simplicio comments on The Affect Heuristic, Sentiment, and Art - Less Wrong

66 [deleted] 13 September 2010 11:05PM

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Comment author: simplicio 14 September 2010 01:37:29AM 7 points [-]

You can deploy music to change yourself at the pre-rational level; personally, I find that something like “O Isis Und Osiris” from The Magic Flute can cut through fear and calm me, better than any conscious logical argument.

Thanks for setting me on that scent. My magic bullet is the (somewhat overplayed, but who cares?) adagio from Beethoven's 5th piano concerto.

I've found that a certain posture of bemusement at the world is useful in fighting negative affect when it starts to get misanthropic. As in taking a deep breath, smiling & thinking something like "Wow, look at all these talking monkeys!"

Comment author: Will_Newsome 14 September 2010 02:37:03AM 7 points [-]

As in taking a deep breath, smiling & thinking something like "Wow, look at all these talking monkeys!"

Ha, good idea. The world gets a lot less stressful when you start thinking about people as if they were machines.

Comment author: Relsqui 14 September 2010 08:38:31AM 3 points [-]

The world gets a lot less stressful when you start thinking about people as if they were machines.

You can take it in another direction, too. Think about all the intricate and beautiful biological and chemical processes that lead to the mere functioning of a human being, its ability to think, and its ability to vocalize thoughts in a comprehensible way, and you just might distract yourself from the moronic things that one is saying! ;)

... although, actually, that IS what you were saying. But I inferred a different attitude than the one I intend.

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