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mr_overallson When science was the best show in America

I'm kind of curious how you expect science to be applied without its discovery phase being performed first.

I'm a long-time judoka. I took it up as a very awkward teenager, and it had incalculable benefits for my social comfort and development. And I've seen it do the same for others, beyond what might be expected for an athletic/social hobby.

Part of the effect seems straightforward enough - self-confidence at gaining newfound abilities, exercise, socializing, maintaining emotional self-regulation while engaging in controlled "fighting", etc.

But I think there is also something to the mere act of touching other humans and being touched several times a week. As the article suggests, it's comforting, fulfilling a basic human need. I wonder how this all plays out in the brain - can someone with a neuroscience background comment? Is the sense of touch specifically connected to brain areas of social well-being?

Edit:

"Many neuroscientists and psychologists believe that we have a dedicated system just for the perception of social – affective – touch distinct from the one that we use to touch objects. This system seems to be able to selectively recognise caress-like touch; this is then processed in the insula, a brain area connected to maintaining our sense of self and an awareness of our body. Slow, caress-like touch is not only important for our survival, but also for our cognitive and social development: for example, it can influence the way we learn to identify and recognise other people from early in life."

https://aeon.co/essays/touch-is-a-language-we-cannot-afford-...

mr_overallson To write better, develop a habit of writing

Not the person you're replying to, but try to at least read award-winning works in the genre of interest. E.g. if interested in sci-fi, read the Hugo and Nebula award winners going back a few years. Read Pulitzer winners for non-fiction. Etc.

mr_overallson The Abundance of Silicon Valley

Certainly no city is recession-proof, but Detroit _was_ almost totally invested in a single economic industry: car manufacturing.

Silicon Valley's emphasis - digital computing devices and software - fuels multiple economic sectors. It seems far more diversified than the auto industry.

mr_overallson Acorns in the Middle Ages

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiiwish

1. Crack open the shell and pull out the inner part of the acorn. 2. Mash with mortar and pestle until it has a flour-like consistency. 3. Soak several times with water to leach out the tannins.

mr_overallson How I remember what I learn

I'm the the go-to guy at a small government agency for the overall network/system architecture. There are some technical & memory-related prereqs (i.e. I have a CS degree, and I'm not a dummy), but mainly I know our systems so well because I've worked actively on them for more than a decade.

It would probably take me a decade to build such a detailed mental model at another company or agency. And that's even assuming I could get hired. One consequence of working on an idiosyncratic, one-off architecture is that my mainstream tech skills have atrophied significantly. I definitely could not pass a leet-code interview at a FAANG anymore.

mr_overallson U.S. House's antitrust report hints at break-up of big tech firms: lawmaker

I noticed this, too. Is Microsoft just left out of the article, or are they being left out of consideration for potential government break-up?

mr_overallson Dissertation: Marine Insurance in the Netherlands 1600-1870 (2009) [pdf]

I came here to plug the same book. I read "Against the Gods" as part of an effort to understand business topics on a more fundamental level, and was not disappointed.

As a self-identified "tech guy", my eyes previously glazed over when someone mentioned financial topics like insurance. However, I came to understand insurance as deeply tied to human efforts to move civilization forward in a stochastic and uncertain world. Fantastic book.

mr_overallson Using lasers to reduce drag in hypersonic weapons

The calculation depends on the specific configuration of the vehicle, but yes, friction-reduction can be a better use of (some amount of) energy, rather than increased thrust.

E.g. hovercraft.

Edit: This concern is also addressed int he article.

>> He pointed out that efficiency is key to energy depositions for drag reduction, as the levels of drag reduction must be weighed against the added weight and power requirements. “The drag reduction system has to be more efficient than what you could get out of an engine or it doesn’t make sense to use drag reduction; you’d just build a bigger engine.”

mr_overallson PostgreSQL 13

I have dealt with Oracle in the enterprise space, and endured their audit-turned-blackmail monetization strategies. They have a mixed bag of tech, some excellent, some mediocre - but their business practices are absolutely revolting and predatory.

mr_overallson PostgreSQL 13

Postgres is fantastic. But let's be honest about how it compares to commercial offerings.

https://old.reddit.com/r/PostgreSQL/comments/hqnafk/postgres...

"Before I start, a disclaimer: I Postgres, I’ve been a PG Applicative DBA for the better part of the last decade, and as a programmer I absolutely love the PG code base. . . It should also be said that Oracle’s products are insanely expensive, and yes, their business practices have been called into question quite a few times in the past.

Having said all that, and coming from many years of experience as both an Oracle DBA and PG DBA - comparing Oracle Database to Postgresql is almost like comparing a Cessna to an F-22. Only the F-22 can also transform into a Super Hercules and a helicopter.

Putting aside the usual issues of bugs and related incidents (both have had their fair share), the Oracle Database is a technological marvel. I can list off of the top of my head a number of capabilities Oracle has had for almost 20 years that PG either doesn’t have or just might have in the near future:

1. On commit fast-refresh materialized views, 2. Query Rewrite to Materialized Views, 3. Direct and asynchronous I/O, 4. Parallel Query Execution, 5. Oracle RAC - Multi Master without Replication, 6. Zero downtime upgrade, 7. No autovacuums, 8. Flashback, 9. Integrated In-Memory Database, 10. Autonomous Indexing, " etc.

The Reddit post is a good summary and worth a read, imho.

mr_overallson The Fungal Evangelist Who Would Save the Bees

Stamets is a fascinating & passionate guy, but it's worth remembering that he makes a lot of claims that aren't necessarily backed up by research (Stamets himself has only a bachelor's degree).

https://www.jncas.org/doi/full/10.7572/2167-5880-130.1.16

And some of his claims are just plain pseudoscience, i.e. his claims on the Joe Rogan Show about "entering the multiverse" via psilocybin, the Stoned Ape theory, etc.

https://psychedelictimes.com/paul-stamets-psilocybin-stories...

mr_overallson DMT drug study investigates the ‘entities’ people meet while tripping

Absolutely. Imho, there are a couple of different directions we can take in exploring reality via contemplation. The direction of (for lack of a better term) purification/egolessness is emphasized by Buddhist schools. An orthogonal direction might be the age-old practice of shamanism, in which engagement with wild realms of the spiritual Outback is sought, for the purposes of healing and exploration.

Sorry to keep shilling for Shinzen Young, but he is one of the few authors who has legitimacy in traditional Buddhist lineages, but seems interested in exploring and systematizing alternate traditions.

You might find his thoughts on shamanism interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33u14OjeHpE

mr_overallson DMT drug study investigates the ‘entities’ people meet while tripping

I'm not an authority on this stuff, but the rationale that resonates with me is: 1) gaining awareness of & context for the ego-narrative can HUGELY reduce psychological suffering, and 2) the ego doesn't go away for the vast majority of practitioners - it is put into perspective within a larger awareness

mr_overallson DMT drug study investigates the ‘entities’ people meet while tripping

An emphasis on direct experience can be found throughout Buddhism, usually in the context of emphasizing its utility, while downplaying the usefulness of intellectual elaborations on Buddhist ideas. I.e., it's much better to have a single, concrete, personal experience of emptiness/non-self in meditation, than to read several volumes of Buddhist logic.

If you want to trot out the doctrinal stuff, Dharmadhātu probably what you're looking for - it's the label given to purified mind in its natural state, free of obscurations. It is the essence-quality or nature of mind,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharmadhatu

mr_overallson DMT drug study investigates the ‘entities’ people meet while tripping

We are also capable of realizing directly that personal identity itself is also construct, a mask we put on to make sense of the world. Seeing through this illusion can be deeply unsettling, as well as deeply liberating. E.g. Buddhist insight into anatta, or non-self.

Shinzen Young's description on the nuts and bolts of Shingon Buddhist deity yoga practice is simply fascinating.

https://alvinalexander.com/personal/shinzen-young-shingon-sh... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_VizlDWcTA

mr_overallson Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person (2016)

> isn’t willing to sit with me during all these moving and emotionally rich experiences day in and day out

I'm incredibly sad for you. Do you have a theory as to why you must be a passive observer to emotionally enriching human experiences, instead of being a participant in creating them yourself?

mr_overallson Having an alter ego can reduce anxiety, benefit confidence: research

> Is that because this whole stuff is incredibly in fashion in SV?

Well, I grew in the rural South and currently live in Wisconsin, so I don't think I'm succumbing to some kind of SV hippie group-think.

The literature and instruction of Vajrayana is filled with warnings about using the techniques improperly. And they are very powerful, with tantra having developed during the peak of sophistication of Indian Buddhism in the 6th-9th centuries. The Tibetans have refined things further. E.g. the emergence of Dzogchen and Mahamudra.

Re: Hitler: Playing with the boundaries of self-identity as a form of daydreaming for the average person probably isn't harmful. But tantra combines a number of introspective technologies that hugely amplify the depth of concentration and effects of the exercise on the entire body-mind.

Weaving together ritualized breathing practices, somatic visualizations (i.e. energy work), external auditory stimulus (bells, etc.), chanting, internal/external visual aids (mandala), in the social context of serious vows to one's teacher, the Buddha, and all other sentient beings in the universe. . . well, it turns everything up to 11, so to speak.

Submerging oneself in an imaginal identity as a deity under those circumstances can provide a sudden, inarguable new insight into the boundaries and nature of one's self-construct, so the so-called truth of anatta. It can reveal in a flash the moment-to-moment fabrication of a particular kind of self-narrative you've been engaging in your entire life. And you can experience the incomparable freedom of being freed from that straitjacket.

Or if you're winging it without proper instruction, a similar exercise can deeply fuck you up, leading to weird somatic illnesses, grandiose thoughts (you think you _are_ the deity, or Hitler, or whatever), manic states because you don't understand how to safely bring down your psychological arousal level, etc.

mr_overallson Having an alter ego can reduce anxiety, benefit confidence: research

No worries! I'm familiar with Trungpa's warnings about spiritual materialism. I know the context of Vajrayana is quite different from the "Batman Effect" discussed in the original article, but I wanted to spur discussion in general about the power of assuming the identity (transitory though it may be) of a chosen figure.

And for anyone who's interested in tantra, I'll spell out the warnings more explicitly: this kind of practice should only be attempted under the careful guidance of an expert - a teacher who is empowered by a qualified lineage. These kinds of visualizations are very powerful, and can be dangerous to one's mental health if done foolishly. Hacking with the boundaries of one's ego and merging with deities is not to be done lightly. Seek expert instruction.

mr_overallson Having an alter ego can reduce anxiety, benefit confidence: research

I've long been fascinated by the complex imaginal techniques of tantra in Tibetan Buddhism, in which you vividly imagine yourself as a yidam, or tutelary deity.

Via intense concentration on elaborate self-visualization, repetition of the yidam's mantra, and ritualized hand gestures (mudra), you take on the form, attributes and mind of the yidam for the purpose of transformation - to recognize that one's own mind is not, in fact, different from the all-pervading Buddha-nature.

https://studybuddhism.com/en/tibetan-buddhism/tantra/buddhis...

'One of the most characteristic features of tantra is what we call “deity-yoga,” where we imagine ourselves to be a Buddha-figure. The term is usually translated as “visualize” instead of imagine, although we’re not just dealing with some visual picture of ourselves. I think the word “imagine” is great because we imagine that we really are a Buddha in the form of this figure. Not only do we imagine looking like this figure, but we also imagine speaking, thinking, helping others and experiencing pure enjoyment with all our senses like it does. We also imagine having all its good qualities, such as equal love and compassion for all beings and deep understanding of everything. Of course, to do this successfully we need to have trained beforehand in each of these qualities with sutra practice. Putting them all together with deity-yoga, then, is like a dress rehearsal for actually being a Buddha. By rehearsing now, we build up powerful causes for attaining enlightenment. This extremely efficient method is known as “practicing causes that are the most similar to the result.”'

mr_overallson Dementia on the Retreat in the U.S. and Europe

Studies have not provided strong evidence of aluminum being a risk factor for the development of dementia.

https://alzheimer.ca/en/Home/About-dementia/Alzheimer-s-dise...

mr_overallson Thomas Sowell interview

Same here - it's really quite baffling.

Sowell even thinks that racial discrimination in hiring doesn't require government intervention. He constructs an argument in Basic Economics that market forces will rectify this kind of social ill.

mr_overallson Thomas Sowell interview

I'm going to be a nonconformist myself and oppose the near-univeral approval of Sowell in this discussion. His book Basic Economics was the first book on econ that I read, and I was very impressed by it. It reaffirmed the rather right-wing political views that I'd inherited from my parents. However, after taking a few introductory econ classes at university and doing further reading on my own, Sowell starts to appear very ideologically driven.

Sowell is a free-market fundamentalist, in that he opposes most government intervention in markets, and universally trusts laissez-faire capitalism to provide the optimal social & economic good for practically any situation.

The problem with this position is that there's simply a ton of evidence that targeted government intervention provides far better outcomes in many situations.

Another classic example is environmental pollution, a classic case of tragedy of the commons. On the topic of global warming, Sowell doesn't even try to address the issue. He belives climate change is a hoax perpetuated by Democrats.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/01/27/sowell-the-catchwords...

Sowell writes in a conversational style, which is great for accessibility for non-economics. However, he is rightly criticized as failing to cite rigorous studies to back up his opinions.

For a more balanced view of basic economics, I'd highly recommend Principles of Economics by Greg Mankiw.

mr_overallson Perseverance Toward Life Goals Can Fend Off Depression, Anxiety, Panic Disorders

In medical school, many doctors learn the saying, “When you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras.” Most physicians are taught to focus on the likeliest possibilities when making a diagnosis, not the unusual ones.

However, it seems that some physicians oversimplify diagnosis so that _only_ the likeliest scenarios are considered. It's also an opportunity for subjective biases to influence an individual doctors definition of "likely."

E.g. Trans broken-arm syndrome

https://en.everybodywiki.com/Trans_Broken_Arm_Syndrome

mr_overallson Judge rules Seattle media companies must hand over protest images to police

If you trawl in someone's activities and background long enough, you can usually find something to charge them with. It's a favorite tactic of repressive regimes that seek to present veneer of legitimacy.

mr_overallson How the heart influences what we perceive and fear

Just to provide an additional data point, I've sought relief from anxiety in meditation, failed, and then found great relief in cognitive-behavioral therapy. You're exactly right in that what's needed sometimes is conventional help from psychologists.

A few years ago, I delved again into meditation, this time more traditional Buddhist ones. I can't say emphatically enough that there is some deep knowledge there. Mindfulness (i.e. cultivating stable attention toward internal & external stimuli) is just the tip of the iceberg.

Like you, I found the expanded sensory stream provided by mindfulness training to be somewhat overwhelming. Imho, what's necessary to work with it fruitfully are: 1) developing the capacity of non-abiding, or not attaching/identifying too much with the flow of mental events, 2) training the unconscious mind to competently manage one's attention & awareness, so that you don't have constantly "pilot" your self.

Two books I've found indispensable are: The Mind Illuminated - John Yates, and The Rinzai Zen Way - Meido Moore

Of course, there's no substitute for a good teacher. Just be aware that there are many charlatans & New Age types who aren't so helpful. Good luck!

mr_overallson Covid-19 is causing a wide range of disorders in the nervous system

". . . isn't supported by evidence."

This thread is _literally_ about the gold-standard scientific evidence (gathered by Spanish doctors) about how COVID is attacking the nervous system.

mr_overallson Who is the greatest knife steel metallurgist of all time?

Alternatively, consider supporting an artisan by buying a traditionally-forged blade.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/BrightForestForge

mr_overallson Researchers generate complete human X chromosome sequence

From the article: "Repetitive DNA sequences are common throughout the genome and have always posed a challenge for sequencing because most technologies produce relatively short "reads" of the sequence, which then have to be pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle to assemble the genome. Repetitive sequences yield lots of short reads that look almost identical, like a large expanse of blue sky in a puzzle, with no clues to how the pieces fit together or how many repeats there are. . . . Filling in the remaining gaps in the human genome sequence opens up new regions of the genome where researchers can search for associations between sequence variations and disease and for other clues to important questions about human biology and evolution."

Or, to make this more simple: Finding the complete DNA sequence of chromosomes is difficult. That's because some parts of the sequence are highly repetitive. Using a new type of lab machine, the scientists were able sequence the repetitive parts of the X chromosome. This gives a more complete picture of the X chromosome. And that can help scientists fight diseases and understand human biology better.

mr_overallson After Quarantine, 28% of People Report Feeling Overwhelmed by Driving

I think the person probably meant that they had to apply effortful attention while driving. Due to practice, the process is usually automatic/unconscious.