Why You Need People That Think Fast and Superficially

Let's say I get presented with new information while I walk the streets. I see somebody walking.

I draw a split-second conclusion (1)

I try to delay what I think as much as possible (3)

Or I pick a middle way (2)

I deliberately used this numbering since it mimics speed and voltage.

(1)

Somebody who mostly does (1) is a fast thinker, but also a more superficial one. This has great disadvantages and great advantages.

The disadvantage is that you are going to "lose" to somebody who spends one hour thinking about the same information. But you "win" in that moment, which is crucial. You are faster to act when situational circumstances change.

This also means people are going to point out mistakes in your thinking afterwards, but you already called the important shots. You acted first.

If you would draw the brain, I mostly make a split-second decision when the information rolls in. The reason I do that is to filter out dangers, both in myself and in the environment. This has nothing to do with anxiety, although it can appear as a survival strategy—which it isn't. It's a choice.

(3)

Number three spends more time and energy thinking about the same thing. The advantage is that, in retrospect, you are almost always right.

This describes a lot of scientists. You thought about something for a very long time and very deeply. You looked at it from all angles, and you drew a perfectly balanced conclusion.

I am impressed. Seriously.

But it's also a little bit like journalism: you understand it afterwards. You talk when everybody else is already doing the next thing. It's like scoring a goal when the match is already over.

(2)

This is the person in the middle.

Slower than the fastest, but faster than the people in (3).

A very valid strategy, because if you notice you are going too fast, you slow down. And when you are going too slow, you speed up a little.

In my family there are a lot of fast thinkers, which sometimes makes me feel slow, and then I have to speed up.

Do you get the point?

Thinking is a live game. A voltage thing. An intensity thing.

I used to practice my own thinking for hours every Sunday, until I could mirror my thoughts against the status quo, my own norms and values, and see where they differed over time.

In a sense, it's about understanding how thinking works inside yourself. How intuition flows.

I know this all sounds like vague mumbo jumbo.

Let's say you see somebody walking down the street.

Your brain immediately starts categorizing people. That is often very fast-paced thinking.

The important question isn't whether your brain does this—it will. The question is whether you allow that first impression to become your final judgment.

Sometimes it helps to let the thought and the information roll out more like waves passing over you before you decide what you actually believe.

I once read a book by a Nobel Prize winner about fast and slow thinking, and I was like, "Wow... this is very disappointing."

You're missing the point of why you need people that think fast.

Because it's situational.

If you are a slow thinker, you are right more often, but you are too slow to act. It's useless in many practical situations.

The Buddha Example

Probably the best example of somebody who was stuck in level (3) too much is Buddha.

Imagine this.

You are sitting under a tree.

You contemplate how to end all suffering in the world.

It doesn't get much more paradoxical than that.

Sitting under a tree is about the most level (3) thing you can do.

You are not reacting to anything. You basically exclude the rest of the world.

From a consciousness perspective, this is easy.

The hard part is doing this while walking through the streets of Egypt. Doing it fast.

How to Alter Between Levels

I am somebody who is in level (3) too much.

So I am a deep thinker, which is also the easy way out, since I am typing this nice and warm on a Sunday behind my computer.

Doing it on the spot is the hard part.

You see this a lot with autism, where people think so deeply about things that they start lagging behind in real life.

You can practice these connections. (Note: I am not a doctor, and I am saying experimental things.)

You can learn to manually switch from level (3), the deep level, to the fast level (1).

For example, through kickboxing, which is extremely fast-paced and almost entirely level (1). There you have to make split-second judgments based on very little information.

Another thing that works well is learning how to multitask, for instance through cooking.

Anything that forces you to make quick decisions on the spot helps tremendously in forming new connections.

I See a Lot of Wise People Spend Most of Their Time in Level (2)

You work in the garden.

You think about life.

Both are situational forms of thinking.

You have to react to what you see, but you don't have to be extremely fast.

A formula would be something like this.

The three levels.

1× time = fastest, energy spent on a high-density point.

3× time = slowest, energy spent on a balanced distribution.

2× time = somewhere in between.

Thinking is a bit like sex: it's 99% confidence.

If you don't trust yourself, it quickly feels like you're failing.

This is also exactly my objection to all the ADHD and autism labels. People lose faith that the way they see the world actually works. And that is infinitely more important than who is best at what, or whatever theoretical label we've come up with. If you no longer trust your own brain, that's when you get into trouble. It's a bit like going into a competition without confidence. You can still do it, but it's much harder.

You can frame everything differently. Easily distracted? No, you form new connections quickly. Autism? No, you think very deeply, which takes a lot of energy and therefore requires more recovery time.

Once you start trusting that the "strange" way you see the world actually works—although you'll still have to make countless mistakes and learn from them—you become almost unstoppable. No matter how distracted or overstimulated you may be. That's also when you begin to see all the beautiful sides of yourself.

I struggled for years with different psychiatric labels (ADHD, autism, psychosis, generalized anxiety disorder, depression). Now I mostly see them as strengths, and I actually thrive because of them. On top of that, I'm much happier than many other people, even though there was a time when I could barely get out of bed.

It brings a lot of peace to be able to sit there and think, "Whatever comes, comes. I can handle it, no matter how much suffering comes with it."

Or maybe this:

You were always good enough exactly as you were. You were just fighting against it. But I guess that's part of the journey.

Good luck.

Think of it as a whole-body voltage thing.

 

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Mania? A few months at 150%, then a crash.

Bipolar: the same pattern.

ADHD: low voltage most of the time, with short bursts of high voltage (hyperfocus).

Autism: high voltage focused on a small number of thoughts. Either deeply focused or overwhelmed.

 

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ADHD is a small amount of energy per thought, or a lot of energy on the things they find interesting.

ADD is a bit of the same story, but more dreamy and internal.

Autism is spending a lot of energy on a small number of interests or thoughts, until you crash.

 

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You have to learn from each other.

 

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Stay close to yourself.

 

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Sometimes you have to protect your own energy by sitting with yourself, your thoughts, your inner self.

 

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If the world were that much fun, everybody would have kids.

If you look at reality from only one angle, you push away all the other angles.

If you look through the lens of calories, you don't see food as something nourishing. You don't eat whenever you have an appetite anymore.

I speak directly to my organs.

Why are you giving me this boring feeling?

I don't accept this.

If you'd like, Make the text read a little more naturally while preserving the raw, aphoristic style.

The worst things for mental health

• Cut off your voice
• Cut off your emotions
• Suppress your sexuality

Don't start in the head. Start from the energy, the whole emotion.

Walking the Herd

Imagine the whole of humanity as one big walking herd. On the outer layers, you put the fastest and most intuitive thinkers, because they have to react.

In the middle layers, you put the ones who process information with more depth, but slower. They can feed back to the outer layers, but maybe 5 minutes after something happened. So the outer layer hits every beat, while the inner layers feed back more slowly.

You walk, and you walk, and you walk.

You also need good communication, so in between, you put the ones who are the best communicators.

Now, your circle runs into 2 problems.

1. The outer layer is fast and judgmental, so this leads to imbalance. They are prone to overreact.
2. You can have a problem from the inner layers.

Therefore, you put people who oversee all layers. You make them communicators too. They know the upper class and the lower class. They know different information streams. They watch the current, the undertone of the whole herd.

Now, you replace a layer here and there. You move in between layers.

That moving in between layers is intuition.

A real-life example

You walk the street. You see somebody glued to a screen with headphones on. You can't be further away from what you are supposed to do. They are processing information from another time, another place in the world. The herd is worried: you are isolating yourself. You can do you, but maybe you glance up for 1 second, so that we know you are okay. This process is called religion.

Religion has got a bad reputation, understandably. I am not religious myself, but I think it's very smart. You take breaks during the day, together with the others. You take a day off. This helps you get back on track and look out for each other.

The smart one is in the midst

It has to deceive everybody. That's how the game works.

Good luck.