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So, if you were a machine...

[INTJ] 
2K views 38 replies 14 participants last post by  chani8 
#1 ·
So, if you were a machine, would you be operating in what capacity? 100%? Lower?

I was thinking, don't you have that impression of a much better, "youer" you, or an unused potential deep inside - and you actually quite know it and can see it - but then, at the surface, you're completely different from that, and... it is really annoying, not being all you could be?

And if you have detected this kind of problem in yourselves, how are you planning to solve it?
 
#3 ·
I view myself as an inefficient robot operating at 60%. Sleep requirement cuts it down a few notches. So does memory. I would like to upgrade my memory if possible.

A few thoughts: if we operate at 100%, we might die faster unless like Istdet suggested we update our hardware. That could mean going into a period of inactivity while our hardware is replaced. This could be like our procrastination periods which we like to look down upon but may just be necessary hardware replacement periods. Or it could be looked at as sleep.

Also, if we operate at 100% there is chance we will burn out/melt our components so sometimes a moderate percentage is optimal. Depends on the hardware I suppose.
 
#5 ·
Somewhere in the 40-50% range. I run on idle most of the time. I have tapped into the RAM once or twice and pushed it to about 80%. That was only to complete a specific task though, not as a standard way of being.

It's not a problem. It's laziness. I achieve above average results with minimal effort, so I don't bother trying. Although I do sometimes wonder where I would be if I ever actually put any effort into anything.
 
#6 ·
Wow, sorry, I didn't expect so scientifically correct answers about machines... I had just thought of it first as a general analogy... but it gets quite interesting this way :)

Um, so, I hadn't thought of 100% as a limit, exactly... just the better you can possibly do in your imagination. But, yes, I suppose you can take 100% as the maximum of your actual capacity, and then you would really have to upgrade... I hadn't thought of the possibility of melting, either... I was thinking of a optimistic 100%, hehe. And not exactly about natural/physical limitations, but the things we can change, the things we choose to do and limit us or make us work as we wanted and think we should...

Not enlightnement either! Nor anything that looks unnatainable. Just the best any human being can be. About moral, and effort, and conscience and choices, and thought. Living up to yourself. To your best. After all, can you really just accept it and be happy when you think you aren't as good as you know you could be?

I don't know if I could make it more clear, now...
 
#7 ·
Actually no, I never use 100% of my capacity, simply because it gives me hope.
If I had an assignment, and used aaaall my capacity and got 75, I would be a bit down. But If I used 3/4 of my capacity and got 75 then I'd feel good inside knowing IF I USED all my capacity I would have gained a higher grade.

I personally don't find this a problem. The usage of 100% of my capacity means to pour my DNA, few inches of my hair, few years of my lifespan, and to sell one of my kidneys. Something has to be worth all this in order to give out the 100%. Always make sure to at least keep 2% in.
 
#9 ·
Really? Please explain this to me. I do want to understand it, but, ok, 75 in a test, for example, is enough for you (and for anyone who isn't obsessed with grades, I suppose?), however, if you know you can get better than that, why not? Don't you feel tempted to do that?

And another thing I can't relate to is this idea of keeping a 2%. Alright, 2% would be a really small fraction, but in general, the idea that you should keep a part of your potential unused. How can you grow, for example, if you never try to get better - better than the best you're doing now? I understand that a thing would need to be worth to motivate you... but if it was? (and I'm not asking about something extreme as selling your kidneys, please. there's a line between a counterargument and exaggeration like this)
 
#8 ·
There is no way to discover your "100%" capacity. For short periods, people can do incredible amount of work, but it wears them down.
Important things are health/propper resting and great deal of motivation. This is the fuel that we, organic machines, need to perform.
What you need then is both discipline (focus on what is important for you, not getting distracted) and motivation (not just focusing your action, but also interest and enthusiasm).
 
#11 ·
Can't use 100%? lol sure, can you prove it? Just kidding, thank you for the reply and your opinion. I agree with the last part.

But, again, I'm not suggesting something extreme that would do damage to my health, or talking about doing always a huuge amount of work. Maybe I didn't express myself right, because it was actually a vague idea at first, but I'm not thinking of 100% exactly as the last limit that would be forcing your metabolism. And not just about working too... about living. Awn, I'm kinda idealist. Didn't you ever want to be a better person, in any area of your life? I'm suggesting that we should try. And succeed. Like, maybe even surpassing what we would see as our maximum capacity right now. Like when you work out. You can't lift anything too heavy at first, but, if you train, some time you might be doing something you'd never imagine yourself doing.

PS: sorry if the messages are sending double. My internet isn't exactly good.
 
#21 ·
Interesting links... I'd never really read about Freud's ideas, just heard about them. He is rather criticised, isn't he? Any link/book reccomendation of a contrary opinion or critics about his work?
I didn't really study Freud. There is interesting remark about him in Jung's Psychological Types (there is link somewhere on this forum, but I forgot where). Jung concluded that Freud as extrovert imposed his own views onto his objects of study and so concluded that he would rather type people on conscious rather than unconscious.

But I think the idea of structural model of the psyche is not that controversial. I remember learning it in course on psychology back in university.
 
#19 ·
And you are talking of something like working hard all day, using all your mental/physical/emotional capacity to do it, and the level to which you exhaust yourself in the process, right?

And what about something more like Plato's Allegory of the Chariot? (focusing a little in the white horse, perhaps?)
 
#22 ·
I was thinking, don't you have that impression of a much better, "youer" you, or an unused potential deep inside - and you actually quite know it and can see it - but then, at the surface, you're completely different from that, and... it is really annoying, not being all you could be?
You almost hide the true question :wink:

What you describe sounds like what in Jungian terms could be called the difference between the "Persona" and the "Self". Where the persona represents an identify that you present to the outside word, in slightly more severe cases your ego (the thing you call "I") even identifies with it. The "Self" represents the totality of human potential, typically in the form of unconscious archetypes that can be made conscious. The process is called individuation. Other traditions may refer to this state of awareness as nirvana (buddhism) or enlightenment. And depending on how the archetypes become conscious this kind of journey may also take on the form of meeting god in one way or another.

Does this answer your question?
 
#23 ·
Well, I'm not so sure that I'm not a machine. I think humans in general are really just complex machines, and so is life in general, and that which life comes from. Also, I'm not sure I can answer what "capacity" I'd be operating in with the parameters you've provided me with. That said, humans do use all of their brain already. It's a common myth that there's some untapped potential and that we're operating out of some 10% (or whatever the number is) of our brain.

Hm, I can't really say that I experience that. I mean, I certainly had plenty of identity problems years ago, but that wasn't really on this level. I can't really say that I've experienced a sense of disconnection between my internal and external self. I'm pretty integrated together. Furthermore, while there are certain things that I'd like to improve upon, ways in which I'd like to grow, and experiences I'd like to have, I do not feel that these are fundamental parts to me that I have not integrated into my external self. Rather, these are desires to obtain things which I do not currently possess. Once I do possess them, I integrate them into my personality.

Also, if I do have some sort of problem or I wish to achieve some sort of goal, then the way in which I plan to solve the problem depends highly upon what that problem is.
 
#26 ·
@Miss_Violet:

A machine would simply be specified to a certain performance with a certain reliability/availability/etc, and that would be 100%.

Human beings cannot captured in a few performance indicators, so the notion of 100% becomes problematic.

What makes you run with excitement? What is the specification of beauty? What's the value of a smile?
 
#28 ·
Yes, I noticed it after I'd posted it and was getting the replies... it was kinda of a silly mistake XD The more coeherent view of the image of machine would be something like efficiency in work. But...

...Ah, sorry, I just saw it. Of course this isn't making any sense at all. Really, really sorry. It is all wrong, this was meant to be part of another idea (yeah, and I only discovered this now). But it is not ready yet... in formation. I let a stupid piece go too early XD So stupid of me... Sorry again.
 
#29 ·
@Miss_Violet

We all make silly mistakes, and you certainly shouldn't stop making them. They are great learning moments.

I can't imagine life without mistakes, so no need to be sorry, you can even have some hugs if you want.

I only posted to provoke your thoughts a bit, that's all.
 
#39 ·
In order to be the best you can be, you have to recognize your strengths and accept your weaknesses. People don't actually change much, what they do is make better choices. We come closer to our ideal self when we choose to do good, be other-centered, give more, exert self-control. The way to maximize your potential is to do acts of kindness.

If I was a machine, I would be an electronic kitchen scale and weigh my daily acts of kindness. It used to be a high number but I lost my mojo a few years ago. With your thought provoking thread, I think I now know how to get it back. Thank you.
 
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