Cheat Engine

[ipivb]

This seems obvious. Yet on a philosophical level, intriguing.

Few seem to realize that the biggest limitation to a human being is not what he can do physically, but mentally. A perfectly healthy man still "needs" time to relax. Days he can sleep in. Someone to call a friend. Or that occasional combo meal.

It is our mental laziness and greediness that hold us back (and sometimes, keep us going). You can run two blocks, sweating, tired... it is physically possible to keep going, but it is your mind that eventually forces you to stop. And we have very little control over it. There's not much we can do. At most, we might get lucky and look at things a different way or in a different perspective. That might give us motivation to keep going.

Life is a constant fluctuation between happiness and depression. A common quote is:

"You have to experience the bad to appreciate the good"

This can be refuted in many ways, but only in superficial ways. On the deepest, yet not over-analyzed level, everyone experiences ups and downs, no matter how small they are.

There are many people in the world who work long shifts with very little sleep (picture china). Some people cannot do that. But could they, through mental training? Afterall, if a large majority of the population can do it, then it should mean that it is indeed possible.

That's all I have for now. Any thoughts?

[Innovation]

Mentality is still derived from physical chemistry. For example, mental illness may prevent someone from functioning "normally." It might be nice to simply "get over it," but it is sometimes not possible without there being an external effort via the use of medication/drugs. A drug is, after all, often used in an effort to account for lacking in bodily functionality. Other times it is not at all possible. It is very easy to get mad at someone for not being able to do something that another deems especially trivial, even though there may be no helping it.

All are born with different physiologic ability. No one will ever be truly equal.

[C-Dizzle]

Your muscles still have a limit which, if crossed, can damage them greatly. Maybe the mental limit is to prevent damage like this.

As for sleep, the body can cope with around 4 hours a night. Any less than this and the person will start to experience symptoms of sleep deprivation. It still takes time to get used to sleeping for a short amount of time. Heh, I could write essays on sleep thanks to psych but it's pretty boring and no one wants to hear it ^_^.

[hcavolsdsadgadsg]

just because you can technically do it doesn't mean it's healthy to do so.


it's not uncommon to lift until failure when working out. there is no mental limitation, you simply cannot do any more, it doesn't work. try as hard as you want but at that point you'll just end up hurting yourself.

if you're out of breath from running, congrats, you're out of shape and your body can't keep up. the only result from continuing to push is injury and the end result of that is that it will take even longer to accomplish what you set out to do. if you keep going you'll probably puke, not exactly an uncommon in running. i imagine you'll eventually pass out from one thing or another eventually and by this point you will probably be well on the track to needing medical attention.

can you stay awake a stupidly long time? maybe, but it's not a great idea. sleep deprivation is not good. i've stayed awake until the port of borderline hallucination before and i felt like shit. it wasn't as fun or great as it sounded.


basically your body tells you to give it a rest for a reason and generally ignoring the warning signs is a good way to do damage.

[AhMunRa]

The US established 8 - 10 hour workday came about during the industrial revolution, in which it was not unheard of for people to work 14 - 20 hour shifts with little to no breaks in conditions that would make a Chinese factory look like heaven.

Physical limitations are there. It is proven that during cold or heat your body reacts differently. After working an 8 hour day that is either physically exhausting or mentally exhausting your body will react.

What you have said though is very profound. Definitely food for thought.

[ptudia]

If an individual's livelihood demands a certain level of performance or stamina on a consistent basis, chances are said person will adapt to meet these criterion.

[ipivb]

Very good replies.

To clarify, I do acknowledge there is, of course, a physical limit.

But usually, the mental limit comes first. There are some things people can't mentally push themselves to do. Things that are not even physical -- such as social conversations. Some people are antisocial, and this is a mental barrier.

Or a lazy programmer. Often I will start a project, slow down, and eventually find myself just wanting to play video games instead of work. There is no physical limitation here -- only mental.

Of course, all work and no play makes jack a dull boy. But all play and no work makes jack a mere toy.

[Haswell]

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100101041808AAGij4o

"P company is probably the toughest programme you can put your body through in the armed forces. We did the log race. Fook me that was tough. We did it shorter than the actual P Company standard but only by 0.4 of a mile. We ran 1.5miles with 8 of us on an 80kg log, In heavy Army Boots and Helmets. Problem is the weaker candidates fall off early so about 0.25 miles into the race we had 5 left on it. The terrain was terrible, sticky mud all the way round aswell as uphill and downhill parts. I ended up coming of about 100m from the end. I did my best, but the rope which the person infront was holding onto was getting trapped under my feet, when he let go and the other lads were pushing really hard."

The threshold of your mental limitations can be increased through training and self-discipline though. There are usually distinct differences between those who fail exams and those who aces it through, but studying particular subjects have almost nothing to do with physical limitations (assuming normal study sessions, no continuous all-nighters). Yet we can clearly separate the intellect from the challenged.

I believe one's basic mental limitations are shaped throughout childhood development. Spoiled children will clearly lack the high degree of determination for prolonged tasks when compared to a well-disciplined child.

[ptudia]

[Haswell]

The key would be self-discipline, not foreign affection. The more one adapts to a certain difficulty in life the higher the threshold becomes. Meta-cognition would be more important than any foreign influence, as only oneself truly knows his/her own mental limitations, and it will be up to the individual to overcome difficulties (going beyond limitations, increasing threshold for the future). The same can be said for spoiled children spending their lives hunkering down and playing video games. Their minds are acclimated to their lives filled with entertainment, and naturally they would lack certain abilities to cope with situations not involving their entertainment.

Taking your example of a gifted child, when the child becomes dependent on parental discipline, the responsibilities of the child's development shifts from the child himself to his parents. Of course, now we'd need to separated the "gifted" from the normal.