"Michael S. Lorrey" <mike@lorrey.com> writes:
> While I understand the sentiment, the 'don't feel -- think!' quote
>is IMHO not meant as any sort of anti-extropian or anti-rationalist
>sentiment. I can only offer that from my own experience as an alpine
>ski racer as a child and in college that when you are in an athletic
>endeavor that is as fast paced as slalom racing (or sword/lightsaber
>fighting) where you very dynamically apply large amounts of force in
>precise amounts, constantly correcting from sensory feedback, you
>absolutely cannot depend on (and must often totally ignore) what your
>concious rational mind is telling you. It is what the cybernetics
>people call 'right brain' thinking, where you have developed such a
>large body of experience in the movements that it becomes second
>nature, where you can whip through a world cup slalom course while
>still thinking about laying on a beach. This is what I believe is
>meant by the quote.
It fits in with the rest of the "philosophy" mentioned in the movies. The goal of much of eastern mysticism (and the wisdom of Yoda is borrowed from there, of course) is to achieve a state of freely flowing action, where you don't have to consciously think in order to act right. The way of reaching this is of course practice, practice, practice.
The trick is to be good enough at what you are doing so that you don't have to involve the messy prefrontal planning systems, and use them for the new and uncertain situations instead.
Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y