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Scientists Boost the "Will To Persevere" With Current To the Brain
schliz writes "Stanford scientists say they could help boost people's motivation to overcome difficulties by electrically stimulating the anterior midcingulate cortex in the brain. The study involved two patients, who described the 'will to persevere' beautifully. One said it was like driving into a storm front and knowing that he had to get through. From the article: 'Stanford University neuroscientists passed a small current through an area in the part of the brain that deals with error detection, anticipation of tasks, attention, motivation, and emotional responses. Both patients involved in the study had epilepsy, and already had electrodes implanted in their brains to help doctors learn about the source of their seizures."
nc
a) I recall there being experiments in the 1980s where rodent brains were wired to where the mouse would press a bar to get a jolt to its pleasure center, and it would procede to bang that bar until it passed out.
b) The news and hospitals are filled with people who have already proven that psychoactive drugs such as PCP and angel dust, and of late methamphetamins, will have a "will to perservere" at whatever they're doing (be it tweaking with the heat sinks on a stereo or trying to release demons from one's brain with a hand drill and a piece of metal coat hanger) that lasts for days or until incidental death, whichever comes first.
Laughter is the Spackle of the Soul.
You could make a film about a pile of dead body parts assembled into the form of a man being shocked by lightning and being given the will to live. You could even add some wanton violence and philosophical questions of existence to make the story interesting.
I have mod points but I already posted so I can merely suggest this get my proxy +1.
Laughter is the Spackle of the Soul.
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it.
-- W.C. Fields
With that in mind, is it a good idea to get people to continue to engage in futile endeavors? Who says quitting is always a bad thing.
P.S. I started to write this as a joke, but now I'm not so sure. For all we glorify perseverance, sometimes it's idiotic.
I started to write this as a joke, but now I'm not so sure. For all we glorify perseverance, sometimes it's idiotic.
I just think of the old phrase, "why does man climb a mountain? because it's there"... really, is that a valid reason?
Granted, I spent most of a day getting a WiFi card to work with Linux on a circa-2000 notebook and will likely erase the hard drive in the near future. It's the challenge or the adventure or... well, ego, okay?... even if there's really no point in an endeavor. The more dangerous without a tangible reward, the better.
Laughter is the Spackle of the Soul.
[ ] Initial this box to consent to a motivational brain implant. Failure to initial this box will negatively affect your potential employment.
I would like a DARPA contract to put this into helmets for soldiers. Quad Damage!!!
robocop was somewhat like that with more the body fully intact and no lightning.
You zap me, and sure, I'll be motivated to do whatever the hell you're zapping me to make me do.
Dealing with depression, medication, associated side effects and low energy levels, I need some 'push through it'. Where do I sign up? Will it interfere with my brains internet plug, due to be installed in the 2020's?
Yay me!
Everyone knows that 'willpower' is an intangible substance that some people possess more of, because they are better, and other people lack, because they are bad. I don't want to hear any more of this materialist nonsense. The rest of the universe may be causal; but human behavior isn't, because something!
through electricity! Eventually we will all have brain implants to jolt us out of unproductive or rebellious mental states. Software by Microsoft.
This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
...I don't think this is for me.
I'm sold.
"Endeavor to persevere".
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
That's so wonderful, is there anything else we can do to enhance incoherent thought process?
While scientifically interesting, I can imagine a dystopian future where employers mandate their works to wear special "brain helmets" so that they are fully focused on the task at hand...
They're coming tomorrow to test the apartment building I live it to see if there are bedbugs, as someone at the other side of the building is claiming. If it's true, I'll probably have to throw away everything I own. I'm thinking it would be easier to simply start a fire in the other room and then blow my brains out, as the fire will take care of the bugs and the bullet will give my relatives my life insurance (I'm past the 2 year limitation on suicide) and my pension payout (before the government steals that too), and frankly they could use the money. I'm worth more dead than alive anyway.
Of course, this other person could be lying to keep from being evicted for another few weeks or something, and there might not be anything wrong at all, so I won't do any of that. I sure could use a nice jolt to the brain, though. Maybe I'll take up alcoholism, for the holidays.
I stuck my finger in an electric outlet once, and my will to persevere in sticking my finger in there was reduced, not boosted.
So the family of the terminally ill patient could in theory not only force feed the patient, they could also zap his brain to give him the "will to persevere"? Sign me up for hospice right now; I'm calling my lawyer to amend my living will and medical directives to keep that particular treat far away from me.
Might as well face it I'm addicted to data.
You want motivation? I knew a guy who took two hits of crystal meth and a pint of schapps and was able to overcome a solid wall with his forehead.
It probably didn't do much for his anterior midcingulate cortex, though.
You are welcome on my lawn.
May the beatings continue until morale improves
I have cerebral palsy and epilepsy and there description is the before and after of how it feels for me with seizures. Just like some of Hollywood's special effects especially from the 80's on. Some of us were tortured and bled, so other children who couldn't walk now can. Then the technology evolves and other people only see it as mere enjoyment. We'll I commend them for their bravery and what they have given up. Just to help improve the human condition and maybe 1 day a child will not have suffer from cp or seizures. But you who make jokes will probably think I'm a jerk or worse and then go out and buy a mind controlled video game for your enjoyment. I'm glad to see there a few people left who will sacrifice there we'll being at a chance to cure themselves and others
So in the future my "Will To Persevere" could potentially dwarf my "Will To Say 'Fuck it' and Get a Beer"? I find that hard to believe...
Monstar L
Staff not performing to capacity? Burn them out (literally) with our new patented high-current implants!
If it acquires resources on instantiation like a duck, then its a shared_ptr<Duck>
How long till we get something like the Happy Helmet? (Albeit for perseverance, not happy happy joy joy.)
Program Intellivision!
This submission is electrifying the human spirit!
Alcohol-fueled courage is best courage.
If you could increase a person's ability to delay gratification, it could greatly improve their lives.
Character-in-a-can. Great.
Seriously, do we need more motivated people to compete even more fiercely in our hyper-competitive road-to-nowhere-imparticular ? Let's stimulate a person's concern for others and urge to do good works, their sense of fair play and egalitarian impulses. That would go a lot further towards making the world and the people in it better off.
I need a brain to do this. :(
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
From the article, we have two individuals with obviously abnormal brain function (uncontrolled seizures) that when an electrical charge is introduced in a specific area, it causes them to increase their perseverance (which is somewhat subjective in its measure). Extrapolating those results to a normally functioning brain seems somewhat of a leap. While the research is interesting, it doesn't really prove anything because of the extremely small sample sized, no control group and abnormal brain function to begin with.
I have cerebral palsy and epilepsy and there description is the before and after of how it feels for me with seizures. Just like some of Hollywood's special effects especially from the 80's on. Some of us were tortured and bled, so other children who couldn't walk now can. Then the technology evolves and other people only see it as mere enjoyment. We'll I commend them for their bravery and what they have given up. Just to help improve the human condition and maybe 1 day a child will not have suffer from cp or seizures. But you who make jokes will probably think I'm a jerk or worse and then go out and buy a mind controlled video game for your enjoyment. I'm glad to see there a few people left who will sacrifice there we'll being at a chance to cure themselves and others
The sad reality is that if this research truly is valid, it is more likely to be used for mind controlled video games than curing people. In a capitalist society, even one with a for profit health care system like the US (where corporations make big money from people being sick), there is far more profit to be had from the next generation xbox than the limited pool of suffers with conditions like yours. More likely than either a consumer product or a medical treatment, however, will be a militarized application.
Matrix was just a extreme example of what our masters are willing to do with us.
I bet with you that the next generation of hardwired cubiculum dwellers will bring our masters more profit for less motivations.
Just a pair of electrodes to stimulate our desire to comply with management every whims.
...otherwise known as "anecdotal reports", not science.
Especially when the "result" being reported is a subjective experience described verbally by the two subjects to researchers looking for the result. What could go wrong?
rgb
Even when the experts all agree, they may well be mistaken. --- Bertrand Russell.
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results." - widely attributed to Albert Einstein.
When does persistence become insanity?
I would have a sig but I am too busy updating programs and restarting my computer
We have three states as defined in Indian ancient texts. Shristi: creative state Shithi: preserving state Samharam: destructive state In order to live "well" a proper balance is required. Practice of Yoga (along with breathing techniques and meditations) helps one to maintain the balance. Glad to see scientists getting closer to these areas. Hope this will not lead to artificially adjusted, terribly imbalanced anti-social agents.