Studies show a "wandering mind" is less happy - even if it's "happy thoughts"..., page 2

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reply posted on 11-12-2012 @ 12:18 PM by clay2 baraka

I am sitting at my desk, watching a squirrel outside on a tree. That squirrel seems pretty happy in the here and now. Most of the animals outside do live in the "present." because they lack the creative capacity to imagine different futures. That capacity is what sets aside humans from other creatures..

There is a reason why we say "ignorance is bliss."

reply posted on 11-12-2012 @ 12:32 PM by jonnywhite

Funny coincidence that I just got done reading Hemeac a week ago, by E.G. Von Wald.

This is the closest to a review I can find on the net:
vintage45.wordpress.com - World’s Best Science Fiction 1969...

It's just a science fiction story about human youth being schooled by robots.

It's just a story, but some of our grandest ideals and hopes are sealed up inside them.

When I was growing up, my mind always wandered in class. Never a moment it didn't. I still got good grades. I left HS with a 3.8 and got about the same in college, until I left that too. Not to imply that I'm a shining example of academic and occupational success. Obviously I'm not.

The thought that mind wandering should be abolished is so disturbing it's frightening. But isn't that how most freedoms are lost? We assume we're better without them and then it's history.

I guess we can't mourn that which is so removed from our time. I've been looking through a book that has a collection of old photographs from a hundred years ago. It's very interesting looking through it. I can see many examples of freedoms they might have had that we don't have any longer. I can see many ideals and values they had that we don't have any longer. Now, most of this is good, I mean, some of what has come and gone has failed the test of time, but it still feels like we're playing god and somehow making a mistake. Maybe I'm just overly sensitive to things, but this is how I feel.

Maybe it's other things too. I know how complex this life is. It's easy to be wrong. I could just as well be wrong about what I'm saying here. I could even be crazy. But, again, this is my opinion.

So whether I'm wrong or right this is the path I choose to go down. A line is drawn in the sand that will now separate me from something else. No longer am I non-partisan. That ideal is dead.

I do not make smoke when I say that in the future people will increasingly control their mind and their thoughts and this with the assistance of technology and various surgical possibilities. I foresee myself holding the same opinion that I have now over the next 10-30 years. So I'll have much opportunity to feel further revulsion towards the actions my society is making. It's not that I'm against progression. I always thought of myself as open to the idea of cyborgs and upload our minds to computers and entertained it. However, it's always the issues on the side that bug me. There's always something that comes along with all these progressions that I somehow find intolerable. In the end, the future gives us a whole load of things and many of the things we like come along with things we do not.

edit on 11-12-2012 by jonnywhite because: (no reason given)

reply posted on 11-12-2012 @ 02:24 PM by LILY9

Thats an interesting post.
As someone who loves to read, and has gone to many lands and met wonderful people through this medium.
I would like to know, am I living in the moment, or having a wandering mind, albeit guided, when I read a book?

reply posted on 11-12-2012 @ 02:32 PM by artnut

Interesting idea, makes sense in a way.

It does not fit for me, though. I am happier than I have ever been in my life, and you could say I am a serial mind wanderer. My brain is pretty fixated on pattern, so trying to have discussions with people, or work can prove difficult because I am so easily distracted by colors. I have just taught myself to track back when talking to people so I am not rude. The creative process often happens for me when I am wondering, and since that is crucial to my profession, I am pretty ok with it.

reply posted on 11-12-2012 @ 02:47 PM by BlavatskyChannel

Originally posted by arpgme
reply to post by BlavatskyChannel

Originally posted by BlavatskyChannel
It is natural to let the mind roam into imagination or creation by humans would be impossible.

This isn't true because creation (new ideas) can arise spontaneously in the mind from this present moment.

Originally posted by BlavatskyChannel
Neither makes us happy or unhappy

This is not true. Take a look at the study.

Produce an example and i will show you imagination at work.

Also you can not say it is not true. That is a narrow and closed minded view on the matter. For me personally through experience it is true.

reply posted on 11-12-2012 @ 05:16 PM by arpgme

Originally posted by jonnywhite

The thought that mind wandering should be abolished is so disturbing it's frightening. But isn't that how most freedoms are lost? We assume we're better without them and then it's history.

This study does not talk about "abolishing" anything. This is just a study that shows how a wandering mind is connected to a decrease of happiness.

The mind wandered and added things that wasn't even talked about "Robots", "Freedom", "Abolishing Mind-Wandering"

Nobody is taking anything from you. This is just a study to prove that mind wandering leads to less happiness but you are still free to mind-wander if that is what you desire.

reply to post by BlavatskyChannel

Originally posted by BlavatskyChannel
Produce an example and i will show you imagination at work.

An example of what? How it is true? This was an app that measured happiness from many people are 80 countries asking different question. So this is coming directly from the source (the people around the world themselves).

Originally posted by BlavatskyChannel
Also you can not say it is not true. That is a narrow and closed minded view on the matter. For me personally through experience it is true.

I can say it isn't true. It is not close-minded to have a study from people around the world in over 80 different questions who were asked questions to measure their happiness with the activities they were doing and whether or not their mind was wandering. Many different people, many different questions, questions relating to happiness, the activity, and mind wandering, the evidence speaks for itself.

However if you want to call it "narrow" and "close-minded" for whatever reason, you are free to do so, just like you are free to mind-wander if you want to, and you are free to pretend that the facts (What is - Reality) is saying something different than it is. People do it all the time - so I am used to it. No need to convince people of anything. Here are what the studies show, take it, leave it, or let the mind change it.

reply posted on 6-1-2013 @ 01:56 PM by jonnywhite

reply to post by arpgme

Maybe you don't notice it but I do. That slow ebbing sucking sound?

People have this desire to control. Control thoughts. Control everything.

That sucking sound is the potential disintegration of past freedoms. It's a feeling of anxiety and fear. The premonition that society will reach out its tentacles and tear away another freedom.

That's why I made the connection to robots; control. NO WANDERING!

If you read the story I linnked (re: Hemeac) you'll understand better my reaction.

Another issue is: Happiness at all costs.

Don't you see how the pharma industry wants everyone to be happy because it fattens their wallet? People come to the psychiatrists and doctors to be happy because that's the rule.

If a wandering mind consistently produces negative emotions the pharma industry as well as others will push to reduce it and/or to eliminate it cojmpletely through prescription drugs.

It scares the *(&*#&*(# out of me.

I guess if you don't see all the people going to get their pills it won't bother you. But I'm constantly reminded of it. I got a friend that's hooked on em 24/7. To me, it's very disturbing.

You want to know something else? Research shows that children at 3 years of age that're able to control their impulses will tend to live more successful lives. There're lots of studies on this. Basically, it's related to a exercise where you offer a child 1 piece of candy right now, or if they wait 15 minutes, you give them 2. That's the logic of it and it shows that the children who wait 15 minutes seem to grow up better. I've seen this distantly linked to general intelligence also.

So if a wandering mind is indicative of someone who has poor impulse control then it adds another reason for government and educational authorities to essentially attack it at its source. Thus, the anticipated result might be that minds will no longer wander. People will have better impulse control. They'll be more successful. But on some level, they'll be alien compared to us. That's creepy.

A happier more controlled populace seems friendly. But I'm not so confident. A lot of things can seem friendly on the surface but when you pull it away they're the devil in disguise.

edit on 6-1-2013 by jonnywhite because: (no reason given)

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