And how to increase your creativity — Table of contents Semantic similarity The effect of semantic distance on cognitive load The effect of semantic distance on degrees of separation Avoiding interference Connecting high-semantic distance concepts Creating analogies decreases the average semantic distance of a concept network, which can make it easier to combine concepts and, therefore, creativity.

Prioritization and productivity — What is a possible metric one can use to estimate the value of particular information or knowledge? I personally believe, if nothing else is known (see: principle of indifference), it should be based on time, hence the following formula: Value of Knowledge = Time Utilized/Time Spent Learning E.g. if you…

Less deactivated neurons → higher semantic distances → more creativity? — Everything written in the following is speculative. When staring at an object e.g. an extinguisher, all kinds of neurons activate while, simultaneously, some of these neurons gets deactivated (e.g. via top-down regulation or lateral inhibition). The neurons that are deactivated are the ones not representing the object, in this case…

And how to prioritize to speed up your learning — Overview Analogy: Canonical nucleobases Construal level theory and prioritization Organizing construals from high to low + top-down and bottom-up approach Striving to be in a local/global maximum How I personally organize the construals Tree analogy Measuring the level of construals: 5 primary dimensions Summary Analogy: Canonical nucleobases There are 5 primary (or canonical) nucleobases:

Less is more — There are 4 “primary nucleobases” in the genetic code of humans: Adenine (A) Cytosine (C) Guanine (G) Thymine (T) Yet out of just 4 basic elements, complex things like human beings are created. So what can this teach us on how to learn faster? That you should start learning the…

…Including shame. — Overview: “Shoulds” and perfectionism Perfectionism and agoraphobia Shame and perfectionism Shame + guilt and amygdala Perfectionism and scarcity Social media and perfectionism Perfectionism and pseudo-antipathy Perfectionism and sense of belonging Perfectionism and lack/reduction of self-acceptance Miscellaneous I have currently finished the book: The Gifts of Imperfection She makes it feel and seem so easy! the main message here is: Let go of your insecurities, expectations, shame, guilt…www.goodreads.com

Why you should prioritize from higher- to lower-level construals — Overview: Interference Boolean algebra to counteract interference Construal level theory and Levels of Processing model Construal level theory and prioritization Construal level theory, prioritization, and combinatorial thinking How higher-level construals create a bigger impact than lower-level ones Construal level theory: the more abstract something is, the higher the level of the…

Ontological, methodological, and theory reductionism — I am currently reading a book: The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking This brief, highly readable book challenges readers on several fronts, and includes several good quotes: Picasso: I…www.goodreads.com And the first chapter made me think of how I can apply the 3 main types of reductionism to improve my thinking: Ontological reductionism: a belief that the whole of reality consists of a minimal number of parts.

Elements = e.g. questions — I have been trying to improve my combinatorial thinking skills the last 2 weeks or so and one idea I had was to bring up elements that lead to the highest quantity of activation of concepts. I call things that activate concepts within our mind elements even though elements, themselves…