From: Max More (maxmore@primenet.com)
Date: Mon Jul 29 1996 - 14:16:44 MDT
At 12:53 PM 7/29/96 +0200, Anders Sandberg wrote:
>On Sun, 28 Jul 1996, James Daugherty wrote:
>
>> This brings up a serious question. Can a person with a scientific
>> mind set ever have the "certainty" that seems to be required for peak
>> performance in many fields of endeavor?
>
>I think so, but you have to temporarily leave the analytic/sceptic way of
>thinking. It is a great tool to use to orient oneself, but slightly
>limiting when you have set your course and want to DO it. Always finding
>new possibilities and evaluating them reduces our mental focus, sometimes
>we have to "be one" with the task, and just do it.
Yes, and I agree with what you went on to say about the importance of
keeping your immediate goals in the context of your major long term goals.
There seems to be an assumption in this discussion that believing in a God
will make a person more successful and that we need to find rational ways of
achieving the same effect. I think there are ways of achieving extreme
focus, but I seriously doubt that believing in a God helps much. When the
runner said "the first person I want to thank is God", she was simply
interpreting her victory in terms of her religious beliefs. She didn't see
how utterly absurd this was (why should God favor her?). The fact that she
interpreted the result that way is not evidence that her belief helped her
win. How would her belief help? If she believes her winning is inevitable
because God is on her side, she might actually train less hard. Someone who
believes it's up to them, and believes that they *can* win through maximum
effort, seems to have a better chance (other things being equal).
I don't doubt that there will some tasks that religious people will do
better, like sacrificing their lives for a cause, but I don't envy them for
that.
Over the years I've collected quite a variety of techniques for boosting
motivation and the winning mentality. I'll be explaining some of them in my
Dynamic Optimism seminar in September. Eventually I'll have them in written
form.
Upward and Outward!
Max
Max More, Ph.D. maxmore@primenet.com
http://www.primenet.com/~maxmore
President Extropy Institute (ExI)
Editor Extropy
310-398-0375
http://www.primenet.com/~maxmore/extropy.htm
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