Cross-post from Facebook - Max - Brain Games

Brain games

I Googled “puzzle good for brain research” because I'm Max and the first link was to an article titled “Why Jigsaw Puzzles Are Good For The Brain”. The article wasn’t terrible to read but made a lot of statements without any evidence and no author listed. Also every word in its title was capitalized which simply can’t be correct. Sort of like it was something written to sell jigsaw puzzles and justify buying them (for pity’s sake, isn’t enjoyment enough?). Blah. The third result was an article which I’ve linked below (written by a cognitive neuroscientist with linked studies).

Sounds like brain games aren’t bad but what exists now isn’t going to improve our critical thinking skills. I liked the parts about how uninterrupted deep thinking is good and how multitasking is bad. I think she does make an error in using a study on heavy multitaskers to conclude that using electronic media is a bad thing. It’s the consumption of multiple sources of electronic stimuli at the same time that’s shown to have negative effects, not the consumption of electronic stimuli itself (at least in the study she cited). Besides this the article made sense to me.

So, if you’re going to play video games just play video games. If you’re going to peruse Facebook just peruse Facebook. If you’re going to watch Netflix put away the tablet (I’m so guilty of not doing this). It’s better for our brains to do just one thing at a time. And brain games are ok but won’t make us smarter (at least not in any meaningful way).

Oh yeah, it’s worth reading through all of the linked studies in the article (at least check out the abstracts). Good stuff.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/make-your-brain-smarter/201403/do-brain-games-really-boost-brainpower

Cross-post from Facebook - Max - Left/Right

Left/Right

I was looking up jigsaw puzzle exchanges (yes, they do exist) and saw in the info on one of the sites that jigsaw puzzles are supposed to be good for the brain. Makes sense to me so I Googled it and found something about how jigsaw puzzles exercise both the left and right hemispheres of our brains. Sounds good to me. I then remembered something about how the “left/right brained people thing” was a myth and Googled that. Here’s one of the more recent articles written about it.

It’s easy to lump people into buckets of left-brained and right-brained but the science just doesn’t back up the assumption. Creative people use both hemispheres of their brains the same as those who are analytical. I feel like the left/right brain thing leads to the insinuation that people can’t be both creative and analytical which is silly. It’d be like someone who wrote music being unable to analyze their songs and understand their mediocrity. Hm. Perhaps that sort of insight just takes time. :)

http://thescienceexplorer.com/brain-and-body/left-brained-vs-right-brained-myth-debunked

Cross-post from Facebook - Max - We're Peaking

We’re Peaking

I was thinking about the breaking down of the Flynn effect in most developed countries. The Flynn effect describes the rising average scores on intelligence tests over the last 100 years or so as seen in many parts of world. Yes, on average, each subsequent generation has been smarter than the prior generations (this, of course, does not mean individually we’re smarter than our parents). Idiocracy might be a funny movie but its basic premise is incorrect.

Depending on the country the IQ averages have peaked out or even dropped in recent times. There are all kinds of theories and ideas around this phenomenon (video games, immigration, millennial laziness, etc). I think maybe we’re approaching the natural limits on what our average intelligence can be in our current socio-economic set of societies. I wonder if there is much room for the average intelligence to increase with the current setups we have. Sure, there are variations in the average intelligence between nations but not very big ones – at least in the developed countries. Perhaps we’re running into the limits of our natural potential? Maybe we’re regressing toward our intelligence mean? It could simply be increased diminishing returns.

I feel like there are many parents who do a lot the research and put in a ton of effort to maximize the potential of their children. Are their kids proportionally smarter than kids raised without the extra attention, extracurricular activities, private schooling, etc? I realize “smarter” isn’t necessarily what these parents are after, more they’re trying to give their children all of the possible advantages to be successful in society. My point is that even with an ideal upbringing we’re still not raising proportionally more geniuses.

The reason I think about this apparent leveling off of human intelligence is I believe our advancement as a species will ultimately be limited by it. Much of our society is already run based on quantum theory of which only a small portion of the population can even correctly conceptualize let alone understand fully. I’m sure there will be many more amazing technological discoveries and wonders but eventually the party is going to end which is a bummer to contemplate.

I suppose if I was an Elon Musk who was able to pursue my fancies I’d choose to dump a lot of money into figuring out how to evolve people to increase our intelligence beyond our current natural limits. Not installing computer chips in our brains but genetic changes that would be passed down the generations naturally. That way if our current societies crumbled we’ll at least have the mental capabilities to be able to build it all back up and hopefully better than before.

Here are some interesting links to stuff I was reading when contemplating this stuff (if it isn’t clear I LOVE Wikipedia):
Flynn effect - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect
IQ - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_quotient
Nations and intelligence -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nations_and_intelligence
Diminishing returns - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diminishing_returns
Regression toward the mean -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_toward_the_mean

Cross-post from Facebook - Max - Platitudes

Platitudes

I looked up “speaking in platitudes” today. As annoying as they often are I think there is some value to them, mostly from the way they can be used as an indicator to how far one is willing to go with a topic. For example at the end of a long debate about a touchy subject someone might say “what’s done is done” which effectively stops the conversation and can also act as a way to stave off damaging a relationship. If I start a conversation with someone and am immediately struck with a platitude then perhaps I should save my words for someone else who is willing to travel down this particular rabbit hole (or I’m being really annoying and should stop talking).

I definitely find myself using platitudes more and more as I get older. I think the main reasons are my burgeoning apathy and that talking things out often and inevitably leads to a platitude when we run out of things to say. It is what it is, right? Such is the way of the world. Life isn’t fair. Sometimes things just don’t turn out the way you want them to. Maybe instead of using a platitude I’ll start saying “further discussion will have to wait until I can do more research” or I’ll quote Forrest Gump - “that’s all I have to say about that.”

The wiki - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platitude

Funny list of platitudes - http://scottberkun.com/2011/what-are-the-most-annoying-platitudes/

Thought-terminating clichés - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clich%C3%A9#Thought-terminating_clich.C3.A9

Cross-post from Facebook - Max - Formula for happiness

Formula for happiness.

I was thinking about coming up with my own formula for happiness when I found one already exists that makes some accurate predictions (at least in the short-term). It was created in 2014 and modified in 2016 to account for guilt and envy. Interesting stuff.

Here’s an article about the updated formula from earlier this year - http://phys.org/…/2016-06-happiness-equation-reveals-people…

Here’s the full text on the study and subsequent formula - http://www.pnas.org/content/111/33/12252.full

Cross-post from Facebook - Max - Hobbies

I’ve been thinking about hobbies the last couple of days, specifically how to differentiate and categorize them. I’ve settled on active and passive as effective groupings. Active meaning there is an end product or a future goal in mind and passive meaning pure entertainment or stimulation. I think most hobbies can fall into either category and I think it’s often a slippery slope between passive and active hobbies. Examples of this for Susan and myself would be amateur motorsports and our love of pugs. We went from autocrossing our daily drivers (pretty passive) to taking on leadership roles, owning a tow rig, and using dedicated equipment (perhaps too active). We went from adopting two pugs 13 years ago (passive) to eventually volunteering for the Colorado Pug Rescue and fostering pugs (more active).

Some of our active hobbies become passive too. For me playing guitar is a great example of this. I was dedicated to the instrument for many years learning music theory, practicing hours a day, writing/recording, etc and now I primarily just play for sheer enjoyment when the mood strikes me.

Of course hobbies can flip back and forth between active and passive. I’m thinking of someone who might exercise regularly and then trains hard for a couple of months for a half-marathon before returning to their normal routine after the race is over.

Personally, I feel there are limits to the amount of active hobbies I can juggle at once. There’s only so much effort I can devote before my well runneth dry (or the outcome of the active hobbies suffer). When I’m flush with active hobbies I’m less likely to want to try new things or dedicate more effort to my current passive hobbies.

I also think me thinking about stuff like active versus passive hobbies is symptomatic of this time of year. The racing season is over and, with the cold weather and dark evenings, I’m not much in the mood to work on our cars. Thus these active hobbies that usually take up a lot of my time are paused and now I’m bored enough to start thinking about things like active versus passive hobbies and what they might mean.

BTW I Googled “active vs passive hobbies” looking for interesting articles on the subject but mostly found judgmental opinion pieces. The kind where if a person is not “active” they are wasting their lives. The way they’re written sounds like being “active” is a way of making oneself feel superior over others which is too bad as I think there is value in the discussion of active versus passive hobbies without getting judgy.