Lians

The Black Circle is a 1915 painting by Kazimir Malevich. If you look carefully, it's depicting a black hole. Schwarzschild defined black hole in 1916, so I guess he stole the idea from Malevich.

Sounds like you're there intellectually but lack the emotional closure. Have a look at Stef's Real-Time Relationships if you haven't read it already. It will help you with the emotional side of the issue.

What a story! I could feel your pain seeping through the lines and I'm sorry you had to go through all this. I don't think there's anything immoral about taking your grandfather's inheritance and leaving. Consider it a tiny form of restitution for what you have gone through. It was wise of you to avoid relationships. You had a terrible template for that. It's probably a good idea to dig into Stef's content on self-knowledge/psychology before you set out to find a good therapist. Oh, and one last thing... Welcome to the board!

Here's another statistic that might improve the taste in your mouth: The number of subscribers to the FDR YouTube channel grew from 100,000 in October to 125,000 now. 25k in just three months! Holy moly!

For those who are interested in a short syllogistic argument: Preferences are derived from sensual experiences. The parent's preferences have a higher value compared to the child's preferences. Therefore the validity of the parent's preferences trumps the child's sensual experiences. The second premise is foundational to authoritarian parenting and the conclusion gives birth to the seed of doubt in the senses for the child. In the absence of authoritarian arbitration of preferences, the parents have to negotiate. I suspect the logic behind this syllogism has a lot to do with the infant's need for mirroring. He needs to confirm that the parents can accurately perceive and act on his preferences. When the parents don't meet this need for mirroring, they sow the seed of doubt.

Thanks for all the information! Are any of you two able to replicate this process on your own? Learning how to dive into your own mind can be quite a challenge. You can maximize the efficiency of your approach by using a cross-cultural reference point for questioning - philosophy. Since I can reference objective standards in my conversations with the mecosystem, I don't need an external arbiter to help me figure something out.

Ditto. To me, the value of this inverse approach is that you can apply it more easily in the examination of yourself and others. For example, if I notice myself slipping into the realm of perfect knowledge, I can immediately identify the roots of this dynamic without fumbling around so much. If I'm talking to someone who can't easily let go of fringe cases or lifeboat scenarios, I can adjust my approach accordingly. By questioning the premise of perfect knowledge I can save myself the time and frustration of dealing with something like the dreaded roads. I'm working with the Bomb in the Brain premise - for traumatized people, conscious thought is an ex post facto justification for unconscious drives. I'm not ignoring choice here since many of us made different choices when faced with the truth, but I'm more interested in early childhood prevention; how this splitting comes about. I remember Stef talking about the mechanics of the splitting here: FDR 70 - How to control a human soul http://cdn.media.freedomainradio.com/feed/how_to_control_a_human_soul.mp3 I'll have to refresh my memories by re-listening though.

No, it doesn't sound like BS at all. In this community, we call this a mecosystem, which is an idea that Stef developed while researching the science behind the unconscious and applying philosophy to what he found out. There's a therapeutic model based on a similar idea that you may want to check out: Internal Family Systems (IFS). The mecosystem approach to the unconscious identifies our inner world as an ecosystem of competing ideas and personalities that we internalize through exposure. To a large extent, it's based on the science behind mirror neurons. For example, let's say I have an inner mum whose personality I've internalized as a kid. If my mother criticized me as a kid, my inner mum part will criticize me as an adult. In a sense, my mother's values and ideas are now competing against all my other parts and will influence my unconscious behaviour whenever the mum part prevails. I won't go into all the details here, but you can look at the IFS approach for additional information. Personally, examining my mecosystem is a core part of my work on self-knowledge. I often engage my internal parts in a conversation, which helps me learn more about myself and my unconscious drives. In these conversations, apart from listening and being curious, I try to negotiate a mutually beneficial agreement wherein a part may agree to stop acting in a certain way in exchange for something else (a new role, more attention from me and so forth). I come from a pretty traumatic childhood and I found this approach to be really effective. Can you tell me a little more about your particular approach? How do you bring out the SR in this person? What's your strategy for dealing with the SR when it comes out? Any information on the specifics will be much appreciated.

Fascinating! I just finished reading Stef's masters thesis and it turns out that I was reversing his argument. If you equate perfect knowledge with Plato's theory of forms - a conceptual archetype - the idea boils down to: Stef: A rejection of the validity of the senses results in theories that are predicated on perfect knowledge. Me: Theories that are predicated on perfect knowledge are a result of a rejection of the validity of the senses. With this established, I can go back to FDR 70 and the invisible apple for a more rigorous examination of how the validity of the senses is put into question. It's quite interesting to think of ideas like utilitarianism and lifeboat ethics as something that results from an unconscious doubt in the senses. I might also have to refresh myself on the content of the invisible apple podcast to see if negotiation was covered in it. My curiosity is now satisfied and I didn't even have to work out the argument on my own!

Reality is that which exists independent of your consciousness. You can read Stef's master thesis for a more rigorous treatment. You should have access to it in the bronze content section of the board. EDIT: Dang, cynicist beat me to it!

I fully agree with Stef's theory, but it still doesn't explain why people selectively submit to reason. Think of how many people accept the scientific method but ignore its implications for, say, religion. Sure, seeing religion for what it is will expose their slavery, but a lot of people openly praise the farm when they see it: "My parents beat me because I was bad. We need the government to reign in the beastly nature of humans." I guess I'm trying to nail the cause down to something more concrete since avoiding the knowledge of subjugation is far too broad an idea when you want to explain the desire for perfect knowledge. What would you say to people if you wanted them to raise more rational children? "Don't raise your children as slaves," can refer to a myriad of things. "Negotiate with your children," is a more concrete and actionable advice. Moreover, mapping the cause and effect will further support the effectiveness of negotiation. I've known that what my parents did to me was wrong for years, yet I still felt eerily drawn to perfect knowledge. For example, I consciously rejected utilitarianism, but I nonetheless found myself interested in utilitarian arguments (when I couldn't immediately identify the utilitarian premise). It was only after I emotionally processed how my preferences were ignored that I started to let go of this desire. This entire idea came to me while I was reading a book on negotiation, so I decided to investigate the possibility of a connection. Imagine stating the following to a libertarian couple: "Your children are more likely to become communists if you don't negotiate with them." If we can make this argument, it can be quite a powerful weapon in our arsenal. That's why I'm interested in pursuing it. Does this make any sense?

I'm glad you're interested! I took this post from my journal, so it's not particularly rigorous. It's more of an idea outline for now. I'll use anarchism as an example of what I was mulling over: Correct: There's a contradiction in the principles of anarchism, therefore the theory of anarchism is invalid. [theory] Incorrect: Anarchism cannot be applied in this situation, therefore anarchism is invalid. [application] To analogize: Correct: The axioms of this mathematical theory are inconsistent, therefore the theory is invalid. [theory] Incorrect: The mathematical theory cannot be applied to this problem, therefore the theory is invalid. [application] With some minor exceptions, no one's mad enough to claim that if you can't apply anarchism to a particular situation, it means that the theory of anarchism is invalid. After all, unless you challenge the premises or logic that underlie the theory, you can't invalidate it. The way people get around this problem is they say the following: Since anarchism, supposedly, cannot be applied to this particular fringe case, anarchism is impractical in all cases. In effect, they substitute impractical for invalid to argue against the theory. This irrational extrapolation implies a flawed standard of practicality (and implied validity): For anarchism to be practical, it should be applicable to any and all cases. However, application is predicated on knowledge; you need to understand mathematics in order to apply mathematics. Therefore, the sceptics require perfect knowledge of how anarchism can be applied in any and all cases. Why would people require the impossible standard of perfect knowledge? Why is the general public so drawn to theories that are predicated on perfect knowledge (religion, communism etc.)? This, to me, is quite fascinating. It would be circular to assume that people dismiss anarchism simply because they want to dismiss anarchism, so I looked for a possible explanation rooted in people's childhoods. The metaphor in the final paragraph of my previous post is what prompted me to put forward the conjecture that people require perfect knowledge because their parents didn't negotiate with them. I wanted to pick people's brains before setting out to develop a more rigorous argument.

You just described what the An-Cap Reddit used to be like (probably still is actually) with one sentence. People, including myself, would get incredibly anxious whenever someone voiced an objection we hadn't dealt with in the past. Quick! Come up with counter-arguments or we're all doomed to statism! Holding onto the conclusions instead of the methodology can be quite stressful.

I was recently reminded of my early debates on anarchism and atheism. With the benefit of hindsight, I was able to formulate some hopefully useful thoughts that I wanted to share with you. From the all-knowing God to the Marxist state and its ability to calculate objective value, perfect knowledge predicates and permeates nearly all irrational ideologies. Politicians and priests, with their god-like knowledge, can tell millions of people how they should live their lives. Sadly, the desire for perfect knowledge doesn't end with governments and religions. Before I got into self-knowledge, I used to discuss and debate economics and anarchism on Reddit and a variety of other websites. Upon reflection, I was able to notice a pattern. The topics that resulted in a lot of tension were almost always related to either utilitarian arguments, fringe cases of libertarian theory or lifeboat ethics. What is utilitarianism but the assumption that you know what's best for everyone? Lifeboat scenarios and fringe cases are a little trickier to dissect. Here's what would usually happen. Someone would bring up the all-too-familiar template question: "In a stateless society, how are you going to do X?" Anarchists and other subject-matter experts would then storm in with their well-researched arguments, and the person who started the thread would proceed to incrementally add complexity to the original question. After a while, everyone would be exhausted, frustrated and angry. I kid you not, I once saw people argue themselves into a frenzy over whether casting a shadow on someone's property should be considered a violation of the NAP. Even if they could convince a doubter that the presented case can be dealt with non-violently, the same person would later show up with yet another question. The same pattern could be observed with lifeboat ethics. "If I can't figure out how an-cap theory applies to all possible scenarios, no matter how ridiculously improbable, an-cap theory is invalid," was the premise in these threads. That's like saying the following: "If I can't figure out how to solve a problem using mathematics, all of mathematics is invalid." Madness! The desire for perfect knowledge once again rears its ugly head. So, what's the source of this problem? I think the answer's rooted in how parents react to the preferences of their children. How many parents impose their preferences on their children through threats of aggression and manipulation? What does this teach the child? "Mummy and daddy know what's best for you, and your perception of yourself and the world around you is flawed." What are these children to do when they grow up? How are they to trust their abilities and judgements? To use a metaphor, if you couldn't trust your senses to accurately perceive your immediate environment, you'd need perfect knowledge in the form of a mental image to navigate the world around you. What a terrible curse to put on a young mind...

Applying philosophy to your relationships. Read Real-Time Relationships on that. You got to anti-philosophical places on the internet to discuss the philosophy that we talk about here? Places where people verbally abuse you?

It's interesting how the conversation has shifted from the original topic. If you lived alone on a desert island, would it be just as hard to accept the same truths? I have another question. If you had to estimate, to what percentage are you applying the philosophy you learn here to your own life? Living it, not talking about it. After all, knowing how a car is built and how it works doesn't make you a good driver. I'll give you another metaphor. You don't want to be the guy that only watches sports on TV and never gets off the couch. His addiction to watching sports prevents him from actually doing something about his health. It's toxic. From what you've posted, it appears to me that you're abusing yourself with truth. As cynicist noted, you already know how people are going to react. Why do you keep engaging them? Even if you get as good as Stef, you'll still face the same reactions. You know this as well. Let's say you miraculously manage to turn all the people in your life to reason. The implications here are quite clear. You won't have to struggle to live your values because those values are already widely accepted. To put this in perspective, none of us have to struggle to live our anti-slavery values because slavery is widely condemned. In my opinion, expecting people to change before you change yourself reveals a lot of uncertainty about your own commitment. Aren't you projecting this kind of uncertainty on board members who aren't certain about participating in the conversation? I can really sympathise with the difficulty of living philosophy, but continuing to learn philosophy without applying it will make you even more unhappy. Right now, philosophy is a club that other people use to harm you. Don't let them do that. Try to figure out why you feel drawn to getting pummelled by those who are beyond saving.

Cheapest way would be to write your own software, but that comes with the cost of time, skills and server hosting fees. You can use your computer/s for hosting and rely on either pseudo-random number generation or random.org's web API. Later, you can always scale up from there by moving the service to a dedicated host and buying a hardware random number generator. This is as cheap as it gets in terms of money but it's not as trivial as having an online drawing service. I reckon paying for random.org's service initially to gauge people's level of interest and making the cost-benefit from there on is a good way to start. You certainly won't have to commit many hours just to get your idea up and running. Alternatively, if you've got a skilled web-developer friend, s/he can probably set up the service in a day or so, but you won't have as much credibility. I'm not aware of any alternatives to the drawing service random.org offers, so I'll defer this part to others.

That will be very difficult in the current political climate. Even if you could verify all your software and hardware, people can still have doubts. Your system can be breached or your hardware compromised. Promising verifiability will put people on edge and if you're targeting a crypto crowd, they're well aware of the dangers. Other than relying on reputation, I don't think there's much to do about distrust and accusations of number fiddling.

I've never made a New Year's resolution, but in the spirit of trying out new things, I'll write down my biggest goals for the upcoming year and see how close I'll get to them. I won't bully myself into achieving them, but it's important to know how closely my conscious goals (what I think I should do) align with the unconscious ones (what I actually do). If there's a mismatch, I'll need to re-evaluate myself. There's definitely some self-knowledge to be gained here. Besides, my attention bounces around to so many things that it's easy to lose track of the big picture. Guess I'll see if a "resolution" can be a good anchor. Promises I've made to my mecosystem are promises I intend to keep though. They'll be the first on the list.

What prompted the writing of this post was a chat I had with a recent caller into the show who didn't know what to do about the physiological effects of his PTSD. I, myself, had undiagnosed PTSD as a toddler (bedwetting, frequent nightmares, irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety, insomnia, excessive sweating etc.) which I recently confirmed through an examination of my medical history. What amazed me is that I didn't suffer from any of the severe health issues that PTSD brings with it. Insomnia and IBS flare up during periods of physical inactivity (poor diet is also a factor) and I still sweat quite a bit, but that's about it. Matter of fact, I was often praised for my health during blood tests and medical check-ups that I had to undergo as part of my training. I didn't have any concentration issues either. I'm not ignorant of statistics and I've seen the ACE studies, so I decided to investigate a little further. It turns out that my parents signed me up for training because I was a very sickly child. They didn't know what to do, so they figured exercising should help. My diet was very poor (lots of soda and chocolate bars) and judging from the health issues in my family, I don't have "good genes" either. The only thing that kept me from breaking down was exercising. I figured others might benefit from this information.

Physical Exercise and Its Benefits 1. Introduction I know you've all heard this before: "Exercise is good for you!" How many of you know exactly why that is? For people who don't exercise, this article is intended to be a brief introduction to exercising and why it matters. Those who already exercise may know a lot of the information I'm about to present, but having a general overview often gives birth to new insight. I've also tried to bring as much scientific research to this topic as I could. The amateur guy on the internet disclaimer still applies to what you're about read. One of the goals of irrational and violent hierarchies like religion is to disconnect you from your body. You aren't allowed to trust your body if faith in imaginary entities is to be sustained. I'm sure this isn't the first time you've heard about this idea since Stef often brings it up in his podcasts. What better way to alleviate this particular side-effect of irrational upbringing than to start moving. Physical exercise can be the perfect complement to philosophy and self-knowledge, and I hope I can convince you of that. 2. Brief History Until two hundred years ago, most people had to exercise through everyday work. Washing your clothes by hand, without detergent, can be a workout in itself. You couldn't afford to lead a sedentary lifestyle unless you were a part of the ruling class. The Ancient Greeks were probably the first to put physical fitness on a pedestal with their principle of a healthy mind in a healthy body. This principle is attributed to Thales, the philosopher who's also credited for the know thyself maxim. The Greeks considered gymnastics, alongside music, to be vital in the development of every human being. "Exercise for the body and music for the soul," was a popular saying back in those days. The median lifespan of your average Greek was around 70 (if he wasn't killed in war), and exercise was one of the most popular prescriptions for health and wellbeing. The Greek ideal of physical fitness inspired the ancient world to exercise, and the idea was later rekindled during the Renaissance in Europe. A lot of the famous Greek thinkers were athletes in their youth. Correlation is certainly not causation but a disproportionately large number of the great thinkers of antiquity came from Ancient Greece. I wouldn't dismiss the Greek love of physical fitness as a contributing factor. References and Further Reading: http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/history.html http://johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/life_history/age-specific-mortality-lifespan-bad-science-2009.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mens_sana_in_corpore_sano 3. Muscle Physiology I'll start with a very short overview of how muscles work. First, you need to know a little bit about the human nervous system. It's comprised of two major parts: the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS). The CNS consists of the brain and spinal cord, and the PNS is divided into the autonomic (involuntary) nervous system (ANS) and the somatic (voluntary) nervous system. For the purposes of this topic, I'll focus only on the ANS. In the spirit of subdivision, the ANS is further divided into the sympathetic (SNS; fight or flight), parasympathetic (PSNS; rest or digest) and enteric nervous systems. Physical movement is facilitated by the SNS. From an evolutionary standpoint, not dying took precedence over everything else, so the SNS is wired to override the other two systems when the brain deems it necessary. There's no time for rest when a predator wants to snack on you. The muscles that are involved in movement are attached to our skeleton with tendons and are called, not surprisingly, skeletal muscles. The human musculoskeletal system is mechanically supported by large interweaving networks of fibrous collagen tissue called fascia. Muscles are comprised of muscle fibres. These fibres are often classified as Type I (slow twitch), Type IIa (fast twitch), Type IIx (super fast twitch) and hybrid. The nervous system is connected to the muscular system through neuromuscular junctions, where motor neurons control the contraction of muscle fibres. Multiple motor neurons often work together to contract a single muscle. The primary source of energy for physical activity comes from the oxidation of fats and carbohydrates, so proper diet and breathing are very important for optimal physical activity. When your brain wants to activate a muscle, it sends an electrochemical signal down the spinal cord and through the sympathetic nervous system. This signal eventually reaches a motor neuron, which in turn contracts the muscle fibres that are connected to it. Since the amplitude of these signals (action potentials) is constant, the contractile force of a muscle fibre is proportional to the signal's frequency (it's frequency-modulated). Overall, muscle strength and size increases depend on hypertrophy (you exercise the muscle) and neuromuscular adaptations (your CMS becomes better at handling the stress generated by your movement). The nervous system adapts to a particular type of motion through repetitive training, and different types of athletes have different nervous system behaviour based on their genetic make-up and exercise routine. For example, long distance runners can activate motor neurons connected to well developed slow-twitch muscles for energy efficient movement, while sprinters rely on their powerful fast-twitch muscles for speed. In general, muscle training is a matter of finding the right balance between endurance (small force output over a long period of time), strength (maximum force output over a short period of time) and speed (moderate force output over a very short period of time). The number and location of activated motor neurons is also very important for optimal performance. References and Further Reading: http://neuroscience.uth.tmc.edu/s2/chapter01.html http://www.runnersworld.com/injury-treatment/understanding-your-fascia http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/bodywork/fitness-coach/Is-It-Possible-to-Change-My-Muscle-Type.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_contraction http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_potential http://www.livestrong.com/article/415559-neuromuscular-adaptations-due-to-strength-training/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_hypertrophy 4. Stress Stress, the physiological reaction to a fight-flight-freeze (FFF) SNS response, stimulates the production of adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol hormones, which prepare the body for action. Stress is generally divided into two categories: eustress (good) and distress (bad). The difference between these categories lies in the type of stress response (fight, flight or freeze) and the way the released hormones are appropriated. Here's a brief overview of the function of these stress hormones. Adrenaline and noradrenaline bind to receptors on the heart and heart vessels, increasing heart rate, muscle contraction and respiration. Your body's now primed for action, but it still requires energy. Cortisol provides this energy by binding to receptors on the fat cells, liver and pancreas. It inhibits unnecessary (according to the brain) functions like digestion, immune response and reproduction, while pumping out glucose to power the muscular system. Eustress is associated with a fight-or-flight response and has numerous health benefits. Physical exercise is a good example of eustress. All the generated energy is put into action and hormone production normalizes when the stimuli are no longer present. I'll go into a more detailed overview of all the positive effects of this state a bit later. Distress is the bad guy in this story. It's triggered when your amygdala enters a prolonged freeze feedback loop. Something is causing you anxiety, but you don't know what that is or you can't act on it. You have to remain vigilant. Tests with animals have shown that random stimuli, unlike consistently good or bad stimuli, cause long-term health damage. The animal's freeze state is constantly on because it has no idea what dangers lie out there. It can't fight or run away from the unknown and it's severely distressed. Physiologically, stress hormones keep building up in your system, generating muscle tension and energy that aren't put to use. Since there's no physical release of the FFF state, cortisol levels continue building up in your bloodstream and wreak havoc on your mind and body. Due to our rapid technological and social development, the more primitive fear and pain centres in our brain haven't had the time to catch up through evolution. Even an offensive comment from a colleague can trigger an FFF response, which our rational faculties will try to inhibit. We perceive that we're in danger, but we can't act on it. If you've watched the Bomb in the Brain series, you already know that a traumatic childhood further contributes to this unhealthy dynamic, setting you up for a lifetime of health issues. Physical exercise will not resolve the underlying causes of distress, but it will alleviate the associated negative side-effects by burning through the excess of stress hormones in your body. This factor alone is enough to consider incorporating regular exercise into your daily or weekly regimen. Finding the motivation to exercise in a distressed condition, while difficult, is a matter of practice. The more you do it, the better you get at it. Avoid distractions like music so you can concentrate on the problem that's stressing you out. In my experience, thinking proactively about the problem (focusing on what you can control in the situation) while exercising provides the best of both worlds - you can better concentrate on finding a solution and you stay healthy in the process. Work on self-knowledge can be incredibly taxing on the body in terms of distress. It's also very difficult to apply your knowledge of philosophy when your body is in an FFF state. Don't try to suppress the stress response with exercise. Manage it! While I prefer the dual benefit of the health and stress relief that physical exercise provides, it's just one of many available approaches (massage, aromatherapy and so forth). Choose whatever works for you! References and Further Reading: http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/pub-res/pdf/childhood_stress.pdf http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201301/cortisol-why-the-stress-hormone-is-public-enemy-no-1 http://www.livestrong.com/article/207432-adrenaline-cortisol/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/19/adrenaline-cortisol-stress-hormones_n_3112800.html http://dujs.dartmouth.edu/fall-2010/the-physiology-of-stress-cortisol-and-the-hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-axis 5. Fatigue So what happens during prolonged exposure to stress? Well, there's only so much your central nervous system can handle. Sending and coordinating signals to your muscular and cardiovascular systems will eventually cause your CMS to fatigue. Even if you can handle more stress physiologically, your brain considers it dangerous to continue reacting to the FFF stimuli. Chronic distress and excessive eustress can put a lot of strain on your CMS. They may even cause it to break down. This phenomenon, when caused by excessive eustress, is known as overtraining. Chronic distress can develop into mild or even severe chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Essentially, the SNS goes rogue and overwhelms the PSNS, bringing about a constant FFF state. The PSNS is now unable to heal the body from the damage created by prolonged physical arousal. Recovery is very slow, and in the case of CFS, extremely difficult. Overtraining and CFS symptoms include fatigue, concentration issues, muscle and joint pain, constant headaches, stomach pain, irritable bowel syndrome, insomnia, depression, irritability, panic attacks and excessive sweating. PTSD and symptoms of CFS were observed in the entire population of Gulf War veterans. Needless to say, soldiers experience severe levels of distress. Here's where it gets worse. A lot of the PTSD and CFS symptoms are the same, so there might be a lot of misdiagnosed trauma. What're more, if you're suffering from a mild form of CFS as a result of child abuse, you may not be aware of the symptoms because you don't have a standard for comparison. It's how you've felt your whole life. Athletes who overtrain and soldiers with CFS are acutely aware of the symptoms because the differences in their health are very obvious. Someone who's grown up with this issue may consider it normal. Treatments for CFS include talk therapy and graded exercise therapy. Hang on, this is interesting! People exercise to cure fatigue? As it turns out, exercise reduces fatigue by strengthening and improving the efficiency of the nervous and cardiovascular systems. If you have a heightened FFF response that interferes with the healing functions of your PSNS as a result of childhood trauma, you may receive a lot of additional benefits from physical exercise. References and Further Reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_nervous_system_fatigue http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overtraining http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_fatigue_syndrome http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/157/2/141.full http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Chronic-fatigue-syndrome/Pages/Treatment.aspx 6. Health Effects You may already be familiar with the numerous health benefits of exercising, but I'll briefly cover them in case you need a refresher. The benefits of exercising on the cardiovascular system are well-known and thoroughly researched. There's no better way to prevent cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and heart failure. Exercise will also improve your blood circulation, strength and endurance. A stronger heart burns through more calories which will result in greater weight loss. Regular exercise can really beef up your brain as well. It will improve the overall efficiency of your entire nervous system. It also facilitates the production of new neurons in the hippocampal area of the brain through a process called neurogenesis. The hippocampus is our learning and memory centre, so physically active people will experience improved learning ability, concentration and an increase in short-term and long-term memory capacity and retention. Neurogenesis is particularly important for older people because the brain starts to lose nerve tissue at around the age of 30. Through regular exercise, you can work towards preventing diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Exercising can increase bone density, making your skeleton frame a lot tougher. This is important because chronic distress can result in more brittle bones and even osteoporosis. Finally, one of the more unintuitive benefits is an overall reduction in fatigue. If you're chronically tired you may want to consider a gradual increase in your physical activity to alleviate the problem. Jumping into an intense workout program will only result in additional fatigue, so make sure you pace yourself appropriately. References and Further Reading: http://healthpsychology.org/health-psychology-meets-the-central-nervous-system/ http://jp.physoc.org/content/587/23/5551.long http://www.livestrong.com/article/398179-what-happens-to-the-cardiovascular-system-during-exercise/ http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/burn-calories-heart-beats-faster-8069.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurogenesis http://www.nbcnews.com/health/your-brain-exercise-1C7262506 http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro05/web2/mmcgovern.html http://www.brainfacts.org/across-the-lifespan/diet-and-exercise/articles/2013/physical-exercise-beefs-up-the-brain http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/how-exercise-benefits-the-brain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_physical_exercise_on_memory http://nof.org/articles/238 http://psychcentral.com/news/2006/11/03/exercise-reduces-fatigue/385.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_exercise#Health_effects 7. Priming Priming seems to be a pretty controversial topic in the realms of psychology. There are indications of a dual correlation between emotions and physical movement. In other words, emotions can influence physical behaviour, and in turn, physical behaviour can influence emotions. For example, feeling happy may cause you to contract the muscles on your face in a smile, and smiling while feeling unhappy may improve your happiness. There's no conclusive evidence about the degree to which this is the case, but it's important to consider the possibility. It's a well-known fact that emotions are associated with the activation of particular muscle groups. People can often identify an emotion by its effect on their body (fear is the best example of this). Even if the reverse - emotions being influenced by movement - isn't true, physical movement may still trigger emotional memory and cause you to re-experience a particular event that is associated with the type of motion that you're performing (body memory hypothesis). Priming and body memory, while not strongly established, are worthwhile considerations for those of who work on self-knowledge. Changing the way we move may give us additional insight into our inner worlds. I've seen top athletes freeze on the dance floor. They were perfectly capable of performing the movements but were afraid of the associated feelings that often come up when we dance: "I can't relax when I dance even when I'm all by myself." References and Further Reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priming_(psychology) http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0029081 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2012/01/18/primed-by-expectations-why-a-classic-psychology-experiment-isnt-what-it-seemed/#.UsB_Y_jxBOR http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-natural-unconscious/201205/priming-effects-replicate-just-fine-thanks http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=smile-it-could-make-you-happier http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20479475 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_memory 8. Exercise Approaches This part will only consist of my personal opinions, so take it for what it's worth. To establish at least some credibility, I was a competitive athlete for many years and have been very physically active since I was around 4 years old. I've got a minimum of three years of experience with martial arts, sprinting, football, basketball,volleyball and even Latin dancing. I've played other sports for shorter periods of time. Physical exercise is no substitute for self-knowledge, but it can certainly complement it. If you're not particularly active, committing to an exercise regimen will be a long-term project as you may not see significant benefits even until the first year. There are lots of exercise programs that will offer you an instant six-pack and a permanent injury. Stay away from them because they're designed for people who want short-term value over long-term sustainability. The economics of hidden costs! You can either research exercise techniques on your own or find an experienced coach. The goal is to have a program that fits your needs. Luckily, there's lots of information on the internet. Make sure your regimen fits in with your other activities as well. This, alongside habit, is the key to long-term commitment. Ideally, with slight modifications, you want your program to continue supporting you many years into the future. Don't get discouraged if you have to stop for a while. It's perfectly normal. The idea of the Aristotelian mean applies quite well in this case. You're not aiming for a perfect (What a terrible word!) track record, so keep your mind on the long-term goal and make your effort proportional to it. If you've never exercised before, make sure you correct your posture by resolving muscle imbalances and build your core strength through bodyweight and light dumbbell training. You can do all this in the comfort of your room, so social anxiety won't be an issue. Don't forget to include lots of stretching before and after exercise! Once you have a solid foundation, you can move on to weight lifting or sports. Focus on proper form (how you move) over performance (how much force you can generate) if you want to stay healthy in the long run. Finally, there are a few things to keep in mind if you want to go for a team sport. Unless you've got control over who you play with, it's not a bad idea to avoid full-contact sports like rugby, football, basketball etc. because they attract a lot of aggressive people who want to channel their dysfunction into physical dominance. Even experienced players can get seriously injured by aggressive amateurs. Nowadays, volleyball is my sport of choice. It gives you a full-body workout while keeping you away from dangerous opponents. It's quite popular, so it's not hard to find people to play with. 9. Conclusion This was certainly a long way of saying the following: Take care of your bodies, folks! I hope I managed to convince some of you to start doing that. An exercise regimen can certainly make its way into your New Year's resolution! In case you've never exercised, use the information presented here as a starting point for your own research. I'd be happy to address any questions or criticisms. If I've made an error, please let me know!

In stories, heroes usually venture forth in the service of others. We do it for the truth. Thank you for the vulnerability, Ivan! I've got two questions. Is it the heroism or the journey that brings up stronger emotions in you? Have you read Robert Frosts' poem The Road Not Taken?

To me, Mint is the best distro for Linux beginners. It's Ubuntu/Debian based and comes pre-packaged with most of what you'll need. If you go for the XFCE desktop environment, you'll have a pretty light yet functional OS. I'll also second the SSD recommendation. It really makes a difference.

I felt it was necessary to insert it because a system, in itself, is a meaningless term. A system is an abstract term referring to a collection of things that function as a whole. A chemical system is fundamentally different from, say, a belief system. What differentiates one system from another is the methodology by which it's derived and the function that it serves. You repeatedly mention belief systems so I assumed you're talking about a system that's comprised of human cognitive elements. My debating experience doesn't involve parsing fiction, and I'll invite you to refrain from passive aggressive remarks if you want to foster a conversation. I asked for a definition of belief and I wasn't given one. Moreover, your last reply continues to build an argument on undefined terms: What does it mean for a system to die? You are advancing an argument through an obfuscation of meaning. This is textbook sophistry. Even if I'm to assume that you're talking about a belief system, you're essentially saying the following: "If people stop believing in God, they won't believe in God." The whole argument is circular. You read my last response correctly. I don't think you've got much, if any, experience in philosophy, hence why I'm not going to talk philosophy with you. No one's stopping you from addressing my posts, but since you're a new member, I'll invite you to read the board guidelines and this part in particular:

Are you trying to expose the dangers that are brought about by one's pretence of knowledge? If so, here's a neat series of presentations that goes into the science behind this phenomenon: http://fdrurl.com/bib Videos 1, 3 and particularly 4 should be the most relevant to you. My primary interests are in philosophy, so I can't speak to the clarity of exposition. Your average reader is likely to perceive things from a completely different standpoint. Still, the scientific research may help you flesh out the argument a little better. Good luck with the book!