Re: Extropy in the personal sphere

Anders Sandberg (nv91-asa@nada.kth.se)
Wed, 13 Aug 1997 17:03:36 +0200 (MET DST)


On Tue, 5 Aug 1997, Hagbard Celine wrote:

> What changes in your personal lifestyle have you taken to increase the
> amount of extropy therein (changes = mental, physical, social, etc.)?
> Or if not changes, per se, what have you always been doing to effect the
> same end?

My first, and IMHO most important, step was when I realized that how
I felt was entirely up to me. If I felt depressed, I would not try to
find a way out of my situation, while if I felt happy and confident I
had much better chances of finding a solution to whatever problem I
had. So I simply decided to become happy, and have remained that ever
since.

Physically, I recently (this January) started to train ninjutsu,
which I think is a very transhumanist martial art form. It has
several advantages: increased exercise (very necessary) and awareness
of my body, less fear of physical danger (one should treat it with
caution, but not fear) and plenty of interesting techniques and
metaphors to experiment with. Integrated with this I have made my
diet healthier, learning to enjoy food more.

Socially I try to seek out intelligent, creative people and discuss
with them; there is little point in dealing with uninteresting,
negative people just due to social customs. I have noticed that there
are no boring subjects if you can find somebody interested in them
who can introduce and enthusiasmate you. Often I notice that it is
possible to act as a catalyst, bringing together great minds so that
they can fire each other.

Mentally, I have learned to acquire new cognitive tools which I can
use: organizational skills, speed reading, study skills, memory
techniques, a better understanding of how my mind works and a broad
education. "The only skill needed is the skill to learn new skills".

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension!
nv91-asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~nv91-asa/main.html
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