RE: Intriguing Blog Title Overhyping Somewhat Disappointing Content
Greetings, @d-pend. What can I say? If you ask the average lit class student they'll tell you literature (of any kind) is boring and they'll most likely attribute that to the teacher's inability or unwillingness to make better picks for their assigned readings.
Bottom line: thinking hurts; it takes time and energy and sometimes emotional involvement.
In an era of immediacy and instant gratification making people do any kind of intellectual effort may be very well punishable with death.
I have not missed you, though. I needed that break :)
I have been overwhelmed with some issues and find it very difficult to concentrate on anything.
So, I celebrate this post; the rambling and inarticulateness, the informality, the more parochial take. I have your two last poems pending for comments and @quillfire had the brilliant idea of writing a brilliant end to a series of stories and now I have to read them all (can't help it) and comment on his (he got me hooked with his outrageousness).
So, keep it cool; ride your wave. Hope your father gets better soon; wish you the best in your far east adventure. Keep counting your blessings.
@hlezama,
H, you're more right than you know.
A simple math equation is as traumatic on the human brain as plunging your arm into a bucket of ice water. Hence, most people avoid "effortful thinking" to the greatest extent possible.
"Thinkers" are no different in this respect ... but ... some people "get off" on "solving problems" and "understanding things." When they do, they experience a sense of completion (dopamine ... "wanting" & "reward") and an exaggerated secretion of opioids (morphine) and endocannibinoids (marijuana) in their brains. Both cause "liking" ... and both are powerful pain killers.
Individual brains are jury-rigged towards specific kinds of brain behavior. The three of us are "thinking addicts." That's why we think so much ... we actually enjoy it. Our brains are wired in such a way that we actually get rewarded for effortful thinking ... and that feels good. Sitting around for too long and thinking about nothing is like "withdrawal." We have to think about SOMETHING.
As addictions go, this is probably one of the better ones to have.
Quill
Hahaha. It makes perfect sense to me.
Where did you get all that scientific stuff? It sounds great! :)
When I work hard on difficult tasks there is a moment amid the mental exhaustion when I can sense that the idea starts taking shape; once I grab that thread, I can't let go and, as if boosted by some drug, I start feeling hyper, tireness is gone, substituted by this sort of envigorating energy that demands quick writing before the ideas evaporate. And when i am done, the sense of achievement, of satisfaction, is absolutely orgasmic.
This is, sadly, an addiction that most people do not understand or value, including family. Sometimes I think they'd rather see us drinking or smoking, or both (I guess that's more fun). I'd be more than happy to combine the three (although I never got the whole smoking thing)
Unfortunately for us here, we can't afford either.
@hlezama,
I've been studying the brain for almost 20 years.
Eight years ago, my Mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. My daughter and I turned our Dining Room into a biological laboratory. She's won more Science Fair Competitions than I can count and, even back in Middle School, she started receiving invitations to present her findings at universities (which she did). She's currently in Grade 12 and her university applications will start going out in a week.
The brain is a common subject of conversation in our household.
Quill
Kudos to your daughter. That sounds like she's a prodigy. How did your mother's disease evolve? Is there effective treatment over there?
@hlezama,
She's in the late stages. It's bad. And treatment, nothing? The medical research community has been barking up the wrong tree for thirty years, having utterly wasted untold billions of dollars.
It's finally starting to change ... but to redirect "the consensus" is astonishingly difficult.
Interesting tidbit: The lowest (almost non-existent) levels of Alzheimer's in the world is around Lake Maracaibo ... the rest of Venezuela is the same as other places ... it's just that one locale.
I have a theory as to why but it would take a number of posts to explain. Someday.
Quill
Wow. That's sad.
We have a lot of people in our family fading into oblivion.
It is amazing how the scientific community can be as lost as politicians when it comes to doing the right thing. I wonder if it has to do with politics or interested parties influencing their decisions.
I hope one day you can write about your Maracaibo theory. I wonder if it has to do with the Catatumbo.
Catatumbo generates gargantuan amounts of ozone. The lake is surrounded by a "wall of mountains." The people who live on the shores of Lake Maracaibo live inside a giant ozonator.
Ozone is an extremely potent anti-microbial agent. The evidence of Alzheimer's Disease being caused by microbes is enormous. And, Alzheimer's always originates in the Olfactory Bulb ... which, incidentally, is located right next to the Hippocampus: Ground Zero for Alzheimer's.
Quill