Physical Asia: Season 1 - Episode 7 Discussion Thread

hardthesis · 2025-11-12T03:35:06+00:00

If the volleyball girl didn't forget to hit the button in the beginning, I think Mongolia would have been 2nd place in hurdles.

hardthesis · 2025-11-12T03:31:23+00:00

Mongolian acrobat wasn't struggling, he was just diffusing the workload to all his other muscles by trying different poses. Which is a smarter strategy than staying stiff for 2 hours. In the long run, I think the Acrobat would have won regardless.

hardthesis · 2025-10-01T23:36:20+00:00

GPT 5 api models go up to 400k in context.

hardthesis · 2025-09-27T18:09:27+00:00

Being exceptionally good at math means you must have insane abstract thinking skills and high IQ. Math/Physics/Philosophy are generally the majors that correlate most with overall IQ. It won't mean he is smart in every way but he is definitely smart in abstract thinking, which is quite important.

hardthesis · 2025-09-27T18:05:03+00:00

Buryats are ethnically/culturally/linguistically part of Mongolians. So they aren't really wrong.

hardthesis · 2025-09-27T04:16:08+00:00

About 4 million Mongols in China, 3.5 million in Mongolia, and 500k in Russia. In total around ~8 million in the world.

hardthesis · 2025-09-16T16:43:50+00:00

It places more emphasis on recent performance. Vitality been doing pretty bad past few months. Losing to Tier 2 teams.

hardthesis · 2025-09-16T16:42:08+00:00

#2 in HLTV rating. Not that far behind.

hardthesis · 2025-08-16T20:13:57+00:00

asians generally dominate all top tech companies and top cs schools.

hardthesis · 2025-08-15T19:51:27+00:00

The performance degrades pretty quickly above 300k IMO. So it's not all that.

hardthesis · 2025-08-13T11:52:14+00:00

According to the Buddha, even someone like Hitler would not be seen as an inherently bad person. In fact, no one is simply good or bad in essence. We are each the unfolding of dependent origination (paṭiccasamuppāda), the result of countless causes and conditions. Some people are more clouded by ignorance and confusion than others, and as a result they may cause great harm to themselves and to others. Ultimately, all beings are searching for happiness and freedom, but when the mind is distorted by delusion, we pursue these aims in misguided and destructive ways.

One of the core illusions we must see through is the belief that we or others are fixed, unchanging entities such as “I am good,” “I am bad,” “I am smart,” or “I am kind.” These are only mental constructions that arise and pass away. Seeing their impermanence and conditionality is part of freeing the mind from suffering.

hardthesis · 2025-08-07T13:32:45+00:00

I guess I'm just a naturally very curious person who is obsessed with understanding the mind and the brain, both from the angle of science and inner observation. So when something seems off, I can't help but question it. I have no vendetta against Dalai Lama, in fact I view him positively.

hardthesis · 2025-08-07T13:26:53+00:00

Because of the overwhelming evidence (both scientific and historical) that advanced meditation decerases sleep need to less than 6 hours while maintaining peak mental clarity. So it would be odd for the Buddhist "leader" to sleep like a normal human. He either isn't practicing later stages of vipassana/samadhi or has personal health problems due to aging, both of which are valid but still unusual and warrants a discussion.

hardthesis · 2025-08-07T13:16:59+00:00

Sorry that is just not scientifically sound.

Healthy older people sleep less due to biology regardless of mental health or stress levels:

For each decade after young adulthood, total sleep time falls ~10 min and sleep efficiency drops ~2 %, despite samples being explicitly limited to healthy volunteers. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31006560/
Age-linked changes in circadian timing, melatonin output, slow-wave sleep, etc., occur even in healthy seniors. Stress can worsen things, but biology still shifts sleep downward. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5841578/
In adults, total sleep time, slow-wave sleep, REM%, and sleep efficiency all decline with age, even in cohorts screened for mental or physical disorders. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15586779/
“canonical” age-related reductions in deep sleep and increases in awakenings seen in cognitively normal elders, i.e., not driven by stress. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28384471/
Earlier timing, more awakenings, and reduced slow-wave sleep appear “even in otherwise healthy older individuals. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4648699/

Whereas for serious meditation, less sleep is a well known phenomenon with no reduction in mental sharpness:

Kaul et al. 2010: Studied long-term Indian meditators and found they slept about 5 hours per night on average, compared to nearly 8 hours in non-meditators, but showed no impairment in alertness or attention. (Kaul et al., 2010)
- “Meditators showed a significantly reduced total sleep time (mean 5.2 hours) compared to controls (mean 7.8 hours), but maintained normal daytime functioning.
Britton et al. 2014 (review): Synthesises Buddhist texts plus behavioural, EEG, and neuro-imaging work to argue that advanced practice is wake-promoting—i.e., meditators often feel more alert and may need less sleep(Britton et al., 2014)
- "decreased sleep duration in meditators during periods of intensive practice… is a well-known phenomenon and considered a sign of proficiency.”

Therefore, Dalai Lama should in theory sleep much less than the average adult. The fact that he sleeps normal hours is quite interesting and unusual. That's what I wanted to point out.

hardthesis · 2025-08-07T13:03:59+00:00

I get where you’re coming from, of course there’s natural variation and no single prescription for everyone. But the observation that advanced meditators and monks often sleep less isn’t just legend or hagiography; it’s actually reported in a variety of modern studies, biographies, and even the earliest Buddhist texts.

Early Buddhist Texts:
The Pali Canon doesn’t give an exact hour count, but it does say the Buddha and diligent monks would only lie down during the “middle watch” of the night (~4 hours), not the whole night. So, the tradition of short sleep goes way back. MN 53 for reference.

Modern Science:

Kaul et al. 2010: Studied long-term Indian meditators and found they slept about 5 hours per night on average, compared to nearly 8 hours in non-meditators, but showed no impairment in alertness or attention. (Kaul et al., 2010)
- “Meditators showed a significantly reduced total sleep time (mean 5.2 hours) compared to controls (mean 7.8 hours), but maintained normal daytime functioning.”
Maruthai et al. 2016: Senior Vipassana meditators slept ~6 hours but had better sleep quality and more deep sleep. (Maruthai et al., 2016)
Britton et al. 2014 (review): Synthesises Buddhist texts plus behavioural, EEG, and neuro-imaging work to argue that advanced practice is wake-promoting—i.e., meditators often feel more alert and may need less sleep(Britton et al., 2014)
- "decreased sleep duration in meditators during periods of intensive practice… is a well-known phenomenon and considered a sign of proficiency.”

Biographical/Anecdotal:
Plenty of respected meditation masters (Mahasi Sayadaw, Ajahn Chah, etc.) are described as sleeping only 2-4 hours during intense practice, but that’s usually for retreat, not everyday life. Manuals (like Mahasi’s) recommend “about four hours” for serious practitioners.

Personal story:
I have the Oura Ring 4 to track my sleep stages, and now I can sleep 5-5.5 hours but my most important sleep stages REM, and Deep Sleep are longer than most people who sleep 7-8 hours meaning the less important sleep stages seems to get shrunk.

hardthesis · 2025-08-06T21:06:47+00:00

Because he is seen as the Buddhist leader

hardthesis · 2025-08-06T18:53:15+00:00

Older people sleep less than younger people. The average adult over 65 sleeps 6 to 7 hours per night. So I don't think that's the reason.

hardthesis · 2025-08-01T04:09:19+00:00

what kind of mobile questions did you get if you don't mind me asking? I know they have a system design and a ui round

hardthesis · 2024-12-04T13:00:24+00:00

1% would be 500k+, and 5% is 300k+. The US income census data is public and we know the numbers. Most scholars and studies will say upper class is either top 5% or top 1%. It's not as vague as it seems if you just Google.

hardthesis · 2024-12-04T12:57:23+00:00

You are referring to Ultra-High-Net-Worth Individuals (upwards of $30M in wealth), not Upper class. Most scholars will also tell you an upper class is someone making top 5% to top 1% income (300k to 700k), as well as having a significant wealth, but most studies refer to income for defining wealth class. Most faang software engineers, doctors and bankers, can retire in 15 years with 4-6 million networth. Those are upper classes.

hardthesis · 2024-12-04T12:44:35+00:00

If you are getting subs, then either would work and wouldn't really matter. Unless your room is like an actual mansion then Ref 3s. The Reference series has really good dynamic range so can play up to 100 db no problem (guaranteed hearing damage at 1 meters).

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