Mason > Recent Status Updates

•The Brain: Unless we’re facing a life-or-death threat, it’s generally better to play it safe to avoid potential damage.
- However, it is Possible to release some of those hidden reserves with small Physiological nudges
•Story of Richard Virenque’s 1997 “Placebo (Magic Potion) Injection”
- the injection Increased the amount of Energy he was able to Expend by its effect on his Prediction Machine

• “In other cases, the information was framed more positively, with an Emphasis on the number of people who would remain Free of side effects (eg. Possible side effects include drowsiness. However, 73 out of 100 people will NOT experience drowsiness.”
• As a patient, always “question whether info could be reframed More POSITIVELY. Worst-case thinking DOES NOT prepare you—it Promotes the worst case

•Placebo: (Latin) “I shall please”
• Nocebo: (Latin) “I shall harm”
•”Through the actions of the prediction machine, such Expectations will change our physiology so that the mere thought of having a symptom or disease can make one ill”

• “The WORDS a Doctor speaks are themselves “biologically active” and an essential element of any treatment.”
• “patients recovered more quickly from the common cold if their Doctors showed a more Reassuring and Empathetic attitude in their interactions and stressed the Fleeting nature of the infection.” (41. 266 in Notes)

• “the participants’ trust in the (allegedly) high quality products led them to Believe that they would benefit from heightened perception of the relevant sights and sounds - and that was what they Experienced, even though there was No actual Difference in the technology.”
•”what we feel and think will determine what we Experience. Iin turn influence what we feel & think, in a never ending cycle

• “While many of today’s crises are beyond our control, our responses to difficult situations are often a product of our expectations.”

• “Our minds aren’t passive observers simply perceiving reality as it is; our minds actually Change reality. In other words, the reality we will experience Tomorrow is in part a Product of the Mindset we hold Today.”
- Alia Crum (Stanford University)