multi parameter solutions

Attention! do not read while eating or if you are sensitive otherwise.

it is nice neat and simple to have a single and defined solution to a problem.

Many times, the better solution is of multiple steps and tricks.

Example. haemorhoid. it is a devastating chronical suffering for whoever got it. and there are no simple solutions.
There are varoius single parameter solutions. Like operation etc.
The actualization of the illness goes throught a long chain of steps, each of whom is controllable to a level. The kind of excersions one has (stiff etc.), the way one does his excertion, the level of stress, the kind of chair one uses then, whether one uses additional seat and foot support etc. , what one does when pain sarts (does he stops, or does he ignores the pain, thereby making damage) how one approaches the excertion act psychologically (the more stressful and lack of time the less ability to make it right), Which cleaning paper one uses, the kinds of foods one eats, etc.

one can see that there is so much control on the whole chain. Since the end results is the (nonlinear) product of the whole chain, it is clear that controlling it all to the maximum is probably a very strong and effective way to cure this devastating problem.

This strategy can be a great way to solve otherwise unsolvable problems. It can also be the best way with problems that their one route solution is either constly or not effective.

Why is this approach not used frequently? There are the negatives of the multi step way listed below. But I guess it is because the mind likes better a single solution. We find it hard and confusing to approach the complex bunch of causes. There is a lot of laziness about it. Indeed, handling all steps means getting conscious about them which is an effort. Moreover, one needs than to break out of automaticity about them all. Seeing all parts of the whole so automatic process as malable. Not just seeing, but acting upon this true and strange freedom to play with all our cards at once.

Yet it is astonishingly liberating. Give it a try (but please for a better example/ For improving life rather than for solving problems.........)

PS. the downsides of multiple parameters are there. it is easier to handle one parameter that the whole thing. The cost of tackling every step of the chain may accumulate to too much, and the stress etc. involved can also be costly. Yet many times it is the best strategy, and can even solve otherwise unsolvable problems. The most surprising point is that people avoid this angle so much.

Essentialistic fallacies

Essentialism fallacies
There is an underlying belief that we need things to be well in their essence, and that the only source of well-being is from stable and essential- true sources.



But happiness and health can come from endless directions.

We may enjoy life by fooling ourselves. Pursuing goals or by avoiding goals. We can find five seconds of fun from many sources.

We may improve life by sleeping enough no less than by getting our act together in more essentially sounding ways.

Placebo effects make people healthy. Reading health research makes me extremely sad for the waste of not using placebo to heal. Many drugs have an effect strength way below that of the placebo effect. Yet the establishment is not investing in researching placebo, nor using it, which is a very painful and sad fact. Due to the essntialism fallacy.
Most historical cultures made ample use of the placebo effects via shamans, religious rituals etc. There was no shame in using it. But nowadays stupidity dictates to avoid improving life in "religiously unapproved" means like placebo or other psychological tricks.

Nassim taleb noted that people tend to define relationships as marriage etc. as superior. But in reality we can feel connected and get the benefit of friendship from random meetings, and from connections that have other motifs, as well as many other ways of being connected (even Facebook sometimes brings value).


PS. There are clearly advantages to these so called essential sources of health and happiness. These tend to be more stable, and in aspects more comprehensible. Yet do not be fooled by these advantages. These values are not always there, and their effect can be limited. It is sometimes a mere cultural belief and mind bias.

Essentialism is natural to the human psych so has shown paul blum in many experiments. But as grown up kids, we may try to go for what is good for us, and not be totally fooled by our minds tendencies.

Sour grapes in small comforts of life

Sour grapes = the fox says that then grapes up in them vines are sour, so to not feel pain for not having them. 

Disdain to worldly pleasures, to small comforts of life, to anything positive that you do not have. 

This disdain can be aesthetic, which is above (or be,ow) criticism. Yet this doe snot make it rational. It can be a matter of priorities - I have more important goals to pursue. This is ok. But limited. Having more important things to do is not reducing the value of any other project. It merely makes you invest elsewhere. 
The last reason for devaluing is psychological. If i miss something, it feels better when i think it is worthless. This is very legitimate. Self delusion can work wonders at times. But like all self delusion it's has a price. The biggest price is the developed inability to enjoy the things you contempt. This is a curse of poverty following being poor. One is not only poor now, but he also convinces himself of the blessing in his state that he loses the ability to enjoy anything rich, or the willingness to improve his lot.


There are so many ways to enjoy and to experience life. It is stupid to neglect the ways that are not part of our own repertoire.

PS. We are naturally concentrated on some pleasures and goals, but positive concentration is it not active neglect and contempt to anything out of our focus.  
  

The difference between being smart and being rational

Should we ruminate on our past mistakes? Should we spend time to find out who was right in a technical and insignificant matter?

The stupid choices are clearly stupid. Yet, forcefully fighting them can be even more stupid. You may kill yourself in the way to verify you are not mistaken. This is what i call being rational.

Being smart is another thing altogether. Understanding that something is useless is naturally leading you to avoid it. This is normal and human. Is any person inn. His right mind willing to spend energy on bad adventures? Clearly not. 

The difference is in the naturalness of the process, and whether the is effort involved.  Being smart is usually much more natural, and does not involve inner fights. That is how it is roughly. 


Be smart. Effortlessly.

The habitual and the essential

When we eat something unhealthy we feel bad. Same with what we are not used to. But the distinctions is crucial. Because habituation can be changed, and is many times worthwhile. While more ingrained causes are less flexible.

Here is a strong deviation from the idea of "get used to it". Getting used to unhealthy stuff cannot make them healthy. Habituation power is mainly good habits that are not bad by themselves. Where the only problem is psychological.


The same idea applies to the positive. There should probably be more value in inherently positive experiences that inn those who are just made up to create the experience.


Analogy from the financial crises. Illiquid banks are useful to bailout. Yet bankrupt banks (zombie, like in japan) are better off to die, they are better off dying

We should play kids' games (when it is fun)

Geneva. Went today to the park, there is a swing that kids play. I went on it and had great fun.

I am wondering why do not people play these games once they grow up? does it stop being fun?
I suspect there is a stupid vanity in this is no longer to my level. As if a positive feeling by itself is not enouge a reason to play it.

If so it is indeed stupid, and the wise person will play it to old age (insofar that he enjoys it).

Another intrigiung possibility is physiological. This game is indeed shaking the body. For some people this shakeout is not fun once they grow up. The question is whether it is natural, or it is a certain kind of sickness, that we better grow up of. Play these games until your body is no onger so old.

there are probably more reasons that I do not know, and let me mess you up with more ideas. But I still hold that insofar that it is fun, we should do it and get rid of all the possible bulshit against having fun!

There is the idea of meainng. We want to have meaning in things we do. We want things to fit in what we think we are etc.

There is an identity thing. Works two directions. We do not feel inclined towards activities which do not onform to our identity, and we are afraid that playing kids games will put on us the unforgivable identity of kids (double stupidity. 1) losing fun for self image. 2) the imagination that playing reduces the qualities of grown ups we have. 3) The fantasy that the respected self definition is that of the serious and worked up abult.

With a ... hope of not sounding too grown up

interminnent fasting and selecting for the delicious

Interminnet fasting is supposed to be healthy.

A good trick to use it is by fasting according to food quality. If you fast when there is low wuality food, you got two rewards at once. You enjoy health benefits of fasting, and you also eat overall better food.

PS. research shows that for 48 hours eating vs. not eating has not discrenible effect on mood and cognitive performance. http://tinyurl.com/y55r5qq
(ppl did not know they got no calories, were supplied with a drink which they did not knew caloric content)