Countless philosophers, prophets and teachers in the ages past spoke about the importance of learning about oneself. However, while their approach to this was an abstract and metaphorical one, today, we are on the brink of making their dream come true quite literally. Present day sensor technology, along with analytic smartphone apps can help you learn every little thing there is to know about your body. With this in mind, the present-day technology (both hardware and software) can perhaps serve as a vessel of self-cognition. Here are a few further thoughts on this subject.
Fitness Apps
The first thing that comes to our mind when speaking about tracking of physical metrics are the fitness apps. Sure, tracking distance is not that difficult, all you need is a simple motion detector and a connection to GPS. Still, modern fitness apps go one step further. Not only do they monitor your heart rate and blood pressure, but also go above and beyond to help you reach your long-term athletic goal. For starters, they inform you on the number of calories you burned since you started walking, running or cycling, which can be a great incentive for you to carry on with this beneficial practice.
Cognitive Abilities
Another thing that is of great concern to organizations and individuals are the cognitive ability measures. Not to be confused with intelligence tests, this kind of testing is something much closer to the aptitude test and it usually plays an important role when it comes to the employment. Metrics used here are verbal and numerical ability, visual speed and accuracy, numerical reasoning, word fluency and, of course, symbolic reasoning.
The greatest problem with the adequate assessment is that there are so many factors that may have influence on these metrics. For example, whether one takes tests while well-rested or exhausted may have a great effect on the end results. Furthermore, the so-called smart pills, not unlike the one portrayed in the popular TV series Limitless, can also rig the outcome in one’s favor. In this scenario, a person taking this real-life version of Limitless pill would have a score significantly higher than the one they would achieve without it.
Personal Data Tools
In the introduction, we spoke about getting to know yourself, while so far, we’ve only discussed weight-losing efforts and improving one’s chances of getting hired. Well, sometimes the end goal is nothing more than satisfying your curiosity and learning a thing or two you never knew about yourself. A platform, such as AskMeEvery, can help you deal with this matter in no time. The way it works is quite simple. First, you set your questions, like how long did you sleep, did you floss, how do you feel, and then decide on how often these questions are going to recur. All you need to do after this is reply, and once enough time has passed, you can see your sleep/dental hygiene/mood progression on the graph.
The most curious thing about this kind of surveillance is that it makes even the most unlikely feature of your everyday life quantifiable. Finding which of these factors play a major role in your areas of interest can potentially revolutionize your life.
Conclusion
In the light of all this, it becomes transparent that the more you know about yourself the greater level of control you have over your life. Well, if this is true, why hasn’t anyone think of it sooner? The answer to this is quite simple. It is not that no one ever thought of it, but in the past, there was a lack of hardware infrastructure to follow up on this idea. Today, for the first time in history, we have the tools necessary to learn about what really makes us tick. This thought is both encouraging and terrifying at the same time.
