I actually became much more curious about my behavior and emotions after seeing my brain as a computer. Why did I say that thing to that person? Not judging - literally why did I mechanically do it? What program was running and why didn't I expect it?
also, I've quote tweeted this about 30x more than anything else because it's core to just about everything I think about. I want to put it on a big board that I carry around with me and hold up as a prelude to make sense of whatever it is I'm about to say
also, I think the computer framing was part of what removed my ability to self-judge, which seems good. I'm not even sure what self-judgment means? You're running a program whether you like it or not, and nothing you do is random. Might as well get curious about it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
the only problem with brain-as-computer is people who realize its true often go and try to kill their emotions for some reason, which is the opposite of what makes sense. This is a brain - the pink parts deal with emotion
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I’m just so grateful that MDMA exists. It’s a dangerous and unsustainable tool, but it’s an existence proof that programmable affection is possible, just as flint was an existence proof that we could light the world
Affection is the elephant and every other part of us (feelings, memory, attention) is the rider. By taking agency over affection we will break the chains evolution has us locked in
Almost no one loves themselves, gives unconditional anonymous philanthropy, or dedicated their lives to the most important problems humanity faces. Selfishness and self-hatred aren’t laws of nature, they’re neural circuits downstream of affection and we can cure ourselves of them
biggest improvements in my ability to think: writing [4yo], typing 90wpm+ [11yo], thinking in graphs [26yo] #roamcult
(I tried to screenshot of the more interesting pages that demonstrates how I usually use it as an example, but this is just one of hundreds of pages)
it's hard to see why thinking in graphs is so powerful until you do it, just as I imagine it's hard to see why writing is useful if you don't know how to do it
Maybe a taste: when I do amphetamine neuro research (recent hobby) I see a link to self-affection. I do believe they're related, bc affection is an attention tool, but I'd never make that connection when deep in neuro papers. Imagine this but for hundreds of concepts at once
How intuitively worse to you is all of humanity dying right now than just you dying right now
Wow everyone is 1-2x or 100x so far. Interesting start!
If I could have 5 I would have put 0-1x. Maybe it’s not as scary to die if everyone else goes with you? Please DM me if you think this and I’ll add the total after the poll is done (and I wont deanon or judge you <3)
imo one massive secret is the shortest path from self-centered jerk to being effortlessly affectionate basically all the time isnt that long. I love this video, but it only show you what warm is, not how to get there yourself (so it’s effortless)
It's strange to spend your whole life with your constantly rambling inner voice as the strongest part of your awareness and then one afternoon it just goes away forever
I've so far felt months of total silence, years of a kind voice (lucked out here), and weeks of a judgmental one, and my takeaways are p unsurprising. A kind voice is fun like playing life with a friend, mean voice sucks, no voice much easier to directly appreciate awareness
automatic feelings of gratefulness for hilariously basic things like.. the sun existing, or like that I have feet... has gone up 50x, which matches the paper ava cites (just read it for the first time now)
What part of your body are you most grateful for today?
I was biking yesterday as the sun went up and only noticed a small wooden bridge was covered in ice as it threw me sideways off the bike and as I slid the wood sliced my hand open. I've been watching in fascination as it heals, each side of the wound reuniting with the other
then an hour ago I was baking a pumpkin pie and grabbed a hot dutch oven, burning my fingertips. As it's healed I've been playing with different sensations, hot, cold, diff textures etc.
very aware lately of how my body heals all the shit I put it through and it's so cool