Roger Bannister allegedly broke the four-minute mile by applying a lesson in flea training. You train fleas by putting them in a lidded jar. As they jump and jump and jump, they hit their head on the lid and condition themselves to jump only so high—even after the lid is removed.
Bannister, according to inspirational coach Zig Ziglar, knew that for centuries it was judged “impossible” to break a four-minute mile, and all the negative input from trainers and doctors and coaches was erecting a mental barrier to what was possible. History speaks: within a month or two of him breaking the limit, over a dozen MORE runners broke the four-minute mile—something which had been biologically impossible since ancient Greece.
According to Zig, anyways.
I’ve been pretty excited to meet other LessWrongians for a while. Most “rationalists” in my life are so on a strictly titular level, though many of them are otherwise bright. Since I’m in Camden county I’m more or less restricted to the Philly area and I’m glad meetups are starting again. The biggest problem is that I work out of town every weekend and probably won’t be able to attend any of them unless I get enough notice to request time off. I’m serious about this and would gladly eschew work responsibilities for a LW workshop. Otherwise, what is the likelihood of a meetup being planned for a Tuesday or Wednesday?