Entries by tag: decisions
Is there anything more dangerous
than dissatisfied and irresponsible gods
who don't know what they want?
--Harari in Sapiens, the very last sentence
than dissatisfied and irresponsible gods
who don't know what they want?
--Harari in Sapiens, the very last sentence
“Everything is interconnected. Gratitude improves sleep. Sleep reduces pain. Reduced pain improves your mood. Improved mood reduces anxiety, which improves focus and planning. Focus and planning help with decision making. Decision making further reduces anxiety and improves enjoyment. Enjoyment gives you more to be grateful for, which keeps that loop of the upward spiral going. Enjoyment also makes it more likely you'll exercise and be social, which, in turn, will make you happier.”
--UCLA Neuroscience researcher Alex Korb
Four Rituals that Make You Happy:
(in summary, and as suggested by science to date)
1. Be grateful.
2. Name negative emotions.
3. Make good enough decisions.
4. Touch people.
SOURCE: http://theweek.com/articles/601157/neuroscience-reveals-4-rituals-that-make-happy
It is man's pretense that because he has choice, he is free.
--Krishnamurti
--Krishnamurti
Herd mentality: Are we programmed to make bad decisions?
A natural desire to be part of the 'in crowd' could damage our ability to make the right decisions, a new study has shown.
December 16th, 2014 | PHYS.org
http://phys.org/news/2014-12-herd-mentality-bad-decisions.html
( the articleCollapse )
A natural desire to be part of the 'in crowd' could damage our ability to make the right decisions, a new study has shown.
December 16th, 2014 | PHYS.org
http://phys.org/news/2014-12-herd-mentality-bad-decisions.html
( the articleCollapse )
There is no more miserable human being
than one in whom nothing is habitual
except indecision.
--Williams James
than one in whom nothing is habitual
except indecision.
--Williams James
Last night while at a Sierra Club meeting involving the effort to hasten decommission of the Columbia Generating Station (nuke at Hanford), I started having all manner of thoughts about my book on homeopathy. I brainstormed my intro and some chapter ideas on the same page where I'd taken a few notes about newly understood seismic activity in the Tri-Cities area, the power needed to make fuel rods, the types of nuclear waste storage currently in use, and such. Part of what brought homeopathy to mind was the groupthink in evidence among the meeting attendees. The anti-nuke information being conveyed was at times not even faintly believable, but the group assumed that all present were on board with the effort to eliminate nuclear power from our bevy of power sources.
This morning in my inbox I find an interesting article by Art Markman on the question of what kind of creativity we display while our conscious minds are occupied with something else. It appears that for simple decisions, it's better to think about consciously it, however for complex issues it may be good to be distracted from the direct question. Dijksterhuis and Nordgren presented Unconscious Thought Theory (UTT) in this paper. Another paper by Haiyang Yang et al shows that the duration of unconscious thought has an inverted-U shaped relationship with creativity, suggesting that unconscious thought may outperform conscious for moderate-length deliberations.
So for quick decisions tis best to focus on the matter at hand. For very long and complex deliberations, there might be time for both conscious and unconscious contemplation. And to harness the power of unconscious synthesis thinking, one needs a moderate amount of time in which to do it.
I've heard of UTT before but not by name. I generally have my best ideas while walking, which suggests to me that cross-crawl integration of walking may bring the two brain halves to apply their knowledge to whatever problem is at hand. I've seen the process modeled extensively by television character Dr House. House plays ball, drives bumper cars, or does pranks on his coworkers to distract himself from the burning questions, and allow his unconscious mind to sort out the myriad details of a medical case and arrive at a diagnosis and treatment. People may think that he is goofing off, but in fact it is physical play that brings his most astounding ideas to the fore. He starts with the conscious brainstorming with the help of his team, then goes off to do whatever activity life presents, then returns to the conscious cogitation. The science is beginning to support the use of this technique for creative decisionmaking.
This morning in my inbox I find an interesting article by Art Markman on the question of what kind of creativity we display while our conscious minds are occupied with something else. It appears that for simple decisions, it's better to think about consciously it, however for complex issues it may be good to be distracted from the direct question. Dijksterhuis and Nordgren presented Unconscious Thought Theory (UTT) in this paper. Another paper by Haiyang Yang et al shows that the duration of unconscious thought has an inverted-U shaped relationship with creativity, suggesting that unconscious thought may outperform conscious for moderate-length deliberations.
So for quick decisions tis best to focus on the matter at hand. For very long and complex deliberations, there might be time for both conscious and unconscious contemplation. And to harness the power of unconscious synthesis thinking, one needs a moderate amount of time in which to do it.
I've heard of UTT before but not by name. I generally have my best ideas while walking, which suggests to me that cross-crawl integration of walking may bring the two brain halves to apply their knowledge to whatever problem is at hand. I've seen the process modeled extensively by television character Dr House. House plays ball, drives bumper cars, or does pranks on his coworkers to distract himself from the burning questions, and allow his unconscious mind to sort out the myriad details of a medical case and arrive at a diagnosis and treatment. People may think that he is goofing off, but in fact it is physical play that brings his most astounding ideas to the fore. He starts with the conscious brainstorming with the help of his team, then goes off to do whatever activity life presents, then returns to the conscious cogitation. The science is beginning to support the use of this technique for creative decisionmaking.
More than any time in history mankind faces a crossroads.
One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness,
the other total extinction.
Let us pray that we have the wisdom to choose correctly.
--Woody Allen
When the situation is hopeless,
there's nothing to worry about.
--Edward Abbey
One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness,
the other total extinction.
Let us pray that we have the wisdom to choose correctly.
--Woody Allen
When the situation is hopeless,
there's nothing to worry about.
--Edward Abbey
Lately I keep hearing people talk about what they "resonate with". It is how people choose their spiritual paths. "The Lakota (path) is the one I find I resonate best with." And it is how many in complementary medicine decide which modalities to practice. An intelligent and lovely young woman "resonates" with UNDA numbers and believes that homeopathic "drainage" is how she should practice medicine. She would take a patient off a proven medicine to give them what she resonates with. A charismatic professor "resonates" with muscle testing and so uses it to decide what medicines to give.
I take issue with this. If we rely on psychological resonance to help us make decisions, what are they really based on? The attractiveness of the proposition to our subconscious mind? The degree to which it fits with what we already believe? This method for making decisions about important matters is unscientific and terribly dangerous. It might be appropriate for chosing a metaphysical practice, but is it really suitable for making decisions about how to practice medicine? I think NOT. Intuition has its place, but it cannot and should not completely replace rational thought. Unconscious competence comes only after years of conscious education.
I take issue with this. If we rely on psychological resonance to help us make decisions, what are they really based on? The attractiveness of the proposition to our subconscious mind? The degree to which it fits with what we already believe? This method for making decisions about important matters is unscientific and terribly dangerous. It might be appropriate for chosing a metaphysical practice, but is it really suitable for making decisions about how to practice medicine? I think NOT. Intuition has its place, but it cannot and should not completely replace rational thought. Unconscious competence comes only after years of conscious education.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/652/965/447/?z00m=19981889
This is a petition asking for student loan debt to be forgiven so that we can go about the business of opening new businesses, instead of getting low paying stupid jobs just to be able to make monthly payments on our student loans. I've been saying for a while now that the student loan debt is the next bubble. Last year student loan debt surpassed credit card debt in the US. It's evident to me that I will probably not live long enough to repay my entire debt--I'm just not that young, and the economy is not looking great. I'm not saying I deserve a bailout: I own my foolishness taking on this debt. I'm willing to work hard for the rest of my productive life, and I'd like to give back. I always wanted to be a doctor. I've never had a debt before, and it was and is an uncomfortable decision. If there were prisons for debtors in the US then I wouldn't be too surprised to end up there. But we don't imprison debtors, we just harass them. It is that harassment and the suffering involved in mindless work that I would like to avoid, in favor of being able to concentrate on the business I would like to open, and the people that I would like to help. If the fed were to excuse my debt, I would be able to do more for public health than I otherwise could do.
This is a petition asking for student loan debt to be forgiven so that we can go about the business of opening new businesses, instead of getting low paying stupid jobs just to be able to make monthly payments on our student loans. I've been saying for a while now that the student loan debt is the next bubble. Last year student loan debt surpassed credit card debt in the US. It's evident to me that I will probably not live long enough to repay my entire debt--I'm just not that young, and the economy is not looking great. I'm not saying I deserve a bailout: I own my foolishness taking on this debt. I'm willing to work hard for the rest of my productive life, and I'd like to give back. I always wanted to be a doctor. I've never had a debt before, and it was and is an uncomfortable decision. If there were prisons for debtors in the US then I wouldn't be too surprised to end up there. But we don't imprison debtors, we just harass them. It is that harassment and the suffering involved in mindless work that I would like to avoid, in favor of being able to concentrate on the business I would like to open, and the people that I would like to help. If the fed were to excuse my debt, I would be able to do more for public health than I otherwise could do.
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