[FRIAM] quantified self (was lurking)

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantified_self

The question, maybe, is what does the obsessive measuring and the implied hyper-socialization do that's bad? I got in an argument recently. Surprise! I told a couple of dudes that I like working out in a fasted state, lately weight lifting after a 36 hour fast (or preferably at the tail end of a 42 hour fast). I described how cool it was to get that vertigo while working out, especially after the dead lift. And how cool it was to see my blood sugar spike from ~79 (before) up to ~100 after the workout. They were all like "Why?!?! Why would you do that?" My 1st tack on explaining it was about discovering "helicopter" as a kid, where you spin around until you're so dizzy you fall into the grass and stare at the spinning sky. Then as a teen, you graduate to, maybe, Nitrous whip-its from aerosol can of whipped cream. Then, if you're of the bent, maybe you graduate to serious game-changing chemicals or "enhancements" of some other kind (including AR/VR). There are plenty of competitive purposes to such things. In college, a critical part of boxing was to do somersaults up and down the gym until we puked ... in order to get used to fighting while dizzy. But there are hosts of non-competitive purposes.

Anyway, that these 2 dudes couldn't "play along" at all ... had no way to get into the idea that working out while fasted was at least interesting, if not Good For You, frustrated me. So, I lamely launched into the glycogen story, insulin resistance reset, pre- & type 3 diabetes, etc. Whatever. That tack works kindasorta. But it's WAAAYYY lamer than my actual reason, which is simply because it's fun.

But such measures can, I agree with you, become a sickness. And when you make yourself sick that way, it's just sad.  When you do it to other people, it's despicable.


On 11/1/21 11:32 AM, Marcus Daniels wrote:
> < You keep focusing on competition. >
> 
> I'm more irritated by the desire to measure (via observed communication or testing), to hyper-socialize, and to specialize, than to compete.   I think that people have an interesting unique consciousness that is disrupted by these measurement and categorization protocols.  (The behaviorists can piss off.)  It also could be true that people that fail to participate in some cooperative or competitive games have their own deficits.   I am advocating for the first, because the second I think is already a well-represented position.

-- 
"Better to be slapped with the truth than kissed with a lie."
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