Many (most?) of the human biases that we can correct for through rigorous training in an attempt to increase ‘sanity’ are the result of the brain acting just how it is intended. Those who become significantly more sane end up with brains that have been stretched well out of what is natural for the brains of the homo sapiens sapiens animal. See also things like ‘environment of evolutionary adaption’ and related considerations.
Yeah, it’s just that (whereas the distinction between hardware and software is not as clear-cut for a human brain as for a computer—neuroplasticity and all that) the phrase “corrupting that hardware” sounds more like “lobotomies, drugs etc.” than “learning and practising stuff” to me.
I am coming from a background where I am used to looking at ECGs and investigation into the rather drastic changes in volume and activation patterns in the brain when humans are pushed to extreme levels by training. I’m also coming from a perspective where I would claim that the most ‘sanity’ you will get out of a brain will involve the careful use of ‘drugs’.
Could you elaborate on that? Are there any useful drugs that are not included in Gwern’s Nootropics Guide ?
Those are the most obvious examples. There are also other drugs that improve sanity that are either/or more focused on improving the sanity of individuals with specific traits or are more drastic in nature.
More drastic example: I’ve found injecting myself with cerebrolysin to give significant benefits to sanity and that is a substance that would give improvements to most people.
An example that is both drastic and dependent on the individual: There is a counterfactual wedrifid* that attests that the drug that has given the most powerful improvement is testosterone cypionate. While the primary effect of the drug is massive muscle growth the psychological side effects actually improved his sanity by an absurd degree. He went from barely functional to highly productive. When one observes that the decision to not attempt to fulfill one’s CEV at a given moment is a bad decision it follows that all else being equal improved motivation is improved sanity.
Elaborating on why the psychological side effects of testosterone injection are individual dependent: Not everyone get the same amount of motivation and increased goal seeking from the steroid and most people do not experience periods of chronic avolition. Another psychological effect is a potentially drastic increase in aggression which in turn can have negative social consequences. In the case of counterfactual wedrifid he gets a net improvement in social consequences. He has observed that aggression and anger are a prompt for increased ruthless self-interested goal seeking. Ruthless self-interested goal seeking involves actually bothering to pay attention to social politics. People like people who do social politics well. Most particularly it prevents acting on contempt which is what wedrifid finds prompts the most hostility and resentment in others. Point is, what is a sanity promoting change in one person may not be in another.
Footnote:
Possessing unprescribed anabolic steroids is illegal where wedrifid lives.
Therefore, it is logically impossible for wedrifid to possess or use testosterone cypionate.
Therefore, if any wedrifid is someone who uses steroids that wedrifid must be counterfactual.
Therefore, counterfactual wedrifid is the person who attests to the psychological benefits he gains from testosterone cypionate.
Since I wrote it a total of 7 links have been made to the parent, as attempts to do status damage either out of general hostility or opposition in a specific context. In each of those 7 cases wedrifid was, in fact, off cycle. That is, he was not benefiting from any injectable performance enhancers in any sense real or counterfactual. (Moderation is healthy!)
While I reflectively endorse my contributions in those contexts it does seems potentially significant that all such attacks occurred when the proposed influence was absent. Pure coincidence isn’t out of the question. That and when I am busy being productive I don’t waste nearly as much time on lesswrong so I’m less likely to provoke replies—obnoxious or otherwise.
Wait… What?
Many (most?) of the human biases that we can correct for through rigorous training in an attempt to increase ‘sanity’ are the result of the brain acting just how it is intended. Those who become significantly more sane end up with brains that have been stretched well out of what is natural for the brains of the homo sapiens sapiens animal. See also things like ‘environment of evolutionary adaption’ and related considerations.
Yeah, it’s just that (whereas the distinction between hardware and software is not as clear-cut for a human brain as for a computer—neuroplasticity and all that) the phrase “corrupting that hardware” sounds more like “lobotomies, drugs etc.” than “learning and practising stuff” to me.
I am coming from a background where I am used to looking at ECGs and investigation into the rather drastic changes in volume and activation patterns in the brain when humans are pushed to extreme levels by training. I’m also coming from a perspective where I would claim that the most ‘sanity’ you will get out of a brain will involve the careful use of ‘drugs’.
Could you elaborate on that? Are there any useful drugs that are not included in Gwern’s Nootropics Guide ?
Those are the most obvious examples. There are also other drugs that improve sanity that are either/or more focused on improving the sanity of individuals with specific traits or are more drastic in nature.
More drastic example: I’ve found injecting myself with cerebrolysin to give significant benefits to sanity and that is a substance that would give improvements to most people.
An example that is both drastic and dependent on the individual: There is a counterfactual wedrifid* that attests that the drug that has given the most powerful improvement is testosterone cypionate. While the primary effect of the drug is massive muscle growth the psychological side effects actually improved his sanity by an absurd degree. He went from barely functional to highly productive. When one observes that the decision to not attempt to fulfill one’s CEV at a given moment is a bad decision it follows that all else being equal improved motivation is improved sanity.
Elaborating on why the psychological side effects of testosterone injection are individual dependent: Not everyone get the same amount of motivation and increased goal seeking from the steroid and most people do not experience periods of chronic avolition. Another psychological effect is a potentially drastic increase in aggression which in turn can have negative social consequences. In the case of counterfactual wedrifid he gets a net improvement in social consequences. He has observed that aggression and anger are a prompt for increased ruthless self-interested goal seeking. Ruthless self-interested goal seeking involves actually bothering to pay attention to social politics. People like people who do social politics well. Most particularly it prevents acting on contempt which is what wedrifid finds prompts the most hostility and resentment in others. Point is, what is a sanity promoting change in one person may not be in another.
Footnote:
Possessing unprescribed anabolic steroids is illegal where wedrifid lives.
Therefore, it is logically impossible for wedrifid to possess or use testosterone cypionate.
Therefore, if any wedrifid is someone who uses steroids that wedrifid must be counterfactual.
Therefore, counterfactual wedrifid is the person who attests to the psychological benefits he gains from testosterone cypionate.
Since I wrote it a total of 7 links have been made to the parent, as attempts to do status damage either out of general hostility or opposition in a specific context. In each of those 7 cases wedrifid was, in fact, off cycle. That is, he was not benefiting from any injectable performance enhancers in any sense real or counterfactual. (Moderation is healthy!)
While I reflectively endorse my contributions in those contexts it does seems potentially significant that all such attacks occurred when the proposed influence was absent. Pure coincidence isn’t out of the question. That and when I am busy being productive I don’t waste nearly as much time on lesswrong so I’m less likely to provoke replies—obnoxious or otherwise.
The footnote reminds me of my nuclear physics textbook’s description of how nukes ‘might’ ‘possibly’ ‘perhaps’ (wink-wink, nudge-nudge) be made.