My brain sucks

Question...how likely is it that we will find a way to improve our brains' cognitive power by adding artificial hardware?

I know that's a truly wacky question, but...well, I've got a diagnosed learning disability in math. I can't do it as well, as fast, as accurately as normal people.

And it's what's called spatial dyscalculia...which means that I have to consciously figure out which way is right and left every...freaking...time. This gets very obnoxious under a car. It helps that one of my arms is plated together.

So, between that and my inability to do something as simple as, say, operate a cash register accurately, or read a dial clock just by looking at it...well I've had fantasies of someone installing hardware in my head to finally allow me to master something that my brain seems resolutely determined not to process well, if at all.

It's not just an awful inconvenience...it actively forces me out of the hard sciences entirely, because I can't handle the math. As it is I have serious doubts that I'll be able to complete a degree-if I didn't I'd drop down to a part-time job and go to school full-time, loans all the way...I've dropped-while-flunking a remedial class twice-it's a prealgebra class...and so I don't know how many tries I'm going to need to get through stats and algebra 1. Probably at least three.

But if I don't get a Master's I'll never pay off those loans, and if I fail to graduate due to math, I'll have a student loan debt follow me around for the rest of my life-I have friends in that boat.

This is why I take a class or two a semester and stay out of debt.

So my learning disability is one big albatross. I hate it with a deep, enduring passion. If there were some way to not have it anymore...I would totally let someone put hardware in or install a port surgically.
I'm sure there'd be a risk of death...if I could get rid of my learning disability, I'd roll those dice.

 

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Before you turn yourself into Robocop may I suggest trying to train yourself?, Not every aspect of somebody is going to be great, we all have our own unique gifts and talents.

The last thing you should be considering is taking any drugs or medication for it, I am `Classed As Autistic and my math is not as great as some of my friends, work associates or family members.

Sometimes you will meet people who are gifted in Art, Football, Linguistics, Math, Photographic memorys, even a kind heart or ability to be emotionaly intelligent. Remember there is not only 1 type of "Smarts" you can be street smart (alot of common sense and savvy) Book smarts (High levels of Acadamia) etc.

Learn to work with your gifts and understand what you most enjoy doing, remember life is not just a challenge and test it is also something to appreciate and enjoy.



Peace.

 

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Some People With Learning Disabilities


Albert Einstein
Nelson Rockefeller
Galileo
Thomas Edison
Sylvester Stallone
Mozart
Gen. George Patton
Wright Brothers
Leonardo da Vinci
John F. Kennedy
Cher
Whoopi Goldberg
Bruce Jenner
Gen. Westmoreland
Tom Cruise
Eddie Rickenbacker
Charles Schwab
Henry Winkler
Harry Belafonte
Danny Glover
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Walt Disney
John Lennon
Robin Williams
Steve McQueen
Greg Louganis
Louis Pasteur


So you aren't in bad company are you.

 

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I know for certain people are working on it.
In fact, there's currently a reward being offered (the X Prize) for a true computer to brain interface. I also read an article within the last year that talked about a university project which attempted to map & catalog the neuro-chemical algorithms from the nervous system. I guess they were trying to find out if replicating the activity would allow transfer of real instructions between our cells and computers.

My personal opinion on the matter -- we still have a long ways to go with both medical science and computer based technological science before its feasible. As a point of reference, we still haven't managed to create fake boobs that don't look like ridiculous pontoons, burn victims still look like burn victims, Michael Jackson's appearance was totally mangled (despite having enough money to pay for the most elite surgery humanly possible), and there are a ton of war veterans walking around on peg legs...... our current limitations in working with human tissue leave a lot to be desired.

This is all said on the assumption that a computer-implant would be the best way to address learning disabilities, and not "devoting extra hours to study and removing all distractions from the room so you can concentrate".

 

i believe the best chance of success in the "brain/AI" interface will be a "optical analog" device that uses organic chemicals.
i doubt a straight digital machine will ever work due to its either/or nature.

 

Actually, one of the issues seems to be that if I say the problem aloud, I can do it better. Can't do that in a classroom.
And I guess most people have an idea when they've gotten a problem wrong? That sounds like a nice concept. I have to rework the problem.

I will be doing the "Work my butt off, hire a tutor, fail multiple times anyway, loathe myself because of it..." plan.

The fact that I start hating the person in the mirror if I get anything less than an A-that's a different issue.
The last math class I quit I put in 12-14 hours a week studying for, did double the work required, and made a 56 on the first exam.
Again, a remedial class.

I not only have to figure out the math, I have to figure out how not to despise myself for failure. Both things are going to be very difficult and something I've not done before.

 

Muri Shinai de, Chimpkin-Kun.


Heiwa

 

OP:

The essential problem is that computer builders brag about the power of newer chips. In reality the power of a computer pales in comparison to that of the human brain.

One of the more advanced computer chips made by nvidia for heavy duty graphics processing has around 3 billion transistors, which is a lot, somewhere around 3-4 times more as an intel I7.

Your brain has 50-100 billion neurons, and each neuron can in a given period of time perform more operations then a normal transistor.

Those neurons are connected by over 1,000 trillion synaptic connections to each other.

The problem is that the brain is so freaking complicated we can only generalize what part of the brain does what, if you see a boat and they want to see what part of your brain reacts they can only figure out to within a few billion neurons of accuracy what part of your brain is reacting to it.

For this sort of device they may have to figure out to withing a few million neurons where the operation is taking place, which at this point is possibly impossible.

I personally have auditory processing disorder and some amount of ADD, trying to pay attention to people and to remember what they say is really hard for me.

 

Heh-maybe if they could figure out where the operation is taking place they could figure out where in my head it's shorting out at? I know I get this weird sensation down the midline of the front half of my head when I do math, like I'm getting zapped by a 9-volt battery.
(Yes, I have licked a 9-volt battery. I was even wierder as a child. )

I'm not officially diagnosed, but I do have all but one of the DSM 4 inattentive criterion for ADD...ooh, look, a bird...

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If your not officially diagnosed then that means that your self diagnosed.

If your not officially diagnosed by a doctor then you don't have it.

 

It's hard to get diagnosed when I don't have insurance.

So, I might or might not have it. Hard to say. I can say I have a large number of symptoms, though. The random set-down...the wandering-off in the middle of tasks, the daydreaming in the middle of lectures only to come to in a panic...disorganization...
And these are all things that annoy the crap out of me about myself, but that I have to struggle very hard to control.

I asked the county poor folk's psychiatrist that I see about it and she didn't want to add it to the laundry list (MDD, PTSD, Anxiety). And they won't hand out anything that us poor people can sell for money-so ADHD meds are right out, along with panic attack meds.

I really don't want to talk about my ordeals with dealing with the county and the sheer crappiness of the care I get there for both med and psych...because I'm sort of on here to avoid thinking about that...

I had the learning disability tested for when I was a teen-and still on the parent's insurance. Haven't really been insured since.

Have to get it retested too...and coming up with the $1k that's going to take will be very interesting.

 

best of luck

Best way to deal with ADD, find something you love, and do it, and somehow figure out a way to make money.

ADD doesn't mean you instantly lose interest in things. It merely means that you have a one track mind, you focus on things that catch your eye or fascinate you, and you lose track of everything else.

But when you find the thing you love, the ability to focus on it like a laser is the advantage ADD will give you, because with ADD its entirely possible to become much better at the thing you love then someone without it.

I love planes and rocketry, someday I will hopefully become an aerospace engineer and a damn good one at that.

 

Yep, I can focus on stuff I love until I come up for air 12 hours later...but in order to function in society you have to wade through less fascinating stuff.

For that I am trying turn my journaling into a sort of brain annex, since I seem to remember well what I write.
I've journaled before, but not used it as a brain annex-and am finding it works wonderfully for that.
I put everything from shopping lists to relationship problems in it, and putting it on paper allows me to sort through it and remember it later.

I just hope I never lose that journal!

 

Good luck, tell us how it turns out.

 

Your brain doesn't suck ( unless you are brain dead ), your brain is a extremely complex and intricate system, take good care of it and train it

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Just don't be a hater, and you will be fine

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTWLNjxOdNc

Having
Anger
Toward
Everyone
Reaching
Sucess

 

You don't need to be that great in math to become a great plumber, brick layer, policeman, firefighter, public servant, postal worker or many other jobs that you can become very good at. Stop thinking of your inabilities and consentrate on you abilities instead, that way you won't find yourself despising what you do.

 

be social, play sports, don't watch tv. much, also don't use computer alot, don't dream much and stay in the fantasy world, even that imagination is good thing and it's the source of the creativity, but don't live in an imaginary world, don't sleep too late, wake up early most days, try to train your memory by memorizing something, idk, you find something, don't get drunk, and even better, don't drink alcoholic drinks if you want, don't be a hater and think about what others did, you have to know everyone have he's skills and things that he can be good at and not all the people are the same, don't think alot about your problems.

or, an easier way to do it, hot your head three times on a white wached brick wall, if you feel that your heading is going round and round, hitt your head again, 3 times, but stronger, it will work for sure, don't forget , after few hours, smoke some marijuana, and jump from your balcony, and FLYYYY! the next day, you'll find yourself in candyland, and live genious and happy ever after

 

wow, I hope to G-d no one was dumb enough to give you a doctorate in clinical psychology.

 

Yeah, sports are good. Try rugby, especially rugby sevens ( rugby with 7 players in case you didn't know ), I suggest center-backer ( that's me

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), trust me, it is the BEST position

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