6 ms·

Amazing recount. I was fortunate to learn in 2018, at a relatively young age, that my mental faculties are the most precious thing I have in life (after my wif

by lijok 3y ago

Amazing recount. I was fortunate to learn in 2018, at a relatively young age, that my mental faculties are the most precious thing I have in life (after my wife ofcourse). It was a very simple accident; chasing a high I let my bike get too fast going downhill on a wet road, a car on the other side was oncoming, I break, the back wheel slips out from under me, I hit my head on the road (with a helmet on). A bruised knee, elbow and shoulder, bit of pain, no damage to the bike, so I get up and continue. 15 minutes later I get home, a sharp migraine sets in, and suddenly, I realize, I can't remember how I got home. In fact, I can't remember most of last week. Luckily an MRI, an OK from a doctor and a couple of weeks later my memory returns and I'm no worse for the wear. In that moment, when I realized I couldn't recall how I got home, the worst panic I have ever had set in. I've had two close calls with drowning and was in a car crash in the past, and have never felt the panic I had felt in that moment, just sitting comfortably at home, realizing my brain no longer works. I wasn't scared I had a brain bleed or something and would die, I was scared I would lose my mental faculties. Since then my outlook on life has taken a complete turn. I've become a lot more cognizant of how I spend my time and what issues I engage with mentally. What we have is precious, it can dissapear in a second, on an otherwise perfect day.

FredPret 3y ago
Human cognition belongs on the timeline of significant events in the evolution of universe. We may be only in the tiniest of corners (for now), but probably nothing beats it in complexity (... for now).
- Helmut10001 3y ago
  If you ever observed animals, e.g. just observing how chickens socialize, it becomes absolutely clear that they have similar cognition and perception than humans.
  - Solvency 3y ago
    my 3 chickens have deep and complex social dynamics all while being able to pinpoint grains of quinoa off the ground faster than a robot while being able to spot the faintest outline of the tiniest potential threatening hawk 2 miles away in the sky, fully discerned from various crows flying around that don't phase them at all. their little brains are processing far more than me.
    - DiggyJohnson 3y ago
      Why would you expect the last sentence to be true? Wouldn't you expect the brains of chickens to be vast, and yours to be even more so?
      - yawpitch 3y ago
        Why, precisely? Larger volume? Don’t know about you, but over the years I’ve met a lot of humans that can’t obviously outthink a higher-end chicken.
        DiggyJohnson 3y ago
        I was asking seriously. But yea, I think there seems to be aspects of human intelligence not shared by our chicken cousins. Both are remarkable, but there doesn’t seem to be any reason to believe a chicken is smarter than a human besides misanthropy.
        Solvency 3y ago
        I never said chickens were smarter than us, I said my chickens are visually processing far more than I possibly can all while engaged in mentally and physically taxing activities.
        DiggyJohnson 3y ago
        > my chickens are visually processing far more than I possibly can This is what I'm responding to. I don't know how to reconcile your two sentences, but no problem.
  - homefree 3y ago
    Parrots are a more fitting example imo, 300 million years of separation and they have complex cognition that evolved independently. Crows are also quite smart too.
- yawpitch 3y ago
  > but probably nothing beats it in complexity Spend a little while seriously watching an octopus, and you may move that needle.
  - jtolster 3y ago
    Are you intimating that an octopus is more complex than human cognition? Or just that an octopus is complex?
    - yawpitch 3y ago
      I mean that it appears that octopus “cognition” — dangerously a word we control and can easily twist to only apply to us — is almost necessarily more complex than human cognition, if for no other reason than they seem to have distributed their “thinking” — another dangerously solipsistic word — into their arms and out into their body, well away from merely their brains.
  - sva_ 3y ago
    They're very intelligent for sure, but their neurons are also a lot bigger. About 500 million neurons in an octopus (whole body) vs 86 billion in a human (just the brain.)
    - yawpitch 3y ago
      Size and quantity of neurons isn’t known to determine intellectual capacity, plus for all we know that’s just RAM… they live a few years, max, we live considerable longer, maybe they literally don’t need as much long term storage to fill with, for example, misplaced nostalgia for 1980s toy commercials?
      - skeaker 3y ago
        I would argue that having so much capacity for memory retention that our brains can spare space on frivolous things like that is marvelous in and of itself. Retention of information is arguably as important as the capacity for information. Humans passing down stories for generations, then inventing the written word to preserve ideas for years and year, is itself a beautifully complex thing.
jongjong 3y ago
I had a similar moment when I was 16 and had my first migraine aura... Really bad one. I was looking at a billboard and I realized that I couldn't read anymore. Then I looked at people and part of their faces were missing from my field of view even though I was looking straight at them. Then I started feeling tingling in my fingers. I thought it was a stroke. No, just a bad migraine aura. I've had one every 6 to 12 months since though rarely as bad as that first one. Coming to terms with the fallibility of your own mind is a valuable experience. I think it has helped me to be more rational. Once you accept that your mind can be dysfunctional, it becomes trivial to accept that your mind can be wrong. The way I see it, being wrong is also a temporary dysfunction of the mind.
- toss1 3y ago
  >>a temporary dysfunction of the mind Interesting Seems the dysfunction could be either intrinsic, as in mis-processing data/information that is present, or extrinsic, as in not having or failing to obtain a suitable set of data/information on the topic. Does this match your model?
  - jongjong 3y ago
    I believe it is a purely visual processing issue because, when I get a migraine aura, I can think and reason and communicate as normal. I walk normally too, I don't feel dizzy. It's only that parts of my visual field are missing. The missing parts seem to shift like blobs in a lava lamp so I can't just turn my eyes to 'look around them'. Also because visual info is missing (not blacked out or blurred out), it makes it impossible to figure out how much I should turn my eyes to look around 'it'... It's like a spacial distortion in my field of view. I wonder if this is a similar experience to dyslexia? Though for me it's only temporary and affects everything I see including faces... But who knows maybe dyslexics also have this issue but don't realize it because they don't know better? I can still recognize people even though I can't see their face fully. It's like my subconscious is still seeing the full face.
    - toss1 3y ago
      >>It's like my subconscious is still seeing the full face. Very interesting; that reminds me of a phenomena I learned about in a college neuroscience class, from studies of people who are cortically blind, as in their visual cortex is dead/nonfunctional, but their eyes and the rest of their brain work (e.g., from a brain injury localized to the back of their head where the visual cortex is located). You can also present them with a forced choice test, such as a panel with big stripes either horizontal or vertical, and require them to say if it is horizontal or vertical. Of course the initial response is "I can't see it, so I can't say". But with a forced choice, they get it right something like 85% of the time — obviously far better than the chance results we'd get with blindfolded subjects. It turns out that (at least the working understanding at the time) is that the brain has different circuits that use info from the optic nerve to tell the eyes where to track and look. E.g., this will get the eyes to track moving objects, or focus along the edges, etc. When those are still working, the brina can still somehow subconsciously access some of that knowledge from those different brain areas. I wonder if this is relevant to the phenomena you described?
Workaccount2 3y ago
+1 for wearing a helmet. I see so many people riding (both bicycles and even motorcycles) without one. Totally insane since even a minor accident can turn you into a drooling blob with an otherwise minor bump on the head.
- hwbehrens 3y ago
  Like the GP (and most people, I assume) I really value my mental faculties, but more relevant in my opinion is that in terms of time and often money, your collective knowledge and education is probably the most expensive thing you've invested in. To not do the bare minimum to protect that investment is incomprehensible to me. My friends will buy ergonomic keyboards, standing desks, monitor arms, etc. to keep them healthy and productive (which is important), but not wear a helmet because "they look dumb". Without a working brain, none of that other stuff will matter! I always ask them, 'Are you expecting to find a partner while you're on the bike? Who are you trying to impress?'
  - sfn42 3y ago
    Do you really want a partner whose criteria is doing dumb shit? I mean if a woman doesn't want me because I wear a helmet I figure that's me dodging a bullet
  - D-Coder 3y ago
    "There are only two kinds of paranoia: Total... and _insufficient_."
  - anal_reactor 3y ago
    > but not wear a helmet because "they look dumb" It's not about looking dumb. It's about ergonomics. Sure, helmets make cycling marginally safer, but they also make it considerably more tedious, which results in people simply deciding not to cycle at all, which results in decrease of both public health, and safety of cyclists. https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/26subr/til_that_bike_helmet_law_was_defeated_in_denmark/ https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/26subr/til_t...
- 3y ago
cainxinth 3y ago
> What we have is precious, it can dissapear in a second, on an otherwise perfect day. Family friend was an accountant in NYC that used to ride around on a scooter with no helmet. Fell and hit his head one day and literally lost the ability to do complex math, permanently.
spacetimeuser5 3y ago
>>realizing my brain no longer works. So is it really you realizing your brain no longer works, or part of the brain with ownership of the rest realizing its brain no longer works? P>S> To get still a full spectrum, let's not forget (rather rare) cases when people with 80%< of the brain filled with cerebrospinal fluid due to hydrocephaly were able to do uni math or work as accountants.

by lijok 3y ago

FredPret 3y ago

Human cognition belongs on the timeline of significant events in the evolution of universe. We may be only in the tiniest of corners (for now), but probably nothing beats it in complexity (... for now).

Helmut10001 3y ago
If you ever observed animals, e.g. just observing how chickens socialize, it becomes absolutely clear that they have similar cognition and perception than humans.
- Solvency 3y ago
  my 3 chickens have deep and complex social dynamics all while being able to pinpoint grains of quinoa off the ground faster than a robot while being able to spot the faintest outline of the tiniest potential threatening hawk 2 miles away in the sky, fully discerned from various crows flying around that don't phase them at all. their little brains are processing far more than me.
  - DiggyJohnson 3y ago
    Why would you expect the last sentence to be true? Wouldn't you expect the brains of chickens to be vast, and yours to be even more so?
    - yawpitch 3y ago
      Why, precisely? Larger volume? Don’t know about you, but over the years I’ve met a lot of humans that can’t obviously outthink a higher-end chicken.
      - DiggyJohnson 3y ago
        I was asking seriously. But yea, I think there seems to be aspects of human intelligence not shared by our chicken cousins. Both are remarkable, but there doesn’t seem to be any reason to believe a chicken is smarter than a human besides misanthropy.
        Solvency 3y ago
        I never said chickens were smarter than us, I said my chickens are visually processing far more than I possibly can all while engaged in mentally and physically taxing activities.
        DiggyJohnson 3y ago
        > my chickens are visually processing far more than I possibly can This is what I'm responding to. I don't know how to reconcile your two sentences, but no problem.
- homefree 3y ago
  Parrots are a more fitting example imo, 300 million years of separation and they have complex cognition that evolved independently. Crows are also quite smart too.
yawpitch 3y ago
> but probably nothing beats it in complexity Spend a little while seriously watching an octopus, and you may move that needle.
- jtolster 3y ago
  Are you intimating that an octopus is more complex than human cognition? Or just that an octopus is complex?
  - yawpitch 3y ago
    I mean that it appears that octopus “cognition” — dangerously a word we control and can easily twist to only apply to us — is almost necessarily more complex than human cognition, if for no other reason than they seem to have distributed their “thinking” — another dangerously solipsistic word — into their arms and out into their body, well away from merely their brains.
- sva_ 3y ago
  They're very intelligent for sure, but their neurons are also a lot bigger. About 500 million neurons in an octopus (whole body) vs 86 billion in a human (just the brain.)
  - yawpitch 3y ago
    Size and quantity of neurons isn’t known to determine intellectual capacity, plus for all we know that’s just RAM… they live a few years, max, we live considerable longer, maybe they literally don’t need as much long term storage to fill with, for example, misplaced nostalgia for 1980s toy commercials?
    - skeaker 3y ago
      I would argue that having so much capacity for memory retention that our brains can spare space on frivolous things like that is marvelous in and of itself. Retention of information is arguably as important as the capacity for information. Humans passing down stories for generations, then inventing the written word to preserve ideas for years and year, is itself a beautifully complex thing.

jongjong 3y ago

I had a similar moment when I was 16 and had my first migraine aura... Really bad one. I was looking at a billboard and I realized that I couldn't read anymore. Then I looked at people and part of their faces were missing from my field of view even though I was looking straight at them. Then I started feeling tingling in my fingers. I thought it was a stroke. No, just a bad migraine aura. I've had one every 6 to 12 months since though rarely as bad as that first one. Coming to terms with the fallibility of your own mind is a valuable experience. I think it has helped me to be more rational. Once you accept that your mind can be dysfunctional, it becomes trivial to accept that your mind can be wrong. The way I see it, being wrong is also a temporary dysfunction of the mind.

toss1 3y ago
>>a temporary dysfunction of the mind Interesting Seems the dysfunction could be either intrinsic, as in mis-processing data/information that is present, or extrinsic, as in not having or failing to obtain a suitable set of data/information on the topic. Does this match your model?
- jongjong 3y ago
  I believe it is a purely visual processing issue because, when I get a migraine aura, I can think and reason and communicate as normal. I walk normally too, I don't feel dizzy. It's only that parts of my visual field are missing. The missing parts seem to shift like blobs in a lava lamp so I can't just turn my eyes to 'look around them'. Also because visual info is missing (not blacked out or blurred out), it makes it impossible to figure out how much I should turn my eyes to look around 'it'... It's like a spacial distortion in my field of view. I wonder if this is a similar experience to dyslexia? Though for me it's only temporary and affects everything I see including faces... But who knows maybe dyslexics also have this issue but don't realize it because they don't know better? I can still recognize people even though I can't see their face fully. It's like my subconscious is still seeing the full face.
  - toss1 3y ago
    >>It's like my subconscious is still seeing the full face. Very interesting; that reminds me of a phenomena I learned about in a college neuroscience class, from studies of people who are cortically blind, as in their visual cortex is dead/nonfunctional, but their eyes and the rest of their brain work (e.g., from a brain injury localized to the back of their head where the visual cortex is located). You can also present them with a forced choice test, such as a panel with big stripes either horizontal or vertical, and require them to say if it is horizontal or vertical. Of course the initial response is "I can't see it, so I can't say". But with a forced choice, they get it right something like 85% of the time — obviously far better than the chance results we'd get with blindfolded subjects. It turns out that (at least the working understanding at the time) is that the brain has different circuits that use info from the optic nerve to tell the eyes where to track and look. E.g., this will get the eyes to track moving objects, or focus along the edges, etc. When those are still working, the brina can still somehow subconsciously access some of that knowledge from those different brain areas. I wonder if this is relevant to the phenomena you described?

Workaccount2 3y ago

+1 for wearing a helmet. I see so many people riding (both bicycles and even motorcycles) without one. Totally insane since even a minor accident can turn you into a drooling blob with an otherwise minor bump on the head.

hwbehrens 3y ago
Like the GP (and most people, I assume) I really value my mental faculties, but more relevant in my opinion is that in terms of time and often money, your collective knowledge and education is probably the most expensive thing you've invested in. To not do the bare minimum to protect that investment is incomprehensible to me. My friends will buy ergonomic keyboards, standing desks, monitor arms, etc. to keep them healthy and productive (which is important), but not wear a helmet because "they look dumb". Without a working brain, none of that other stuff will matter! I always ask them, 'Are you expecting to find a partner while you're on the bike? Who are you trying to impress?'
- sfn42 3y ago
  Do you really want a partner whose criteria is doing dumb shit? I mean if a woman doesn't want me because I wear a helmet I figure that's me dodging a bullet
- D-Coder 3y ago
  "There are only two kinds of paranoia: Total... and _insufficient_."
- anal_reactor 3y ago
  > but not wear a helmet because "they look dumb" It's not about looking dumb. It's about ergonomics. Sure, helmets make cycling marginally safer, but they also make it considerably more tedious, which results in people simply deciding not to cycle at all, which results in decrease of both public health, and safety of cyclists. https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/26subr/til_that_bike_helmet_law_was_defeated_in_denmark/ https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/26subr/til_t...
3y ago

cainxinth 3y ago

> What we have is precious, it can dissapear in a second, on an otherwise perfect day. Family friend was an accountant in NYC that used to ride around on a scooter with no helmet. Fell and hit his head one day and literally lost the ability to do complex math, permanently.

spacetimeuser5 3y ago

>>realizing my brain no longer works. So is it really you realizing your brain no longer works, or part of the brain with ownership of the rest realizing its brain no longer works? P>S> To get still a full spectrum, let's not forget (rather rare) cases when people with 80%< of the brain filled with cerebrospinal fluid due to hydrocephaly were able to do uni math or work as accountants.