Munin, Keeper of Lore

So...there's this thing my head does when someone mentions something anywhere near my areas of expertise, where my head will immediately begin tracing out how it works - what it interacts with - what the base requirements are - possible attack vectors - mitigative strategies - unless I suppress this reflexive thought pattern by force.

Is there a term for this?

Apr 14, 2017 at 4:30amWeb
Show threadMunin, Keeper of LoreApr 14, 2017

'cuz it's -really- annoying, especially when I'm tired and the suppression isn't working so well.

It's also part of why I don't sleep right :-/

Show threadRich LarsonApr 14, 2017

@munin

I think it's an overstimulation of the pattern recognition areas of the brain relative to highly-reinforced neuronal connectivity networks that you have built-up over the years of doing what you do.

I suffer from it too.

I have no idea what it might be called other than "categorically specific hyper-awareness syndrome" or some such nonsense? 😕

Show threadGlytchApr 14, 2017
@richarddlarson @munin (I have similar tendencies. No, no clue what its called or where to begin.)
Show threadMunin, Keeper of LoreApr 14, 2017
@Glytch @richarddlarson Apparently there's a term in swedish - https://mastodon.social/users/OliverUv/updates/1833857
Show threadashleyApr 14, 2017
@munin oh, i fall asleep thinking about things all the time. i came up with an idea for doing encryption on a service like this the other night.
Show threadMunin, Keeper of LoreApr 14, 2017
@rabcyr It's figuring out how to get to the sleep part that's the challenge :-/
Show threadКуApr 14, 2017
@munin I've found it to be ok from that point. I enjoy analyzing stuff, so the impact on sleep doesn't feel so bad. Then again in my case sleep is probably less impacted than with you.
What is harder for me is controlling the urge to share excitement over stuff like that. I fear I'm really annoying to people around me because of it. Some are very tolerant to it, but it still feels like having an impact on communication skills.
Show threadOliverUvApr 14, 2017
@munin we just call it arbetsskada, workinjury, in Sweden. I know a guy who can't stop getting emotional over badly done wallpaper jobs wherever he goes. Guess yours is a high degree one, with the added bonus of it being an inviting hole of analysis that you can fall into from neural habit
Show threadMunin, Keeper of LoreApr 14, 2017

@OliverUv Huh! So there -is- a term for it.

Kind of fascinating; I can very much see why someone'd get distressed over a bad wallpaper job if that was their specialty.

Show threadAlltooHueman✅Apr 14, 2017

@munin it's called "racing thoughts" and regardless of what it's a symptom of there are magical pills that help slow it down a drop without any other cognitive effects.
but there are plenty of non medical ways to "reign in" the flow gently. much of meditation is learning​ how to, at times, choose your thoughts as opposed to them choosing you.

never-the-less as someone who hardly took any medication OTC or otherwise until now, I'm a big fan of the magical pills

Show threadChristopher RozruchApr 14, 2017
@munin Know it well. I call it autism :)