Struggling to multi-task

We can agree to disagree on this one then.  I believe in the mathematics involved with being able to harness "the wisdom of the crowd", ie with a large enough sample size and simple but laborious computation, significant  advantage over that "sample" is readily available to whomever.

I think it is a widely held, widespread and dangerous misconception to think that, if "personal data" is kept separate then the other resultant information is somehow made benign.

As you might imagine, I could go on.....but it gets boring for everyone....so I'll fold up the soap box....till the next time.

But you can't harvest the RIGHT information if your code or formula is off. Change a variable and the interpretation of the out come will be wrong. 

I tend to think of this this way: I'm worlds more complex than a programme. I can sense NT social nuance and catch on enough at this point to understand. To a degree. But I still can't quite always play along. What's more, is the historic wealth of info on Non-autistics  lining the shelves of libraries, not yet online. Being able to put all the pieces together might be something a programme could do - but only if prompted. And there's too many things remaining secret to get the Right results by asking the Right questions. Even mining in this thread, we've successfully created all kinds of wrong computations. That only Autistics would notice. LOL

All of what you said above (below....wherever) was in my head before I made the decision to reply. Albeit this was in reply to an actual (what I am confident is) human user.

You are one of a kind in this world.

Ummm... You seen a G.P Recently ? 

I was ten when terminator hit the screens, AI is getting advanced now and although not turning up at the door in bikers leathers, asking for Sarah Connor, it's definitely lurking around and can be a negative thing.

I never really understood why bots have any benefit from being on forums, what the gain is there to be honest. But there are definitely things to be wary of online and we need to keep in mind anyone could be something they're not, without becoming "tin foil hat" level paranoid!

Dear Number, I appreciate the insights shared in this thread regarding the presence of bot activity and the potential implications it may have on our discussions.

It's indeed crucial to remain vigilant and discerning about the origins and motivations behind certain discussions that may be initiated by bots. It is interesting to note the patterns and behaviors that may indicate bot activity, such as the lack of engagement from the original poster despite multiple posts.

As technology continues to advance, it's becoming increasingly important to be mindful of the role that machines play in our interactions and information dissemination. The notion of watching the machines that watch us is a thought-provoking one, pretty scary actually, underscoring the power that knowledge holds in understanding and navigating our increasingly complex world. While some may view vigilance as paranoia, it's really not but is essential to acknowledge the potential risks and implications of unchecked technological influence.

Another forum I'm local on deals with AI spam as well,  despite there being a CAPTCHA upon sign up the bots are still flourishing.

Let's continue to engage in thoughtful discourse and remain vigilant in safeguarding our community from any potential threats or disruptions.

Together, we can work towards creating a safer and more informed environment for all. Warm regards and best wishes for our collective safety in this ever-evolving world.

JuniperFromGallifrey said:

I think they're programmed to understand NT nuance and drifts in linguistics.

So...harvesting information to enable better imitation of humans then...to understand and predict the masses better....see how they all tick.....what motivates them and elevates them, and how they will demonstrate which emotions, at what speed...and for what duration etc etc......?

We can see how easily "jumpy" the world is at the moment, and I'm not sure that helping some anonymous corporate data shed to further their seemingly fantastical vision of our futures is something that I can passively pass without observing with fascinated horror and amateur slouthing, worthy of The Secret Seven or the Famous Five.

I wonder if waterstones will come a-nosing now?

I do appreciate that I may seem odd to many, in many regards.

Your welcome, kin folk!

Number.

Oh how fascinating. I didn't know what that was for or how points were added. LOL

I guess I rarely care seeing that it's been zero times any code has been able to predict what I'm saying, looking for, attempting to do, let alone understanding what I'm trying to communicate. I think they're programmed to understand NT nuance and drifts in linguistics. But thanks for the tip!

** A D V I S O R Y     A N D   C A U T I O N A R Y    N O T E **

Dear fellow human members of the NAS community, and those who have contributed below.......

Whilst I do not deny that useful comments and discussions can flow from these (95% certainty) bot-instigated threads, I think it is wise to be increasingly aware of "what" has started a discussion......and "what" the motivations for "it" doing so might be.

For the uninitiated (ie those people who are not aware of my fascination with bot activity in this place).......a reliable tell for a certain class of bot, is when the OP displays zero "points" to their name, despite posting that OP - and they often have a reasonably long rap-sheet of previous OP instigations.....but NEVER respond to anyone, ever.

It isn't just the machines watching us......some of us watch the machines, that appear to have been tasked with watching us......because knowledge is power, folks.  Just because I might be paranoid, doesn't mean that there is no reason to be so.

With warm human sentiment towards keeping us all as safe as possible in this mad, mad world,

Number.

I don't call navigating multi-tasking or Rapid Task Switching.

Navigating involves a goal (setting course) - short term (a few hours) or long term (doing bits of a long-term process every day over time).

Rapid Task Switching and multi-tasking can involve doing things without intention and attempting to navigate amidst too many interruptions. Most Autists will thrive best finishing one thing at a time. That doesn't mean one cannot learn to bake a cake and also clean the kitchen while it's baking, and also set an alarm. But I've bought a small electric oven with a timer which shuts itself off for two reasons: it uses less electricity. I won't burn things. And a very common experience among autistic individuals is being accident prone when not allowed to focus on one thing at a time or when distracted. 

The problem here is with heavy Right Brain thinking which, as Iain McGilchrist points out, is connected to a more 'infinite' sense of time rather than the left lobe which is better wired for chronology. ADHD'rs are usually much better at multi-tasking due to the hyper-signalling between the spheres. I have a feeling many females will be misdiagnosed still as Autistic when they're actually ADHD and ADHD when they're actually Autistic. Therapists have still not caught on to the wealth on historic content with some simpler explanations.

Hopefully this will change over the next 10 years but with long covid mimicking Monotropism, new questions will be asked involving legitimacy of diagnoses. 

I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about ? For myself I'm autistic but not ADHD.

I think we're debating the difference between ADHD and Autism here. While we both have degrees of difficulty with executive function and a more right-brain experience of all-expansive time, it does seem ADHD'rs will have a capacity to structure and 'multi-task' in ways Autistics cannot. AuDHD is still a mystery to me as it seems the Monotropic overlap explains the link. Being autistic and not ADHD, I don't lose things. It's good to know what the differences are and I don't think most NT diagnosticians actually do. 

If a person commits a task into muscle memory, they'll be able to do that task without thinking much about it. But if it's your first time doing a task, that's not going to be possible.

You should learn a task in small steps, and think about each step you're doing.  But as you get more and more familiar with it, you get to the point that you don't have to think about it as much anymore, and it gets easier and easier to do. And then one day you'll just do that task without thinking much about it, and you might have the ability to incorporate other tasks alongside with it.

Also, people pressuring you into doing an unfamiliar task, asking you to multi-task multiple unfamiliar things, isn't going to work, and it's no wonder that all the pressure is going to overwhelm you and cause a meltdown. 

Sensory overload is very hard to deal with, as the brain is already trying to process so many things in its environment, that anything more is a lot to handle. I've also had many people tell me how "lazy" I was, or how I was always making up "excuses." They were very angry at me, but if I had the option to do whatever they could do so easily, I would! No one would willing choose to be ridiculed! What do they think I gain from this? A meltdown? Is that something prize-worthy? 

If you do any task, you should be given it in small steps, and given enough time to learn how to do it. I hope you'll be given the right kind of support for your life.

So do I.  It's two different kinds of input isn't it. And the attention of both is more sustained. The craft element offers a degree of repetition. I listen to podcasts while cooking for instance. I dont class this as multi tasking.

For the sake of clarity,  I'm not arguing,  just exploring.

Also with your cake baking analogy (god I hope Debbie isnt reading this), I have had some severish mishaps in the kitchen due to inattention and cooking. Thsnk goodness for high quality cookware. Sometimes the safest thing is to sit on ones backside! This is different to not having the time. It's about attention.

The cake baking thing to me seems that you have good organisation skills. Driving is multi tasking....to me. Which is easy. But put another person in the car and the mere presence of another can overload the brain due to too much spread of attention.

I have had huge stress in the past ar work due to people demanding attention when I'm trying to task. Even the process of having to say "not right now" is an interruption. I also find it difficult at home.

Sorry I digressed!

I used to watch telly and knit or sew, the hands are occupied whilst the brain is elsewhere.

I have witnessed people having conversations while typing on a keyboard.  THAT is multi tasking! I don't think humans in general are good at multi tasking, regardless of brain. From my experience, where autists struggle is in the switching of attention. I think it takes longer to adjust to the change.

You call it navigating, I call it multi-tasking, the baking a cake was an easy to understand example of how to organise time and tasks. I could explain how to organise a hairdressing appointment book if you like but it would further confuse things rather than clarify them. I've also met many people who will literally sit on their backsides whilst a cake bakes and say they don't have time to do anything else because they're baking a cake. My response was 'I thought cakes were baked in the oven not by you sitting on them and incubating them'.

I do similar things, if I break down baking a cake I can fit other takes in between. The sub tasks all fall into a linear list of things to do, some form part of baking a cake others nor. So we're really just moving from one sub  task to another rather than actually doing things at the same time. Perspective I guess is key?

I do admit I often start doing something then get distracted by something else I then focus on and forget it, like leaving a pan and it boils over, that kind of thing.

This isn't multi-tasking. First, there's personal agency and personal control. This is navigating a process by completing one task at a time. ;) 

The secret to sorting ones schedule and life is often about curating a flow through prioritising. x

I meant don't put undue pressure on Yourself.