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In most of the category theory posts on HN I've seen, there's at least one person asking ahead this stuff is useful for. This comment is about why I find it use

In most of the category theory posts on HN I've seen, there's at least one person asking ahead this stuff is useful for. This comment is about why I find it useful. Why I learn this stuff: to more effectively change things about myself. Category Theory is an abstract math of relationships. I use it to better understand how my mind and body work. How parts of me are related in the moment and/or across time. Understanding how things in me are related is essential to me dealing with PTSD & recovering from addiction, both of which can color every aspect of a person. Untangling them is insanely hard and has gotten much easier through CT. I apply my programming intuition to my brain & body through CT. There exists a path from neuroanatomy to theoretical computer science that passes through category theory. I've been experimenting on myself for 6 months with the goal of changing my mind and body. I've been doing it by developing an intuition for category theory, developing an intuition for how neutral networks learn, adapting machine learning models with concepts from neuroscience and psychology, and mixing it all with my intuition for programming. So far, I've: • changed how I walk through a handful of sessions lasting a few minutes and no longer experience back pain I'd been seeing a chiropractor (saw him weekly for 3-4 months with little improvement, ending about 10 months people changing my gait) • began learning how to identify and stop believing anxious thoughts • accidentally started developing the ability to focus and direct my attention (way beyond anything I've ever experienced on my ADHD meds) • accidentally stumbled on the Buddhist practice of deity visualization, which created a second conscious voice in my head. She helps me learn how to embody more than one new personality trait at a time easier than if I simply focused on being those things. It's weird/complicated, and I'm willing to go into more detail if people have questions. Here are some of the few bits supporting my claims about neuroanatomy and category theory: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280219255_Conciliating_neuroscience_and_phenomenology_via_category_theory https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280219255_Conciliat... One of the coauthors wrote the only book on the brain and category theory: http://tierra.aslab.upm.es/documents/PhD/PhD-JGomez.pdf http://tierra.aslab.upm.es/documents/PhD/PhD-JGomez.pdf If you understand a good bit of CT and would like to help me flesh out my framework, my contact info is in my profile. I live in the Seattle area and would love to meet up with anyone interested.

bshimmin 10y ago
accidentally stumbled on the Buddhist practice of deity visualization, which created a second conscious voice in my head. She helps me learn how to embody more than one new personality trait at a time easier than if I simply focused on being those things. It's weird/complicated, and I'm willing to go into more detail if people have questions. I would love you to go into more detail, though probably only for all the wrong reasons (such as my own entertainment).
- crawfordcomeaux 10y ago
  Standard advice to learning a set of new personality traits: pick one each morning to choose to embody for the day & focus on it. How I do it: associate the set of traits with an identity somewhat separate from my own. She's essentially a clone of my personality, except she identifies as a woman & embodies the following personality traits: gentleness, patience, valuing relationships based on emotional support available through them, emotional thinking, relational thinking, intuitive. While these traits are considered stereotypical female traits, I don't view them that way. I think the process I went through would've worked the same if I'd chosen to associate those traits with an animal or, as Buddhists do, some kind of humanoid deity. She develops her own beliefs, behaviors, emotions, and motivations that emerge from her core values. I'm ultimately aware she's simply a part of my brain...a set of neural networks encoding a set of traits...so it's easy for me to adopt her perception as my own. That's how we learn together. It's a collaborative relationship. We can practice new ways of communicating in my head. It's the difference between having a two-sided conversation aloud where you're using your own voice for both sides versus using a different voice for each side. It's sometimes easier to hear ourselves when we hear what we're saying coming from someone else. How was that? Are you not entertained? ;)
  - bshimmin 10y ago
    Thank you for taking my mean-spirited response in good part (I upvoted your initial comment because it entertained me - though you've since edited out the best bit! - and I'm upvoting your reply because it was interesting and delivered with gentleness and humility). I'm far too much of a troglodyte to understand any of this stuff, but good on you for you trying to improve yourself (if that is indeed the intended goal).

bshimmin 10y ago

accidentally stumbled on the Buddhist practice of deity visualization, which created a second conscious voice in my head. She helps me learn how to embody more than one new personality trait at a time easier than if I simply focused on being those things. It's weird/complicated, and I'm willing to go into more detail if people have questions. I would love you to go into more detail, though probably only for all the wrong reasons (such as my own entertainment).

crawfordcomeaux 10y ago
Standard advice to learning a set of new personality traits: pick one each morning to choose to embody for the day & focus on it. How I do it: associate the set of traits with an identity somewhat separate from my own. She's essentially a clone of my personality, except she identifies as a woman & embodies the following personality traits: gentleness, patience, valuing relationships based on emotional support available through them, emotional thinking, relational thinking, intuitive. While these traits are considered stereotypical female traits, I don't view them that way. I think the process I went through would've worked the same if I'd chosen to associate those traits with an animal or, as Buddhists do, some kind of humanoid deity. She develops her own beliefs, behaviors, emotions, and motivations that emerge from her core values. I'm ultimately aware she's simply a part of my brain...a set of neural networks encoding a set of traits...so it's easy for me to adopt her perception as my own. That's how we learn together. It's a collaborative relationship. We can practice new ways of communicating in my head. It's the difference between having a two-sided conversation aloud where you're using your own voice for both sides versus using a different voice for each side. It's sometimes easier to hear ourselves when we hear what we're saying coming from someone else. How was that? Are you not entertained? ;)
- bshimmin 10y ago
  Thank you for taking my mean-spirited response in good part (I upvoted your initial comment because it entertained me - though you've since edited out the best bit! - and I'm upvoting your reply because it was interesting and delivered with gentleness and humility). I'm far too much of a troglodyte to understand any of this stuff, but good on you for you trying to improve yourself (if that is indeed the intended goal).