Ben Mann Monthly Jan 2020: retreat, hot chocolate, citrus, real mental problems, House of God
Purpose
An index for my memory
A menu of topics for my next conversation with you
A faster way to share what I’m excited about without the barrier of writing a complete blog entry on it
A skimmable way to spread content I found valuable
Experiments and experiences
House retreat
Every year my house, now 20 people, takes a trip together to build connection and relax. This year we went to Tahoe, skiied at Squaw, cooked dinner, hot tubbed and saunad, and had lots of great conversations about our lives and how we fit into the world. I didn't feel like an outsider at all this time. I wonder how much of that is me, and how much is the group itself? I'd bet it was me.Switched to Zoloft
I felt great on Lexapro, but I found it hard to sleep through the night. In the spirit of science and experimentation, I switched to Zoloft a few weeks ago. I've been observing the differences in my own psychology. While it's difficult to put the changes into words, I'd say the adjustment period has been more challenging: bouts of nausea, dizzyness, trouble following conversation. My sleep has improved a little and mood is still great. In another week I'll talk to my psychiatrist and see if I can try one more thing. If I expect to take something every day for years, a few months of experimenting seems worthwhile!Hot chocolate
Diana and I experimented with making hot chocolate from scratch. We tried heavy cream, half and half, milk, and water as the liquid and dark chocolate chips, cocoa powder, and cocoa mix as the solid. I thought best balance of speed and simplicity was hot water, milk powder, cocoa powder, a pinch of salt, and oil blended together. The best tasting was half and half, chocolate chips, a little cocoa powder, pinch of salt, and cardamom. We called it "Indian hot chocolate" in the vein of Mexican hot chocolate having pepper.Citrus tasting
I ate 10 different kinds of citrus since satsumas are in season. My favorite was the blood orange, whose flavor was more floral and complex than many of the others. Runner up was sumo mandarin, which was easy to peel and exceptionally sweet. Weirdo favorite was kumquat. Weird but not that delicious were buddha hand, kumquat tangerine, and ponderosa lemon from a friend's backyard.
Life updates
Published depression post
Work sprint, going great!
Training for a trail half marathon with 3k ft elevation
New clarinet finally done repairs
Thinking about internal vs external validation
Content
5 point Likert ratings for “I would recommend this content to a friend”, sorted
Contra Contra Contra Caplan On Psych 5/5
Bryan Kaplan makes the claim that there's a difference between preferences and constraints. If you put a gun to someone's head, can they overcome an "I can't" statement? If so, it's a preference.
Scott makes beautiful arguments showing the folly of this dichotomy, the most convincing of which is that certain viruses can induce psychological dispositions similar to congenital ones. Once you see this argument, it's hard to unsee that depressed, obese, anxious, etc etc people need help just like people with pneumonia or leukemia.
Favorite highlight: "Suppose I created a sinister machine that beamed mind control rays into Bryan’s head and gave him an urge to constantly slap himself in the face. This urge could theoretically be resisted, but it’s so strong that in practice he never managed to resist it. It didn’t make him enjoy slapping himself in the face, or think this was a reasonable thing to do. It just made him compulsively want to keep doing it. He loses his job, his friends, and his dignity, because nobody wants to be around someone who’s slapping himself in the face all the time."
New Atheism: The Godlessness That Failed 4/5
From 2006 to 2012, there was a big movement around "New Atheism" that suddenly disappeared.
""Hamartiology" is a subfield of theology dealing with the study of sin, in particular, how sin enters the universe." 🤓
All the people who said "evil in society comes from religion" redirected to saying "we don't care where the evil comes from" and turned into social justice advocates instead. The atheism is now just a side show.
The democratic party has had an ongoing identity crisis whose evolving answer has consistently taken the form "we're the ones who see reality clearly."
Thanks for the Feedback excerpt 4/5
People often focus on giving feedback, but receiving feedback well is at least as important
Bring curiosity, try to listen even when it gets hard
There are three kinds of triggers that prevent us from receiving feedback: "truth" → the feedback itself is wrong about the state of the world, "relationship" → the person giving the feedback's character is in question, "identity" → the feedback challenges a piece of who we are
House of God 4/5
Thesis: the current hospital system is not about caring for patients, but about pushing people through an impersonal medical factory of sorts. The main character discovers that the most he can do is be with his patients, not to save them.
Makes me rethink every hospital visit I've ever had, and my likelihood of ever going to the ER again
My doctor parents say the book is boring for them because it's all still true 50 years later, including acronyms like gomer (Get Out of My Emergency Room) and lolsinad (Little Old Ladies In No Acute Distress).
The old want to die, but can't. The best we can do for them is nothing.
The young don't want to die, but will. We can try to help them but most of the time we'll fail.
This book read like a trashy porno mixed in with the blood, pus, and death. I was rather disturbed. It is beautifully written nonetheless.
As technology improves I think this narrative will start to disappear. The book was written 50 years ago. Today, for many conditions, there's still little we can do.
Book Review Review: Little Soldiers 3/5
A Western mom sends her kid to a Chinese school. After initial resistance to their methods, she comes to understand the logic of strict, arbitrary discipline as she sees the results in her son's behavior.
Thesis of the Chinese education system: "Learning how to sit still and obey others is the necessary prerequisite to learning how to sit still and obey yourself."
Research hasn't yet concluded which approach leads to the best outcomes
Knives Out 3/5
A fun, well-acted whodunnit, but not very thoughtful
Best scene: main character vomiting all over Chris Evans' face
Assortative Mating And Autism 2/5
Based on his survey results, assortative mating between highly analytical people does not appear to significantly increase chance of autism in offspring
Star Trek: Picard ep 01 1/5
I've never given such a low rating, but the acting, script, cinematography, world building, and character development were all abominable
My friends who are fans of the original said the first TNG episode was also horrible, so perhaps the series will improve over time