hacking the human mind

Hacking the Human Mind

Kirk Kaiser http://www.kpkaiser.com@burningion

Wednesday, December 12, 12

http://www.kpkaiser.com




“The intelligent want self-control, children want candy.

- Rumi


About Me

• Software Developer for 13 Years

• Developed Privacy Software Downloaded over 240,000 Times

• Active Writer, Blogs Have Been Featured on Front Page of Hacker News, Reddit, CNN, and Digg.

• Studied with a Zen Buddhist in Vermont for a Year

• Spent the Past Two Years Building Electronic Hardware and Software to Measure and Improve the Human Mind with Computers


The Problem


Ooh a Notification!


The Exploding Distractedness of Our Lives

• Amount of Data Created In Computers Doubles Every 1.2 years1

• 12% of All Boys Between 3-17 Years of Age Now Diagnosed with ADHD2

• 20% of Smartphone Users Check Phone Every 10 Minutes3

• Multitasking Shown to Lower IQ By 10 Points4

• American Teens Send an Average of 3,417 Text Messages Per Month5

1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-silva/the-era-of-big-data-is-he_b_1606914.html 2. Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Children: National Health Interview Survey, 2011, Appendix III, table VI [PDF - 711 KB3. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/16/smartphone-addiction-time-survey_n_1791790.html 4. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-08-10/news/ct-oped-0811-multitask-20100810_1_iqs-study-

information-overload 5. http://www.tatango.com/blog/who-sends-more-text-messages/


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-silva/the-era-of-big-data-is-he_b_1606914.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-silva/the-era-of-big-data-is-he_b_1606914.html

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_254.pdf




http://joekraus.com/were-creating-a-culture-of-distraction




http://www.tatango.com/blog/who-sends-more-text-messages/

http://www.tatango.com/blog/who-sends-more-text-messages/

From Pong to Battlefield 3 in 40 Years


64 Players Online at Once, Using Tanks, Jeeps, F-16s, Apache Helicopters, Land mines, Medical Devices, C4, Sniper Rifles, Survival Knifes, Anti-Aircraft Machine Guns, and more to occupy five different territories.


Psychologists Now Hired to Design Games for Addictiveness


• Skinner Boxes(Random Item Drops)

• Variable Ratio Reinforcement(Skill Kills)

• Leader boards

• 6 Second Rule(Flash a sparkle every 6 seconds)

• Social Pressure(Ask friends for help)

Psychological Addictiveness Built into Games

Farmville (Target Market 40-60 Year Old Women)


What is the COST of this DISTRACTEDNESS?


WILLPOWER & FOCUS


WILLPOWER HAS BEEN SHOWN TO BE A FINITE RESOURCE WHICH IS DEPLETED BY DECISION MAKING1

1. Gailliot, Matthew T., and Roy F. Baumeister. “The Physiology of Willpower: Linking Blood Glucose to Self-Control.” Personality and Social Psychology Review 11 no. 4 (2007): 303-27.


WILLPOWER DRAINING OPTIONS EVERYWHERE.


Simply Put:

Technology has grown faster than our mind’s ability to manage constant technological stimulation. Nearly every piece of technology we touch in our daily lives is willpower depleting.


With the Loss of WillpowerWe’re Losing the Ability to Control and Direct Ourselves


The Solution:

Using Technology to Manage Our Minds More Effectively in the Face of New Threats


Brand New Research on Meditation

• Increases Attention Span1

• Sharpens Focus1

• Improves Memory1

• Dulls the Perception of Pain1

• Slows Age Related Thinning of the Prefrontal Cortex2

• Helps Build Willpower3

1. http://journals.lww.com/neurologynow/Fulltext/2012/08040/Meditation_as_Medicine.9.aspx 2. Cranson, Robert W., et al. "Transcendental Meditation and improved performance on intelligence-related measures: a longitudinal study." Personality and Individual Differences 12.10 (1991): 1105-1116. 3. http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/living-well/articles/2010/04/27/bad-health-habits-rob-12-

years-from-life-span-6-ways-to-boost-willpower


http://journals.lww.com/neurologynow/Fulltext/2012/08040/Meditation_as_Medicine.9.aspx

http://journals.lww.com/neurologynow/Fulltext/2012/08040/Meditation_as_Medicine.9.aspx

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/living-well/articles/2010/04/27/bad-health-habits-rob-12-years-from-life-span-6-ways-to-boost-willpower




“In a behavioral delay-of-gratification task with 8th graders, (willpower) accounted for more than twice as much variance as IQ in final grades, high school selection, school attendance, hours spent doing homework, hours spent watching television and the hour of the day students began their homework.”1

1. Duckworth, Angela L., and Martin EP Seligman. "Self-discipline outdoes IQ in predicting academic performance of adolescents." Psychological Science 16.12 (2005): 939-944.


WILLPOWER = The Key to Success


So WHY Aren’t We All MEDITATING?


Chicken Or the Egg Problem:

Don’t Have the Willpower to Start Building Our Willpower


Making Meditation Seductive and Effective

• Making Meditation Measurable (Can I eliminate the Woo Woo?)

• Recording Physiology of Users(Quantify Changes in Physiology So We Can Improve)

• Providing Direct Feedback(Am I meditating properly? -> Via Audio, Visuals)

• Social Feedback(How Am I Doing Relative to My Peers?)


So What Happens When We Meditate?

• Skin Temperature Raised(Master Monks, Up to 17 Degrees in Fingers and Toes)1

• Decreases Galvanic Skin Response2

• Heart Rate Variance Goes Up3

• Increases Gamma Waves on an EEG4

• Lowers Blood Pressure5

1. http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/04.18/09-tummo.html 2. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21417807 3.http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~ssp/Reports/2003/Matzner.pdf 4. http://www.businessinsider.com/how-scientists-figured-out-who-the-worlds-happiest-man-is-2012-11 5. Alexander C.N., et al. Transcendental Meditation, mindfulness, and longevity: An experimental study with the elderly.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 57:950-964, 1989.


http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/04.18/09-tummo.html

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/04.18/09-tummo.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21417807

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21417807

http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~ssp/Reports/2003/Matzner.pdf




Building the Platform to Measure Meditation


Building the First Prototype

• Measures Galvanic Skin Response, Skin Temperature, and Heart Rate

• Provides Audio Feedback When a Deeper Meditative State Is Reached

• Records All Data, So Meditation Can Be Tracked Over Time


Measuring Your Meditation

• By Measuring Your Physiology, We Can Track Your Focus Levels Through Time

• You Can Become Aware of What Deeper Levels of Relaxation Feel Like

• Making It Easier for You To Recreate the Deepest Levels of Meditation Later


Drawbacks From Initial Prototype

• Must Be Attached to Computer

• Wires Can Be Uncomfortable, Easy to Get Tangled

• Setting Up Computer is Distracting

• Too Much Effort to Get Going

• Not Easy Enough


A Second Approach: Meditation on the iPhone

+

Measure Heart Rate Variance


Accountability and Simplicity In One


Meditation on the iPhone

• Using New Heart Rate Monitors, We Can Now Get Medical Quality Readings on Our Heart Rate Variance for Around $70

• We Can Use This Data to Get 80% of the Way There With Reading Your Physiology During Meditation

• New Heart Rate Only Works with iPhone 4S or iPhone 5, New iPad, and New iPod Touch and Bluetooth Smart Heart Rate Monitors

• Direct Audio Feedback and Visualization in Portable Form Factor

• Turns iPhone into Portable Personal Psychology Lab


Expensive ($15,000.00 for model above)

Real medical quality devices only available for purchase to doctors ($5-$15k)

Only raw data available from them, specialization required

Medical Quality BiofeedbackBefore vs After App

$70 for Heart Rate Monitor

$5 for App

$300 for iPod Touch If You Don’t Have an iPhone or New iPad Medical Quality Data1, Easy to Read

1. http://www.sportexperts.org/pdf/PDF%2017.pdf


http://www.sportexperts.org/pdf/PDF%2017.pdf

http://www.sportexperts.org/pdf/PDF%2017.pdf

Look for Software In App Store By End of December


Trip to India, Contracting Scabies, Lice, Dysentery, Getting Head Shaved By a Stranger,and Almost Getting Murdered By a Mob

Information and Feedback Bad, And Trip Life Threatening

Attaining Self-KnowledgePast vs Present

Practice Anywhere, In Direct Comfort, No Need for Physical Threats

Information and Feedback Good and Immediate, Permanent Information Trail


“People who are willpower depleted cannot be called on to make good decisions for society.”


“People who meditate... over time their brains become finely tuned willpower machines.”

- The Willpower Instinct


Let’s Build A Better Future Together.


Questions? Comments? Offers of Help?http://www.kpkaiser.com to Sign Up for [email protected] to Contact Me




mailto:[email protected]

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hacking the human mind

Health & Medicine