It is absolutely fascinating to me to see the ‘be more like me’ come from the less extroverted to the extrovert.
Well, in fairness, my particular brand of extroversion really is more like a handicap than a skill. The fact that I need contact has made me, through sheer desperation and resulting time devoted to practice, okay at getting contact; but that’s something that was forced, not enabled, by my being an extrovert.
Well, in fairness, my particular brand of extroversion really is more like a handicap than a skill.
Definitely. It could get you killed. It had me wondering, for example, if the ~5 hours figure is highly context dependent: You are on a hike with a friend and 12 hours from civilisation. Your friend breaks a leg. He is ok, but unable to move far and in need of medical attention. You need to get help. Does the fact that every step you take is bound up in your dear friend’s very survival help at all? Or is the brain like “No! Heroic symbolic connection sucks. Gimme talking or physical intimacy now. 5 hours I say!”? (No offence meant by mentioning a quirk of your personality as a matter of speculative curiosity. I just know the context and nature of isolation does make a difference to me, even though it takes around 5 weeks for such isolation to cause noticeable degradation of my sanity.)
If it was my handicap I would be perfectly fine with an FAI capping any distress at, say, the level you have after 3 hours. Similarly, if I was someone who was unable to endure 5 consecutive hours of high stimulus social exposure without discombobulating I would want to have that weakness removed. But many people object to being told that their natural state is unhealthy or otherwise defective and in need of repair and I consider that objection a valid one.
I would certainly endure the discomfort involved in saving my friend in the scenario you describe. I’d do the same thing if saving my friend involved an uncomfortable but non-fatal period of time without, say, water, food, or sleep. That doesn’t mean my brain wouldn’t report on its displeasure with the deprivation while I did so.
water ~ few days food ~ a few weeks sleep ~ a few days social contact ~ a handful of hours
Water depends on temperature, food on exertion both mental and physical. I speculate if the context influenced the rate of depletion in similar manner.
Well, in fairness, my particular brand of extroversion really is more like a handicap than a skill. The fact that I need contact has made me, through sheer desperation and resulting time devoted to practice, okay at getting contact; but that’s something that was forced, not enabled, by my being an extrovert.
Definitely. It could get you killed. It had me wondering, for example, if the ~5 hours figure is highly context dependent: You are on a hike with a friend and 12 hours from civilisation. Your friend breaks a leg. He is ok, but unable to move far and in need of medical attention. You need to get help. Does the fact that every step you take is bound up in your dear friend’s very survival help at all? Or is the brain like “No! Heroic symbolic connection sucks. Gimme talking or physical intimacy now. 5 hours I say!”? (No offence meant by mentioning a quirk of your personality as a matter of speculative curiosity. I just know the context and nature of isolation does make a difference to me, even though it takes around 5 weeks for such isolation to cause noticeable degradation of my sanity.)
If it was my handicap I would be perfectly fine with an FAI capping any distress at, say, the level you have after 3 hours. Similarly, if I was someone who was unable to endure 5 consecutive hours of high stimulus social exposure without discombobulating I would want to have that weakness removed. But many people object to being told that their natural state is unhealthy or otherwise defective and in need of repair and I consider that objection a valid one.
I would certainly endure the discomfort involved in saving my friend in the scenario you describe. I’d do the same thing if saving my friend involved an uncomfortable but non-fatal period of time without, say, water, food, or sleep. That doesn’t mean my brain wouldn’t report on its displeasure with the deprivation while I did so.
water ~ few days
food ~ a few weeks
sleep ~ a few days
social contact ~ a handful of hours
Water depends on temperature, food on exertion both mental and physical. I speculate if the context influenced the rate of depletion in similar manner.