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.

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“I’m here to play go and chew bubble gum, and I’m all out of gum”- misquoted duke nukem

Nothing.

And I think it was worth it.

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Occupy Babel!

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.

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.

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Patience, grasshopper.

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

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

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My blog about Macs and more: Kirkville

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.

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FusekiLibrary, an opening library.
SGF converter tools: Wbaduk NGF to SGF | 440 go problems | Fuseki made easy | Tesuji made easy | Elementary training & Dan level testing | Dan Tutor Shortcut To Dan

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.

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My blog about Macs and more: Kirkville

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

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FusekiLibrary, an opening library.
SGF converter tools: Wbaduk NGF to SGF | 440 go problems | Fuseki made easy | Tesuji made easy | Elementary training & Dan level testing | Dan Tutor Shortcut To Dan

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.

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be immersed

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.

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If you say no, Elwood and I will come here for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day of the week.

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?)

Go helped me realize the futility of trying to get better at something.

I think that if we let go teach us it will. If that is not something we are looking for then it won't impose itself upon us. That's, in part, what I love about go. I for one know that go has changed me and continues to do so. It is the reason I can't stay away even when I can't afford to spend time on it.

Yes it is fun and it is addictive, or can be. For me, it is also gently, patiently instructive. I have learned to recognize some of my weaknesses through go. These weaknesses appear regularly on the goban but they also appear in other aspects of my life. Go lets me choose to ignore them and continue with my mistakes. However, if I follow my desire to improve at go, this game reminds me that I must overcome my weaknesses. I work to overcome them on the goban and as I do so I find that I am working through them in other areas of my life as well. (Perhaps the reverse is also true.)

The best example for me is the weakness of greed or perhaps it a lack of patience (for me these are the same). As I've progressed with my go, I've had to learn to make subtle, indirect moves that none-the-less have real purpose. This has required me to learn patience. Over the years I've learned to do this more in my life. Ha, my wife even admitted this morning that I'm more patient in traffic these past years. Proof enough! Less road rage is just the beginning for me! It has also affected the way I approach the unfulfilled desires in my life.

I studied with Mirel Florescu online for a bout year at one time. I learned a lot, but wasn't ready to let go teach me at that time. But I remember a quote from the home page of his go school's site. I believe it is a quote from his sensei:



I for one am mystified at how someone can play go as a 3 dan but live life in a complete unbalanced manner. But, as I said, go does not demand that we learn from it. It only offers.

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RazorBrain


- Another One Bites the Dust
- BOOK REVIEW: How Not To Play Go
- Finally, a DGS Client for the iPhone

Good to see you here, RazorBrain.

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be immersed

Thanks Kirby. Nice to be back. Hopefully, learning balance in go and life means I'll be more careful about overloading and disappearing. Sigh . . . But altering our nature is probably impossible and trying to alter it is at best foolish. Taming it perhaps is possible though

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RazorBrain


- Another One Bites the Dust
- BOOK REVIEW: How Not To Play Go
- Finally, a DGS Client for the iPhone

I am not really sure how true it is but I often used to say that go made me a much more patient person.

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Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).