Yesterday I got a spliter, nasty one, from an old piece of furniture. About 1/16th or thereabouts piece of wood that I hit at just the right angle so it decided to dig in between my nail and the finger, and it was nearly long enough to go all the way to the nail bed.
Asked my wife for her tweezers, to get out a splinter, and she offered to help. Until she saw the piece of wood through my nail, which prompted an "are you kidding?!" response and I could tell that she was already starting to regret offering to help.
Now, my wife has endured labor pains, but here she was freaking out over a piece of wood jammed between my finger and the nail, and wondering why I am able to be so calm. It hurt, but by this time a minute or so had passed and the initial pain had subsided and now I just needed to get it out.
I have heard stories about how women have a higher pain tolerance. I have also heard that memories of pain are not entirely reliable under various circumstances. All that such an event had provided anecdotal evidence for is that nobody really knows anything universally applicable about the feeling of pain.
There are things like the sensation itself, the signals being sent to the brain, and trauma to tissues which starts the whole process off, but there's not much else that can be said universally. Even the same person, under different circumstances, yet experiencing the same trauma, will not feel the same.
What to take from this?
Avoid projecting your own response to pain in a particular circumstance onto someone else. Boring advice, but true nonetheless because the perception of pain is not objectively quantifiable. What is not painful to one person might be to another, or even the same person at different points in time, so when dealing with folks that are in pain of one kind or another, just know that the odds are against them reacting the way they are for the same reasons you would.
Doesn't mean they aren't, but being aware of the tendency to presume that other people act and think like us can result in awkward misunderstandings.
Showing posts with label Perception. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Perception. Show all posts
10.4.19
Why you are bored?
Because you are boring!
One of the complaints I have seen in increasing frequency relating to video games is that people are bored playing the game. What makes this distinctive isn't just that they're bored, but that they didn't used to be bored by the same game. They'll point to changes in how the game plays, the activities it offers, the balance and function of items and abilities, the lists are exhaustive on why what was once enjoyed is enjoyed no longer.
The problem common to all these different players, though, is that they're boring people, and the video game no longer distracts them sufficiently from that fact.
Take World of Warcraft as an example. It's still the same basic game it was on release. Oh sure, it looks different and the details on how each class' function works has changed, but the fundamentals haven't changed one bit. You hit buttons in the proper sequence to kill monsters faster than they kill you.
Every class in the game is a variation on this basic concept. Every mechanic of the monsters you fight is built on that foundation. Perform a pattern correctly and you'll be rewarded.
This is why derision and scorn are so rightfully heaped upon people who so openly boast of their accomplishments in video games, because such feats do not display any real achievement in the "real world". Should power go out, all the digital accomplishments mean nothing. Further, while being able to perform a pattern of activities may appear impressive to someone who has not mastered the patterns, even people who are not very intelligent can be trained.
So with games like World of Warcraft, what really changed?
According to some, the game "got easier". The patterns required of players were simplified, and so where people felt a sense of accomplishment before due to the complexity of the patterns they could master, as shallow and vapid as that is, even that feeling is now gone, and they're stuck with playing a game that they don't fundamentally see as a good way to spend their time without any feeling of achievement to distract them from such truths.
Video games aren't inherently bad for what they are - entertainment. I am always baffled at how people do not realize that when they brag about an achievement, it's akin to declaring one's favorite flavor of ice cream. It doesn't mean anything more than what that person attaches to it, and if they attach that much meaning and value to how they are entertained, it often speaks to their complete failure to prioritize anything else that is tangibly more important.
As another anecdote, I knew someone who flunked out of college because they couldn't demonstrate the discipline to learn skills that college was trying to teach them. They were good at WoW, but they weren't smart or trained to be any more valuable than that.
Such people are boring, and they represent a growing number of people who are desperate to avoid coming to that realization by blaming the activities.
Another explanation was that where the "old WoW" forced players to cooperate, the new game doesn't, and so people feel detached and disconnected, and then act as if such a revelation is meaningful.
What these players don't seem to realize is that they lack the basic social skills required to become part of a group in the first place. When the game forced everyone to play together, even the socially awkward could find others required to interact with them in order to achieve some common goal. When that requirement is removed, the true social capacity of an individual is put to the test, and a lot of gamers don't have the skills to make and sustain friendships with new people.
What this means is that WoW social dynamics reflect more of reality, and if these folks were trying to escape the dynamics of reality through playing a game, such a change which reveals their own deficiencies will promptly be blamed on the game for exposing them, rather than take ownership for their own failings which exist whether the game is there to highlight them or not.
So if you are ever tempted to declare yourself bored, or to explain how some activity you used to enjoy no longer holds the same value, be aware that others will pick up on the projection, even if they can't quite explain it with words. Other people see bored and socially challenged people for what they really are, and gamers are simply less and less able to convincingly distract themselves from that harsh reality.
One of the complaints I have seen in increasing frequency relating to video games is that people are bored playing the game. What makes this distinctive isn't just that they're bored, but that they didn't used to be bored by the same game. They'll point to changes in how the game plays, the activities it offers, the balance and function of items and abilities, the lists are exhaustive on why what was once enjoyed is enjoyed no longer.
The problem common to all these different players, though, is that they're boring people, and the video game no longer distracts them sufficiently from that fact.
Take World of Warcraft as an example. It's still the same basic game it was on release. Oh sure, it looks different and the details on how each class' function works has changed, but the fundamentals haven't changed one bit. You hit buttons in the proper sequence to kill monsters faster than they kill you.
Every class in the game is a variation on this basic concept. Every mechanic of the monsters you fight is built on that foundation. Perform a pattern correctly and you'll be rewarded.
This is why derision and scorn are so rightfully heaped upon people who so openly boast of their accomplishments in video games, because such feats do not display any real achievement in the "real world". Should power go out, all the digital accomplishments mean nothing. Further, while being able to perform a pattern of activities may appear impressive to someone who has not mastered the patterns, even people who are not very intelligent can be trained.
So with games like World of Warcraft, what really changed?
According to some, the game "got easier". The patterns required of players were simplified, and so where people felt a sense of accomplishment before due to the complexity of the patterns they could master, as shallow and vapid as that is, even that feeling is now gone, and they're stuck with playing a game that they don't fundamentally see as a good way to spend their time without any feeling of achievement to distract them from such truths.
Video games aren't inherently bad for what they are - entertainment. I am always baffled at how people do not realize that when they brag about an achievement, it's akin to declaring one's favorite flavor of ice cream. It doesn't mean anything more than what that person attaches to it, and if they attach that much meaning and value to how they are entertained, it often speaks to their complete failure to prioritize anything else that is tangibly more important.
As another anecdote, I knew someone who flunked out of college because they couldn't demonstrate the discipline to learn skills that college was trying to teach them. They were good at WoW, but they weren't smart or trained to be any more valuable than that.
Such people are boring, and they represent a growing number of people who are desperate to avoid coming to that realization by blaming the activities.
Another explanation was that where the "old WoW" forced players to cooperate, the new game doesn't, and so people feel detached and disconnected, and then act as if such a revelation is meaningful.
What these players don't seem to realize is that they lack the basic social skills required to become part of a group in the first place. When the game forced everyone to play together, even the socially awkward could find others required to interact with them in order to achieve some common goal. When that requirement is removed, the true social capacity of an individual is put to the test, and a lot of gamers don't have the skills to make and sustain friendships with new people.
What this means is that WoW social dynamics reflect more of reality, and if these folks were trying to escape the dynamics of reality through playing a game, such a change which reveals their own deficiencies will promptly be blamed on the game for exposing them, rather than take ownership for their own failings which exist whether the game is there to highlight them or not.
So if you are ever tempted to declare yourself bored, or to explain how some activity you used to enjoy no longer holds the same value, be aware that others will pick up on the projection, even if they can't quite explain it with words. Other people see bored and socially challenged people for what they really are, and gamers are simply less and less able to convincingly distract themselves from that harsh reality.
14.2.19
Projection afflicts even Vox
By default, when we see anyone else doing something, we immediately fill in a "why did they do that" blank with ourselves. We assume that when other people act like us, they obviously have the same motivations as us, and acted like we do for the same reasons that we do.
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2019/01/churchianity-is-not-christianity.html
This is a phenomenon which is hardwired into us, and even greatly superior intelligence does not avert our tendency to do this.
The troubling result of this is that when other people obviously act for completely different reasons, with entirely different motivations, one is then forced to scramble for an explanation as to why the original presumptions were still correct.
Due to pride, it is hard for people to accept that they were wrong about someone, even when further evidence comes along which demonstrates that what they did was project themselves onto that someone else.
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2019/01/churchianity-is-not-christianity.html#c8073916483931721469
Vox is fallible, he's human, and such things shouldn't be so surprising or hurtful, but when such events do occur, when someone like Vox has shown himself to be less reliable than he otherwise claims, folks like me just need to calibrate how we process Vox's claims moving forward.
Vox Day is considerably smarter than me, but that intelligence isn't a superpower which makes him immune to the phenomenon of projection.
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-alt-right-comes-to-washington.html
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2018/11/blair-white-outs-fake-conservatives.html
If Stefan is nominally "of the right", and claims to not talk to "the media", yet is appearing on the show of a man who is simply part of the latest effort for "the media" to rebrand itself, do we place more weight on the claims, or on the actions?
In Vox's crucifying of Jordan Peterson, he exposed how people who were fans didn't really know what Peterson was talking about at all, what he really supported, and in circumstances like this it's apparent that such oversight is not uncommon at all.
The reason folks shouldn't be embarrassed about having supported Peterson is evidenced in that some of the folks that Vox himself supports have made claims and taken stances on topics which are in stark contrast with what Vox promotes, yet because such things can be easily overlooked unless one spends time studying what others say or write, we can't be surprised if something is missed.
This isn't helped by his "private criticism, public support" mantra which, while based on good intentions, does not change that there are folks who are trying to insert themselves into the nationalist right that are fundamentally incompatible, but because many have been so busy focusing on "the left", they hadn't noticed folks of "the left" setting themselves up as #FakeRight as a means of insulating themselves from the critical examination that would expose their deceptions.
It's not "division" to point out that those who claim to be part of your tribe are not actually so at all. It's not "punching right" to go after the moderates and cucks "in the middle". It's not "punching right" to kick out the godless and the heretics, the mutants and the depraved.
It may very well be a testament to why President Trump has been so effectively framed as so ineffectual that folks tried to create a movement from collections of people who were simply the enemies of enemies. If he can see that "the right" is simply one ideological standard away from completely falling apart, what trust can be placed in The People to support him when push comes to shove?
What happens if, for reasons other than are stated, the wall literally won't change anything at all, because where it would be built now won't reflect the border of what is rebuilt from the United States after our next "civil war", wherein the various nations of people vying for control inadvertently destroy or neuter the federal government and, like Yugoslavia in the 80's/90's, the "United States" Balkanizes into much smaller regional states such that the existence of a border wall between the current Mexico and United States becomes entirely immaterial?
Stop relying on other people to think for you, to tell you when to act, or not to act. Grow the wisdom and knowledge to make that determination yourself, and while you can learn from other people, they are not responsible for making choices in your life. You are the one who chooses, you are the one whose shoulders will bear the consequences of those choices, quit pretending like there is anyone else on this planet that you can ultimately trust with your own life, your own future.
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2019/01/churchianity-is-not-christianity.html
This is a phenomenon which is hardwired into us, and even greatly superior intelligence does not avert our tendency to do this.
The troubling result of this is that when other people obviously act for completely different reasons, with entirely different motivations, one is then forced to scramble for an explanation as to why the original presumptions were still correct.
Due to pride, it is hard for people to accept that they were wrong about someone, even when further evidence comes along which demonstrates that what they did was project themselves onto that someone else.
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2019/01/churchianity-is-not-christianity.html#c8073916483931721469
Vox is fallible, he's human, and such things shouldn't be so surprising or hurtful, but when such events do occur, when someone like Vox has shown himself to be less reliable than he otherwise claims, folks like me just need to calibrate how we process Vox's claims moving forward.
Vox Day is considerably smarter than me, but that intelligence isn't a superpower which makes him immune to the phenomenon of projection.
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-alt-right-comes-to-washington.html
This reminds me of the sports media, and the way that they constantly complain that the athletes either don't talk to them or refuse to give them anything but canned answers. Who do they think taught them to do that? The media clearly doesn't like the fact that we won't talk to them on the phone, and it won't be long before they are complaining that we don't bother responding to their emails anymore. Well, you see, Mr. Journalist Reporter, since you're obviously not going to utilize any of the answers we're giving you, there simply isn't any reason to talk to you in the first place.
This is why Stefan Molyneux doesn't bother with them at all. I may need to further alter my media policy in imitation of his. Or perhaps I'll simply tell everyone who contacts me to go talk to Milo. All they really want is quotes from him anyhow, so we might as well cut right to the chase.
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2018/11/blair-white-outs-fake-conservatives.html
If the media is promoting someone on the nominal Right, you can be all but certain that they are bought-and-paid-for Fake Right. Ben Shapiro, Jordan Peterson, Joe Rogan, and Dave Rubin. They are fake, fake, fake, fake, fake. All of the cucks are Fake Right.Calibrate claims with facts and data. Don't dismiss outright, that's not a useful heuristic, but understand that when Vox supports someone else, it may very well be because they've done something that Vox would have done, and he naturally defaults to the presumption that they're doing it for the same reasons he'd be doing it.
If Stefan is nominally "of the right", and claims to not talk to "the media", yet is appearing on the show of a man who is simply part of the latest effort for "the media" to rebrand itself, do we place more weight on the claims, or on the actions?
In Vox's crucifying of Jordan Peterson, he exposed how people who were fans didn't really know what Peterson was talking about at all, what he really supported, and in circumstances like this it's apparent that such oversight is not uncommon at all.
The reason folks shouldn't be embarrassed about having supported Peterson is evidenced in that some of the folks that Vox himself supports have made claims and taken stances on topics which are in stark contrast with what Vox promotes, yet because such things can be easily overlooked unless one spends time studying what others say or write, we can't be surprised if something is missed.
This isn't helped by his "private criticism, public support" mantra which, while based on good intentions, does not change that there are folks who are trying to insert themselves into the nationalist right that are fundamentally incompatible, but because many have been so busy focusing on "the left", they hadn't noticed folks of "the left" setting themselves up as #FakeRight as a means of insulating themselves from the critical examination that would expose their deceptions.
It's not "division" to point out that those who claim to be part of your tribe are not actually so at all. It's not "punching right" to go after the moderates and cucks "in the middle". It's not "punching right" to kick out the godless and the heretics, the mutants and the depraved.
It may very well be a testament to why President Trump has been so effectively framed as so ineffectual that folks tried to create a movement from collections of people who were simply the enemies of enemies. If he can see that "the right" is simply one ideological standard away from completely falling apart, what trust can be placed in The People to support him when push comes to shove?
What happens if, for reasons other than are stated, the wall literally won't change anything at all, because where it would be built now won't reflect the border of what is rebuilt from the United States after our next "civil war", wherein the various nations of people vying for control inadvertently destroy or neuter the federal government and, like Yugoslavia in the 80's/90's, the "United States" Balkanizes into much smaller regional states such that the existence of a border wall between the current Mexico and United States becomes entirely immaterial?
Stop relying on other people to think for you, to tell you when to act, or not to act. Grow the wisdom and knowledge to make that determination yourself, and while you can learn from other people, they are not responsible for making choices in your life. You are the one who chooses, you are the one whose shoulders will bear the consequences of those choices, quit pretending like there is anyone else on this planet that you can ultimately trust with your own life, your own future.
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