I'm really starting to think that the physical body (which contains the animal mind) is really just an advanced self-learning AI that improves itself by pattern recognition. And of course our consciousness (the self aware part) is what can steer this AI more precisely.
It's almost like a stubborn mule (your physical avatar) and a rider (your self aware consciousness).
The mule just wants instant gratification, while the rider wants to get up the mountain. So you have to work with the mule, by providing instant gratification that gets you both up the mountain.
I'm not sure if you've read much about neural plasticity - where behaviours get programmed into the brain like a trail path. The more the trail gets walked on (repetition), the deeper and more permanent it becomes.
But I don't think the animal mind understands logic that well, so you can program it through repetition, hence making it more "real".
Sorry for my hazy morning scribbles. I meant real as in how this property often is employed to mold our reality or behavior. Indeed the information has more copies - or links (as a better analogy for brain structure). I should have made it more clear that I don't use repetition to "program myself" or change habits, but to affirm thought. I am familiar with the concept since it's actively in use everywhere from religious mantras to marketing.
Generally life can be seen as a copy mechanism for DNA. The logic of it is (drumroll) to make more copies. I'm not sure about artificiality, but mentioning that reminds me that we are already capable of simulating neural nets that very much correspond to some (simple) real organisms.
In any case, I agree that our brain is structured over time and old "animal" areas of the brain appear sometime to have a firm hold over the cortex . Deeply ingrained habits have indeed 'deep pathways', and of course they're not only localized single neurons that can be flip-flopped.
Neuroplasticity refers to the ability of the brain structurally change, or rather to correspond to thought. The software/hardware analogy is useful but I want to add thar the human brain is really not just a programmable computer, but much more.
I've been hearing a lot about this book lately. Added to my reading list.
These concepts definitely aren't new, probably as old as humans. But I wonder who in history harnessed these methods to 'maximise' themselves really, really well?
This is my first web app, using PG's advice to "Do Things That Don't Scale".
I solved a problem for my own niche group of people - copywriters and marketers.
What's the problem SwipeBox solves for these folks?
Copywriters and marketers often save pages they find with interesting copy or marketing angles. Either for inspiration or general reference.
They call these 'Swipes' or 'Swipe Files'. Hence the name, SwipeBox.
But this process is usually quite disjointed.
Some take screenshots. Some right click 'save as' (though the PDF often comes out distorted). Some bookmark the link even though it may go offline in the future.
Organising these files is another disjointed process, with everyone using different solutions...
From emailing 'Swipes' to themselves, storing them on their PC, old hard drives or whatever else). Usually these 'Swipes' go missing in all that chaos.
So I decided what if I made the process of saving live pages easy - but also allowed users to all save their 'Swipe Files' in one organised, online place?
Hence SwipeBox - 'your personal swipe/PDF library' - was born.
Any feedback is massively appreciated. And please be brutally honest!
I promise, I won't be offended. I'm here to learn and iterate SwipeBox to the best it can be.
He talks about how he changed bad habits/implemented new ones. But also on using affirmations for bigger goals. Very interesting book.