Main/Technology/Human Brain.md

How human brain actually works

Human brain is a biocomputer. It has its own logic and if you observe yourself enough, you can reverse engineer this logic. Here are my own findings from several years of observing myself and carefully journaling my own thoughts.

Thinking consumes calories so the brain is optimized to minimize thinking. It tries to find the fastest path to stop thinking and just fall back on automatic behavior and being content in its current mental model of the world. Well, it's a basic evolutionary mechanism. Animals who stopped to think too much were at risk of being eaten by other predators. Plus, historically, it was all about producing the offspring hence by default human brain is programmed to minimize thinking and just produce offspring. This is also a reason why sexuality was such a taboo topic as thinking about sexual acts which don't produce offspring would require going against the default strategy and that requires thinking and human brain is designed to minimze thinking. So this is the scientific reason for homophobia nad transphobia.

Brain has 2 systems. First one is fast, emotional and unconscious. Second one is slow, rational and conscious. But since the brain is designed to minimize thinking, it selects the first system until it fails and is forced to engage the second system instead. Hence why the vast majority of people spend their life on auto-pilot, spending most of their life stuck in the first system and acting like zombies.

Brain assigns each activity its own weight that is 100% subjective and is based mostly on "vibes" - the sum of subjective experiences with said activity. Activities that are unknown but are in line with brain deepest unconscious desires (especially sexual one) tend to get what feels like an infinite positive weights and create fantasies of perfect execution of said activity (for example, why so many men dream of a woman with a perfect model body). Finally, when actually chasing certain activity, the brain performs gradient descent over the subjective weights of each activity and finds the one with the lowest effort required. However, remember that all weights are subjective so the brain chooses the activity that is subjectively the easiest regradless of its objective utility. Procrastination happens when the conscious part of the brain wants one activity on its objective utility while the rest of the brain has very different weights so there is a conflict between the different parts of the brain. Hence the only scientific resolution to that is to choose the activity with lower weights that your brain is capable of doing and then do self-therapy to adjust unconscious weights into a more productive behavior.

3 algorithms when chasing things

Primary algorithm: Unconscious greed

Yes, this is the default one and it works on pure emotions and unconsciousness. Brain wants something, the weights are low enough to chase it and it just goes. This usually puts the brain in the state of dopamine rush, hype and optimism bias. Most of the fine details of the activity get overlooked.

We can see this pattern everywhere. It can be some instant purchase, shareholders chasing quarterly profits above all else, employers and managers setting unreasonable deadlines and forcing the employees to crunch, what mainstream psychology labels "narcissism". In worst cases this algorithm manifests in rape, murder and armed conflicts.

Finally, capitalism is just unconscious greed manifesting itself on the level of entire civilization.

Secondary algorithm: Rebellion

This algorithm is engaged when first algorithm fails. In this case there is some form of wall where unconscious greed just can't succeed. So, the brain gets offended that it can't get things it "deserves" and "is entitled to". Again, mainstream psychology also has names for it - "narcissistic injury" and "narcissistic rage".

Rebellion can manifest itself in several forms. One form, in case of a conflict with an authority figure, would be to start doing things in the opposite way. If the authority figure says "X", rebellious person would say and do "Not X". And it can be anything really. Authoritarian promotion of healthy lifestyle would compel people to drink alcohol, smoke, do drugs and have unprotected sex just for the sake of rebellion. Psychiatry has also labels for this algorithm such as "Oppositional defiant disorder, "conduct disorder" and "Antisocial personality disorder". Finally, this algorithm coupled with high integrity and self-esteem results in illegalism and egoist anarchism.

Another form of rebellion seeks to "reclaim what's stolen using any means necessary". This results in stalking and various forms of revenge. Again, in the worst cases it can result in rape and murder. A vulnerable man who couldn't get sex with a woman may choose to rape her out of spite. And someone who holds a very serious grudge against someone else may orchestrate a murder or hire a hitman.

Tertiary algorithm: Self-awareness and conscious greed

This is the most advanced algorithm and is engaged the last. It recognizes both previous algorithms as rooted in emotions and irrationality and tries to find a reasonable solution.

This is where things like philosophy, human rights and serious science and engineering come into play. Again, depending on the level of development of the individual, this algorithm tries to weight the interests of all the parties involved and find a solution that minimizes loss. So this is where serious politics are being discussed in case of human relations and serious science and engineering when it comes to bending the world to your will. Of course, once you have the knowledge of how human brain really works, you view politics through the lens of science and engineering and just do a careful application of social engineering to achieve your goals.

Nietzsche was (almost) right

Most notably, Friedrich Nietzsche has discovered all the same 3 algorithms and labeled them "camel", "lion" and "child". However, what he missed is that those algorithms are context-sensitive. One can be a "child" in an area of expertise they know a lot and a "camel" in an area of life they are just discovering.

Levels of knowledge

1. Stuff that you don't know that you don't know.
2. Stuff that you know that you don't know.
3. Stuff that you're insecure about and afraid to bring up a subject.
4. Stuff that you're consciously working on. Actively brainstorming.
5. Stuff that you figured out but still willing to emotionally defend because of your insecurity.
6. Stuff that you're so secure about that you don't even think about consciously and use the knowledge automatically. When brought up in discussion, it's either mutual understanding or respectful disagreement and end of the conversation.

Levels of development

The high-level algorithm of the brain is the executive function. Each person has a different algorithm and we can note the 4 stages of the complexity of the executive function.

Highly rigid behavior

This is the lowest complexity of the executive function, usually labeled "autism" and "Asperger syndrome".

Individuals with this level of development usually follow a very rigid daily schedule and focus their attention on something very specific, usually labeled "special interest". Any form of disturbance is usually met with shock, stupor or a temper tantrum.

Their rigidity also tends to manifest itself in desire to categorize everything in a perfect order, again, so their rigid brain feels at ease. They tends to be relatively asocial and prefer to stay alone in activities that they find comfortable. The rigidity is so persavise that it manifests itself with low-level systems too such as people being overwhelmed with too much noise or blinking lights and require sensory rooms to relax themselves after the assault on their senses by the ruthless outdoors.

In social settings they are usually shy and awkward, unless, of course, the setting is labeled specifically for them in which case they tend to display highly authoritarian behavior and demand that their rigidity is catered to at all costs.

Beings of absolutes.

Of course, their love life tends to be non-existent and they are usually given some low-level jobs usually requiring minimum amount of skills. Unless they're "highly functioning" in which case they usually go into STEM where their job mostly requires just working with a computer and scientific equipment and minimum amount of social interaction.

Socially acceptable behavior

Well, the second stage is your typical "upstanding citizen". These people learn all basic social norms without much effort and just start obeying them for the benefit of being accepted by society, a stable job, spouse, etc. Historically, these people tended to accept whatever religion was common in their area too.

So, they run on mainstream narrative and just try to not get too far away from anything considered "normal". However, since human brain actually deviates from social norms, somewhat severely so, these people tend to develop split personality, trying to stay in denial of parts of themselves that are "socially unacceptable". Carl Jung called these parts "shadow".

This repression usually manifests itself in certain psychological problems. For example, the most loud and violent homophobes tend to be closeted gays themselves.

Plus, since people are expected to exist in several social setings with conflicting rules, people tend to develop an unconscious mask for each social setting, existing in a web of lies they are not aware of themselves.

Well, such dissociated people usually have average lives of a working class citizen.

Conscious acting

Yes, the real fun stuff happens when people become acutely aware of lies of different social settings and start figuring the actual rules out. This is where self-improvement mentality kicks in and people start working hard on themselves.

This is where self-therapy via journaling starts. And also careful psychological profiling of other people. Because the more you understand yourself, the more you understand other people. The lies and rigidity starts slowly breaking down and it gives way to self-acceptance and more fluid behavior.

In a way, the brain starts slowly reprogramming itself away from rigitity of mainstream lies and into a fluid behavior based on each individual social setting. However, this requires facing all the lies, insecurities and fears within.

So essentially, there are 2 layers now. The rigid core inherited from the previous 2 stages of psychological development and fluid shell allowing one to display a much wider range of behavior.

These people start breaking away from norms and either go freelance, start chasing upper management positions or find other ways to maximize their asset portfolio.

Method acting

The final stage of psychological development. This is where all the rigidity gives way to fluidity. What's left is a tiny inner core of identity that is covered by a huge ball of fluidity that allows for basically unlimited range of behavior.

This is where self-awareness achieves such strength that these people dive into their own subsconscious and emotional wiring, decoupling it from all the unconscious structures and allowing it to be wired to false narratives on demand. So this is where pure authenticity blossoms and acting can't be separated from honesty anymore. Voice inflections, microexpressions and body language become effortless and even unconscious. Unconscious competence.

These people feel at home in basically any social setting and find ways to negotiate basically anything, no matter how outrageous or outlandish. A perfect shapeshifter. A perfect liar. A perfect politician.

Of course, this is where even Hollywood money may be a bit too little. Such exceptional individuals get hired as spies for intelligence agencies, become CEOs, politicians, get high-level jobs in the banking sector...

Building a better brain

Well, if reading the "Levels of development" section made you feel bad about yourself, don't despair. Just because your own brain right now is not very developed doesn't mean it will stay the same. It all starts with a growth mindset. Saying to yourself: "I can do better."

TODO: Fully explain self-therapy via journaling and writing autobiography, bring Dunning-Kruger effect and especially pain of going down the Valley of Despair, methapor of mining the rock of your own rigidity, being a "biohacker".

TODO: The most advanced strategy - desensitization. Actively working towards learning of human atrocities, visiting shock sites, etc.

How to manipulate people

Well, first of all the word "manipulation" has negative connotation but only because the mainstream narrative runs on a lie of acceptable and unacceptable behavior. So, in truth, everything is manipulation. Every social interaction changes your brain a little bit. So this part explores all the methods of manipulation and how they affect the brain and behavior.

Well, and since the brain is a biocomputer then the methods of manipulation come down to "carefully calculated inverse biocomputer" so that the real biocomputer - human brain - slides right in, adjusts itself according to the shape of inverse biocomputer and performs the required behavior.

In general, you want to avoid other people noticing the methods of manipulation and use as little force as possible. Here, "force" represents not only the physical quantity - people hate violence - but also people's subjective values. So the "best" form of manipulation is manipulating people's percieved free will. People already have a set of subjective values, behaviors and goals they want to chase so making them chase their goals while also being useful to you is the best strategy. Hence why tit-for-tat cooperation is so great. Both parties win.

Otherwise, when in comes to manipulation of unconscious puppets, well, you can organize certain gatherings and have like-minded people come, you can set the tone, the music, the dress code... Every tiny bit matters.

Another very effective method is "subtle grooming". In this case you figure out people who are close to what you want. They already have certain desires. Then you slowly empower their desires by very carefully repeating certain words or planting certain objects in their line of sight. Motivational posters are more on the nose type of grooming but it builds over time. Of course, it can be very subtle when you figure out people's unconscious desires and start pulling the strings on those desires - people start acting even without fully knowing why they act.

TODO: Write all the methods in a careful system.