xamdam comments on Intelligence Amplification Open Thread - Less Wrong
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For a no-brainer, you can easily adjust to listening to audiobooks at 2x on ipod/phone.
-Nietzsche
Fun quote. I bet you could read quickly, but also pause to think.
The average US reader reads at 300wpm, but speech is typically 150wpm. I feel like the 1.4x speed option on bloggingheads doesn't reduce my comprehension at all, even for technical material.
I would think that the brain is devoting extra processing power to pickup on different social cues and status juxtapositions while listening to the bloggingheads versus text.
If you listen to it twice at 2x speed, especially with a sleep in between, I'm pretty confident that you'll get and retain more in the time you spend.
Same goes for videos (Yay action movies at 2x).
Bonus points (for fun only): Play action games afterwards. Time sensation is a weird thing.
Interestingly I have noticed a similar "time slowing" effect in rapid reaction computer games following extreme bursts of adrenaline for whatever reason - I wonder if action movies at 2x give you an adrenaline boost?
I noticed real life slowing down after extended multiplayer sessions of Quake 3.
What's this like?
It appears slow. In particular I seem to think more things per time, sometimes noticing significant delays between thought and action. However according to the scores, performance improvement is only marginal (but existent). The effect wears off after 10 to 15 minutes according to my experience.
I usually play Quake 3 (just in case anybody want's to compare effects between games).
What software are you using? I find audio parts of sped-up videos pretty difficult, other than on the ipod line of products (even in quicktime).
There is some info here:
http://www.catonmat.net/blog/how-to-save-time-by-watching-videos-at-higher-playback-speeds/
The blog post (but not the comments) omits mplayer's 'scaletempo' option, which de-chipmunkifies the sound. Perhaps the ipod line of products is doing that by default.
(I personally only increase things like 110%. Still saves me time without ever bothering me.)
I use VLC's playback speed (fine) options. Right now I'm taking a few recorded lecture classes and I can get them up to 1.4x without any difficulty in understanding or comprehension.