<story><title>We Aren’t Built to Live in the Moment</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/19/opinion/sunday/why-the-future-is-always-on-your-mind.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ghthor</author><text>Hits the nail on the head. Our brains are back propagating, recursive neural networks that are consistently making predictions about the next input in the stream of input signals as it changes over time. When the prediction results are correct we save a fuzzy recording of the higher-order-pattern that resulted in our correct prediction. Each time our predictions are correct that &amp;quot;memory&amp;quot; is reinforced so we&amp;#x27;re able to make faster predictions, at earlier points in the pattern.&lt;p&gt;I hypothesize that the source of most anxiety or nervousness stems from our brains making no correct predictions in that moment. This is supported anecdotally by my patterns for overcoming social interactions that used to make me anxious that I&amp;#x27;ve now become comfortable with. My brain now makes enough correct predictions that I don&amp;#x27;t feel the need to leave the situation.&lt;p&gt;I hypothesize that part of why I started acting on my transgender feelings was because I&amp;#x27;d become so uncomfortable in my own body that my brain wasn&amp;#x27;t able to make accurate predictions about the sensations coming from my within. This is supported anecdotally by the following.&lt;p&gt;I started 2 activities when I accepted my desire to transition to female. Both were touted at reducing the feelings of un-comfortableness in my own body. Female to Male hormone therapy and taijiquan. Both produced lots of new feelings for my brain. Both gave me a sense of agency over my own body, the understanding that I have the ability to shape my body into what I want. In the end I stopped transitioning because taking the hormones(mostly the T blocker) isn&amp;#x27;t known to be healthy for the body(Liver&amp;#x2F;Kidneys). Taijiquan is almost unanimously a positive source of change in ones health for the rest of their lives therefore I choose taijiquan and a long healthy life over my desires to have female genitals. Practicing Taijiquan makes me feel better, and in regards to my gender dysphoria taijiquan has cured it; I am very comfortable with my male genitals now that I&amp;#x27;m able to make enough consistent predictions during sex to remain engaged with the situation and remain turned on.&lt;p&gt;Edit Addition: I&amp;#x27;d like to state that I still identify as a cross dresser and I&amp;#x27;m comfortable saying that love certain parts&amp;#x2F;styles of womens fashion and accessories. Example, I love long flowing skirts. As a society I feel we should reassess men wearing skirts as it is much healthier for our genitals.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>imranq</author><text>When the steam engine was invented, we thought of the brain as a series of pressures. When we discovered electricity, we thought of the brain as wires. When we got the internet, we thought of the brain as a network. Now sure neural networks have the word &amp;quot;neuron&amp;quot; in them, but they are far far away from the wetware that produced this conversation.</text></comment>
<story><title>We Aren’t Built to Live in the Moment</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/19/opinion/sunday/why-the-future-is-always-on-your-mind.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ghthor</author><text>Hits the nail on the head. Our brains are back propagating, recursive neural networks that are consistently making predictions about the next input in the stream of input signals as it changes over time. When the prediction results are correct we save a fuzzy recording of the higher-order-pattern that resulted in our correct prediction. Each time our predictions are correct that &amp;quot;memory&amp;quot; is reinforced so we&amp;#x27;re able to make faster predictions, at earlier points in the pattern.&lt;p&gt;I hypothesize that the source of most anxiety or nervousness stems from our brains making no correct predictions in that moment. This is supported anecdotally by my patterns for overcoming social interactions that used to make me anxious that I&amp;#x27;ve now become comfortable with. My brain now makes enough correct predictions that I don&amp;#x27;t feel the need to leave the situation.&lt;p&gt;I hypothesize that part of why I started acting on my transgender feelings was because I&amp;#x27;d become so uncomfortable in my own body that my brain wasn&amp;#x27;t able to make accurate predictions about the sensations coming from my within. This is supported anecdotally by the following.&lt;p&gt;I started 2 activities when I accepted my desire to transition to female. Both were touted at reducing the feelings of un-comfortableness in my own body. Female to Male hormone therapy and taijiquan. Both produced lots of new feelings for my brain. Both gave me a sense of agency over my own body, the understanding that I have the ability to shape my body into what I want. In the end I stopped transitioning because taking the hormones(mostly the T blocker) isn&amp;#x27;t known to be healthy for the body(Liver&amp;#x2F;Kidneys). Taijiquan is almost unanimously a positive source of change in ones health for the rest of their lives therefore I choose taijiquan and a long healthy life over my desires to have female genitals. Practicing Taijiquan makes me feel better, and in regards to my gender dysphoria taijiquan has cured it; I am very comfortable with my male genitals now that I&amp;#x27;m able to make enough consistent predictions during sex to remain engaged with the situation and remain turned on.&lt;p&gt;Edit Addition: I&amp;#x27;d like to state that I still identify as a cross dresser and I&amp;#x27;m comfortable saying that love certain parts&amp;#x2F;styles of womens fashion and accessories. Example, I love long flowing skirts. As a society I feel we should reassess men wearing skirts as it is much healthier for our genitals.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>_98fj</author><text>&amp;gt; I hypothesize that the source of most anxiety or nervousness stems from our brains making no correct predictions in that moment.&lt;p&gt;Since fight&amp;#x2F;flight behaviour is regulated by the amygdala and basal ganglia, you can say:&lt;p&gt;Anxiety stems from our amygdalae getting started up, because they sense a threat where none is, and effecting inappropriate behaviour thereafter.&lt;p&gt;Actually, the threat is often correctly sensed, it&amp;#x27;s just the behaviour (running away, attacking, feigning death&amp;#x2F;freezing) that&amp;#x27;s not useful in the modern world.&lt;p&gt;The therapeutically interesting question is how to change that.&lt;p&gt;Compared to the rational parts, those emotional mechanisms are much deeper and better wired to the rest of the brain. At the same time they aren&amp;#x27;t very sophisticated. Some people refer to them as &amp;quot;reptilian complex&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;We can&amp;#x27;t adjust emotions directly and in general we have to  wait much more time (think: weeks, sometimes months) to let new ideas like not being afraid of something sink into the subconscious.&lt;p&gt;But knowing and accepting that makes it possible to grow.</text></comment>