Won't take that long. Since it's an alien invader, look at the control mechanisms at place in its homeland and go from there. You could probably even transplant a foreign bug's "eat that plant" gene(s) to a local bug to give that one the desire to nibble the foreign plant. Or maybe use a fungus, I don't know. Just ensure that whatever is added can be used by the rest of the food chain. Yes, it might cost millions, but then, so do 1000 people chopping plants up all day.
The trick is to get the current - probably very strong - strain mixed with weaker ones, so that for the short term at least, it's weakened enough that the bugs can get a grip. After that, evolution will indeed kick in and the best plant or bug will win. The trick is to give that first generation an extra boost.
I think they're barking up the wrong tree; controlling the weed seems like an expensive pasttime. Instead, I'd combat it genetically: - start building up cultures of the weed, test the characteristics of different strains (go for ones that are more susceptible to infections, aphids, lower burn temperatures, less serrated edges, etc), breed these together, and create a weaker strain; distribute that across infested regions to weaken the weed. - start building up cultures of creatures that can (potentially) see the weed as a source of dinner, breed these to make them more voracious, and ultimately spread them at the same time that the weakened next generation of the weed from step 1 takes hold. This should ensure a successful startup of the weed killer.
This way you can change it from a curse into a blessing for the bugs, and from there on for many sections of the food chain. Bugs are the plankton of the land. You might even be able to apply such evolutionary abuse to many different scenario's: bullfrogs in australia, or the heaping of plastic particles in the Pacific by breeding plankton, for example. An this way, you're following a perfectly natural course; you're just helping it along a little by speeding the implementation of a counterbalance.
Not really. Such projects should be gov-supported, only opener, although I guess with international teams all over the place now, that counts as progress in international terms. But going back to the moon just for the moon's sake, come on, we've got other fish to fry. One of the things that pisses me off is that there's no central organisation specifically aimed at hunting and tracking down incoming asteroids. There's still too many "oops, didn't see that one coming!" cases, and sooner or later the near-miss (who thought up that word - that should be near-hit!) will not miss. Also we need to start sending probes to neighboring systems asap, nevermind that it'll take decades if not longer. Earth is a Single Point of Failure for the human race.
From an evolutionary standpoint, it would be wise to banish gender differences altogether, allow doping, and reward the winners with a show to find 20 women willing to bear their children. It would cause plenty of havoc along the way, but that seems to be the way it works.
From a more pragmatic standpoint, I think you have to define male and female and discuss each exception separately. There's an inherent problem in questions like this: how far until you cross the line? Each person has an average of 200 mutations compared to the next person, and sometimes they stack; this creates our losers and junkies, athletes and geniuses, average joes, idiot savants and much more. The ultimate problem is that in a universe where everything is unique, you just can't work with laws. And I have no idea of how to tackle THAT problem.;)
What constitutes a flaw? Darwin teaches us that the species most responsive to change is most likely to survive. What if, for example, women are catching up with men in terms of muscle power and stamina?
Flaw insinuates positive and negative; a very human trait of cognition, and extremely subject to the zeitgeist of our time. Evolution doesn't work that way. $h!t happens, and sometimes it is either productive or at least non-detrimental; the latter will mean an extra notch under the belt when the inevitable change comes on. That is why rats, bats, birds and many other successful organisms have conquered the planet. They've got an edge.
This may just be the start of a new trend in humanity. It may be latent for a while, but if (extreme example) we get invaded by Martians tomorrow and survive to start an interstellar war, people like her may be of incalculable value. Consider, and consider carefully, the nature of your perception.
Considering that there are plenty of creatures which can be hermaphrodites, and that there are rare genetic variations (YXYY, for example) where one is born with e.g. male characteristics while the sexual organs may be female, this is a difficult point. Where do you draw the line? I know of a few lesbians who, except for the chest, could easily pass for male: large arms and hands, low voice, etc.
The sexual differences are fairly pronounced for "normal" men and women, but there are plenty of in-betweens. Methinks the only thing they can do is make an extensive study of all the differences between men and women, and say that if more than an x number of variables lean towards the one or the other, the person in question must be considered as being of the opposite sex. Either that, or you have to create the Hermaphrodite Olympics. They'll probably still have to investigate each case separately either way.
I wonder if this is indeed the right way to go about it. I figure that if you're famous enough, there's going to be loads of fora - public and semi-private, mind you - stuffed with defamatory comments. I figure you should just ignore it, set up your own blog, and only react if people really seem to be getting wrong ideas - but then, do so with honesty and integrity on your own blog. Insert a good troll filter so people can comment and avoid the trolls. There's always gonna be shortsighted individuals who'll gripe anything or anyone, whether that person / thing is known to them personally or not. Let 'em rot in their own juices - they'll either shower eventually or rot away, and in the latter case they're hardly worth anyone's time. Also, this avoids Streisand effects and means that anyone seriously interested in what you have to say about something will refer to your blog and not some random forum; the news sites already do so. Just keep on truckin', apologise if you're wrong, react calmly and clearly when you're right, and let the lawyers stay at home.
It's a bit more interesting than that, though. BREIN was actually sueing the company that was planning to take over TPB, expecting an easier grant from the judge (which they got). This opens the door to forcing ISP's to block certain websites, something which BREIN has been trying for but has hitherto miserably failed at. This is all just a sham to set up jurisprudence to slowly swing the courts in their favor. I think I'm gonna go BREINwash their CEO.
We've got the same discussions going on here across the pond, but we're a bit further along. Several laws have already been passed ordering carriers to stop blocking VoIP and such; in Belgium, iPhones must be sold independently of carriers. I think we're starting to get the mix between government intervention and free market right. On another level, we told the telco's to standardise the power plugs they use; they were given an ultimatum after mass public annoyance at all the different chargers we have, and told to "choose or have it chosen for them". Now micro-USB will be becoming the standard. We're getting there!
It makes me wonder, though. I don't believe in free market anymore. There's just too many loopholes, lobbying being the biggest. And I think the U.S. government has a lot of corruption to stamp out before it can be as flexible as the EU has been hitherto.
Having a central government of any kind monitoring this type of thing just won't work. The best we could probably do is set up an automated system which yells BEEP! when it sees a truly suspicious transaction; then amici curiae appointed by the PEOPLE in combination with a random system to prevent infiltrators - NOT the government - are allowed access and can check the records, and indicate action may be necessary. Then, every action these people must be logged and open to public scrutiny. The servers must be monitored by an independent monitoring system, once again open to public scrutiny. That's the only way anybody will have any faith in such a system whatsoever.
But on the other hand: what are they looking for? $1m dollars transferred from Hussein in Iran to Mustapha in the U.S.? Couldn't you completely automate the whole system? Google did for its advertising, and that's the only thing that's keeping a really large group of inspectors at bay.
I posted because I know there may be people struggling with this type of thing, and it never hurts to share your experiences. Why rediscover the wheel yourself when you can get a schematic on internet (even if it does look square in some places):) But now I respond because I'm curious: what would trigger a response like that? I presume you read the topic itself as well, and did so for a reason. Idle curiosity? Stuck in a similar ship? Frustration? Maybe try discussing instead of biting.
Creativity is hard to categorise. However, it also isn't completely random. When I'm working on a project, I can get myself into "daydream" mode and gently steer my creativity to find answers to the question or problem at hand, so I would guess that even if it is random firing of neurons, it is random firing of the neurons active at that moment. This means that it certainly is NOT random, because you can choose what to think about, and hence, steer that random firing to get a result. Evolution likes that.
With e.g. schitzophrenia, I think that people who have a double copy of the gene and have a high(er) IQ are more likely to find a way around the problem and deal with it. I would guess I'm one of the lucky guys with a double expression of the gene, but also with a good IQ. A lot of what was said was very recogniseable - I've fought with depression, burnout and more, and also had an immense war between myself and my own mind, and have seriously questioned my sanity, before I finally learned to detach from my thoughts and emotions, and stand behind them as it were instead of being dragged along with them on a very rough rollercoaster ride. Meditation, sports, the forced responsibility of having to run my own company and lots of research saved my sanity. Now my creativity is a tool, a part of my mind which can be accessed at will instead of a scary the-voices-say-the-universe-hates-you personal enemy you can carry everywhere you go. I am the eye of the storm, as it were, and it is no longer easy to rip me loose - I would guess that only a long, sustained depression combined with stress over a period of years could do that (because it means that slowly but surely your belief in yourself and your self-imposed structure will be eroded by the negative emotional flood from the amygdala).
I think the problem is compounded once you get depressed. It seems to me that creativity is rampant throughout the brain. When I was depressed, it seemed that my "logical" brain was less active and my "emotional" brain ran the show - all my reactions were negative and emo. This might be because the amygdala seems to "shout louder" at certain times than others, or maybe the rest of the brain is more overwhelmed by its "voice" during depression because it is less active, I don't know. At any rate, it means you are completely at the mercy of emotional reasoning and the torrent of feelings because you don't have your "logical net" to tell you "nah, I'm dramatizing again" and you simply shrug them off as an itch.
At any rate, I know a few others like myself and their stories are similar: mental override, take control, avoid pitfalls of deep feelings (unless they're positive, and even then keep an eye on them), and view the world as a statistical game instead of a personal interaction. The latter is probably the most important, because once you start trying to ascribe a (negative) personal meaning to the events that influence you - for example: "God made me lose my job because I'm bad / worthless / whatever", then you open Pandora's Box on your own mind. That's also one of my warning signs that I may be stressed out or in a downward spiral, and that I need to take more breaks and relax more: if I find my mind trying to reason like that, I know I'm in the danger zone, so I adjust for it. Not doing so probably means you'll end up creating another religion based on frustrated depression.
Amputation. At the hip. Preferably sterilization. And THEN let them do public service for the rest of their lives.
Ok, ok, a wee bit drastic. Or is it? It's the only way I can think of (the sterilization thing, anyway) which gives humanity a chance somewhere in the future, if not now.
I'd rather be happy with ugly teeth than gorgeous and miserable. Fortunately, I'm wonderously good at having my cake and eating it. Good toothpaste rocks.
Cool! It's always nice to know the feedback is appreciated. Some other things you might keep in mind:
- have a BIG work desk. A big desk (everything in easy reach) is like computer memory to a person, and your brain is the processor and the filing cabinet is the hard drive (spacous, but slow).
- There are many different people with different reactions to stress. A friend of mine used to faint regularly, and feel dizzy all the time. After she stopped her second job, a few weeks later she felt a LOT better. Listen to what your body is telling you; if you aren't sure, try changing things to see if it helps. Keeping a diary also helps. Note down what you did generally throughout every day - eat, drink, smoke, work, etc - and try to discover patterns. You may, for example, work out that the acne you get twice a month is actually connected to those few times you carpool with someone. Bad fibers in his car?
- be wary of other peoples' expectations. Are you a YES-sayer? Teach yourself to say NO or, at least, "I'll get back to you on that". I remember having immense problems resisting people who wanted me to do something for them because they projected their problems on me: "my computer HAS to work this weekend! My kids want to play games! I need to check e-mail!" It took me the burnout session to realise that that is THEIR problem. If that's an issue they'd best get a second computer. One of the best ways to get burned out is by assuming too much responsibility. If you're taking projects yourself, jot down how much time you think something will take, and double it. Use that number to plan your time. If you're in a corporate environment, tell your boss you're full and that you either need an assistant, or an intern, or more colleagues who can help you with the work; if he's got a dinosaur brain (like many managers do), write down your predictions and don't be afraid to give him the I-told-you-so after the $#!7 hits the fan because he didn't listen. However, do it constructively: tell him you'd like to discuss things with him to ensure it works better in the future. Destructive commenting is too easy and doesn't achieve anything at all aside from a few seconds of self-vindication. It may get you fired, but usually you're just doing your job and your managers' superiors will realise this; you can't help it you have a better view of things than your manager.
- If something seems "too big" or "too complicated", once again you're in the danger zone of a burnout; check my earlier post to see if you can recognise more warning signs. If you feel good and fit and are productive, on the other hand, it may not be burn-out but it may only mean you need to chop the project up into smaller parts to give you a good overview. If you can oversee all the steps in each of the parts, and can oversee how they all connect, you can see the whole project. This makes running it MUCH easier since you can keep an eye on both micro and macro goals.
- Set limits to your project beforehand. Make estimates of how long you plan to invest in a certain segment of the project, what you want to achieve, and STICK TO IT. If you have time left you can add extra stuff later. If you get extra ideas en-route, write them down but don't integrate them unless it's absolutely vital. You can review the achievements and extra ideas later. Also, plan in time for EVERYTHING: time for planning, time for arguing with colleagues, time spent in traffic, time on the phone, time reviewing the code or project. Try to hook a number on everything. You might not get it correct right away, but you will develop a much better feel for what you are doing and how much time each part takes, because you are consciously trying to manage them. A famous saying is: "who fails to plan, plans to fail." This is exponentially true of corporate environments with many people in it. On your own, or with two people - three max - you can do everything ad-hoc and take things as they come; above that and you need structure, work procedures, flowcharts, and people chasing each
There's, indeed, a LOT more to it than that. There are any number of things that may be blocking your creativity, but from the description I suspect burnout and/or depression. If you've been working a lot or are under a lot of stress (kids, too many hours, responsible position, people complaining to you a lot) your mind may simply be locked up. This is a panic reaction, a last defense mechanism for a mind running with hormonal imbalances. It will mean your cortisol is too high early on, then drops off at the time you need it most. Your body's stress response is worn out and depleted and needs time to regenerate. That's why burn-out victims are usually told to go home and do nothing for a year. It takes a LOT of time.
Ask yourself the following questions:
- Do I drink more than two cups of coffee every day? Too much caffeine will elevate cortisol and make you more sensitive to stress. Cut down on coffee and take Ginseng supplements - this will help your body restore its decreased cortisol capacity. I personally like green tea with ginseng. It takes a bit of time to switch, just do it gradually and you won't run into problems. Try to cut smoking and alcohol as well as much as you can.
- Can I work for a few hours only, and then feel like my mind "locks up"? This is definitely a stress sign. If that's the case, take a 10 minute break for a walk OUTSIDE, EVERY HOUR. (I mean it! I had the same problem, and an external management bureau with lots of hands-on experience gave us these tips, and they worked.) This will help you de-stress and over longer time will help reset your body's hormone system. Also: cut away any other stress factors. Are you busy two days a week helping your kids' soccer teams do their paperwork? Let it go. This will be difficult if you are indeed tottering near burnout - it makes you more emotional since your "logical" brain is less active - but it is vital. Also, do you jump out of your skin every time your mobile phone rings? Also a very strong indicator of stress. Be wary and get to know your own fear signs. If it is all too much, consider if you can let it all go and rest for at least half a year. The project will still be there then, or if you are overtaken by competition, there will be other projects. Rule one of life: we all want to feel good. Only then can we help others and be productive. If you're living only for others and don't feel good doing it, something is wrong. Some people - especially those with a large sense of responsibility - are extremely sensitive to stress, and you don't know for certain until you have crashed through and are well beyond your limits. That's what it took for me to realise something was wrong: I could barely do the dishes without being told how to do it. Don't let it get to that.
- Do I feel miserable? If so, that might indicate not only burnout, but also dysthemia/depression. GET PROFESSIONAL HELP. And I mean a real shrink, not just a psychologist. He can temporarily set you up on medication which will help you recuperate; after some time you can then build down and get rid of the meds once you're standing on your own feet again. But for the time being, medication is probably essential as a crutch. Note: it is of VITAL importance that you find one you're comfortable with; if you don't feel OK with the shrink after a few sessions, thank him/her and just tell them that you don't feel allright and try another one. It can take a few tries to find the right person.
- Do I sleep enough? If you're not getting at least 6 hours of clean sleep, you're probably stressed or burned out. I remember a "burning" feeling from that period and only sleepint 2-3 hours a night.
- Do I have a real work place, and are there distractions? I ran my own company for seven years, and in the beginning I worked from home. In doing so I could never really "get away" from it. Once I had an office outside the door it made a real difference: I went to the office to work, and psychologically that also did a trick - it set me into "work mode". I left the browse
It's more likely for something used this much to have functional features than not. Fingers and claws have been around for quite a while. It's hard to imagine them not evolving useful properties. Of course, this can go too far. Try peeling a gecko from a wall, you need to call the Hulk to help.
Sounds about right. Such micro-ridges, I think, WOULD increase grip on rougher surfaces, which is what we would run into in daily life. Also, if those ridges - generally the top layer of skin - would rip off or shred, the damage done to the hand would be less than were it smooth, I would guess. IOW, maybe a safety feature?
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Won't take that long. Since it's an alien invader, look at the control mechanisms at place in its homeland and go from there. You could probably even transplant a foreign bug's "eat that plant" gene(s) to a local bug to give that one the desire to nibble the foreign plant. Or maybe use a fungus, I don't know. Just ensure that whatever is added can be used by the rest of the food chain. Yes, it might cost millions, but then, so do 1000 people chopping plants up all day.
The trick is to get the current - probably very strong - strain mixed with weaker ones, so that for the short term at least, it's weakened enough that the bugs can get a grip. After that, evolution will indeed kick in and the best plant or bug will win. The trick is to give that first generation an extra boost.
I think they're barking up the wrong tree; controlling the weed seems like an expensive pasttime. Instead, I'd combat it genetically:
- start building up cultures of the weed, test the characteristics of different strains (go for ones that are more susceptible to infections, aphids, lower burn temperatures, less serrated edges, etc), breed these together, and create a weaker strain; distribute that across infested regions to weaken the weed.
- start building up cultures of creatures that can (potentially) see the weed as a source of dinner, breed these to make them more voracious, and ultimately spread them at the same time that the weakened next generation of the weed from step 1 takes hold. This should ensure a successful startup of the weed killer.
This way you can change it from a curse into a blessing for the bugs, and from there on for many sections of the food chain. Bugs are the plankton of the land. You might even be able to apply such evolutionary abuse to many different scenario's: bullfrogs in australia, or the heaping of plastic particles in the Pacific by breeding plankton, for example. An this way, you're following a perfectly natural course; you're just helping it along a little by speeding the implementation of a counterbalance.
Not really. Such projects should be gov-supported, only opener, although I guess with international teams all over the place now, that counts as progress in international terms. But going back to the moon just for the moon's sake, come on, we've got other fish to fry. One of the things that pisses me off is that there's no central organisation specifically aimed at hunting and tracking down incoming asteroids. There's still too many "oops, didn't see that one coming!" cases, and sooner or later the near-miss (who thought up that word - that should be near-hit!) will not miss. Also we need to start sending probes to neighboring systems asap, nevermind that it'll take decades if not longer. Earth is a Single Point of Failure for the human race.
Yup, I think I do, yesss preciousss. Filthy nasssty antiprivacccccy dataminersessss! OUR precioussss!
From an evolutionary standpoint, it would be wise to banish gender differences altogether, allow doping, and reward the winners with a show to find 20 women willing to bear their children. It would cause plenty of havoc along the way, but that seems to be the way it works.
From a more pragmatic standpoint, I think you have to define male and female and discuss each exception separately. There's an inherent problem in questions like this: how far until you cross the line? Each person has an average of 200 mutations compared to the next person, and sometimes they stack; this creates our losers and junkies, athletes and geniuses, average joes, idiot savants and much more. The ultimate problem is that in a universe where everything is unique, you just can't work with laws. And I have no idea of how to tackle THAT problem. ;)
Seems to me we just ran into that bridge. And it appears to be rather dodgy. I say we build a new one.
What constitutes a flaw? Darwin teaches us that the species most responsive to change is most likely to survive. What if, for example, women are catching up with men in terms of muscle power and stamina?
Flaw insinuates positive and negative; a very human trait of cognition, and extremely subject to the zeitgeist of our time. Evolution doesn't work that way. $h!t happens, and sometimes it is either productive or at least non-detrimental; the latter will mean an extra notch under the belt when the inevitable change comes on. That is why rats, bats, birds and many other successful organisms have conquered the planet. They've got an edge.
This may just be the start of a new trend in humanity. It may be latent for a while, but if (extreme example) we get invaded by Martians tomorrow and survive to start an interstellar war, people like her may be of incalculable value. Consider, and consider carefully, the nature of your perception.
Well said!
I disagree. Her ability to run was what got this whole discussion started in the first place :P
Considering that there are plenty of creatures which can be hermaphrodites, and that there are rare genetic variations (YXYY, for example) where one is born with e.g. male characteristics while the sexual organs may be female, this is a difficult point. Where do you draw the line? I know of a few lesbians who, except for the chest, could easily pass for male: large arms and hands, low voice, etc.
The sexual differences are fairly pronounced for "normal" men and women, but there are plenty of in-betweens. Methinks the only thing they can do is make an extensive study of all the differences between men and women, and say that if more than an x number of variables lean towards the one or the other, the person in question must be considered as being of the opposite sex. Either that, or you have to create the Hermaphrodite Olympics. They'll probably still have to investigate each case separately either way.
only on?
I wonder if this is indeed the right way to go about it. I figure that if you're famous enough, there's going to be loads of fora - public and semi-private, mind you - stuffed with defamatory comments. I figure you should just ignore it, set up your own blog, and only react if people really seem to be getting wrong ideas - but then, do so with honesty and integrity on your own blog. Insert a good troll filter so people can comment and avoid the trolls. There's always gonna be shortsighted individuals who'll gripe anything or anyone, whether that person / thing is known to them personally or not. Let 'em rot in their own juices - they'll either shower eventually or rot away, and in the latter case they're hardly worth anyone's time. Also, this avoids Streisand effects and means that anyone seriously interested in what you have to say about something will refer to your blog and not some random forum; the news sites already do so. Just keep on truckin', apologise if you're wrong, react calmly and clearly when you're right, and let the lawyers stay at home.
It's a bit more interesting than that, though. BREIN was actually sueing the company that was planning to take over TPB, expecting an easier grant from the judge (which they got). This opens the door to forcing ISP's to block certain websites, something which BREIN has been trying for but has hitherto miserably failed at. This is all just a sham to set up jurisprudence to slowly swing the courts in their favor. I think I'm gonna go BREINwash their CEO.
We've got the same discussions going on here across the pond, but we're a bit further along. Several laws have already been passed ordering carriers to stop blocking VoIP and such; in Belgium, iPhones must be sold independently of carriers. I think we're starting to get the mix between government intervention and free market right. On another level, we told the telco's to standardise the power plugs they use; they were given an ultimatum after mass public annoyance at all the different chargers we have, and told to "choose or have it chosen for them". Now micro-USB will be becoming the standard. We're getting there!
It makes me wonder, though. I don't believe in free market anymore. There's just too many loopholes, lobbying being the biggest. And I think the U.S. government has a lot of corruption to stamp out before it can be as flexible as the EU has been hitherto.
Having a central government of any kind monitoring this type of thing just won't work. The best we could probably do is set up an automated system which yells BEEP! when it sees a truly suspicious transaction; then amici curiae appointed by the PEOPLE in combination with a random system to prevent infiltrators - NOT the government - are allowed access and can check the records, and indicate action may be necessary. Then, every action these people must be logged and open to public scrutiny. The servers must be monitored by an independent monitoring system, once again open to public scrutiny. That's the only way anybody will have any faith in such a system whatsoever.
But on the other hand: what are they looking for? $1m dollars transferred from Hussein in Iran to Mustapha in the U.S.? Couldn't you completely automate the whole system? Google did for its advertising, and that's the only thing that's keeping a really large group of inspectors at bay.
I posted because I know there may be people struggling with this type of thing, and it never hurts to share your experiences. Why rediscover the wheel yourself when you can get a schematic on internet (even if it does look square in some places) :) But now I respond because I'm curious: what would trigger a response like that? I presume you read the topic itself as well, and did so for a reason. Idle curiosity? Stuck in a similar ship? Frustration? Maybe try discussing instead of biting.
Creativity is hard to categorise. However, it also isn't completely random. When I'm working on a project, I can get myself into "daydream" mode and gently steer my creativity to find answers to the question or problem at hand, so I would guess that even if it is random firing of neurons, it is random firing of the neurons active at that moment. This means that it certainly is NOT random, because you can choose what to think about, and hence, steer that random firing to get a result. Evolution likes that.
With e.g. schitzophrenia, I think that people who have a double copy of the gene and have a high(er) IQ are more likely to find a way around the problem and deal with it. I would guess I'm one of the lucky guys with a double expression of the gene, but also with a good IQ. A lot of what was said was very recogniseable - I've fought with depression, burnout and more, and also had an immense war between myself and my own mind, and have seriously questioned my sanity, before I finally learned to detach from my thoughts and emotions, and stand behind them as it were instead of being dragged along with them on a very rough rollercoaster ride. Meditation, sports, the forced responsibility of having to run my own company and lots of research saved my sanity. Now my creativity is a tool, a part of my mind which can be accessed at will instead of a scary the-voices-say-the-universe-hates-you personal enemy you can carry everywhere you go. I am the eye of the storm, as it were, and it is no longer easy to rip me loose - I would guess that only a long, sustained depression combined with stress over a period of years could do that (because it means that slowly but surely your belief in yourself and your self-imposed structure will be eroded by the negative emotional flood from the amygdala).
I think the problem is compounded once you get depressed. It seems to me that creativity is rampant throughout the brain. When I was depressed, it seemed that my "logical" brain was less active and my "emotional" brain ran the show - all my reactions were negative and emo. This might be because the amygdala seems to "shout louder" at certain times than others, or maybe the rest of the brain is more overwhelmed by its "voice" during depression because it is less active, I don't know. At any rate, it means you are completely at the mercy of emotional reasoning and the torrent of feelings because you don't have your "logical net" to tell you "nah, I'm dramatizing again" and you simply shrug them off as an itch.
At any rate, I know a few others like myself and their stories are similar: mental override, take control, avoid pitfalls of deep feelings (unless they're positive, and even then keep an eye on them), and view the world as a statistical game instead of a personal interaction. The latter is probably the most important, because once you start trying to ascribe a (negative) personal meaning to the events that influence you - for example: "God made me lose my job because I'm bad / worthless / whatever", then you open Pandora's Box on your own mind. That's also one of my warning signs that I may be stressed out or in a downward spiral, and that I need to take more breaks and relax more: if I find my mind trying to reason like that, I know I'm in the danger zone, so I adjust for it. Not doing so probably means you'll end up creating another religion based on frustrated depression.
Amputation. At the hip. Preferably sterilization. And THEN let them do public service for the rest of their lives.
Ok, ok, a wee bit drastic. Or is it? It's the only way I can think of (the sterilization thing, anyway) which gives humanity a chance somewhere in the future, if not now.
I'd rather be happy with ugly teeth than gorgeous and miserable. Fortunately, I'm wonderously good at having my cake and eating it. Good toothpaste rocks.
Cool! It's always nice to know the feedback is appreciated. Some other things you might keep in mind:
- have a BIG work desk. A big desk (everything in easy reach) is like computer memory to a person, and your brain is the processor and the filing cabinet is the hard drive (spacous, but slow).
- There are many different people with different reactions to stress. A friend of mine used to faint regularly, and feel dizzy all the time. After she stopped her second job, a few weeks later she felt a LOT better. Listen to what your body is telling you; if you aren't sure, try changing things to see if it helps. Keeping a diary also helps. Note down what you did generally throughout every day - eat, drink, smoke, work, etc - and try to discover patterns. You may, for example, work out that the acne you get twice a month is actually connected to those few times you carpool with someone. Bad fibers in his car?
- be wary of other peoples' expectations. Are you a YES-sayer? Teach yourself to say NO or, at least, "I'll get back to you on that". I remember having immense problems resisting people who wanted me to do something for them because they projected their problems on me: "my computer HAS to work this weekend! My kids want to play games! I need to check e-mail!" It took me the burnout session to realise that that is THEIR problem. If that's an issue they'd best get a second computer. One of the best ways to get burned out is by assuming too much responsibility. If you're taking projects yourself, jot down how much time you think something will take, and double it. Use that number to plan your time. If you're in a corporate environment, tell your boss you're full and that you either need an assistant, or an intern, or more colleagues who can help you with the work; if he's got a dinosaur brain (like many managers do), write down your predictions and don't be afraid to give him the I-told-you-so after the $#!7 hits the fan because he didn't listen. However, do it constructively: tell him you'd like to discuss things with him to ensure it works better in the future. Destructive commenting is too easy and doesn't achieve anything at all aside from a few seconds of self-vindication. It may get you fired, but usually you're just doing your job and your managers' superiors will realise this; you can't help it you have a better view of things than your manager.
- If something seems "too big" or "too complicated", once again you're in the danger zone of a burnout; check my earlier post to see if you can recognise more warning signs. If you feel good and fit and are productive, on the other hand, it may not be burn-out but it may only mean you need to chop the project up into smaller parts to give you a good overview. If you can oversee all the steps in each of the parts, and can oversee how they all connect, you can see the whole project. This makes running it MUCH easier since you can keep an eye on both micro and macro goals.
- Set limits to your project beforehand. Make estimates of how long you plan to invest in a certain segment of the project, what you want to achieve, and STICK TO IT. If you have time left you can add extra stuff later. If you get extra ideas en-route, write them down but don't integrate them unless it's absolutely vital. You can review the achievements and extra ideas later. Also, plan in time for EVERYTHING: time for planning, time for arguing with colleagues, time spent in traffic, time on the phone, time reviewing the code or project. Try to hook a number on everything. You might not get it correct right away, but you will develop a much better feel for what you are doing and how much time each part takes, because you are consciously trying to manage them. A famous saying is: "who fails to plan, plans to fail." This is exponentially true of corporate environments with many people in it. On your own, or with two people - three max - you can do everything ad-hoc and take things as they come; above that and you need structure, work procedures, flowcharts, and people chasing each
There's, indeed, a LOT more to it than that. There are any number of things that may be blocking your creativity, but from the description I suspect burnout and/or depression. If you've been working a lot or are under a lot of stress (kids, too many hours, responsible position, people complaining to you a lot) your mind may simply be locked up. This is a panic reaction, a last defense mechanism for a mind running with hormonal imbalances. It will mean your cortisol is too high early on, then drops off at the time you need it most. Your body's stress response is worn out and depleted and needs time to regenerate. That's why burn-out victims are usually told to go home and do nothing for a year. It takes a LOT of time.
Ask yourself the following questions:
- Do I drink more than two cups of coffee every day? Too much caffeine will elevate cortisol and make you more sensitive to stress. Cut down on coffee and take Ginseng supplements - this will help your body restore its decreased cortisol capacity. I personally like green tea with ginseng. It takes a bit of time to switch, just do it gradually and you won't run into problems. Try to cut smoking and alcohol as well as much as you can.
- Can I work for a few hours only, and then feel like my mind "locks up"? This is definitely a stress sign. If that's the case, take a 10 minute break for a walk OUTSIDE, EVERY HOUR. (I mean it! I had the same problem, and an external management bureau with lots of hands-on experience gave us these tips, and they worked.) This will help you de-stress and over longer time will help reset your body's hormone system. Also: cut away any other stress factors. Are you busy two days a week helping your kids' soccer teams do their paperwork? Let it go. This will be difficult if you are indeed tottering near burnout - it makes you more emotional since your "logical" brain is less active - but it is vital. Also, do you jump out of your skin every time your mobile phone rings? Also a very strong indicator of stress. Be wary and get to know your own fear signs. If it is all too much, consider if you can let it all go and rest for at least half a year. The project will still be there then, or if you are overtaken by competition, there will be other projects. Rule one of life: we all want to feel good. Only then can we help others and be productive. If you're living only for others and don't feel good doing it, something is wrong. Some people - especially those with a large sense of responsibility - are extremely sensitive to stress, and you don't know for certain until you have crashed through and are well beyond your limits. That's what it took for me to realise something was wrong: I could barely do the dishes without being told how to do it. Don't let it get to that.
- Do I feel miserable? If so, that might indicate not only burnout, but also dysthemia/depression. GET PROFESSIONAL HELP. And I mean a real shrink, not just a psychologist. He can temporarily set you up on medication which will help you recuperate; after some time you can then build down and get rid of the meds once you're standing on your own feet again. But for the time being, medication is probably essential as a crutch. Note: it is of VITAL importance that you find one you're comfortable with; if you don't feel OK with the shrink after a few sessions, thank him/her and just tell them that you don't feel allright and try another one. It can take a few tries to find the right person.
- Do I sleep enough? If you're not getting at least 6 hours of clean sleep, you're probably stressed or burned out. I remember a "burning" feeling from that period and only sleepint 2-3 hours a night.
- Do I have a real work place, and are there distractions? I ran my own company for seven years, and in the beginning I worked from home. In doing so I could never really "get away" from it. Once I had an office outside the door it made a real difference: I went to the office to work, and psychologically that also did a trick - it set me into "work mode". I left the browse
Depends. Do monitor lizards climb walls and get pulled off by Hulks? If so, probably both.
It's more likely for something used this much to have functional features than not. Fingers and claws have been around for quite a while. It's hard to imagine them not evolving useful properties. Of course, this can go too far. Try peeling a gecko from a wall, you need to call the Hulk to help.
Sounds about right. Such micro-ridges, I think, WOULD increase grip on rougher surfaces, which is what we would run into in daily life. Also, if those ridges - generally the top layer of skin - would rip off or shred, the damage done to the hand would be less than were it smooth, I would guess. IOW, maybe a safety feature?