still pretty much there whether you're tired or not.  Until you're asleep.  Then you're not conscious.  You = conscious.

I suppose you could strip away all the physical features, language, etc.  until you get down to something really basic for consciousness.  You could even strip away the ability the ability to remember and you'd still be conscious.  I wonder what the point would be that you wouldn't be there anymore though.  If you lost the ability to sense the world at all, the mind would probably start hallucinating.  If you kept something like sight and hearing but stripped away the rest, that might keep something in the present still.

I suppose another basic part would be the ability to know what things are.  If you see or hear something, you automatically know what it is.  That must be some function. 

I wonder what point it would be where you're not there.  Or the opposite -- If you could make it so you're more there.

[goldentone]

Picking up people's thoughts can be a curse because it is a data reception, not a dimensional reception. It cannot discriminate the truth when the truth is otherwise, such as in the particular instance where a thought is not generated by the person but by the brain.

[goldentone]

No marvel then though I mistake my view;
The sun itself sees not till heaven clears.

Sonnet 148

[Bob]

How would you increase the speed of thought?  If it's physical movement, that's easy enough to see.  I wonder what it would be for thinking though... unless it's a known process and you push through that known process faster...

[Bob]

Brain documentary.  Secrets of the Human Brain.

There's a bit about music in the middle with Clyde.  Kind of interesting, but not surprising.  Music is in a different part of the brain then those short term memories or whatever he's lost.

[visitor]

philosophy

[Bob]

Events on threads here recently....

And then earthquakes in Oregon....
https://www.breakingnews.com/item/2014/11/13/63km-ese-of-lakeview-oregon-2/

Coincidence?   

[stringoverstrung]

We might all be stupid...

We probably are...compared to a superior alien species....

We don't need aliens for that. Mankind risks to be a very short living species. Don't forget crocodiles are already around for 250 million years for example. So if not stupid we are at least short-sighted. 

[Bob]

250 millions years?  That's making me agree with the idea that intelligence is just a fluke, not even an evolutionary advantage.  After 250 million years, wouldn't you think there would be some random mutations for a more intelligent crocodile that would have survived?  They'd all be geniuses by now.  Humans have what...?  30,000 years?  Not even a million for sure for whatever mammal-things (and before that and before that and before that) came before humans.

[visitor]

So this is a thing.
Even worse
Someone bid on it
https://m.ebay.com/itm/151267170596

*ye you read that right.  It is what it sounds like what it is.

[j_menz]

*ye you read that right.  It is what it sounds like what it is.

How is it "used" (vs new)? 

[Bob]

Bob, right now, attempts to write a sentence, while laying in bed, to please his supervisor, with great annoyance.

Bob, still right now, ponders that his supervisor is a simpleton, while still laying in bed, because he has to, still annoyed and tired.

Bob, still right now, practices again, while still laying in bed, this f-ing writing style, with a quicker pulse because it's annoying and his supervisor can't under more than a freaking sentence.

Bob, now, thinks these sound a bit like a haiku, while still lounging around, because he's still practicing this writing style, tiredly.

Who?  Bob
When?  Still right now.
What?  Considers even labeling this crap for his supervisor.
Where?  While still laying in bed.
Why?  Because it might help to hit his supervisor over the head with the writing style.
How?  Still tiredly and sick of his supervisor.

[stringoverstrung]

250 millions years?  That's making me agree with the idea that intelligence is just a fluke, not even an evolutionary advantage.  After 250 million years, wouldn't you think there would be some random mutations for a more intelligent crocodile that would have survived?  They'd all be geniuses by now. 

Well amazingly enough Crocodiles and humans are genetically very close:
"In a survey carried out by the researchers in Cambridge University, some proteins of terrestrial vertebrates were compared. Amazingly, in nearly all samples, man and chicken were paired as the closest relatives. The next closest relative was crocodile. "

(from: https://m.harunyahya.com/tr/NetCevap/147947/The-99--Myth-Is-Dead-Evolutionists-Admit-That-Humans-and-Chimps-Are-Not-Genetically-Similar)

[outin]

We don't need aliens for that. Mankind risks to be a very short living species. Don't forget crocodiles are already around for 250 million years for example. So if not stupid we are at least short-sighted. 

I am sure we will be outlived by many species, here's one!



Of course we might be able to boost our evolution by genetic engineering...

[Bob]

Hm...  Never noticed this before.



Paderewski





"Old man" from Seinfeld.  

[goldentone]

The Oregon Trail is encouraging of late. . . and found a Grant along the way I saw just hours before.

[Bob]

Except for the dying of dysentery part.


Hm... Thinking about... Money, job stuff.... yuck.  Gets old.  It's old-old-old now.  Same cycle of shutff.

[goldentone]

Journal Entry #67
November 19, 1875

Last night we were refreshed coming through the festive town of Derthland .  Last evening was their pre-Thanksgiving festival, one of the biggest of the year.  We had corn-fried chicken shishkabobs, baked beans, and camut cake.  President Grant actually secreted through in his secret service wagon.  Humble, unafraid, and confident, he managed a conversation on pressing matters with an unassuming prairie fox like me.  Grant then disappeared into the night.  After the Virginia Reel we resorted to our wagon.            

[Bob]

Mind sharpening, concentration....

If you focused on something, probably anything, really intensely... periodically... I wonder if that would keep the mind sharp....

Because there's a difference with some people, like music people, who are always honed in, or have that ability on call, that laser focus...

If you did something like that periodically as a routine, I wonder what it does to the mind. 

And I wonder what it would do if you pushed it or pushed it until something broke.

[j_menz]

If you did something like that periodically as a routine, I wonder what it does to the mind. 

Perhaps you should go out and buy one and fine out. 

[Bob]

Buy what?  (You're actually a little late on that one.... Only about a week late though, so I could it's understandable.)


As long as I'm here... So how did all that turn out?  What are the results in general, pros and cons, etc.?  Anything I should tweak now?  (Except that will create a paradox, but... what the heck...)

[Bob]

What it would feel like if we/humans were part computer/part AI, ie if you had a faster brain, more memory, etc.

[Bob]

Interesting but meh.

https://sploid.gizmodo.com/how-many-times-keys-get-pressed-in-a-chopin-piano-piece-1655962299

[Bob]

Ditto.

https://sploid.gizmodo.com/what-happens-when-an-orchestra-eats-the-worlds-hottest-1655312722

That's going to stick around in the wind players instruments.  Even if it's not their usual, best instrument... It's going to have to be cleaned out, if that's possible.  Yuck.

[Bob]

Not just an amusing exercise.... to a legion of warrior snails...

Yeah... So much for the share link.  I'll use this...

_@/  _@/   _@/  _@/     _@/  _@/ _@/
_@/   _@/   _@/  _@/  _@/  _@/ _@/
_@/ _@/    _@/    _@/    _@/  _@/ _@/


(Snail heard playing bagpipes offstage [because Bob has no idea how to create an ascii snail-sized bagpipe right now].)



   "Hands would be a bit useful in this situation too."
        \
    _@/       /
                /
             _/_
              |


         |
   _@/+

               |
        _@/+


          _/
   _@/+

Not quite a sword-like look there....


       "I prefer the term 'blade' rather than sword actually..."
  _@/



  "And I believe that big sword is stolen.... Nothing more than a crappy, knockoff copy of the original."
           _@/

                 .v~
               .(W       \@_  \@_
              /<M.
\~b__________/$@|\----------------------------------------------------------.
 >@)$$$$$$$$($( )#H>=============================----->
/_p~~~~~~~~~~\$@|/-------------------------------------------------------'
              \<M`                   _@/
     \@_       `(B              (    (   ( _@/  _@/    
                 `?_
   (   (   ( _@/



*After investigating the big sword, the snails decide to send a message instead.*  

_@/      _@/   _@/_@/@/
_@/_@/_@/       _@/
_@/      _@/   _@/@/@/

[Bob]

       "To arms!... Or snails holding swords, armed snails... with swords!"
                \
              _@/^/

_@/^/_@/^/_@/^/_@/^{/               \}\@_  ) ) )
      _@/^/_@/^/_@/^/_@/^{/       \}\@_ ) )  )          ^\\@_
 _@/^/_@/^/_@/^{/                              \}\@_ ) )

[Bob]

Hopefully not eating too much nutmeg...

https://nutritionfacts.org/video/dont-eat-too-much-nutmeg/


About 3 spoonfuls is toxic?

[visitor]

So this is a thing apparently (actually would make a great new thread topic....considers ramifications...)

Wow

[Bob]

And then wonder why you seem to have plumbing problems, while the neighbors have dug up their front yard and have set up a whole sluice system.

[Bob]

You can lose just about any ability... but can you lose the ability to be conscious, yet still have everything work?  ie be an intelligent zombie?

You can be braindead but the body, etc. lives on fine. 

I would think we would have seen it before but... How would we really know?  If someone went consciously dead or was never conscious at all, but everything still worked?   You'd never be able to tell the difference between the fully conscious and 'not conscious but everything is working' person.


Although I doubt that's possible at all.  Which means consciousness is sitting on top of some higher brain functions, stuff above the basic body processes.

[Bob]

Negatives of exercising...

Soreness
Injury
Time not doing something else, like keeping my place organized/clean or practicing
Feeling of calendar time passing (months) faster, while having less time during the days, but being more relaxed.
Laundry... Always having to wash sweaty exercise clothes.

Calendar time.  That's another one.  It was just summer a little while ago... Now it's December and year's almost over. 

I suppose something along the lines of exercising late at night when you have no energy and it's effort to anything.  Fizzling.   Vs. exercising earlier and seeing the same effect on music practice.  There's never enough time.

[goldentone]

You could visualize yourself exercising, and that daily imprint upon your subconscious may produce a miracle.

[Bob]

I almost saw someone get hit by a car today.  The traffic pattern was unusual.  Some cars stopped.  Some idiot decides to cross.  From my view I could see that person and I could see the car that was about to hit him.  It was one of the those moments where you just watch.  There would actually have been time to shout out to the person, except I seemed a bit frozen.  I was picturing him getting hit by the car.  The car stopped.  The person driving behind that first car wasn't too happy.  Interesting event.  The guy who almost got hit realized it, too late though.  Didn't really seem that phased by it. 

[goldentone]

The planet Xenon. . . as it was.

[hardy_practice]

You can lose just about any ability... but can you lose the ability to be conscious, yet still have everything work?  ie be an intelligent zombie?

They had a story on one of those crime shows a while back.  This guy had been shot in the head upstairs in bed.  The police couldn't at first workout how he got downstairs in the hall where he was found.  Turned out consciously dead he'd gone downstairs, got the paper from the front door and a glass of milk from the fridge before blood loss got him.

[Bob]

That's bizarre.

I would imagine consciousness is something to do with free will.  And being defined by your body space.  You body is the limit of "you."

Even more interesting...
https://sploid.gizmodo.com/is-death-a-real-thing-1670530619

Which brings up questions... How do you know you're conscious and not just an automaton?  Same idea -- How do you know you're alive and not just a collection of inanimate parts?


And then with that awareness, everyone wakes up from this dream.....