I’ve noticed that I’m like this in some situations but not others. Specifically, I feel like I have plenty of time in social situations to work through potential word choices and optimize for my specific listener, but trying to think of arguments in a debate feels like walking through molasses.
That’s a good point. By contrast arguments (or at least rational reasoning—rhetoric fits a different category) come seemingly pre-formed from my intuition for free. Social political reasoning takes actual effort. That isn’t to say I can’t do it in real time, just that I like to make sure ahead of time that I am in a good state for socialising in order to get the most from it. In the ideal case that means I have spent an hour in the gym earlier in the day, are reasonably well rested and possibly consumed some aniracetam, modafinil or at least caffeine. I find those all raise the level of social ability that comes free from my intuition without (potentially time-delaying) effort.
One way I like to look at differences in abilities in general is not so much the absolute level of competencies but in which order they decay under negative influence such as sleep deprivation, stress or chemical interference. In my case it seems to be:
“Everything else” → consciousness → rational argument → life itself.
Although I haven’t tested the last one. I apologize ahead of time if after I die zombie-wedrifid reanimates and starts explaining why it is rational to “let him eat your brains”.
That’s a good point. By contrast arguments (or at least rational reasoning—rhetoric fits a different category) come seemingly pre-formed from my intuition for free. Social political reasoning takes actual effort. That isn’t to say I can’t do it in real time, just that I like to make sure ahead of time that I am in a good state for socialising in order to get the most from it. In the ideal case that means I have spent an hour in the gym earlier in the day, are reasonably well rested and possibly consumed some aniracetam, modafinil or at least caffeine. I find those all raise the level of social ability that comes free from my intuition without (potentially time-delaying) effort.
One way I like to look at differences in abilities in general is not so much the absolute level of competencies but in which order they decay under negative influence such as sleep deprivation, stress or chemical interference. In my case it seems to be:
“Everything else” → consciousness → rational argument → life itself.
Although I haven’t tested the last one. I apologize ahead of time if after I die zombie-wedrifid reanimates and starts explaining why it is rational to “let him eat your brains”.
Voted up because degradation under adverse circumstances is an important concept.