>> ^heathen:

>> ^probie:
>> ^mentality:
>> ^probie:
Mon Mothma.
...and you call yourselves geeks.

They mention her.

Yeah, but only as "woman who gives the Rebels their instructions in Return of the Jedi....whatever her name is..." Was commenting more on that fact.

Now watch it again and try to prevent your ADHD kicking in before the 5:26 mark.


Heh, I stand corrected. But I'll deny the ADHD, and chalk it up to boredom with the quasi-attempt to emulate a Kevin Smith conversation.

>> ^probie:

>> ^mentality:
>> ^probie:
Mon Mothma.
...and you call yourselves geeks.

They mention her.

Yeah, but only as "woman who gives the Rebels their instructions in Return of the Jedi....whatever her name is..." Was commenting more on that fact.


Now watch it again and try to prevent your ADHD kicking in before the 5:26 mark.

>> ^dag:

Some ADDers take offense at this popular view. They see ADD and ADHD as very specific set of symptoms that you either have or don't have - but would agree that many people have been misdiagnosed with the disorder.
I share your view however.
>> ^blankfist:
utilizing
ADD and ADHD are euphemisms for strong-willed and creative, possibly. Maybe these people are bored with the humdrum of institutionalized education or the repetitiveness of their job, and these little pills help them "fit in" and be the cog instead of the new voice or innovator.



I suppose I'll jump in here since I have been diagnosed with ADD (not the hyperactive type).

I don't think it is a well-defined condition, so it could just be a catch-all for several unrelated conditions. It's an issue that seems so simple when viewed through the lense of "common sense", but the further I've dug into the research behind it the murkier it has become.

Symptoms? Just to pick one... you know when you're thinking or reading about something and in the middle of it it reminds you of something else? How is that handled internally? How easy is it for you to quickly and consistently downgrade the importance of that sudden reference and maintain focus on the main idea of the original thought?

Imagine the mechanism(s) for controlling the importance of that new cognitive direction isn't working correctly for whatever reason, and the new direction becomes the primary direction almost instantly, unnoticeably, and in a way that completely destroys the original line of thought. Now imagine that happening two or three times per sentence while reading.

That's a state I was in for a while (to varying degrees). I wish it were something that could be overcome with effort, because I've never put more effort into anything in my life.


Causes? I have no idea. Maybe genetic, maybe environmental, maybe developmental, maybe something else? My guess is that it is largely developmental (a structural result of experience/habit), though with a smaller level of genetic and environmental influence. It's definitely affected by nutrition, sleep, exercise, meditation (etc), but those affect nearly any mental state.


All I can speak for is myself. Whatever I have/had (ADD or something else) had very real effects, and I certainly wouldn't say it stemmed from any form of "boredom". I love reading and science and math, but it's nice to be able to study something I love without suddenly realizing I'm thinking about how many screws are in a toaster and that I have no idea what I read over the past three paragraphs.



As far as whether or not ADD is a "disease" (perhaps disorder is more appropriate), I think that generally depends on how many people fit the symptoms. Is it a disorder if it affects 30% of people? What about 90%? ADD medication improves the mental performance of lots of people, but it also tends to decrease the performance of the top performers. It's a fascinating subject.

i facepalmed when a relatively "smart" movie like inception used the 10% brain myth, and it's even more insulting in a movie about psychopharamaceuticals... but this is entertainment, i guess. i dunno, the movie looks shit to me from the trailer, but then i suppose i have this whole psych bias thing where i have difficulty suspending disbelief when it comes to matters of the brain now.

you are aware that psychopharmaceuticals are already a reality, yes? just perhaps not in the domain of this movie. boston legal had an episode that covered a real drug that dampens emotional/traumatic memories -- it's an ongoing controversy.

re: ADHD... i definitely do not share your viewpoint on its cause, but i certainly think the disorder has been needlessly politicised and therefore is a conceptual mess.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Some ADDers take offense at this popular view. They see ADD and ADHD as very specific set of symptoms that you either have or don't have - but would agree that many people have been misdiagnosed with the disorder.

I share your view however.

>> ^blankfist:

utilizing
ADD and ADHD are euphemisms for strong-willed and creative, possibly. Maybe these people are bored with the humdrum of institutionalized education or the repetitiveness of their job, and these little pills help them "fit in" and be the cog instead of the new voice or innovator.

*utilizing

ADD and ADHD are euphemisms for strong-willed and creative, possibly. Maybe these people are bored with the humdrum of institutionalized education or the repetitiveness of their job, and these little pills help them "fit in" and be the cog instead of the new voice or innovator.

indeed.

Much of my work is on somatic theory.
Chiropractic, as an osteopathy derivative, has some solid basis in that they look at nerve compression at the spine, and while it is certainly true that decompressing innervation at the spine can help with other problems, such as GI issues and asthma, in a technique sense they are only focusing on one aspect of distortion - that of restriction at the spine. However, once there is a distortion at the spine (the bottom of the brain) it becomes a whole body pattern and issue...which requires far more time, patience, and attention to detail than merely popping a facet joint. It requires the type of time and patience that is non-existent in most of western medicine, or chiropractic. The body is a seamless whole.

It's very hard to make a lot of money doing this work.
But a chiro can pop 10 people an hour. A western doc can write 40 scrips an hour.

Massage is typically working by accident. It helps, but it is premised on a muscular approach, which is incredibly misleading. Muscles may dominate the body in terms of size, but they are a reactive system, not a controlling system, and the lowest man on the totem pole in terms of the hierarchy of survival mechanisms. Physical therapy is also stuck on the muscular approach to the body. In fact, this approach typically dominates western thought when it comes to somatic/structural distortion/pain. And most people go to hospitals with essentially somatic complaints. See where i'm going with this?

Harrington rods for scoliosis should one day be properly viewed as barbaric.


In reply to this comment by gwiz665:
A friend of mine had scoliosis, at least I think that what she had, I never heard the proper medical term for it. She had it corrected by doctors inserting some metal rods by her spine, so now her back is all stiff - I'm a little vague on the details since it's a while since I heard the story.

In any case, I agree that we must also heavily scrutinize the medical system, since companies go where the profits are, and if there are no profits to be had, then that kind of medicine is discarded and abandoned. This is what has happened with many potential cancer treatments, since there is less profit in un-patentable formulas than those that can be patented.

If your methods actually do work consistently then it would certainly stand up to scientific standards, it must be replicable and verifiable and that's basically it. The problem is that often it works like "magic" and heals some, but not all with what appears to be the same illness. This is due to a lack of understanding of what is actually wrong with a patient.

The back and nervous system is notoriously hard to "fix" since few people understand it very well and each person is unique (to some extent).

Some "alternative" medicines are perinormal - they work, but we don't know it yet. They are essentially medicines, but we have not determined precisely how and why they help. "Home remedies" are really a proto-version of alternative medicines in this way, in that someone once used it and it worked. Others, like homeopathy, are demonstrably false and are indeed scams. The make wild claims based on nothing but superstition and humbug.

Prayer is also not medicine. If you get bitten by a snake and pray for the venom to leave your body, you die.

The court of public opinion is highly subjective and cannot be trusted to make reliable judgments. This is why the scientific method exists - to eliminate the need for "he said, she said".

It is smart to be weary of the medicinal industry, I'll grant you that, but your doctor is not an arm of that - he (or she) is a healer, that is their goal. I am deeply troubled when certain doctors are influenced by incentives that go against the patient's best interest - it does happen, medicinal firms offering bonuses if you use their products even though they're inferior and so on. But the fact remains that this inferior product has still gone through channels which ensure that it does work, alternative medicine does not.

It is absolutely imperative that people are not deceived to believe that some treatments do more than they think, like when chiropractic offers treatments to non-musceloskeletal problems like ADHD or asthma. It may help your back, fair enough, I've cracked my own back and I think it helps, because it feels good - chocolate feels good too, but it doesn't help my health.

The second such a snake oil salesman does not want to stand up to proper scrutiny is when he has revealed himself to be a fraud. Because if his method is disproved, then he cannot fake it anymore.

I do not doubt that massage therapy does offer relief and helps with muscle problems, I could also believe that chiropractic helps with joint pain, muscle pain or some skeletal problems - but they must be studied and analysed properly and not just pretend like it works, we must know WHY it works.

In reply to this comment by criticalthud:
Some great insights.
My difficulty is in the gross generalizations that are taking place.
I do what some people call "alternative" medicine. I don't necessarily take exception to that title given the state of western medicine.
Growing up with a scoliosis I searched for different approaches to fix the problem, and eventually ended up practicing and teaching manual therapy from a neurological model of the body, focusing on rotational distortion. It is essentially cutting edge, and i can do things with a spine that would make a western neurosurgeon question his approach.

However I may not stand up to scrutiny by western standards, since I essentially view the body in a much different manner, and certainly work with it in a much different manner.
Tomorrow however, may be a different story, as it has been with acupuncture, massage, osteopathy, non-freudian psychology, or any number of treatments that have made their way into the mainstream. Scrutiny is often the court of public opinion, although this court of opinion is greatly effected by what we have been brought up to believe and who we automatically give status and credibility to.

I think it is essential that all practitioners of the healing arts, including western medicine, realize that our actual knowledge of the human body, it's functions, and it's abilities, is very small. And it is exceedingly important to keep those doors to possibilities open.

At the same time, it is incumbent upon us to heavily scrutinize the current accepted treatments which are more often than not inadequate, reliant upon drugs, or are barbaric in nature. At the same time we must heavily scrutinize an overall system which is premised on the industry making a profit, which lends itself to indefinitely treating symptoms rather than preventative medicine.

In reply to this comment by gwiz665:
Scientific method.

"Alternative" medicine wants to do the same thing as Intelligent Design, it wants to take the easy road. ID wants to be in the class room without having sufficient evidence to support its claim. Alternative medicine wants to be sold and used to heal sick people. The latter is fine and even admirable, if it works, but there is insufficient evidence to support the claims that alternative medicine makes.

If you buy a service from me that I cannot provide, then you have been scammed and my claim was bunk. This is what alternative medicine does.

Defining alternative, it's medicine that hasn't gone through thorough scrutiny and does not stand up to it. It is medicine that doesn't work.

Pick your poison: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine Homeopathy, Chiropractic, energy therapy, crystals all that stuff.

Regarding massage and acupuncture, I'm in a more relaxed approach, because they don't promise magical solutions. Massage works at healing muscle pain, certainly, and it certainly relaxing. Acupuncture, I don't have sufficient knowledge about to make a definitive judgment about. Naturally, I'm skeptical, because as far as I know, it has not been tested to the proper extent that it should to be called medicine. When I read about more details of it "Qi" and whatnot - I get more skeptical.

It may work, but it should be tested experimentally, before making claims of healing.

People are allowed to use their money as they want, but these things should damn well not be able to call themselves medicine. Relaxation, sure, therapy, perhaps, healing - no.

In reply to this comment by criticalthud:
would you care to define alternative? do you mean non-american, non-western?
does acupuncture stand up to western scrutiny? how about manual therapy? who's scrutiny are you talking about? Tell me how you measure what people FEEL with a machine, or a bloodtest.
how well does typical western medicine deal with back pain? - drugs, drugs, more drugs?
how about a scoliosis? neurological strain patterns? any chronic pain issue?
western medicine, relies on over-drugging it's patients, treating each as a number. What and how they practice is often completely controlled by insurance companies.
perhaps your statement doesn't stand up to scrutiny.
sure there is crap out there, but lets not pretend that western medicine is immune. far from it, it's peddling a good portion of the stinkiest garbage.



In reply to this comment by gwiz665:
Alternative medicine is bunk. Like alternative math or alternative reason.

If there was any truth to it, it would stand up to scrutiny and it would be used as proper treatment. Homeopathy especially is downright fraud.

*debunked

A friend of mine had scoliosis, at least I think that what she had, I never heard the proper medical term for it. She had it corrected by doctors inserting some metal rods by her spine, so now her back is all stiff - I'm a little vague on the details since it's a while since I heard the story.

In any case, I agree that we must also heavily scrutinize the medical system, since companies go where the profits are, and if there are no profits to be had, then that kind of medicine is discarded and abandoned. This is what has happened with many potential cancer treatments, since there is less profit in un-patentable formulas than those that can be patented.

If your methods actually do work consistently then it would certainly stand up to scientific standards, it must be replicable and verifiable and that's basically it. The problem is that often it works like "magic" and heals some, but not all with what appears to be the same illness. This is due to a lack of understanding of what is actually wrong with a patient.

The back and nervous system is notoriously hard to "fix" since few people understand it very well and each person is unique (to some extent).

Some "alternative" medicines are perinormal - they work, but we don't know it yet. They are essentially medicines, but we have not determined precisely how and why they help. "Home remedies" are really a proto-version of alternative medicines in this way, in that someone once used it and it worked. Others, like homeopathy, are demonstrably false and are indeed scams. The make wild claims based on nothing but superstition and humbug.

Prayer is also not medicine. If you get bitten by a snake and pray for the venom to leave your body, you die.

The court of public opinion is highly subjective and cannot be trusted to make reliable judgments. This is why the scientific method exists - to eliminate the need for "he said, she said".

It is smart to be weary of the medicinal industry, I'll grant you that, but your doctor is not an arm of that - he (or she) is a healer, that is their goal. I am deeply troubled when certain doctors are influenced by incentives that go against the patient's best interest - it does happen, medicinal firms offering bonuses if you use their products even though they're inferior and so on. But the fact remains that this inferior product has still gone through channels which ensure that it does work, alternative medicine does not.

It is absolutely imperative that people are not deceived to believe that some treatments do more than they think, like when chiropractic offers treatments to non-musceloskeletal problems like ADHD or asthma. It may help your back, fair enough, I've cracked my own back and I think it helps, because it feels good - chocolate feels good too, but it doesn't help my health.

The second such a snake oil salesman does not want to stand up to proper scrutiny is when he has revealed himself to be a fraud. Because if his method is disproved, then he cannot fake it anymore.

I do not doubt that massage therapy does offer relief and helps with muscle problems, I could also believe that chiropractic helps with joint pain, muscle pain or some skeletal problems - but they must be studied and analysed properly and not just pretend like it works, we must know WHY it works.

In reply to this comment by criticalthud:
Some great insights.
My difficulty is in the gross generalizations that are taking place.
I do what some people call "alternative" medicine. I don't necessarily take exception to that title given the state of western medicine.
Growing up with a scoliosis I searched for different approaches to fix the problem, and eventually ended up practicing and teaching manual therapy from a neurological model of the body, focusing on rotational distortion. It is essentially cutting edge, and i can do things with a spine that would make a western neurosurgeon question his approach.

However I may not stand up to scrutiny by western standards, since I essentially view the body in a much different manner, and certainly work with it in a much different manner.
Tomorrow however, may be a different story, as it has been with acupuncture, massage, osteopathy, non-freudian psychology, or any number of treatments that have made their way into the mainstream. Scrutiny is often the court of public opinion, although this court of opinion is greatly effected by what we have been brought up to believe and who we automatically give status and credibility to.

I think it is essential that all practitioners of the healing arts, including western medicine, realize that our actual knowledge of the human body, it's functions, and it's abilities, is very small. And it is exceedingly important to keep those doors to possibilities open.

At the same time, it is incumbent upon us to heavily scrutinize the current accepted treatments which are more often than not inadequate, reliant upon drugs, or are barbaric in nature. At the same time we must heavily scrutinize an overall system which is premised on the industry making a profit, which lends itself to indefinitely treating symptoms rather than preventative medicine.

In reply to this comment by gwiz665:
Scientific method.

"Alternative" medicine wants to do the same thing as Intelligent Design, it wants to take the easy road. ID wants to be in the class room without having sufficient evidence to support its claim. Alternative medicine wants to be sold and used to heal sick people. The latter is fine and even admirable, if it works, but there is insufficient evidence to support the claims that alternative medicine makes.

If you buy a service from me that I cannot provide, then you have been scammed and my claim was bunk. This is what alternative medicine does.

Defining alternative, it's medicine that hasn't gone through thorough scrutiny and does not stand up to it. It is medicine that doesn't work.

Pick your poison: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine Homeopathy, Chiropractic, energy therapy, crystals all that stuff.

Regarding massage and acupuncture, I'm in a more relaxed approach, because they don't promise magical solutions. Massage works at healing muscle pain, certainly, and it certainly relaxing. Acupuncture, I don't have sufficient knowledge about to make a definitive judgment about. Naturally, I'm skeptical, because as far as I know, it has not been tested to the proper extent that it should to be called medicine. When I read about more details of it "Qi" and whatnot - I get more skeptical.

It may work, but it should be tested experimentally, before making claims of healing.

People are allowed to use their money as they want, but these things should damn well not be able to call themselves medicine. Relaxation, sure, therapy, perhaps, healing - no.

In reply to this comment by criticalthud:
would you care to define alternative? do you mean non-american, non-western?
does acupuncture stand up to western scrutiny? how about manual therapy? who's scrutiny are you talking about? Tell me how you measure what people FEEL with a machine, or a bloodtest.
how well does typical western medicine deal with back pain? - drugs, drugs, more drugs?
how about a scoliosis? neurological strain patterns? any chronic pain issue?
western medicine, relies on over-drugging it's patients, treating each as a number. What and how they practice is often completely controlled by insurance companies.
perhaps your statement doesn't stand up to scrutiny.
sure there is crap out there, but lets not pretend that western medicine is immune. far from it, it's peddling a good portion of the stinkiest garbage.



In reply to this comment by gwiz665:
Alternative medicine is bunk. Like alternative math or alternative reason.

If there was any truth to it, it would stand up to scrutiny and it would be used as proper treatment. Homeopathy especially is downright fraud.

*debunked

>> ^rychan:

I think the most offensive thing about children watching television is not the shows themselves as much as the advertisements. THAT'S what causes ADHD, 30 second visual and audio attacks constructed to manipulate children. How can a parent let some corporation prey on their children like that? Commercials advance such terrible social stereotypes, as well. You're not cool if you don't have this. You've succeeded if the other children fawn over your stuff.
My son watches a decent amount of television -- a couple hours scattered throughout the day. But he never sees a commercial. It's mostly Netflix streaming and some DVDs. And what he does watch is relatively tame and often educational. I mean, you can't accuse Dora the Explorer or Thomas the Tank engine of being an assault on the child's senses. Those are slow paced, have long developing narratives, and are somewhat educational.


I agree completely

I think the most offensive thing about children watching television is not the shows themselves as much as the advertisements. THAT'S what causes ADHD, 30 second visual and audio attacks constructed to manipulate children. How can a parent let some corporation prey on their children like that? Commercials advance such terrible social stereotypes, as well. You're not cool if you don't have this. You've succeeded if the other children fawn over your stuff.

My son watches a decent amount of television -- a couple hours scattered throughout the day. But he never sees a commercial. It's mostly Netflix streaming and some DVDs. And what he does watch is relatively tame and often educational. I mean, you can't accuse Dora the Explorer or Thomas the Tank engine of being an assault on the child's senses. Those are slow paced, have long developing narratives, and are somewhat educational.

>> ^xxovercastxx:

I don't think you understand what ADHD is. If this guy really couldn't stay focused on a topic, do you think he'd have gotten this far?
nochannel art wtf geek happy engineering talks


I have ADHD. So yeah I do know actually. It doesn't necessarily mean you cannot focus on anything, Your focus is just more receptive to certain things, and can be associated with creative genius http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/02/25/adhd-may-be-associated-with-creative-genius/11713.html. Also fun fact Kurt Cobain was ADHD.

>> ^xxovercastxx:

I don't think you understand what ADHD is. If this guy really couldn't stay focused on a topic, do you think he'd have gotten this far?
nochannel art wtf geek happy engineering talks


Yeah, OCD seems more likely

Big upvote for the ridiculously uplifting 20 seconds after 8:10. This guy's great!

I don't think you understand what ADHD is. If this guy really couldn't stay focused on a topic, do you think he'd have gotten this far?

*nochannel *art *wtf *geek *happy *engineering *talks

Tags for this video have been changed from 'robot, walker, ADHD, mad scientist' to 'robot, walker, mad scientist' - edited by xxovercastxx

Your video, REALLY ADHD Guy Builds Gaint Robot-Tests it, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.