JenniferRM comments on How is your mind different from everyone else's? - Less Wrong

31 Post author: Kaj_Sotala 05 December 2011 08:38AM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (266)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: JenniferRM 06 December 2011 08:30:15PM *  14 points [-]

A friend of mine in college had a story about a dislocated elbow. The conversation was early in the diagnostic process, possibly over the phone:

Friend: "I have a dislocated elbow."
Nurse: "On a scale of one to ten what's your pain?"
Friend: "Seven."
Nurse: "Then you don't have a dislocated elbow. Those are very painful and people say ten when it happens."
Friend: "Kidney stones are a nine. I'm saving ten for something worse than that."
Nurse: "Oh... [stops to think] Then I guess you probably do have a dislocated elbow."

Comment author: TheOtherDave 06 December 2011 09:34:08PM 4 points [-]

My answer at one point (when I was in a rehab center recovering from a stroke) was something like "if 10 is, say, having a burning building collapse around me, this is a 3. Maybe a 2. I'm not sure... I've never had a burning building collapse around me, but I'd expect it sucks."

Eventually I calibrated my answers against the pain meds they were giving me and just started giving them numbers.