3 ms·

>Once you have these skills you can (presumably) use them for other things and to achieve various effects. But it starts there. They said the same thing about

>Once you have these skills you can (presumably) use them for other things and to achieve various effects. But it starts there. They said the same thing about brain exercises like Luminosity. The brain is way more complex, and you can't just hack your way to becoming the ultimate programmer. Perhaps there are legitamate factors that lead to unproductive and stressed out workers.

lukev 9y ago
Well there are at least two differences: - There are a lot of scientific studies (however dubious, see the original post) about the effects of meditation: there are none about Luminosity. - Meditation has been practiced for millennia with entire cultures and philosophies built around it. Luminosity is a 6-year-old app with a good marketing team. Neither of these things are definitive proof of course. But I think they are evidence (in the Bayesian sense) that there might be something there. The cool thing about meditation though, is that while I'd want to wait for scientific evidence before "prescribing" it broadly, there's no barrier to an individual trying it out themselves. You'll either get something out if it or you won't. If you do, sure, it could be the placebo effect, but as has been pointed out, even if meditation is nothing more than a deliberate activation of the placebo effect, that's a pretty cool result.
- visarga 9y ago
  Just don't make your life about feeling a placebo effect, however cool, it should be just a curiosity, not a life purpose. If the meditator wants just to meditate and doesn't care to improve his studies, career or to have a family, 20 years later it would lead to a sad realization. You can't fill your stomach with prana and emptiness won't be your wife. We're living, breathing bodies, not just pure consciousness that is one with everything.
  - lukev 9y ago
    ...what are you even responding to?
- WalterSear 9y ago
  >even if meditation is nothing more than a deliberate activation of the placebo effect, that's a pretty cool result. You are misunderstanding the placebo effect.

lukev 9y ago

Well there are at least two differences: - There are a lot of scientific studies (however dubious, see the original post) about the effects of meditation: there are none about Luminosity. - Meditation has been practiced for millennia with entire cultures and philosophies built around it. Luminosity is a 6-year-old app with a good marketing team. Neither of these things are definitive proof of course. But I think they are evidence (in the Bayesian sense) that there might be something there. The cool thing about meditation though, is that while I'd want to wait for scientific evidence before "prescribing" it broadly, there's no barrier to an individual trying it out themselves. You'll either get something out if it or you won't. If you do, sure, it could be the placebo effect, but as has been pointed out, even if meditation is nothing more than a deliberate activation of the placebo effect, that's a pretty cool result.

visarga 9y ago
Just don't make your life about feeling a placebo effect, however cool, it should be just a curiosity, not a life purpose. If the meditator wants just to meditate and doesn't care to improve his studies, career or to have a family, 20 years later it would lead to a sad realization. You can't fill your stomach with prana and emptiness won't be your wife. We're living, breathing bodies, not just pure consciousness that is one with everything.
- lukev 9y ago
  ...what are you even responding to?
WalterSear 9y ago
>even if meditation is nothing more than a deliberate activation of the placebo effect, that's a pretty cool result. You are misunderstanding the placebo effect.