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-- TED: The Great Porn Experiment [end your self-harm cycle] [women, watch too]
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TED: The Great Porn Experiment [end your self-harm cycle] [women, watch too]

A TED Talk about Pornography. So you know this is going to be insightful and worth watching in its entirety. If you haven't seen this, but regularly use internet porn, you owe it to yourself to learn from this man. He could help you undo the damage to your libido, interest in women, and sexual performance.



At 14 minutes in, he makes an interesting point that older men "get their mojo back," quicker than younger men today. http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=wSF82AwSDiU#t=13m58s

He didn't mention it, but I think that masturbation on its own is completely fine and healthy. There don't seem to be any benefit to abstaining beyond a few weeks, it's not realistic or necessary. A couple of days (or a week or so) is a reasonable level of self-control, and the more satisfying reward from built-up tension and delayed gratification can help reinforce the positive behavior. As long as you're not just thinking about porn with your imagination, but real scenarios, you should be fine and your imagination should grow more vivid and powerful (really!). Now... about the porn.

Internet porn peaked. A long time ago. Today's internet porn serves an endless stream of extreme visual stimulation that could last any reasonable man for lifetimes. It's unhealthy and a lot of younger guys are harming their brains and getting addicted. There's just way too much and you don't even have to sneak into the adult section anymore, most teens have their own PCs these days.

I'm not suggesting we restrict or ban porn, but we need to educate viewers and offer resources to help them reduce or eliminate usage and develop self-control. Today's sites present you with non-stop novelty from the front page, no splash screen with Enter|Exit, just instant hardcore content. For every item viewed, a new gallery of automatically related content is presented to you. This behavior is terrible enough on Youtube with new music, but it's hopeless when the related thumbnails are socially and algorithmically optimized for maximum interest (millions of horny guys contributing to their own demise). Tabbed browsers and tube sites are destroying the libidos of many adolescents and young men.

But I have to explain that I don't think pornography itself is bad, instead of the growing NoFap movement (with so many relapses), you can always... consume less porn? Remember how images used to be enough, many lifetimes ago? It's possible to return to that state if you re-sensitize your brain and drastically reduce consumption.

Many people are having internet addiction problems, Youtube/Social Networks/Forums, etc. Internet porn is the worst of them all. This generation is dealing with so many self-control problems because of the internet and smartphones. Before the internet, it was couch potatoes, now it's information junkies? Past a certain point, people are overwhelmed by entertainment, it's not natural. We're intelligent but that doesn't matter... we're no different from rats with a lifetime supply of instant cocaine and food.

It seems like we're close to some kind of plateau. Even though people can have thousands of friends, the human brain can only connect with around 150 after that it's worthless. I wonder if things will improve or worsen after us? We are learning that less is more the hard way.

Not even Captain America can cut down on porn

What a load of crap. How stupid do you have to be to take this guy seriously? It took me about ten seconds of listening to this guy ramble to figure out that he's a nutbag pseudoscientist. A quick internet search confirmed the obvious.

According to his own web page, his credentials are:

• He has taught anatomy and physiology labs at Southern Oregon University. (He's not currently in their faculty directory and probably made less than minimum wage doing so, like most adjuncts at public universities of which nobody has ever heard. Assuming he's not making it up, that is.)
  
• He "taught anatomy, physiology, kinesiology, and pathology at vocational schools in California and Oregon." (Oh, wow, unspecified "vocational schools.")
  
• He "attended nursing school, and has continued to take university courses in microbiology, cell biology, immunology and genetics." (Notice how he didn't mention actually earning any degrees from any of these places? Me too.)
  
• Finally, his "passion is neuroscience, he spends many hours scanning the Web and integrating the latest discoveries." (My personal favorite.)
  

quote:

Originally posted by Arbiter conning people into thinking he's some kind of expert

Long cons and porn? I have the weirdest boner.



Quite a fun series... they do all sorts of cons, although I'm not sure porn was among them. Which is a shame, because the girl in blue would make it well worth it

Actually seems pretty reasonable to me. I deleted all my porn torrents and I'll give it a shot for a bit.

quote:

Originally posted by Arbiter What a load of crap. How stupid do you have to be to take this guy seriously? It took me about ten seconds of listening to this guy ramble to figure out that he's a nutbag pseudoscientist. A quick internet search confirmed the obvious. According to his own web page, his credentials are: He has taught anatomy and physiology labs at Southern Oregon University. (He's not currently in their faculty directory and probably made less than minimum wage doing so, like most adjuncts at public universities of which nobody has ever heard. Assuming he's not making it up, that is.) He "taught anatomy, physiology, kinesiology, and pathology at vocational schools in California and Oregon." (Oh, wow, unspecified "vocational schools.") He "attended nursing school, and has continued to take university courses in microbiology, cell biology, immunology and genetics." (Notice how he didn't mention actually earning any degrees from any of these places? Me too.) Finally, his "passion is neuroscience, he spends many hours scanning the Web and integrating the latest discoveries." (My personal favorite.) Does he even have a degree? Has he ever conducted any actual research? Published any scholarship? Done anything what-so-ever to qualify him as an expert in anything? If so, he doesn't bother to mention it. Apparently, his Madd Googling Skillz are the highlight of his résumé. What a fucking joke. I guess since he couldn't seem to pass enough of those courses he took to ever become a real, actual scientist, he came up with an easier way to make a living: passing himself off as one, conning people into thinking he's some kind of expert, and convincing them that internet porn is to blame for all of their problems (Could he have picked a more hackneyed scapegoat?) The only thing more pathetic than actually being this guy is being dumb enough to fall for his shtick. Look, it's very simple. If you're impotent, go see a real doctor. If you're just a general loser or think you're "addicted" to internet porn, go see a real psychologist. If you have a problem you need help with, there are real, genuine experts who can help you with that. You know, as opposed to pretend experts who are really just amateur wanna-be scientists.

375 words and not one of them was used in an attempt to prove the guy wrong. You could have saved yourself some time and calories by just saying he was a nutbag and leaving it there.

quote:

Originally posted by DOOMBOT 375 words and not one of them was used in an attempt to prove the guy wrong.

Why would I? I'm not qualified to address the substance of his "talk" (for that matter, neither is he). Unlike some people, I don't pretend to be an expert on subjects I'm not.

On the other hand, I am indeed qualified to assess his credibility--which is precisely dick, as explained above.

quote:

Originally posted by Arbiter Why would I? I'm not qualified to address the substance of his "talk" (for that matter, neither is he). Unlike some people, I don't pretend to be an expert on subjects I'm not. On the other hand, I am indeed qualified to assess his credibility--which is precisely dick, as explained above.

All of what you just said aside, was there anything specific that he said that you know to be false?

I admire your skepticism and debunking of his credentials and "evidence". If I think a talk isn't worth my time within a few seconds, I simply dismiss it.

quote:

Look, it's very simple. If you're impotent, go see a real doctor. If you're just a general loser or think you're "addicted" to internet porn, go see a real psychologist. If you have a problem you need help with, there are real, genuine experts who can help you with that. You know, as opposed to pretend experts who are really just amateur wanna-be scientists.

This looks bad, but the gist of his claims are true and that's why I shared this. The communities he pointed out in his presentation do exist and this problem isn't extremely rare (r/NoFap).

My opinion is that pornography addiction is more common and severe today because of continuous access and novelty. I think more young men might be affected privately but don't report it out of shame. Exactly why, how, or how isn't completely clear (and all evidence presented in his speech is crap, according to your post...), but this problem does exist and I have a strong feeling that is growing and getting worse.

I had no idea would anyone was going to thoroughly attack the video so scientifically. I wouldn't have posted the video if I did.

I didn't post this out of blind belief, and not because of his identity or evidence. I treated the speech like an anecdote and I personally agreed with the gist of his speech, because I've had similar suspicions recently. I thought his claims were so general and obvious, that they didn't merit any scrutiny.

The video compresses many words into small ideas, I admit, and Arbiter thoroughly attacked everything about it before anyone else could state an opinion. I expected most people to separate the signal from the noise, but it's my fault for presenting a long speech with no clarification.

If you want to be scientific about this, that's fine, but I am letting you know this was intended to be a regular discussion involving opinions. The speaker wasn't the focus, I can see how you would assume that, but it wasn't my intention.

But as an aside, I'm curious: do you have a negative opinion of TED talks in general and are you always this skeptical and diligent about everything you view?

Anxieties, I think you are giving Arbiter more credit then he deserves. He did attack the speaker but that was pretty much it. He pointed out the speakers credentials but didn't attack anything that the speaker actually said in attempt to prove any of what was said to be false. The speaker actually did dive into some science in the video and explained things in a clear and concise manor. I'd be very interested to see Arbiter attack the words that came out of the speakers mouth over what the listed credentials on his web site are.

It's not about anyone getting credit, it seems like I'm misrepresenting myself here. None of this has to do with the people in question, but the statements made and the reputation of who made those statements. I regarded some information as irrelevant but I didn't make that clear and this derail happened. That was my fault entirely.

His skepticism was rational (and scathing). If his criticisms are correct, then I must agree. I try to avoid incorrectness and associations with incorrect people to the best of my ability. The Speaker's background, credentials and evidence used in the Speech are problematic. The Speaker has little to no credibility. The speech itself could still be solid, but that's unlikely so it was dismissed with good reason. There's no need to view the rest after dismissing it. Most people wouldn't need to watch most of the speech. It should have been omitted. But it was late when I made this, and I'm not fully focused.

That being said, I didn't want this reaction but I could've avoided it if I was paying attention. I made a mistake. I should be more cautious when sharing anything claiming to be scientific evidence because it's only reasonable for others to assume that I whole-hardheartedly believe the Speaker's claims or blindly respect the Speaker (being fooled by false credentials). But if I do something as careless as this, the ridicule is to be expected.

quote:

Originally posted by Anxieties That being said, I didn't want this reaction but I could've avoided it if I was paying attention. I made a mistake. I should be more cautious when sharing anything claiming to be scientific evidence because it's only reasonable for others to assume that I whole-hardheartedly believe the Speaker's claims or blindly respect the Speaker (being fooled by false credentials). But if I do something as careless as this, the ridicule is to be expected.

Don't worry, mate, it wasn't that bad

Now, what is it that you liked and didn't like about the video? Even if it's rubbish, you probably felt an idea or two were interesting enough to deserve a thread, right? Talk about them. You don't have to be right at first, all you need to do is come up with a good topic for discussion

quote:

Originally posted by DOOMBOT Anxieties, I think you are giving Arbiter more credit then he deserves. He did attack the speaker but that was pretty much it. He pointed out the speakers credentials but didn't attack anything that the speaker actually said in attempt to prove any of what was said to be false. The speaker actually did dive into some science in the video and explained things in a clear and concise manor. I'd be very interested to see Arbiter attack the words that came out of the speakers mouth over what the listed credentials on his web site are.

You don't need to be a brain surgeon to realize that it's a bad idea to hire a homeless guy off the street to perform brain surgery on you. It seems as if the very concept of evaluating whether or not someone claiming to have expertise that you don't possess is credible is lost on you, even though it's a basic life skill.

thanks for at least getting arbiter to post and i agree with what he said, real scientists publish and research while sophists do talk shows or sell tickets to their rambling presentations.

the guy's delivery was way too fucking annoying to sit through that shit. not having a porn problem its of little benefit to me anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by Arbiter You don't need to be a brain surgeon to realize that it's a bad idea to hire a homeless guy off the street to perform brain surgery on you. It seems as if the very concept of evaluating whether or not someone claiming to have expertise that you don't possess is credible is lost on you, even though it's a basic life skill.

If a bum said 1+1=2, I wouldn't tell him that because he is a bum and didn't graduate from college with a degree relating to math that he's a "nutbag" for saying so.

I'm simply interested in hearing what you might have to say that discredits the words that came out of the speaker's mouth.

Side note: here is a direct link to the speaker's bio -> http://www.yourbrainonporn.com/about-us

I wouldn't exactly call him a "nutbag" for spending as much time in school and doing the amount or type of scientific research that he does. I think he is worth listening to before just jumping down his throat without coming up with a valid argument against what he is actually saying.

At any rate, thanks for posting the vid. I at least enjoyed watching and listening to it.

quote:

Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN real scientists publish, do research and do talk shows or sell tickets to their rambling presentations; sophists only do the latter half

Fixed. There are loads of good scientists that give TED talks, and exposing your ideas this way is almost as important as publishing them in a peer-reviewed journal (something sophists seem to forget).

yeah fair call, appreciate the fix marcus!

Nothing wrong with porn. Trust me, I'm a doctor.

Does he talk about Japanese porn? Because I think the females who sign up to that are the ones that need help

I watched it, thought it was crap.

If nearly all guys use Internet porn, as he noted in his "lack of control group" remarks, then the natural question is this: Why do only some small fraction of them use it compulsively or perceive it as causing problems? We might also ask what percentage of the users actually experience erectile dysfunction concurrent with heavy porn use, and whether their ED (and perhaps their extensive porn use) might be caused by other health issues, such as being massively overweight from sitting at the computer and eating Cheetos for hours. But we don't get information about this stuff from the talk.

Also, lol at the way he portrays the supposedly wondrous new lives of guys who decide to quit porn. This is just the same "high" the body gives most people when they undergo any systematic deprivation of an accustomed physical pleasure. For example, new dieters, or people undergoing a fast, often talk about the same sort of feeling: remarkable "clear-headedness," a new sense of purpose and energy, and so on. That generally lasts somewhere from a week to a month, which funnily enough happens to be when people start falling off the "wagon" in droves. Oh well, enjoy it while it lasts, I guess?

"NoFap" exists in a context (Reddit) in which thousands of young males regularly lament their inability to find a girlfriend, get a date, or even talk to women their age like normal human beings. The pat anti-porn crusader "explanation" for this would be that porn has disfigured their perceptions of women and rendered their bodies deaf to arousal by real women rather than images. But what about considering the opposite causal chain: perhaps the ones who end up with a "porn problem" are just those ones who already had problematic, unsatisfying social and romantic lives. Porn might provide one more route to escapism for them, but it can't explain their need to escape in the first place. Just a thought!

quote:

Originally posted by Lira I can't see how I would've endured my long-distance relationship without the occasional date with Rosie Palms.

+1



Interesting video. Thanks for sharing.

quote:

Originally posted by DOOMBOT If a bum said 1+1=2, I wouldn't tell him that because he is a bum and didn't graduate from college with a degree relating to math that he's a "nutbag" for saying so.

Can you possibly be this dense?

I thought this thread was gonna be a plea for Ted Promo to get professional help.

quote:

Originally posted by Vector A Also, lol at the way he portrays the supposedly wondrous new lives of guys who decide to quit porn. This is just the same "high" the body gives most people when they undergo any systematic deprivation of an accustomed physical pleasure. For example, new dieters, or people undergoing a fast, often talk about the same sort of feeling: remarkable "clear-headedness," a new sense of purpose and energy, and so on. That generally lasts somewhere from a week to a month, which funnily enough happens to be when people start falling off the "wagon" in droves. Oh well, enjoy it while it lasts, I guess?

That was when his talk fell apart in my eyes. It no longer seemed particularly scientific, and instead he spent a few minutes setting up a strawman of sorts. [did i use 'strawman' correctly?] It was also a bit troubling when he showed a slide of recent research on the topic and merely said: "look at the dates." I would've liked to hear about the findings of scholars on the topic in greater detail than his curt suggestion that they all fell in line with his "porn is bad" theory.

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