Life In 19x19

What has it done for you? I am curios to know. It increased my intelligence from below average to a decent A student, and made learning a whole lot easier.

Nothing.

And I think it was worth it.

For a couple of years, my daughter and I took Tae Kwon Do lessons. At each belt test, the instructor would randomly call on one of the students and ask a question similar to this. "What has Tae Kwon Do done for you" was a commonly asked question. In fact, I was asked that once.

What does any recreational activity do? Usually something -- fitness, agility, mental clarity, calmness, entertainment -- any number of things. If we didn't find something positive about it, we probably wouldn't pursue it as recreation. Well, I was always hoping I'd be asked that particular question, and I'll give the same answer, here:

It helps keep me sane.

balmung wrote:It increased my intelligence from below average to a decent A student, and made learning a whole lot easier.

I'd be surprised if it was really just Go that contributed that much to your improvement, but I do think that Go demands a certain set of virtues such as patience, humility, thinking a plan through, making the best of a bad situation and others, and if you stick with it, these qualities are bound to improve. It's great to hear that your improvement was so tangible. As for what it's done for me outside of Go, well, it's given me a nice conversation topic and a box full of handy metaphors. Whether it helps to postpone senility remains to be seen.

balmung wrote:What has it done for you? I am curios to know. It increased my intelligence from below average to a decent A student, and made learning a whole lot easier.

Somewhat related: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=729

daal wrote:

balmung wrote:It increased my intelligence from below average to a decent A student, and made learning a whole lot easier.

I'd be surprised if it was really just Go that contributed that much to your improvement, but I do think that Go demands a certain set of virtues such as patience, humility, thinking a plan through, making the best of a bad situation and others, and if you stick with it, these qualities are bound to improve. It's great to hear that your improvement was so tangible.

I agree with that. Go has certainly not "increased your intelligence," but rather given you discipline to learn better.

Go has brought me endless nights with too little sleep, either by playing or writing programs. Outside of lost sleep, I don't know anything else it has brought me. For some reason I keep coming back for more.

CarlJung wrote:Go has brought me endless nights with too little sleep, either by playing or writing programs. Outside of lost sleep, I don't know anything else it has brought me. For some reason I keep coming back for more.

That happened to me in the early days of the Internet (1995-2000), when I played game after game all night. Then I simply stopped playing go after dinner, and I slept a lot better. I don't play in the evening any more, unless I'm playing in a KGS tournament.

kirkmc wrote:

CarlJung wrote:Go has brought me endless nights with too little sleep, either by playing or writing programs. Outside of lost sleep, I don't know anything else it has brought me. For some reason I keep coming back for more.

That happened to me in the early days of the Internet (1995-2000), when I played game after game all night. Then I simply stopped playing go after dinner, and I slept a lot better. I don't play in the evening any more, unless I'm playing in a KGS tournament.

That would solve the problem, but it would also mean I wouldn't play anything since the evening is the only time I have for go

Helel wrote:It has curbed my chess addiction.

I, on the other hand, have MORE urge to play Chess since I started playing Go.

It's improved how fast I count small round objects.

This has actually been noticed by colleagues when we were trying to divide up some sweets, and also helps me with getting the right amount of centrifuge tubes out for an experiment, so in some small, specific way go has definitely helped me elsewhere.

For awhile, I debated about go. When I was in Japan, I actually stopped playing for about half of a year. I thought to myself, "I have the choice of what to get good at, don't I? Do I really want to get good at putting rocks on a piece of wood?". I actually had a similar thought about TaeKwonDo, which I was also doing: "Do I really want to get good at kicking people? I mean, c'mon... When do I really kick people in real life?".

So I stopped both playing go and practicing TaeKwonDo for awhile. During that time, I was able to study quite a lot, actually, and I may have gotten some benefit from avoiding go. I think I improved in Japanese, among other things that I spent time on. I had a lot more time to do "productive things".

But after awhile, I reconsidered my thought: "Do I really want to get good at putting rocks on a piece of wood?"... Well, now my answer is, "Yes, I do. It's a lot of fun, and I enjoy it!". Taekwondo, on the other hand, has never revisited my interests.

Kirby wrote:.... But after awhile, I reconsidered my thought: "Do I really want to get good at putting rocks on a piece of wood?"... Well, now my answer is, "Yes, I do. It's a lot of fun, and I enjoy it!". Taekwondo, on the other hand, has never revisited my interests.

Ditto.
Except for the physical fitness aspect of TKD, I found myself less and less interested. And fitness can be maintained in many other ways.

Through go I got to know some people that I would not have met otherwise.
And of course fun of playing and solving problems.
Other than that nothing but nothing.

I don't think it affects my brain functionality in any way. If is does affect, then I am almost sure not in a positive way. If it does affect positively, then I am almost sure it is not at all useful for my daily life. If it is useful, then I am almost sure it still does not compensate for the time and money I put in it. If it does compensate, I unfortunately don't realize it.

But I still play because it is fun and addictive.

Kirby wrote:"Do I really want to get good at kicking people?"

I have to admit that getting better at kicking people is one of my major motivations in life. Also I really miss kicking bags and pads from my short TKD time, because it makes me very happy. It's not because I want/need to kick people. It's not because I think I want/need the ability to kick people. I just really like it. I like being able to do it in a variety of imaginative, artistic and occasionally unpleasant ways. Good times.

Apologies for the OT. Please resume the wonderful ways at which go has helped you. (And enough of this "Go doesn't help me I just like it..." rubbish. We all know that, it's why you're here. In what way HAS it helped you?)