Adapt or Die

[Wednesday]

Is there any way to stimulate the brain or thought processes to make a human being more easily adaptable to change, or quicker to realize adaptations?

Exercises one can do to practice "thinking outside the box" ?

Cultural reprogramming (such as learning how to eat foods that one would normally find distasteful or coping with lack of privacy) ?

Other then joining the military or a survivalist group, what can the ordinary average person on a budget do to reconnect with and stimulate instinctual "adapt or die" responses?

[DontBeAfraid]

I was going to suggest extreme pain but you sound as though you might have already considered it.

edit: I mean hell the pain of hunger once compelled me to not refuse a slice of pizza, even though it had disgusting unions cooked into the cheese.

[Sammy56]

I'm not entirely sure what you mean (my fault, not yours, I need caffeine). Do you mean a way to change a stimulus without going through something extreme?

If that's a case, I might have an antecedent that fits. I've had to take a certain kind of medicine since I was little because of my asthma. It's was a liquid (although now I just use an inhaler). I took it so often that eventually, it tasted basically like sugar water. Yet, when others I know have taken it, they remark at how disgusting it tasted. I guess overtime I learned to "ignore" the disgusting taste.

Sorry if that's not what you are looking for.

[Raptor Witness]

Read Lewis and Clark's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_Expedition) journals. I promise, you'll answer your questions here, and more.

http://www.mrnussbaum.com/lcmap.gif

[liberdave]

New age technology offers a broad range of techniques to change yourself. A few suggestions are NLP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming), Auto-hypnosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self_hypnosis), comptemplation through Zen Buddhism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen) , simple martial arts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_chi), hell even ritual (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10146160&dopt=Abstract) (as condoned by the National Institute of Health), can all help in the facilitation of change.

[Havoc Angel]

Hmm. Understand how a 'habit' or set way of thinking works and then consciously go against it when you recognize the automatism kicking in. That's how I stopped smoking. I made it conscious to me where the impulse to smoke a cigarette originates and how it is processed and what external influences cause the impulse to smoke another one. So whenever the automatism of "let's smoke a cig" kicked in I was able to consciously go against it and tell myself "Now I would have smoked a cigarette".
I belive this way of changing behavior works to change many kinds of thought processes.
Know yourself, control yourself. You can only control properly what you can understand.


(Hmm...looking at the thread I realize that this post might be a little off the point but I hope it's interesting nevertheless, heh)

[Cornish Maid]

Is there any way to stimulate the brain or thought processes to make a human being more easily adaptable to change, or quicker to realize adaptations?

Exercises one can do to practice "thinking outside the box" ?

Cultural reprogramming (such as learning how to eat foods that one would normally find distasteful or coping with lack of privacy) ?

Other then joining the military or a survivalist group, what can the ordinary average person on a budget do to reconnect with and stimulate instinctual "adapt or die" responses?
Go camping with two kids,or whatever you have available, and a dog on public transport.

[lazserus]

Is there any way to stimulate the brain or thought processes to make a human being more easily adaptable to change, or quicker to realize adaptations?

Exercises one can do to practice "thinking outside the box" ?

Cultural reprogramming (such as learning how to eat foods that one would normally find distasteful or coping with lack of privacy) ?

Other then joining the military or a survivalist group, what can the ordinary average person on a budget do to reconnect with and stimulate instinctual "adapt or die" responses?
Your use of the core term "adapt" seems to alter in your question. There are two different forms of adaptation that are significant for what you are asking. One is psychological adaptation and the other is physical adaptation. Though the two can seem to meld from time to time, they are quite independent.

Adapting to new cultures or social changes is purely psychological and could take much longer than physical adaptation. The human body actually adapts quite quickly to environmental changes ( or so it used to). How that will effect your mind is entirely different.

Instincts are one thing. We humans are still classified as animals, thus we still have primal instincts that are buried deep within our psyche. However, most of our instincts have been dulled as technology and civilization has erupted through the ages. Senses such as smell and hearing have significantly been suppressed since the first homos (as in homo habilis). Senses are vital to instinctual decision making. You have to understand that instincts and cognition are not the same thing.

The "adapt or die" question is really a tough one. The best solution is to read as much as you can in the survival field, particularly in older world survival techniques. New books tend to revolve around some form of modern technology. Relying on modern technology is not survival, just existing. If you're talking about surviving in the wilderness or what not, your best bet is survival books/groups. Honestly, the military does not teach you survival techniques that matter outside military technology unless you look into spec op manuals and the likes. Military training prepares you for physical and mental stress of the worst kind.

I'm sure you can Google a ton of material. A book I recommend is the Ranger's Handbook. It's a military guide, but there are a significant amount of pages in there that explain in detail about surviving when separated from your unit or the civilized world. You'd have to find it on a military base, though. Probably in a PX. Another option is to hit up Amazon.com and search the survival category.

Local adaptation (or personal adaptation) is much simpler than macroadaptation. I hope this detailed out some things for your question. Not that the other responses were no good, but I'm just trying to touch on a different aspect of your questioning.

[DontBeAfraid]

lol.... The only thing I really took away from the ranger handbook was that the french and the indians always attack at dawn.

[lazserus]

lol.... The only thing I really took away from the ranger handbook was that the french and the indians always attack at dawn.
I won't get on an unrelated tangent with you DBA, but I never saw that anywhere. I'm talking about the recent Army Ranger's Handbook, not some 17th century compilation of writs.

[DontBeAfraid]

OT - I know.

I I think it was in the very first few pages, like before any real information was divulged, before the creed. It was actually just an excert of an OLD version ranger handbook... probably to give it a little flavor. Or it might have been in the movement security section, An amusing reminder of when to go 100 percent up. I found it amusing and its the only thing I really remember from it. That and how to tie a few knots. The book I had was printed before 1990 I believe.--- this tangent is off topic and I wont be offended if you delete it.

[lazserus]

OT - I know.

I I think it was in the very first few pages, like before any real information was divulged, before the creed. It was actually just an excert of an OLD version ranger handbook... probably to give it a little flavor. Or it might have been in the movement security section, An amusing reminder of when to go 100 percent up. I found it amusing and its the only thing I really remember from it. That and how to tie a few knots. The book I had was printed before 1990 I believe.--- this tangent is off topic and I wont be offended if you delete it.
No deletion. My book was printing in the later 90s. It was mostly survival, formation in the fields, and entry tactics. It had a good amount of survival techniques assuming the soldier was completely separated from any form of technology. That means a significant portion was more alongs of a "survival" guide as mentioned above. Pretty good stuff, man.


DBA always keeps me thinkin'. His mind is way deeper than most here. There are no "tangents" to this stupid azz question. It will take WAY less environmentally to kill off humanity, than it did most of the species EVER to exist.
above quote was from original post, but original post was altered by user during the process of response. Altered response was deleted for reasons of retardation.

DBA and go way back and he's one of the eldest members of this site. We toss eachother respect, but he will admit himself that he does tangents. I do them as well, hence me trying to prevent them in my original response.

I'd also appreciate it if you'd not classify the original question here, or any in these forum as "stupid". Wednesday had a striking question with very intriguing purpose and I respect it. This forum is to gain knowledge, not to shun those with different variations of questioning or understanding. Actually, I don't want to ever see you use the term "stupid" in this forum or its parent...ever. I'd prefer the word "fuck" over "stupid".

[Raptor Witness]

I edited the word "stupid" out way before you finished your post. Give a guy time to think to himself, will ya? You're like a giant snapping turtle, hiding in the mud.

[Raptor Witness]

Ok, now you've done it. You're as bad as "Big Daddy" Jim Jones (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones), killing me off like that.

My point was, before you axed my post, it won't be the environment that kills you, it will be other men, and no manner of adaptation will have any bearing on this, save how men survive in prison, perhaps. My point was amended to, this is a "Jim Jones" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones) type of question. Judge for yourself if he was stupid or not.

I guess I need to finish editing FULLY before I post, since the giant snapping turtle in the mud won't give me time to do this. I usually need about 15 minutes to edit after you see a post appear.

[Wednesday]

Great responses until it devolved into an ego festival.

I intentionally left out context. It's interesting to see people's assumptions.

You can assume I am stupid if you like, it doesn't bother me. I will use any advantage and if you have underestimated me, that gives me an edge. In a game of inches, I'll take the extra inch.
Just don't trespass on my property, some of my preparations might cause harm to trespassers.

laz, very interesting reply. It is certainly psychological adaptations that I am referring to. As you pointed out, these are the most difficult.

[Raptor Witness]

Wednesday,

I have more respect for you here than that, honestly, and I was thinking to myself when I typed that, as I formulated a more tactful way of putting the idea. Laz just caught my post in the process of composition. It's a great question and thread. I wouldn't have contributed if I didn't think so. I just happened to be in a humorous mood at the time, that honestly had nothing to do with you, AT ALL. I enjoy your posts here much more than the average. Please accept my sincere apology.

[Wednesday]

To err is human. It's no problem RW. Your apology is unnecessary but accepted all the same.