One think we can concur is that each and everyone of us has hyperfixations, some have permanent ones, others have cyclic ones but it’s one of the things that makes us who we are and makes as happy.
My hiperfixations tend to be related to media, a tv series, a book series or about medical cases/diseases, etc. My 5 year hyperfixates (for now) on flags, countries, capitals and car brands and brands in general.
I try to stay away from some hyperfixations that cause me too much anxiety like true crime and real disasters (stampedes, wars, earthquakes, etc)
What are yours? And feel free to share some knowledge!
My special interest is AI Its so exciting seeing so much new stuff come out everyday. I pretty much never run out of stuff to look at with how fast it’s advancing.
That sounds like a great situation to be in. What’s something on the leading edge of AI that most people aren’t aware but would likely find interesting?
I think the open-source Orca ai model created by Microsoft is the biggest thing right now. They trained it by using Chatgpt and Gpt4 to explain complex questions to it. Currently, it outperforms Vicuna-13b which is pretty powerful when it comes to open-source models but more importantly it’s comparable to Chatgpt and even outperforms gpt4 on some tasks. They said that there are still many things they haven’t tried yet which could increase Orca’s performance.
alpaca was said to be just “imitating” the style of gpt 3.5 only without the capablities but orca can both have the style and the capablities of gpt 3.5 and even outperform it. I think that is a very good advancement for the open source AI community c: unsure why they called it orca though, sounds a bit like an oxymoron to name a small model with a big brained animal
My special interest is humanities, that includes languages, linguistics, history, cultures and geography. The actual hyperfixation fluctuates but it always about one of those areas. Now for some reason it’s geography of the US (I’m not from the US).
Tbh I get a lot of hyperfixations and they tend to be pretty fleeting as well. For example there was a 6 month period three years ago where I kept trying to learn a new language. Completed a duolingo course on Irish, made some progress on the Greek and German one, and sampled a whole bunch of others as well. Not that I have any proficiency in any of them at all.
I also have had a few periods where I get obsessed with movies and get really invested in the Oscars. Not to the point where I would throw a hissy fit if the movie I wanted didn’t win but I would get pretty invested.
I can also get fixated on a certain TV show and try to watch all of it (Breaking Bad, Criminal Minds, Simpsons, The Wire and Sopranos are all shows I’ve had a hyper fixation with at some point)
I can also get really invested in political developments like elections and protests.
Yes! Mine is like “big question” stuff. Philosophy, religion, psychology, etc.
There’s an inexhaustible amount of ideas to explore, so there is some variability. But as much as I read, I have not read fiction in like 20 years. No other hobbies, etc.
Luckily I found my way to psychology so I can practice in that area (mainly with struggles I have been through from the inside-out) and even provide “consultation,” i.e. getting paid to have a willingly captive audience listen to me info-dump about my special interest.
Mu hu ha ha ha.
Mine is like “big question” stuff. Philosophy, religion, psychology, etc.
What have you found on a scientific definition of consciousness? Last time I went down that rabbit hole, they had trouble creating an objective philosophical definition for it.
I think that if you don’t have a phylogenetically (history of species) and ontogenetically (development of individual) sensible approach to consciousness, how it evolved, and how it develops… then you are shouting at ghosts.
This is the most cogent and satisfying account I’ve found:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36937548/
Hope it’s ok to share sus dropbox link?
[edit] There is a whiff of ableism when the authors discuss extensions of their model to “developmentally delayed” children. I think they are mistaken here; and I don’t think this mistake undermines the core argument.
In other words, I think it’s easy to take the core argument and use it in a neurodiversity affirming (even celebrating!) way.
But just a heads up that most folks here interested in science and philosophy, I imagine, will delight in 97% of this, and cringe / get pissed off at 3%.
At least that’s my reading.
then you are shouting at ghosts
Or, in the more field-specific terminology: zombies 😉
I like how you accept that you have hyperfixations and then aim them at things that keep you healthy! That’s pretty insightful. Thanks for sharing.
I see that you have a thing for flags. Ever hear do the Kingdom of Benin’s flag? It’s a bit intense lol
I have a question: what does black on flags generally represent? I think it usually means something anarchist or lack of central command, but I know I could be entirely wrong do to my personal political beliefs.
I love my ability to hyperfixate because it helps me become proficient in areas. For example, I went from knowing how a guitar practically works to running a guitar training and counseling program for people with severe PTSD that helped them communicate their emotions via music within 9 months. For that, I had to learn how to play guitar, teach playing guitar, come up with a protocol, then learn how to use that information to help the people I was helping express themselves musically. I did all of the learning on my own time, not work hours. The impact it had on those people was immeasurable and I still have the songs they wrote. They will forever be my treasures.
My hyperfixations generally tend to revolve around becoming autonomous and prepared for difficult situations. They also revolve around science, especially physics, and history. I can get lost down rabbit holes for days if I’m not careful. Right now, I’m getting a bit hyper-fixated with the whole FOSS and Fediverse idea, so it’s looking like I might get into computer programming. I’m kind of excited to learn about that and how I can implement the options to accommodate my life more fittingly and help others.