文章探讨了改变大脑“软件”，即思维模式的多种方法。作者将大脑比作计算机，认为可以通过改变“程序”来改变大脑的活动模式。文章列举了一系列改变大脑软件的方式，包括有意识地练习不同的思维方式、改变高级情境、改变主要信念、学习新的世界认知、经历强烈体验、重新定义自我、采纳新目标、承担新责任、产生新痴迷、改变社交群体、与引人入胜的人互动以及借助药物和宗教等。作者认为，人们通常零散地关注这些方法，而很少系统地思考如何优化大脑软件。

🧘‍♀️有意识地练习不同的思维方式，例如冥想，可以改变大脑的活动模式。

🗣️通过认知行为疗法（CBT）或自我对话等方式，有意识地练习对特定刺激的不同思维反应，有助于重塑思维模式。

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦改变高级情境，例如从感觉像孩子到感觉像成年人，会导致大脑自动产生不同的模式。

📚学习到世界并非如直觉所想，例如，如果总是担心别人会伤害你，但实际上每个人都很友善，这种担忧可能会变得不再有吸引力，从而改变思维模式。

💊药物（如酒精、Adderall、LSD）和宗教信仰也可能在短期和长期内改变大脑的思维模式。

Published on May 20, 2025 6:40 AM GMT

Brains are like computers in that the hardware can do all kinds of stuff in principle, but each one tends to run through some particular patterns of activity repeatedly. For computers you can change this by changing programs. What are big ways brain ‘software’ changes?

Some I can think of:

Intentional practice of different styles of thinking (e.g. meditation) Intentional practice of different trains of thought in response to specific stimuli (e.g. CBT, self-talk) Changing the high level situation, where your brain automatically has different patterns for each (e.g. if you go from feeling like a child to like an adult maybe a lot of patterns change) A change in a major explicit belief (e.g. if you go from expecting your project to work out to believing otherwise, your patterns of attention might naturally change) Learning that the world isn’t as you intuited (e.g. if you are constantly worrying about people wronging you, but everyone is kind to you, this worry might become unappealing) Intense experiences causing inaccurate updating (e.g. trauma) Identifying differently (e.g. if I think of myself as a good student, I might have different mental patterns around studying than when I thought of myself as a bad student) Adopting a new goal (e.g. deciding to be a musician) Getting a new responsibility (e.g. a child) Getting a new obsession (e.g. a crush, a hobby) Changing social groups (e.g. among jokers it is more tempting to think of jokes, though in my experience among philosophers it might have been less tempting to think of philosophy) Interacting with a really compelling person Drugs (e.g. alcohol, adderall, LSD both short term and long-term) Religion, somehow

I feel like people talk about many of these as important, but not in one view. I rarely hear someone say, “My brain software seems suboptimal, what are my options for changing it?”, then go down the list. Instead I suppose one hears from a friend that this book helped them, or one decides to have a therapist, and the book or therapist turns out to be one that focuses on CBT, so one does that. Or one changes social groups or responsibilities for some other reason, then remarks that this was a good or bad side-effect. Maybe that makes sense—‘stuff my brain habitually does’ is pretty broad.

I’d be interested to know which things do in practice change people’s mental patterns the most.

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