5 ms·

I have thought for awhile that the best space voyagers, or guys whom are going to be isolated, are individuals who already had minor breakdowns when they were y

I have thought for awhile that the best space voyagers, or guys whom are going to be isolated, are individuals who already had minor breakdowns when they were younger. That includes so many of us? Why? Because they know the crazy thoughts will pass. I'm not talking about individuals with serious mental illness like Schizophrenia, or have a genetic lineage of mental illness. I'm talking people that have survived mild mental illnesses, like dysthymia, and anxiety. People who know the craziness in their heads will go away, and realize the world is imperfect. Realize they are far from perfect. Realize their way might not be the best way. I'm usually leary of the "perfect" candidates that get these coveted positions. Yes--I'm leary of the Ph.D types whom sailed through school. The ones with a big egos that feel they feel like they are the best, and claim they were never sick at sea. I think we have all met the type? Put a few of those people in real isolation, and danger, with peers just like themselfs-- seems like a horrid recipe for disaster? (At one time I felt like I controlled my surroundings. A few blown mental gaskets made me a more tolerant person. It did mess with my resume though. I felt the same way right after 911. i felt the FBI should be recruiting intelligent convicts at San Quentin, or wherever, rather than the guy with the 4 year degree who took a good head shot. I changed my tune when I realized the enemy of 911 was nuanced, and not so straight foreward, but I still felt you hire guys whom break societal laws in order to find the bad guys.)

danuker 5y ago
> Why? Because they know the crazy thoughts will pass. I am not a psychologist nor anything similar, but wouldn't people who have gone through the same conditions without having the crazy thoughts in the first place be better suited for the job?
- haar 5y ago
  Two schools of thought? - Those that really try hard to make sure the computer cannot crash. - Those that see the computer crashing as an inevitability, and want to ensure the appropriate behaviours are in place when it does happen.
  - watwut 5y ago
    When it comes to high risk activities, the preference should be for: those that really try hard to make sure the computer cannot crash and also have plans in place in case it happens. The two are not mutually exclusive at all.
    - shard 5y ago
      I think the distinction is more like: those with combat drill practice and those with actual combat experience.
- kayodelycaon 5y ago
  Not sure for this particular circumstance but I am bipolar. As long as my medication is stable, I’m far more resilient to the day to day struggles in life than the average person seems to be. I’ve been forced to build coping mechanisms to survive. Every day is a struggle of some kind, so I’m ready when shit happens, because shit always happens to me.
  - Taylor_OD 5y ago
    I don't really see how this can be true. With my medication I'm more steady emotionally than the average person but somewhat often I think about that it would be like to be a person who doesnt need a mix of externally drugs to feel this way. I, like you, know how to cope but is that really better than not needing to know how to cope at all? I wish I shared your optimism.
    - CountDrewku 5y ago
      >I, like you, know how to cope but is that really better than not needing to know how to cope at all? I wish I shared your optimism. That depends on how bad it gets. Everyone has a breaking point and I'd prefer having experience to deal with it. There's not a single person on this planet that won't go through some sort of catastrophe in their lives. I think it's naive to assume these people that get selected haven't had to go through difficult emotional challenges.
    - kayodelycaon 5y ago
      I've been impulsive, suicidal, paranoid, and hypersexual since I was nine. On top of this, I had multiple chronic health conditions and an abusive childhood. It's been a very long, very hard road and I wasn't expecting to life past 30. Somehow, I managed to hang on long enough to get diagnosed at 32. Medication and therapy have lifted so any burdens, which was more I ever could have asked for. I was a creative person robbed of the ability to create. Medication has given that back to me. My dream of writing stories has become a reality. I've managed to get a short story accepted, which makes me an author as well as a writer. I guess I'm just thankful. I don't dwell too much on what I don't have, because there is so much I do have.
- CountDrewku 5y ago
  >gone through the same conditions without having the crazy thoughts Not a psychologist either but from my anxiety experiences and what I've researched I've found that everyone gets crazy thoughts but people with anxiety conditions start to worry that their thoughts are wrong and no on else deals with them. My anxiety dwindled when I realized they're just thoughts and the crazy ones cause anxiety because my brain is trying to "protect" me. So, people that don't have issues are really just able to dismiss the thoughts because they know they're only thoughts and nothing else.
goodcanadian 5y ago
Yes--I'm leary of the Ph.D types whom sailed through school. The ones with a big egos that feel they feel like they are the best, and claim they were never sick at sea. I think we have all met the type? I don't think those are the type that generally get these positions, however. As you say, a big ego is a big liability. The ones who have "the right stuff" are generally very intelligent, very accomplished, and very humble.
dasudasu 5y ago
This is mostly wishful thinking. Advantages tend to accumulate in life. Those who had the easiest time growing up are often the most stable ones emotionally. Life doesn’t care about fairness, just like being and tall and attractive is correlated with intelligence, even though we might not prefer it this way. I’m sure you’ve also seen they type: brillant PhD, liked by everyone, natural leader, accomplished on multiple levels, perfect family and relations. These are the people that have been selected to be astronauts. How often have you seen one have a breakdown during a mission?
- loveistheanswer 5y ago
  >Advantages tend to accumulate in life. Those who had the easiest time growing up are often the most stable ones emotionally. Life doesn’t care about fairness, just like being and tall and attractive is correlated with intelligence, even though we might not prefer it this way. Many people who have had too easy of an upbringing may seem emotionally stable while inside the safety of their cushy comfort zone, but when they're put outside their comfort zone and hit with a real challenge or hardship, they often crumble, because they never learned how to deal with real difficulty
  - belval 5y ago
    That assumption is as old as time. Whether true of false Bret Devereaux did an analysis on it and it made for an interesting read: https://acoup.blog/2020/01/17/collections-the-fremen-mirage-part-i-war-at-the-dawn-of-civilization/ https://acoup.blog/2020/01/17/collections-the-fremen-mirage-... As far as we can tell, historically your assumption is wrong. Hard times do not really breed hard people it's a myth that comes from the antiquity and was used by philosophers and elites to link the moral corruption of a people with its inevitable downfall.
    - loveistheanswer 5y ago
      The gaining of strength through adversity and its inverse of atrophy can be found in countless places throughout nature, biology, and human history. There's nothing mythical about that. Take a cat that has lived an easy life indoors its whole life and put it outside. How long do you think that cat will survive outdoors compared to a cat who has lived outside its whole life?
imtringued 5y ago
>People who know the craziness in their heads will go away, You're making the assumption that most of these people learned to live with a bad environment and they expect to live in that bad environment for the rest of their life. What about those whose anxiety stopped because they left the bad environment? You're not going to leave Mars.

danuker 5y ago

> Why? Because they know the crazy thoughts will pass. I am not a psychologist nor anything similar, but wouldn't people who have gone through the same conditions without having the crazy thoughts in the first place be better suited for the job?

haar 5y ago
Two schools of thought? - Those that really try hard to make sure the computer cannot crash. - Those that see the computer crashing as an inevitability, and want to ensure the appropriate behaviours are in place when it does happen.
- watwut 5y ago
  When it comes to high risk activities, the preference should be for: those that really try hard to make sure the computer cannot crash and also have plans in place in case it happens. The two are not mutually exclusive at all.
  - shard 5y ago
    I think the distinction is more like: those with combat drill practice and those with actual combat experience.
kayodelycaon 5y ago
Not sure for this particular circumstance but I am bipolar. As long as my medication is stable, I’m far more resilient to the day to day struggles in life than the average person seems to be. I’ve been forced to build coping mechanisms to survive. Every day is a struggle of some kind, so I’m ready when shit happens, because shit always happens to me.
- Taylor_OD 5y ago
  I don't really see how this can be true. With my medication I'm more steady emotionally than the average person but somewhat often I think about that it would be like to be a person who doesnt need a mix of externally drugs to feel this way. I, like you, know how to cope but is that really better than not needing to know how to cope at all? I wish I shared your optimism.
  - CountDrewku 5y ago
    >I, like you, know how to cope but is that really better than not needing to know how to cope at all? I wish I shared your optimism. That depends on how bad it gets. Everyone has a breaking point and I'd prefer having experience to deal with it. There's not a single person on this planet that won't go through some sort of catastrophe in their lives. I think it's naive to assume these people that get selected haven't had to go through difficult emotional challenges.
  - kayodelycaon 5y ago
    I've been impulsive, suicidal, paranoid, and hypersexual since I was nine. On top of this, I had multiple chronic health conditions and an abusive childhood. It's been a very long, very hard road and I wasn't expecting to life past 30. Somehow, I managed to hang on long enough to get diagnosed at 32. Medication and therapy have lifted so any burdens, which was more I ever could have asked for. I was a creative person robbed of the ability to create. Medication has given that back to me. My dream of writing stories has become a reality. I've managed to get a short story accepted, which makes me an author as well as a writer. I guess I'm just thankful. I don't dwell too much on what I don't have, because there is so much I do have.
CountDrewku 5y ago
>gone through the same conditions without having the crazy thoughts Not a psychologist either but from my anxiety experiences and what I've researched I've found that everyone gets crazy thoughts but people with anxiety conditions start to worry that their thoughts are wrong and no on else deals with them. My anxiety dwindled when I realized they're just thoughts and the crazy ones cause anxiety because my brain is trying to "protect" me. So, people that don't have issues are really just able to dismiss the thoughts because they know they're only thoughts and nothing else.

goodcanadian 5y ago

Yes--I'm leary of the Ph.D types whom sailed through school. The ones with a big egos that feel they feel like they are the best, and claim they were never sick at sea. I think we have all met the type? I don't think those are the type that generally get these positions, however. As you say, a big ego is a big liability. The ones who have "the right stuff" are generally very intelligent, very accomplished, and very humble.

dasudasu 5y ago

This is mostly wishful thinking. Advantages tend to accumulate in life. Those who had the easiest time growing up are often the most stable ones emotionally. Life doesn’t care about fairness, just like being and tall and attractive is correlated with intelligence, even though we might not prefer it this way. I’m sure you’ve also seen they type: brillant PhD, liked by everyone, natural leader, accomplished on multiple levels, perfect family and relations. These are the people that have been selected to be astronauts. How often have you seen one have a breakdown during a mission?

loveistheanswer 5y ago
>Advantages tend to accumulate in life. Those who had the easiest time growing up are often the most stable ones emotionally. Life doesn’t care about fairness, just like being and tall and attractive is correlated with intelligence, even though we might not prefer it this way. Many people who have had too easy of an upbringing may seem emotionally stable while inside the safety of their cushy comfort zone, but when they're put outside their comfort zone and hit with a real challenge or hardship, they often crumble, because they never learned how to deal with real difficulty
- belval 5y ago
  That assumption is as old as time. Whether true of false Bret Devereaux did an analysis on it and it made for an interesting read: https://acoup.blog/2020/01/17/collections-the-fremen-mirage-part-i-war-at-the-dawn-of-civilization/ https://acoup.blog/2020/01/17/collections-the-fremen-mirage-... As far as we can tell, historically your assumption is wrong. Hard times do not really breed hard people it's a myth that comes from the antiquity and was used by philosophers and elites to link the moral corruption of a people with its inevitable downfall.
  - loveistheanswer 5y ago
    The gaining of strength through adversity and its inverse of atrophy can be found in countless places throughout nature, biology, and human history. There's nothing mythical about that. Take a cat that has lived an easy life indoors its whole life and put it outside. How long do you think that cat will survive outdoors compared to a cat who has lived outside its whole life?

imtringued 5y ago

>People who know the craziness in their heads will go away, You're making the assumption that most of these people learned to live with a bad environment and they expect to live in that bad environment for the rest of their life. What about those whose anxiety stopped because they left the bad environment? You're not going to leave Mars.