What Makes Your Blood Boil?

[Mouthwash]

What are your main reasons to quit screens?

I'm beginning to think I can no longer do anything long-term. I've also become very suspicious of unnatural sources of stimulation, no matter how harmless they seem (my current diet plans are to eat simple, unflavored foods that aren't altered too much from their base state).

What else do you want to do with your time? How are you planning to stay in touch with your peeps?

I've got to learn Hebrew (finally), study and I'll start working soon. I don't think I can have a virtual and RL social life at the same time. The disease is rooted too deeply to justify anything less than a complete purge.

On a completely unrelated note: Remember your thread about the only-meat diet where we shortly discussed fasting? I'm planning to do it in the next few months and will inform you/maybe make a thread to see how it goes.

That's great!

My mind isn't healthy, I just do a very good job of hiding it. I typically don't interact with people during the bad moments and it shows during mentally intensive activities so that's something I try to avoid doing around other people. Most of it is tied to my physical health, though, if I'm to be honest. There's the stereotypical "brain fog" but there's also the fact that my health puts me in a position where there'll be bouts of intensified pain or nausea, or cramps, throughout the day at random moments making it difficult if not impossible to commit to anything for more than 20-30 minutes.

I've always found it difficult to describe. The best analogy I have for it is an uncontrollable itch. My brain feels itchy, and using it more makes it itch more. The moments where I can be sufficiently fluent or reasoned in a significant capacity (like the superbly long post you quoted) are few and far between. It's a big part of why my "at home" career as a writer has petered out and my portfolio has become outdated. I can't keep up with the brain power that's consistently needed day-in day-out.

One of the biggest consequences I've found is losing the ability to parse out complex systems in my mind. It used to be that I could imagine a system (like, say, a machine) and take it apart mentally to see how it works or to figure out how to fix it if it's broken. I could have my thoughts branch out into several different directions and have it all make sense to me at any given moment, lending me the ability to understand complicated ideas easily. This is no longer the case. My mind is mostly restricted to singular paths of thought now or, if there requires branching out, I have to do it step by step repeatedly if I hope to hold onto the understanding I've gained.

It's why I don't get into heated, extended debates here on CFC and it's also why I don't bother talking about things I don't have a vested interest in. It used to be that I could soak up knowledge about things I don't care about, but these days it's hard enough to hold onto knowledge about things I do care about. My ability to churn out 300+ word detailed arguments is essentially nonexistent at this point unless you catch me on a good day, and even then it's unlikely that I would be able to do it more than two or three times before that opportunity passes. It helps if I have an emotional reason to get something produced.

You're schizoid, right? In my experience, introspection (like thinking about what your brain "feels like") is actually a bad thing. That part of the mind is supposed to be opaque to you. The only thing I can compare it with is a starving animal gnawing on its own body.

Unless I'm wrong and we have different issues. Either way, your best bet is probably cutting down on the internet. That's almost always the problem for people who find that they can't concentrate the way they used to.

 

[Synobun]

You're schizoid, right?

No, that's Cake.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

>I'm beginning to think I can no longer do anything long-term. I've also become very suspicious of unnatural sources of stimulation, no matter how harmless they seem (my current diet plans are to eat simple, unflavored foods that aren't altered too much from their base state).

That book looks highly interesting. I'm happy you quit the all meat train and are moving towards something more balanced. My diet incorporates tons and tons of raw foods, but also lots of wild (or, say, less "evolved") grains that have an ability to fill you up like essentially no other meal.

I, too, agree with one of the points of the book, being that the more "processed", the more "rewarding" a food is the worse it is in terms of nutritional (not energy!) value and psychological effect.

Maybe I'll buy that book, actually, just see if it is in line with most of my "research" on nutrition of the last ~6 or so years.

Speaking of "unnatural sources of stimulation", I've tried really hard in the last year or so to quit porn. Got pretty close, just have to make sure I don't fall back. I think porn is one of the worst forms of instant gratification tbh.

>I've got to learn Hebrew (finally), study and I'll start working soon. I don't think I can have a virtual and RL social life at the same time. The disease has too deep a root to justify anything less than a complete purge.

Learning new languages is always dope. Congratulations on that. I'm polishing my Spanish as of right now, trying to learn French or Arabic as a 4th lanuage but can only find online courses so far while I would prefer an actual teacher.

>You're schizoid, right? In my experience, introspection (like thinking about what your brain "feels like") is actually a bad thing. That part of the mind is supposed to be opaque to you. The only thing I can compare it with is a starving animal gnawing on its own body.

No offense but that is a pretty dumb generelization and if you thought about it for more than thirty seconds you probably wouldn't have written that, because you're actually very clever.

I would go as far and say that there can be no consciousness without introspection. You, on the other hand see introspection as navelgazing, which it definitely isn't (not always at least, lmao). I think you're conflating personal experience: introspection leading to an unhealthy psyche, a vicious cycle, an introverted personality or smth. similiar with what it is often used for: Decisionmaking, adjusting or exploring one's moral compass, self-analysis.. Introspection can have many a' different functions.

I hope you at least post a thread before you cut off the cables for good so I can make a snarky comment ;~)

 

[Lohrenswald]

Basically people being obtuse and spouting ox-excrement
and you know obviusly when it happens to me. Like I don't like it when it happens to others, but I'm only able to get furious when it's me it's about, you know

like for example, I and another person express two contradictory views, and I get berated for not having an arguement and not the other guy, even though neither of us has like build under our assertions

also when people are obtuse as hell, but act as if they're "being real"

to be honest there's so many ways, and such weird and stupid ways people can talk about and go about things that like I can't comprehend it enough to explain it in text

 

[yung.carl.jung]

6) the fact that nobody is designing clothes for men anymore... even Doc Martin no longer makes a masculine dress shoe... Carhart is the last bastion

There's plenty of innovative designers out there.. Dries Van Noten, Rick Owens, Junya Watanabe, Raf Simons, Alexander McQueen, maybe Helmut Lang would be more your thing.

Of course you may not necessarily like all of them.. Seeing as you like Doc and Carhartt maybe you'd like A.P.C. or Balmain?

 

[Lohrenswald]

It's really hard to find trousers that aren't jeans

 

[agonistes]

There's plenty of innovative designers out there.. Dries Van Noten, Rick Owens, Junya Watanabe, Raf Simons, Alexander McQueen, maybe Helmut Lang would be more your thing.

Of course you may not necessarily like all of them.. Seeing as you like Doc and Carhartt maybe you'd like A.P.C. or Balmain?

Okay! Will look into it!

I deleted my post... glad that was the item that got a response.

edit: to me, Sean Connery dress in the early Bond movies is classically masculine. I hate these tiny suits and ties.

 

[demiurgenext]

We never cheat and the Leafs suck

LOL. Sure you didn't. Mythology has a way of inserting itself into sports.

Of course, I guess it depends on your personal outlook. I'd say hacking at the other teams star players ankle with your stick several times until you put him out is cheating, but maybe that's just my delicate sensibilities.

 

[demiurgenext]

While going to the hospital and seeing specialists won't bankrupt you here as it would in the US, there are still many costs to healthcare in Canada. There are many services that aren't covered by the provincial insurance, as well as medications and equipment. I've spent probably $2000 in the last two years on healthcare.

Ontario is the best choice for access to disability. Vancouver is where I needed to be but Ontario is ahead in many respects when it comes to healthcare and the benefits surrounding that.

$2000 is about what I spend on premiums, then I have a $2000 deductible, then I have medications, which we pay 2-3 times what you guys do because Big Pharma has bought off our Congress.

And this is when I have what is considered here to be pretty good insurance at a major company.

Trust me, you guys are light years ahead of us when it comes to humane treatment of the populace. We do have better care for the rich, and less wait times. The US populace is about 62% in favor of UHC, but the bribes ensure that won't happen.

 

[Mouthwash]

No offense but that is a pretty dumb generelization and if you thought about it for more than thirty seconds you probably wouldn't have written that, because you're actually very clever

Well, I did leave open the possibility that this wouldn't help Vincour at all. It's only my own experience with a very similar problem, for what that's worth.

I would go as far and say that there can be no consciousness without introspection.

"Make a conscious choice. Decide to move your index finger. Too late! The electricity's already halfway down your arm. Your body began to act a full half-second before your conscious self 'chose' to, for the self chose nothing; something else set your body in motion, sent an executive summary—almost an afterthought— to the homunculus behind your eyes. That little man, that arrogant subroutine that thinks of itself as the person, mistakes correlation for causality: it reads the summary and it sees the hand move, and it thinks that one drove the other.

But it's not in charge. You're not in charge. If free will even exists, it doesn't share living space with the likes of you.

Insight, then. Wisdom. The quest for knowledge, the derivation of theorems, science and technology and all those exclusively human pursuits that must surely rest on a conscious foundation. Maybe that's what sentience would be for— if scientific breakthroughs didn't spring fully-formed from the subconscious mind, manifest themselves in dreams, as full-blown insights after a deep night's sleep. It's the most basic rule of the stymied researcher: stop thinking about the problem. Do something else. It will come to you if you just stop being conscious of it.

Every concert pianist knows that the surest way to ruin a performance is to be aware of what the fingers are doing. Every dancer and acrobat knows enough to let the mind go, let the body run itself. Every driver of any manual vehicle arrives at destinations with no recollection of the stops and turns and roads traveled in getting there. You are all sleepwalkers, whether climbing creative peaks or slogging through some mundane routine for the thousandth time. You are all sleepwalkers."

-Peter Watts

You, on the other hand see introspection as navelgazing, which it definitely isn't (not always at least, lmao). I think you're conflating personal experience: introspection leading to an unhealthy psyche, a vicious cycle, an introverted personality or smth. similiar with what it is often used for: Decisionmaking, adjusting or exploring one's moral compass, self-analysis.. Introspection can have many a' different functions.

Yes, but introspection needs something else to inspect. Schizoids contemplate everything repetitively and construct highly intricate scenarios in their heads because they have no outside stimulation. When you learn how to shut away that part of the mind again, it's an incredible relief.

 

[warpus]

LOL. Sure you didn't. Mythology has a way of inserting itself into sports.

Of course, I guess it depends on your personal outlook. I'd say hacking at the other teams star players ankle with your stick several times until you put him out is cheating, but maybe that's just my delicate sensibilities.

I honestly don't know much about the incident in question. I'm sure any "Canadians" involved in the cheating were actually Americans in disguise

 

[Kaitzilla]

People who don't signal lane changes grind my goat.
It should be reflex.
The Cool People Committee doesn't dock you points for doing it too often.

 

[warpus]

$2000 is about what I spend on premiums, then I have a $2000 deductible, then I have medications

By that do you mean you pay a $2,000 monthly fee for your insurance? Does that cover your whole family or just yourself and/or your pets?

 

[Akka]

After noticing how often I feel the urge to smash my first in the face of people (don't worry, it stays in the "urge" stage), I need to add to the already noticeable list : "when people are dumb, or wrong"
And yes, it means I have also no small amount of self-punching urge when I catch myself in such a situation.

 

[demiurgenext]

By that do you mean you pay a $2,000 monthly fee for your insurance? Does that cover your whole family or just yourself and/or your pets?

$2000 a year for me for my company insurance, they pay an additional $2500.

At the moment all of us are on the insurance, so the family plan means ~$6000 a year.

But then the insurance doesn't kick in until we hit our deductible, so the first $2000 comes out of my pocket.

Basically its insurance against hospitalization or catastrophe. An ambulance ride here is $2500 or so. Ten years ago prices were lower, but 3 years of cancer treatments came out to nearly a million dollars.

We get less and pay more. However, if cost isn't a problem, the best care you can get here is better.

There's a lot more Healthcare tourism. People have come to the states for procedures that are better here, but more and more people in the states are seeking out alternatives in other countries. Because even with the air fare, costs are much, much lower almost everywhere else.

 

[warpus]

And I was upset when I had to pay $40 out of pocket for an ambulance ride after I smashed my face into the pavement and woke up in a hospital and don't remember anything in between

 

[Akka]

And I was upset I had to pay 40€/month instead of 24€/month for 100 % coverage after I started to work in my current company.

 

[yung.carl.jung]

"Make a conscious choice. Decide to move your index finger. Too late! The electricity's already halfway down your arm. Your body began to act a full half-second before your conscious self 'chose' to, for the self chose nothing; something else set your body in motion, sent an executive summary—almost an afterthought— to the homunculus behind your eyes. That little man, that arrogant subroutine that thinks of itself as the person, mistakes correlation for causality: it reads the summary and it sees the hand move, and it thinks that one drove the other.

But it's not in charge. You're not in charge. If free will even exists, it doesn't share living space with the likes of you.

Insight, then. Wisdom. The quest for knowledge, the derivation of theorems, science and technology and all those exclusively human pursuits that must surely rest on a conscious foundation. Maybe that's what sentience would be for— if scientific breakthroughs didn't spring fully-formed from the subconscious mind, manifest themselves in dreams, as full-blown insights after a deep night's sleep. It's the most basic rule of the stymied researcher: stop thinking about the problem. Do something else. It will come to you if you just stop being conscious of it.

Every concert pianist knows that the surest way to ruin a performance is to be aware of what the fingers are doing. Every dancer and acrobat knows enough to let the mind go, let the body run itself. Every driver of any manual vehicle arrives at destinations with no recollection of the stops and turns and roads traveled in getting there. You are all sleepwalkers, whether climbing creative peaks or slogging through some mundane routine for the thousandth time. You are all sleepwalkers."

-Peter Watts

That is a great quote and the bolded part of it is something I pretty much live by, but it really doesn't affect the idea of introspection being a necessity for consciousness (I was really looking forward as to what you have to say on this, it's something I've though a lot about the past few years or if you think it does, could you explain it to me?

I do agree with you that "switching off" sometimes, maybe even often or more often than not, is a good and healthy thing, but there needs to be some kind of balance, no? You were making a general statement about introspection being always bad, which is very far from reality.

 

[Mouthwash]

That is a great quote and the bolded part of it is something I pretty much live by, but it really doesn't affect the idea of introspection being a necessity for consciousness (I was really looking forward as to what you have to say on this, it's something I've though a lot about the past few years or if you think it does, could you explain it to me?

I'm challenging the value of consciousness itself. Not that it doesn't have value, but it certainly isn't something which is always good.

I think qualia is a more fundamental question, so I haven't given the nature of consciousness much thought. Sorry.

You were making a general statement about introspection being always bad, which is very far from reality.

No, I was saying it was a bad thing to value, to pursue for schizoids. It gives the impression of deep thought but actually cripples you.

 

[BvBPL]

My blood really boils at two hundred twelve degrees.