
The Whittling Part Of the Brain - hyramgraff
http://jeff-vogel.blogspot.com/2011/03/whittling-part-of-brain.html
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jonmc12
"I have found that, in general, our brains our smarter than we are. They want
what they want, and if my brain wants to spend a while in front of a computer
screen stabbing orcs, who am I to tell it it shouldn’t?"

I have several problems with this statement, starting with the fact that it
was derived from a rationalization of the author's own habits, not a
meaningful empirical observation.

Further, this is a formula for addiction. Games, porn, gambling, food cravings
and drugs are all similar in that they self-enforce a habit through perceived
short-term rewards.

Self-discipline is what allows one to accomplish goals. And, it means adapting
your brain so that it can supress these hormone driven urges and take action
that measurably moves your progress towards a rationally derived goal.

I'm all about some R&R, and fun / entertainment / addictions all have their
place. Personally, I become a gamer for about 1 month every 2 years. I even
think this author probably has more self-disciplne than he lets on judging by
his writing and the history of games he has created. However, the message this
article conveys is destructive.

Rationality and self-discipline use a different part of your brain than
cravings for short-term rewards. Before you rationalize a time wasting habit,
make sure you have adapted your mind to have the self-discipline to switch
back and forth. Some people with particularly addition-oriented genetics
really should fully abstain from mind-whittling activities if they want to
accomplish anything in their life.

My point of view also assumes you are someone who wants to accomplish some
substantial goal(s) in your lifetime. If you choose to live a lifestyle of fun
/ bliss, by all means, whittle away..

~~~
lhorie
The takeaway for me wasn't so much that he was trying to rationalize wasting
time instead of being productive, but rather that we all do waste time
sometimes one way or another and that playing games isn't a "bad" way of
wasting time.

~~~
jonmc12
I would agree with you if not for the last 2 paragraphs. Combine the quote I
referenced above with "it's good and healthy and productive for us to like to
play computer games".

Its just a reckless way to say 'we all waste time..' - not without making the
distinction of the need for self-discipline and noting that there are some
people that are very prone to addiction. I have an extended family member
who's life outside of games has been completely destroyed by a sustained
addiction to video games. He has stated repeatedly that he would rather be
dead than give up gaming.

This is a real problem for a percentage of the population, and that percentage
is increasing as video games are being engineered to be more and more
addictive.

~~~
lhorie
The whole "who am I to tell my brain otherwise" seemed to meant to be tongue-
in-cheek, and you kinda sound like you're twisting that to try to push your
agenda... (no offense intended, I do think addictions in general are bad).

FWIW, just to put things into a bit of perspective, I recall reading some
stats saying that the average american spends something like 5 hours per day
in front of a TV. (And numbers for, say, surfing the web during work hours
weren't particularly exemplary either.)

Regarding social withdrawal, and things like hikikomori
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori>), perhaps the issue isn't so much
of self-discipline, but one of social environment, e.g surely such gamers must
develop above average game playing skills, but they might not want to put
similar effort into real life challenges because of fear of the unknown, or
out of spite of parental/social pressure, etc.

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Almaviva
The argument that "the brain knows better" seems very weak. The brain also
wants people to over consume fast food, reward itself with alcohol and drugs,
and several other things which obviously aren't rewarding in the context of
modern society.

~~~
squasher
Right, I second that. Also, I used to "take breaks" by playing games or
putzing around on the internet, until I realized that it doesn't actually help
me feel relaxed and energized. But stretching, walking around, getting a cup
of tea, and most other things in meatspace get me ready to go back to work.

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Tycho
Im always puzzled by the superiority complex people harbour about their
'traditional' pasttimes, especially reading newspapers, watching the 6 o'clock
news as if it's important, watching wildlife documentaries, going for runs,
etc.

 _Anyway_ , in one of those half asleep dazes the other day, I swear I caught
my brain 'compiling' or 'defragging' or something. I could feel my eyes doing
REM, and I could see or sense a whole lot of information I'd been studying
being chunked, parsed and filed away in a more appropriate part of memory. Of
course, that itself was probably just a dream...

~~~
epochwolf
> I swear I caught my brain 'compiling' or 'defragging' or something.

That might be your brain telling you to switch to a task that doesn't involve
one of those activities for a day or two. :P

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sliverstorm
I resent the suggestion that whittling is not productive. I've made utensils
in the past while in the mountains when I forgot my fork or spoon.

~~~
jtbigwoo
In my neck of the woods, the common word for making something out of wood is
"carving." "Whittling" generally means destruction of a piece of wood with a
knife.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
The only use I've seen for it is making trinkets (paper knife anyone) out of
wood. Like carving but less refined, only using ones general duty knife not
carving tools (chisels, etc.). Like scrimshaw but using wood only and not
spending so much time and care.

------
ecuzzillo
Related: <http://www.tlb.org/busywork.html>

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jakegottlieb
Whittling sounds like an evolutionary advantage. Imagine if humans hated to
whittle; they would hate spending time collecting little things for a big
reward. This could be as simple as collecting root vegetables to feed a
stoneage family or creating a arrowhead. To me it seems whittling was an
important part of evolving to where we are today. Small progress/steps to lead
up to something great.

~~~
niels_olson
Sure, but the neurobiology of whittling is the polar opposite what we see in
gamers. I speak as a doctor, kid who bought his own nintendo (back in the
early 90s) and still proud owner of my original cub scout pocket knife.

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killerdark
I don't buy it. As far as I can tell the this thing Jeff calls Whittling is
simply energy preservation behavior. Brains take up 30% of your overall energy
consumption. Thinking has a relatively high energy cost to it and people are
hardwired to prefer limiting their energy expenditure that does not generate a
return (wage, food, etc).

~~~
Almaviva
I'm wondering if it's ever been shown that doing something mentally difficult
consumes more energy than doing something where the brain is active but that
isn't perceived as difficult?

Another explanation could be that the precursor to grinding in EQ is the urge
to do things like searching for edible plants or animal tracks, carving tools,
cleaning the home, and other things which have obvious evolutionary benefit.

~~~
goodside
The brain consumes more sugar when it's thinking harder. Before functional
MRIs were invented, brain imaging required injecting irradiated glucose and
scanning for radioactivity in the brain. Tasks requiring attention and self-
discipline deplete glucose, and people demonstrably have higher vigilance for
repetitive attention-heavy tasks when they've been injected with sugar.

This has been known to science for at least a century. The slightest glimpse
at Wikipedia would have sufficed.

~~~
Almaviva
> people demonstrably have higher vigilance for repetitive attention-heavy
> tasks when they've been injected with sugar

That's not at all the same as saying that more difficult tasks actually
consume more sugar, any more than programming must consume caffeine because
coffee makes some people more focused on it.

~~~
goodside
Meanwhile, in reality, where evidence extends further than whatever I happen
to mention, it does deplete glucose.

~~~
Almaviva
I don't know why you need to be rude and condescending. I don't know much
about these things, but cursory research shows that these are at least good
questions: <http://www.epjournal.net/filestore/ep08244259.pdf>

"It does deplete glucose" seems to be in question, doesn't it?

