The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Self-Experimentation

May 31, 2010

seth-roberts-large.jpgIt all started when Seth Roberts wondered why his self-experiments were so effective.

Over 12 years, this psychology professor and regular at Quantified Self meetups tested new ideas, observed himself, and learned a number of significant things – new theories about mood, weight loss, sleep-wake cycles, and daily habits necessary for optimal living.

Seth’s exploration of why his self-experiments work so well is now in press for the journal Medical Hypotheses. You can read the full text here, and here’s an abstract:

Over 12 years, my self-experimentation found new and useful ways to improve sleep, mood, health, and weight. Why did it work so well? First, my position was unusual. I had the subject-matter knowledge of an insider, the freedom of an outsider, and the motivation of a person with the problem. I didn’t need to publish regularly. I didn’t want to display status via my research. Second, I used a powerful tool. Self-experimentation about the brain can test ideas much more easily (by a factor of about 500,000) than conventional research about other parts of the body. When you gather data, you sample from a power-law-like distribution of progress. Most data helps a little; a tiny fraction of data helps a lot. My subject-matter knowledge and methodological skills (e.g., in data analysis) improved the distribution from which I sampled (i.e., increased the average amount of progress per sample). Self-experimentation allowed me to sample from it much more often than conventional research. Another reason my self-experimentation was unusually effective is that, unlike professional science, it resembled the exploration of our ancestors, including foragers, hobbyists, and artisans.

Here’s to the power of self-experiments, and self-experimenters!

Related Posts

CGM Show&Tell June 13 2023

Gary Wolf

June 13, 2023

It all started when Seth Roberts wondered why his self-experiments were so effective. Over 12 years, this psychology professor and regular at Quantified Self meetups tested new ideas, observed himself, and learned a number of significant things – new theories about mood, weight loss, sleep-wake cycles, and daily habits necessary for optimal living. Seth’s exploration...

New Show&Tell Event: Tracking Blood Glucose

Gary Wolf

May 31, 2023

Please join us for an hour of short "QS Show&Tell" talks about diet and metabolic discoveries using personal science. This session will focus on minimally invasive blood glucose monitor and meal and activity tracking with Nutrisense.

Astronauts

Gary Wolf

February 23, 2023

We The Scientists, a new book by Amy Dockser Marcus, tells the story of a group of families who force research attention on a rare disease