I thought this was going to be an article about optimism ("geeking out" as in getting excited about things). I acknowledge that I'm responding to the headline and not the meat of the article.
I've recently (past ~5 years) stopped viewing the world pessimistically. I don't believe it's because I'm blindly optimistic, but because I didn't have the perspective to understand our ancestor's problems and how good of a life I had. It's pretty cool that I didn't die in 6th grade when I put that knife through my hand, that my knee doesn't lock anymore after having my meniscus removed, and pretty cool my wife survived to adulthood with unbelievably poor vision and asthma. It's pretty cool that a large portion of living is automated now by the systems around us, from food to cleaning, and that those systems are affordable enough that they're common place in most households. We've freed our societies up to focus on arts and science which has created a flywheel that keeps paying us greater and greater returns that we keep investing into arts and science.
Humans have done some cool things to conquer our basic nature and environment, and we continue to do cool things. Compared to other species we are absolutely killing it. Yes we suck compared to what we are going to be in the future, but that's the point!
Whenever I get a brief feeling of "this is bad," I remind myself that humans have conquered far worse than whatever "this" is and that we are likely to triumph over this thing too. Taking a second to appreciate what our species has accomplished, and "geeking out" about it, has helped improve my quality of life, thought I'd take a moment and share that with you.
There are a few people in my circle that are overburdened by conspiracy theories to the point where they think that humans are corrupt and everyone is out to get them. It's exhausting to live like that. My goal is to be my 13 yr old self's hero. Do cool stuff, be in a good relationship, and fix things that bother me to the best of my ability.
I feel like I am and always have been a "day-to-day" optimist, but I struggle to apply that to larger, societal problems.
Our impact on the environment is measurable and the impacts look dire. Income disparity seems to be increasing locally and globally. The military industrial complex of the largest nation-states feels eternal, as if it is a fundamental part of neoliberal capitalism.
I can "half-full" almost everything day to day. Financial issues, medical issues, family problems... never easy, but doable. I can handle it, smile on my face, and tough it out. But when I'm left alone with my thoughts, its hard for me not to draw the conclusion that the world my children (or their children) grow up in will be worse-off, and they will live harder lives than we have.
> Humans have done some cool things to conquer our basic nature and environment, and we continue to do cool things. Compared to other species we are absolutely killing it. Yes we suck compared to what we are going to be in the future, but that's the point!
At the same time it's important not to forget humans have done some messed up things to the environment that are not easy to clean up or undo. And they still do, all with a paltry goal to make a short term profit. This is what drives my optimism away, though I am not a pessimistic person by nature.
This is somewhat true but also somewhat not - we have a lower chance of childhood mortality, but only in some countries. We have a general higher standard of living, but income inequality is worse than it's ever been. We have less people dying in wars, but when we do have them more people die than ever would have in the past. I'd recommend "The better angels of our nature" as a book for more on this - it covers human history of this well and shows the tradeoffs we've been making at the same time. The average person today has more creature comforts than a king a hundred years ago, but at the same time almost no one today has as much vacation time as a medieval peasant did
> Whenever I get a brief feeling of "this is bad," I remind myself that humans have conquered far worse than whatever "this" is
It's a nice sentiment, but I see no reason to think it is true. While I'd agree that in many ways life is nicer and easier, the problems that we do have now are even more complex and difficult than ever.
> Whenever I get a brief feeling of "this is bad," I remind myself that humans have conquered far worse than whatever "this" is and that we are likely to triumph over this thing too.
I do something very similar, though slightly different.
Whenever I notice something bad i rejoice that I've probably lived through the best times our western society likely ever have
I at least experienced a reality which didn't have [the bad thing] as the norm.
Society is not gonna get more equal from now on, so Gen Beta (people that are currently being born) are gonna have a massively worse life then I've had.
There was a science experiment where they took pessimists and optimists and had them rate themselves from one to ten in terms of looks.
Then they had another external group of people rate them based off of the same 1 to 10 scale to get an unbiased baseline.
Turns out pessimists had a more accurate and realistic rating around how good they looked. While optimists had ratings that were wildly overblown. There are other experiments that measured other things related to these two groups of people.
It turns out optimists are, happier, have higher salaries and are much more successful in life while pessimists are more likely to be clinically depressed.
This experiment tells us a dark truth about human nature. We lie to ourselves to stay sane. We construct illusions to protect ourselves from fully experiencing the cruel reality of life.
Optimism is a special kind of blindness. It's blindness that blinds you from being aware you're blind.
So look deeply at yourself. Are you happy? Are you optimistic? If so then that is in itself a statistical statement about how delusional and intelligent you actually are. Can you handle the truth?
I wonder how this post will get voted? Down for being depressing and negative? Or up for being truthful?
Different take on the headline: when I was little and scared at the doctor, my mom would distract me from shots etc. by telling me about how they work and all the science behind them.
I still do this at the doctor if I'm nervous about the procedure. Try distracting yourself by attempting to work through the details of what's going on. Even if you're wrong, it's a distraction and a good exercise, and maybe you can ask the doctor to clarify later.
Never works at the dentist, though. I can never tell what the heck is going on in my mouth.
I have a dentist who loves to use the little remote camera to show me everything about my teeth and let me tell you: it doesn't make it any better!
Totally agree on the "understand to remove fear" side of things though.
When I was learning stick shift I had a terrible time until, frustrated after I had stalled the car for the umpteenth time, my dad stopped the lesson on "what to do" and instead spent a few minutes explaining what was actually happening inside the clutch system.
Suddenly it all made sense and I understood what I was actuating and why the feedback was the way it was. I became proficient quickly after that.
I asked my dentist a lot of questions and had them give me a tour of the shop. I was getting a crown and they showed me their CNC machine that took a 3D scan of the original tooth and scan of the nub after eroding it down and just perfectly machined a ceramic replacement.
The best dentist I ever had was as much a geek about all things dental as I am a geek about all things computers. He would happily describe, in great technical detail, every aspect of what he was doing, why, etc.
It was pretty awesome, and I left every visit feeling very positive about the experience.
i did this with air disasters. i'd been terrified of flying for many years so i immersed myself in every kinds of media i could find on the topic. i found it oddly comforting (though i definitely overthink things whilst in the air at times). geeking out has helped me navigate some tense moments.
Ha, you reminded me of when I got my vasectomy. Naturally a bit nervous, I was asking about everything the doctor was doing as he was doing it. It actually did help me get through the procedure with less nerves (it’s really not a bad procedure at all, just for anyones edification).
> Try distracting yourself by attempting to work through the details of what's going on.
This helped a lot with flying anxiety, once I could put a reason to most of the sounds and movements of flying I could relax a lot better. An unexpected one will get my attention though
I've heard that one of the greatest counters to fear is curiosity, and that people who tend to be more curious tend to also be less fearful. It makes sense when you think about it.
Objectivity is a totally different headspace. That's why critical thinking is so difficult. As unfamiliar and uncomfortable as it may be, it sure does have its advantages.
I'm 32 years old and I still have to do this whenever I get an injection. I have no idea what kind of trauma triggers this but I have an extreme phobia of needles, but I am a big supporter of vaccines. Every time I get a shot, I have to look away, and kind of go through the process of telling myself what the shot is doing and how it works.
I think the issue here is one of timescale and trading off short-term versus long-term joy/fulfillment. Playing games is often fun in the moment, and can certainly have a positive social component and can be challenging and build skills and in general be a way to blow off steam and decompress after a long day of work, similar to how many people watch TV.
But I have basically stopped playing games totally for the past decade, and I am so glad to have gotten all that time back to do other things which build up over time and then ultimately provide me with a lot more happiness, like learning new skills, reading scientific papers on ML/AI, learning how to use tools like Blender, reading biographies/history, etc. There is only so much time in a day, and when I look back on how many hours I spent during my mental prime playing stuff like Starcraft and Quake, I really wish I could have that time back and instead done other things.
Obviously this is just my take on it, and I'm not trying to shame anyone about playing games or saying they are bad. But I think it's wrong to focus on the upsides without at least being aware of what you might be trading off for that short term dopamine hit and fun.
I dont play a ton anymore- I used to be a 99th percentile gaming addict in my youth. But still sometimes it’s fine to not read scientific papers for recreation. Your brain needs rest too
I think this is mostly based on different needs at different times - most people play more games when they're younger and have more uncertainty in their life. As you get older there's less uncertainty and less need for things with semi-predictable outcomes. Doesn't mean you underestimated the benefit at the time - just that it's not as useful to you in this stage of your life
There's periods where I want to learn a bunch of new technologies, and other times when I can't. It's all time well spent just in different areas
I'm nearing 40 and in the past few years I've tried to focus more on "real world" activities (I've never lacked them, I just felt like gaming had less value). I've done well with this by spending time with my interests/pastimes; however, my work lately has been less stimulating. As a result, something has been missing.
Long story short, I realized I wasn't getting into a "flow-state" often enough and guess where you can get an easy fix of that? First-person shooters.. (for me anyway). I don't have 3+ hour-long sessions or anything, maybe just a round or two and it's like that first cup of coffee in the morning.
It's funny you speak of flow state here since for me reading up on MMORPG meta or any meta changes to any game is where I mostly focus on such that even before I launch a game I've been reading up on its mechanics and trying to understand it in an abstract way (the opposite of this for me is when I just play Stardew Valley since I just wanna fish or chat with the NPCs rather than figure out how to min-max my farm). The act of figuring out how a game works mechanically is just as fun as trying to play the game itself for me.
Never expected to see a healthcare site recommending WoW raiding!
If you're not careful, a game that addictive and time-consuming is a rapid route to weight gain, back pain, maybe even an unhealthy drinking habit...
(To be fair though, for those who enjoyed the game in it's early years, WoW Classic was really good 'comfort gaming' during the Covid period, but it's certainly added to lockdown weight gain)
For many truly sick people, including some cancer patients, weight gain is not a bad thing. An old prof of mine, a man dying of pancreatic cancer, once said to me "A whole life of the doctor telling me to exercise more, and suddenly he is worried about me loosing weight too quickly."
I've noticed when I begin to feel anxious (which for me is basically "health anxiety" that spirals) I get back into RuneScape (old school version), and it really helps get me back to a good place IRL.
I think one of the things that has kept me from games over the past 6 months is the progression systems that are tricking me into wanting to play more. I mean, everything in moderation, and I'd like to finish Elden Ring, but family time, chores and work don't exactly leave much for hobbies like this that require all of your attention. (Audio books and podcasts in comparison allow for partial attention)
I guess I'm wondering more how high up some of these games can be on my bucket list when my time is already booked out.
I think it would be useful to play a simulation of cancer treatment that includes realistic odds of survival. It's difficult to grok the idea that you have an X% chance of surviving for Y months by just looking at the numbers, or that Z treatment will affect those odds for some cost in extra misery. Simulating the meaning of those odds by gameplay, watching your avatars live and die, suffering more or less, could give you a better gut feeling for your prospects and adjust your decision making accordingly.
My mom fought cancer and died slowly and badly. My dad, having lived through that, didn't fight it and went quickly. Some people have the opposite experience. It would be good to have a less expensive way to learn these lessons.
Video games basically allowed me to get through college. I accidentally implemented spaced-repetition learning by studying for an hour or so, then playing a game of League of Legends, then trying to recall what I had just studied previously.
Come hang out with us in VR Chat and engage in fiery debates similar to what you find on hackernews except in real time VR and you could actually punch someone maybe.
Studies show that patients who played the[se] games responded better to chemotherapy, and had a much better understanding of the treatment process on the whole.
I'm surprised the article didn't cover "life" or simulation games since these are often seem to be relaxing games compared to more frantic games like MMOs. For me, Stardew Valley is my comfort game when I just wanna to turn off thinking for a little bit and go fishing or chat with Linus by the lake. Or go on a gift giving run. It just seems like you can kind of turn off your head and go with the flow in the game rather than trying to min-max. I'm sure there's tons of videos for Stardew Valley that focus on min-maxing but I'm glad I just ignore them otherwise, I'd be restarting my game to do that, no thanks.
After 2 years of lockdowns, playing Elden Ring basically saved my life. I had heard heard this a lot about the Souls series of games from other people, how the hardships and overcoming them in the game taught people how to overcome IRL hardshipand build character; never thought it would have happened to me though, I thought I had a pretty solid grasp of "adulting" and "real life" but being in lockdown nearly broke me.
In my experience, it depends on which game I'm playing. Some games reduce stress but others, like League of Legends, greatly increase my stress levels.
There's a number of games that I either play very briefly or avoid entirely because I feel more anxious and stressed after playing them.
Stress response depends vastly on the game. A lot of games will actually increase stress levels. Take Elden Ring for example, that game will make you sweat at almost every encounter. But it’s possible that this kind of exposure might make you more resilient to stress in the long tun.
this. I tried playing a variety of retro console games as an adult; most gave me unbearable anxiety within a couple minutes, especially platformers, side-scrollers and racing games.
With turn-based rpgs it came more slowly from the endless boring grinding.
Only non-timed puzzles were chill enough to play as a clinically anxious person.
This should be voted higher. People really want video games (and other things like certain drugs) to be innocuous and maybe even "healthy" but its just like any other instant dopamine rush, and can - and is often designed to be - addictive to keep you hooked and engaged in their product.
Imo a far better method than this is to exercise, walk outside, or play sports. These are natural dopamine boosts with little to no real downside.
the article mentions words with friends as if those games are something to be shunned.
maybe the social aspect is what improves your mood not video games, based on this it would seem that tabletop games would have the same if not better results considering real life social interactions.
r3trohack3r|2 years ago
I've recently (past ~5 years) stopped viewing the world pessimistically. I don't believe it's because I'm blindly optimistic, but because I didn't have the perspective to understand our ancestor's problems and how good of a life I had. It's pretty cool that I didn't die in 6th grade when I put that knife through my hand, that my knee doesn't lock anymore after having my meniscus removed, and pretty cool my wife survived to adulthood with unbelievably poor vision and asthma. It's pretty cool that a large portion of living is automated now by the systems around us, from food to cleaning, and that those systems are affordable enough that they're common place in most households. We've freed our societies up to focus on arts and science which has created a flywheel that keeps paying us greater and greater returns that we keep investing into arts and science.
Humans have done some cool things to conquer our basic nature and environment, and we continue to do cool things. Compared to other species we are absolutely killing it. Yes we suck compared to what we are going to be in the future, but that's the point!
Whenever I get a brief feeling of "this is bad," I remind myself that humans have conquered far worse than whatever "this" is and that we are likely to triumph over this thing too. Taking a second to appreciate what our species has accomplished, and "geeking out" about it, has helped improve my quality of life, thought I'd take a moment and share that with you.
pathartl|2 years ago
si1entstill|2 years ago
Our impact on the environment is measurable and the impacts look dire. Income disparity seems to be increasing locally and globally. The military industrial complex of the largest nation-states feels eternal, as if it is a fundamental part of neoliberal capitalism.
I can "half-full" almost everything day to day. Financial issues, medical issues, family problems... never easy, but doable. I can handle it, smile on my face, and tough it out. But when I'm left alone with my thoughts, its hard for me not to draw the conclusion that the world my children (or their children) grow up in will be worse-off, and they will live harder lives than we have.
onemoresoop|2 years ago
At the same time it's important not to forget humans have done some messed up things to the environment that are not easy to clean up or undo. And they still do, all with a paltry goal to make a short term profit. This is what drives my optimism away, though I am not a pessimistic person by nature.
e_i_pi_2|2 years ago
zokier|2 years ago
It's a nice sentiment, but I see no reason to think it is true. While I'd agree that in many ways life is nicer and easier, the problems that we do have now are even more complex and difficult than ever.
411111111111111|2 years ago
I do something very similar, though slightly different.
Whenever I notice something bad i rejoice that I've probably lived through the best times our western society likely ever have
I at least experienced a reality which didn't have [the bad thing] as the norm.
Society is not gonna get more equal from now on, so Gen Beta (people that are currently being born) are gonna have a massively worse life then I've had.
melagonster|2 years ago
HervalFreire|2 years ago
Then they had another external group of people rate them based off of the same 1 to 10 scale to get an unbiased baseline.
Turns out pessimists had a more accurate and realistic rating around how good they looked. While optimists had ratings that were wildly overblown. There are other experiments that measured other things related to these two groups of people.
It turns out optimists are, happier, have higher salaries and are much more successful in life while pessimists are more likely to be clinically depressed.
This experiment tells us a dark truth about human nature. We lie to ourselves to stay sane. We construct illusions to protect ourselves from fully experiencing the cruel reality of life.
Optimism is a special kind of blindness. It's blindness that blinds you from being aware you're blind.
So look deeply at yourself. Are you happy? Are you optimistic? If so then that is in itself a statistical statement about how delusional and intelligent you actually are. Can you handle the truth?
I wonder how this post will get voted? Down for being depressing and negative? Or up for being truthful?
VyseofArcadia|2 years ago
I still do this at the doctor if I'm nervous about the procedure. Try distracting yourself by attempting to work through the details of what's going on. Even if you're wrong, it's a distraction and a good exercise, and maybe you can ask the doctor to clarify later.
Never works at the dentist, though. I can never tell what the heck is going on in my mouth.
quartz|2 years ago
Totally agree on the "understand to remove fear" side of things though.
When I was learning stick shift I had a terrible time until, frustrated after I had stalled the car for the umpteenth time, my dad stopped the lesson on "what to do" and instead spent a few minutes explaining what was actually happening inside the clutch system.
Suddenly it all made sense and I understood what I was actuating and why the feedback was the way it was. I became proficient quickly after that.
SillyUsername|2 years ago
Topics I wish I'd never known about
- General anaesthesia and low dose
- General anaesthesia and the idea you are actually awake but forget.
- General anaesthesia stats and possibility of being awake (moreso if you're anxious about not going to sleep - it's happened to me with gas).
- Flying and why the plane needs to dive for certain scenarios.
- Flying and tolerances for wings during a storm (they're good but still!) or lightning strikes (Faraday cage but...).
- Flying and knowing about coffin corner stall limitations/margin for error.
- Flying and survival stats if there's actually a serious incident.
Probably a load more...!
chairmanwow1|2 years ago
Pretty fucking sick.
JohnFen|2 years ago
It was pretty awesome, and I left every visit feeling very positive about the experience.
swasheck|2 years ago
dclowd9901|2 years ago
ashleyn|2 years ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectualization
cramjabsyn|2 years ago
This helped a lot with flying anxiety, once I could put a reason to most of the sounds and movements of flying I could relax a lot better. An unexpected one will get my attention though
kulahan|2 years ago
thomastjeffery|2 years ago
pts_|2 years ago
mettamage|2 years ago
tombert|2 years ago
eigenvalue|2 years ago
But I have basically stopped playing games totally for the past decade, and I am so glad to have gotten all that time back to do other things which build up over time and then ultimately provide me with a lot more happiness, like learning new skills, reading scientific papers on ML/AI, learning how to use tools like Blender, reading biographies/history, etc. There is only so much time in a day, and when I look back on how many hours I spent during my mental prime playing stuff like Starcraft and Quake, I really wish I could have that time back and instead done other things.
Obviously this is just my take on it, and I'm not trying to shame anyone about playing games or saying they are bad. But I think it's wrong to focus on the upsides without at least being aware of what you might be trading off for that short term dopamine hit and fun.
coffeebeqn|2 years ago
otikik|2 years ago
e_i_pi_2|2 years ago
There's periods where I want to learn a bunch of new technologies, and other times when I can't. It's all time well spent just in different areas
jasfi|2 years ago
rye-neat|2 years ago
Long story short, I realized I wasn't getting into a "flow-state" often enough and guess where you can get an easy fix of that? First-person shooters.. (for me anyway). I don't have 3+ hour-long sessions or anything, maybe just a round or two and it's like that first cup of coffee in the morning.
ladyattis|2 years ago
sacnoradhq|2 years ago
Caffeine, while increasing focus, ups anxiety and cardio load.
Exercise (HIIT) I find is better at increasing focus and decreasing anxiety.
bluescrn|2 years ago
If you're not careful, a game that addictive and time-consuming is a rapid route to weight gain, back pain, maybe even an unhealthy drinking habit...
(To be fair though, for those who enjoyed the game in it's early years, WoW Classic was really good 'comfort gaming' during the Covid period, but it's certainly added to lockdown weight gain)
sandworm101|2 years ago
MrGilbert|2 years ago
corobo|2 years ago
Ew lol
erwinh|2 years ago
brandon272|2 years ago
npteljes|2 years ago
denvaar|2 years ago
andrepd|2 years ago
havblue|2 years ago
I guess I'm wondering more how high up some of these games can be on my bucket list when my time is already booked out.
hirundo|2 years ago
My mom fought cancer and died slowly and badly. My dad, having lived through that, didn't fight it and went quickly. Some people have the opposite experience. It would be good to have a less expensive way to learn these lessons.
sidewndr46|2 years ago
GaryNumanVevo|2 years ago
nfw2|2 years ago
It's great to be exploring ways to help cancer patients cope, but the overall thesis of this article is hardly surprising.
qaq|2 years ago
jvanderbot|2 years ago
unknown|2 years ago
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TheHypnotist|2 years ago
unknown|2 years ago
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Lapsa|2 years ago
Ancalagon|2 years ago
This greatly increases stress and anxiety.
xwdv|2 years ago
Nuzzerino|2 years ago
neomindryan|2 years ago
ladyattis|2 years ago
web3-is-a-scam|2 years ago
agumonkey|2 years ago
calibas|2 years ago
There's a number of games that I either play very briefly or avoid entirely because I feel more anxious and stressed after playing them.
mihaifm|2 years ago
unixgoddess|2 years ago
Only non-timed puzzles were chill enough to play as a clinically anxious person.
chad_strategic|2 years ago
I got to stop multi tasking...
Forestessential|2 years ago
notfed|2 years ago
fullshark|2 years ago
boshalfoshal|2 years ago
Imo a far better method than this is to exercise, walk outside, or play sports. These are natural dopamine boosts with little to no real downside.
imchillyb|2 years ago
SammyNameTaken|2 years ago
christkv|2 years ago
HEmanZ|2 years ago
“This definitely improves my mood” - said no League player ever
hakube|2 years ago
bloqs|2 years ago
DontchaKnowit|2 years ago
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aaron695|2 years ago
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rationalfaith|2 years ago
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smegsicle|2 years ago
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hakube|2 years ago