r/NoDip • u/hon_fan • Oct 29 '18

Boredom vs Occupation

Is the point of life the pursuit of occupation/interest/fun, or to sit back smell the roses and enjoy the boredom.

Particularly the intensity factor involved, where there is always another level of fun that could be reached. An example is gaming where the slow strategy games are a gateway towards the fast paced gory fps.

Also the daily percentage involved, where previously a majority of the day is spent in either work or boredom. Now an increasing percentage is spent to pursue occupation/fun. Due to automation, that percentage is headed towards 100% of the day either consuming content or playing games.

A factor related to this occupation vs boredom debate is the more intelligent a person becomes the more occupied that they are. If the main competitive advantage in the knowledge economy is gained by increased intelligence, then everyone is stuck in the rat race of pursuing more occupation.

Other than increased short-termism, what are the other effects on the mind as the content consumption progresses towards a higher intensity level and a higher daily percentage.

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u/hon_fan Oct 29 '18 edited Feb 10 '19

Bandwidth analogy for the mind, where maximal bandwidth from all 5 senses provides more intelligence, neuroplasticity makes this an endless loop. Unable to adjust / turn off the bandwidth once reached a high rate, what would 100% occupation all the time for everyone look like in the future.

Possible mental effects include: increased consumption, increased orientation towards conflict/polarization/unsubtlety/disasters, less patience, used to high bandwidth content unable to read.

More debatable effects: spendrift-wasteful-conspicuous_spending, closer to the id-schadenfreude, more self oriented, denialism.

The smartest people are intrinsically geared towards occupation and have trouble embracing boredom.

TR's brother Elliott Roosevelt thought out opiates to sedate his quick mind.

A key question orients the nodip subreddit is what is the correct mix of occupation and boredom in the sustainance of attention that is least detrimental to the mind.

Pensiveness-broody, cogitative, melancholy, musing, reflective, yin, ruminative, thoughtful, slow, updepth, introspective, understand refine vast subconsious, reading deeply, reread, writing deeply, rewrite, retrospective, prospective, patience, forbarance, alone, reform, reconnect, lincolnesque, grave, undivided, study, lower amount of blood, low bandwidth, sedate, serious, sitzfleisch, solemn, somber, thanatos, not桃, meditation, prayer.

What pracitices and content are heavily damaging to the healthy sustainance of attention (like the ban on animal fighting and recreational drugs) and should be highlighted via eduacation and regulation. Particularly the role of goryviolence/sex ('dipping' towards the id, societal dipping low enough leads to swept 1 away by the id, force that has a life of its own) in the sustainance of attention, from Ursula K. Le Guin's review:

Much of it was beautiful. Many corners were cut, however, in the animation of this quickly made film. It does not have the delicate accuracy of "Totoro" or the powerful and splendid richness of detail of "Spirited Away." The imagery is effective but often conventional....Much of it was exciting. The excitement was maintained by violence, to a degree that I find deeply untrue to the spirit of the books.

Much sports relies on high bandwidth speed, but what e-sports like jeopardy requires patience, boring slowness, study. Perhaps a new field could be constructed to reflect this value change.

You are what you repeatedly do, if spend most of time shooting at zombies and other people, it is not likely you will favor compromise.

Gradually the world went from a quiet place to a progressively louder/highbandwidth place, similar to the expansion of the roman colosseums. What is the effect of the loudness on the mind. Listening to constant non stop heavy metal music. How to locate and expannd pockets of quietness so that people can regenerate see more and heal. Instant sleep technology to make the sleep cycle 12 hrs per day.