ghost
Well-known member
I think you lot, @sus as much as anyone, are underrating the qual / quant synthesis here.
The thing that you find with the quantification, if you're not a dolt, is _what it is_ that's holding you back. How much does three glasses of Grüner hit your next day milage? Is it better than if it was rum?
I had a vague sense that I should try lifting. Started doing it. After a month or two got a DEXA scan, full segmentation of body composition. They tell me that I'm at the first percentile for muscle mass for my height. When an elderly person's muscle mass got as low as mine was, they're diagnosed with an illness because it puts them at higher risk of dying. Six months later, up 10 lbs of muscle, plus 7 pounds of fat, I feel… much better all the time. I could know already I was feeling much better, but understanding where the muscle mass is, whether I'm improving as fast as possible, what exactly is changing and how, lets me calibrate my sense of the world.
Thinking it's about numbers is a mistake—you're not doing correlations or statistical testing. It's about being able to perceive things that would otherwise exist outside of human perception.
The thing that you find with the quantification, if you're not a dolt, is _what it is_ that's holding you back. How much does three glasses of Grüner hit your next day milage? Is it better than if it was rum?
I had a vague sense that I should try lifting. Started doing it. After a month or two got a DEXA scan, full segmentation of body composition. They tell me that I'm at the first percentile for muscle mass for my height. When an elderly person's muscle mass got as low as mine was, they're diagnosed with an illness because it puts them at higher risk of dying. Six months later, up 10 lbs of muscle, plus 7 pounds of fat, I feel… much better all the time. I could know already I was feeling much better, but understanding where the muscle mass is, whether I'm improving as fast as possible, what exactly is changing and how, lets me calibrate my sense of the world.
Thinking it's about numbers is a mistake—you're not doing correlations or statistical testing. It's about being able to perceive things that would otherwise exist outside of human perception.
