Brit Girls - Fat

[matelot]

31 minutes ago, WesD said:

Mental health is a real problem, no one is disagreeing that being overweight brings about its own health issues but your delivery on the topic amongst others is both shallow and shameful. 

Ohh sorry, I must apologise for starting a thread that people have found interesting enough to respond to.

 

I bet you're a real laugh down the pub.

[Stubby]

6 hours ago, the village idiot said:

This will sound like complete claptrap but I think it is more accurate to view fat people as unlucky rather than as people who are making bad choices.

 

It is rather unsettling, but as we find out more about the brain and it's processes it is becoming increasingly clear that there is no such thing as free will. It feels very much like we can freely choose from a variety of options in any given moment, but the fact of the matter is that our brains produce a directive up to seven seconds before we are conciously aware of making a decision.

 

Our actions are pre-determined by our brains (which we didn't pick). We do not choose to do things in the way we think we do. Despite appearances, we are not in control. Our brains, shaped by our genes and our environment, lead us through life unconciously and our thoughts- also generated unconciously by the brain- scrabble to keep up and make sense of it all.)

 

It gets even spookier and more un-intuitive than that. It is now widely accepted among neurosientists and psychologists that our sense of self (the feeling of being an unchanging 'I' or 'me' situated in our heads, experiencing the world and located somewhere behind our eyes) is also an illusion, generated by our brains to help us get by in the world.

 

This is an incredibly difficult concept to get your head around, I understand it logically but it is really hard to map it onto our day to day experiece, mostly because the perceived sense of self (and it's partner in crime-free will) are so strong and we reinforce them constantly. There are however various ways to demonstrate that all is not as it seems.

 

If you are able to accept that free will and the sense of self are illusiory it radically changes your perception of things, particularly in terms of how you judge other people, their actions and most importantly...you.

 

Fat people are ultimately the victims of circumstances over which they had no concious control. As are we all.

 

This is not to say that people can't change. Brains can be influenced by all manner of inputs which can affect behaviour. The perspective shift is to realise that in a fundamental way the 'person' is not responsible. Blame the brain.

 

Notice your shift in perspective when you hear about Gary's sister's thyroid condition. The nature of our brains in any given moment is entirely analogous to this. Thyroid function is controlled unconciously by the brain, as are all human functions and thoughts.

 

Have a think about all this over the Christmas break, It's a confusing wild ride which can connect you more positively to all sentient beings including the one you call you!

How long was it after your brain told you to write this did you think Ah !  I'm gonna write this ......

[the village idiot]

1 minute ago, Stubby said:

How long was it after your brain told you to write this did you think Ah !  I'm gonna write this ......

 Somewhere between 7 and 0.5 seconds apparently.

 

You can put a person in a brain scanner with an option of two buttons to press (left and right). The person viewing the scan can predict with 80% accuracy which button the subject will press up to 7 seconds before the subject reports being concious of making the decision!

This finding destroys the notion of free will for me.

 

As we develop better brain mapping techniques it is very likely that the 80% will rise to 100%.

[Stubby]

1 minute ago, the village idiot said:

 Somewhere between 7 and 0.5 seconds apparently.

 

You can put a person in a brain scanner with an option of two buttons to press (left and right). The person viewing the scan can predict with 80% accuracy which button the subject will press up to 7 seconds before the subject reports being concious of making the decision!

This finding destroys the notion of free will for me.

 

As we develop better brain mapping techniques it is very likely that the 80% will rise to 100%.

Could we adapt this for betting on horses some how ?

Edited December 21, 2017 by Stubby

[Stubby]

You new I was gonna say that I bet .....

[WesD]

13 minutes ago, matelot said:

Ohh sorry, I must apologise for starting a thread that people have found interesting enough to respond to.

 

I bet you're a real laugh down the pub.

In case you haven’t noticed it’s gone wildly off topic. 

[the village idiot]

Just now, WesD said:

In case you haven’t noticed it’s gone wildly off topic. 

[WesD]

Just now, the village idiot said:

Carry on, it’s a better topic. 

[WesD]

Going with the 2 buttons theme wouldn’t most people press the button on their dominant side ie left handers left button right handers right button?

[the village idiot]

4 minutes ago, Stubby said:

Could we adapt this for betting on horses some how ?

The truth of the matter is that the series of causes for our brains to be in a particular state in any one moment are so fantastically complex that we will never be able to map them all out in order to predict exact behaviour in our complex world.

 

The things that our brain delivers to our conciousness are derived from a mind bogglingly long series of events, over which we had no control, stretching back not just to our births but through the experiences of our ancestors and right back to the beginning of time itself!

 

If I hadn't lost you all already, I surely have now!