A Little Weird

reality bizarres the standard

November 11th, 2011 by Sean
Has it been a year?

Ah, 11/11…/11!

Surely I must have something important to share on this once-in-a-century date?!

No… not particularly :-P. I can’t imagine too many people will end up reading this anyways, which is fine by me.

The only thing remotely psionics-related I’ve been doing is attempting to unwire my thoughts concerning empathy. I discovered a term called “codependency“, which does a great job at explaining the mental processes of (what I call) empathy. If you find yourself a victim of empathy, perhaps researching codependency will help you. It’s helped me.

I’ve also been working on archiving PsiPog and ALW to a single download of the appropriate HTML/CSS files. I plan on putting this file on PsiPog.net, leaving it up for a year or two, then taking the site down completely. We’ve had a good run… these websites were a big part of my teens and 20’s. I’m 28 now… about to get married and start a family. I’m glad to have helped a lot of people, but there comes a point when you have to move on. I hope to have the download available within the next couple months.

When I first started getting into the paranormal, when I was 15, my father told it me was just a phase. I hated that. I guess it’s something a parent tells themselves when their child gets into something weird, whether it be obnoxious music, or dressing a particular way, or trying to move things with their mind :-P.

Perhaps it was a phase, but I don’t hate that it was a phase — I hated that “just a phase” was used to devalue my thoughts and feelings. Oh, you believe something weird? You’ll get over it. Oh, you are doing lots of research? You’ll get over it. Oh, you’ve found scientific evidence? You’ll get over it. Oh, you’ve seen it with your own eyes? You’ll get over it. It’s this attitude of devaluing that I hate.

Psionics was a phase… a long phase :-P. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t valuable. That doesn’t mean that it was all bullshit. I have seen and done things that modern science cannot explain. I feel proud of that. It has helped me to deal with being weird… and finding other weird people in this world to relate to. It’s pushed me towards self-growth and becoming a good person.

Everything is a phase… it just depends on the scale. This human life is a phase we will all get over some day. Psionics is what you make of it. No one has the right to minimize something important to you. That doesn’t mean you have the right to bully people with your beliefs either — it just means we should strive for mutual respect.

Happy 11/11/11! Someday you will outgrow whatever it is you find valuable today. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable today.

Posted in Random Stuff | 7 Comments »

November 11th, 2010 by Sean
Necessity of the Scientific Method (Part 1)

Oh lookie, it’s 11/11! Now what? Warning: Long post.

Something I’ve come to realize is the necessity of the scientific method. I know I’ve written about this topic in the past, but it has a certain clarity with me at this moment.

### Born Ignorant

The problem is that we’re born into this world with very little working knowledge of the reality around us. This is by design - by offloading the learning phase until after birth, it allows humans to better adapt to our environment (and therefore, survive). So instead of biology producing a human that knows everything out of the womb, it produces a human that can learn and adapt to its environment. We don’t come out of the womb with knowledge of how to speak French; we come with the ability to learn language.

Since we are blank slates coming into this world, we need to figure things out. We need to actively pursue truth.

### Truth is Evasive

It is destiny that truth is hard to figure out. Not for some magical reason - I can calculate and prove that truth is inherently hard to figure out.

Truth only has one strength: it can’t die. Humans can die. Ideas can die. Fashion trends can die. Truth can’t die. Because we can die, we need to be strong. We need to be smart. We need to reproduce. We need to adapt. Truth doesn’t need to do any of that. Outside of its immortality, truth is incredibly weak. Truth doesn’t need a job. Truth doesn’t need to be popular. Truth doesn’t need to gather resources. Truth is sitting pretty.

Some truths are obvious… for example, gravity exists. Just about every human and animal has this truth. We might not all agree on the word “gravity”, but we know that we get pulled to the ground. It’s quite obvious.

But many truths are not obvious. For example, did you know that any rubik’s cube can be solved in 20 moves or less? It sounds like a simple fact, but finding the number “20″ took 15 years of research. Was that fact any less true 100 years ago? Was it any less true 10,000 years ago? No. We just didn’t know it. Now we do.

### Necessity of Discovering Truth

Who cares about truth anyways though? Why must we actively pursue it? In short: to survive. Many things threaten our survival, and discovering truth is the only way to overcome these threats. A virus could kill millions of people. We could kill each other using nuclear weapons. We could get hit by an asteroid. Or 23% of us could just die from cancer.

See: discovering truth doesn’t just mean sitting and thinking. It’s not just about meditation (though meditation is definitely a part of it). If we discover the truth that an asteroid will hit us in 12 years, we can take action to survive. An asteroid could be coming at us right now, whether we discover it or not. Discovering truth is a necessity for our survival.

#### Non-Physical Truths

It sounds like I’m describing very physical truths. Cancer, weapons, asteroids, etc. Is it safe to ignore non-physical truths? No.

A group of extremists might believe they will die and be greeted with 72 virgins if they kill themselves in order to propagate their belief system. Non-physical belief systems use physical humans to propagate. Different belief systems have different strategies for survival.

If I somehow came into possession of a nuclear weapon, I would panic and call the police. If a terrorist somehow came into possession of a nuclear weapon, they might decide to kill millions of people, because of their belief system.

Violent belief systems are a threat to our collective survival.

What about non-violent belief systems? I suspect it is very hard to find a non-violent belief system (though we should certainly strive for one). For example, if you believe that freedom of speech isn’t important - is that a non-violent belief? Denying free speech is a form of non-physical violence. I will have to save this piece of the discussion for another day. My point at the time is that it’s important to discover both physical truths (i.e., how cancer works, when an asteroid is going to hit us) and non-physical truths (i.e., whether 72 virgins are waiting for us after death). Both impact our survival.

### Summary

Let’s summarize where we are at this point:

We don’t know the truth. Truth can be obvious, but a lot of times it can be very difficult to figure out. Something is true whether we figure it out or not. Certain undiscovered truths threaten our survival. We must actively pursue truth in order to better adapt and survive. Non-physical truths can have physical manifestations - therefore, we need to actively pursue truth in all our pursuits, not just those that have immediate physical impact.

Moving on…

### Ignorance and Enlightenment

Ignorance is dangerous. If we don’t know that an asteroid is about to hit us, that is an immediate threat. We must actively seek truth, and enlighten our ignorance. We can’t know everything, but we must try to do our best.

Anything that prevents us from enlightening our ignorance is bad. For example, suppose I believe that asteroids don’t exist. It’s a conspiracy! The truth might be that an asteroid is on it’s way to hit us in 12 years. But my belief is now serving as an obstacle to discovering this truth. My belief is a threat to our survival.

The obstacle doesn’t have to be a belief though. Maybe there is a virus outbreak, and there isn’t enough vaccination to go around. My body is denied the information on how to defeat the virus due to a limited supply. The limited supply is a physical obstacle. In this instance, “enlightenment” is a physical process; it is the transfer of knowledge from the vaccination to my body.

Enlightenment is simply moving from ignorance to truth. Whether it is physical (ex: vaccination) or non-physical (ex: learning something new) depends on the type of ignorance. Ignorance can be physical (ex: the body not knowing how to deal with a virus), or non-physical (ex: the mind not knowing if an asteroid exists).

So, we have two enemies: 1. Ignorance (i.e., not knowing truth), 2. Anything that prevents/delays enlightenment (i.e., not being able to discover truth). These enemies might manifest themselves as physical or non-physical, depending on the situation.

To be continued…

Posted in Belief Systems, Science | 5 Comments »

June 12th, 2010 by Sean
Radiolab

Hi all,

I’ve been listening to a Pod-cast called “Radiolab”. It’s basically a science-type of pod-cast, and they talk about interesting things like psychology, physics, studies, the cosmos, etc. Check it out. Especially the one titled “Where Am I”, which touches on out of body experiences:

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/

~Sean

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

February 14th, 2010 by Sean
OBE, Dead Guy

Had an interesting experience this morning at around 7am.

I had fallen asleep on the couch earlier in the day for 4.5 hours (from 7pm-11:30pm), so my sleep schedule was a little out of whack. As per usual, this helped to induce an OBE when I finally got to bed the second time around 5:30am. The OBE wasn’t intentional, but I knew it was likely, because of how I restless I was.

It was fairly normal at first. I floated around my house, played with my vision, inspected my body parts, etc.

At one point, I decided to yell out for “someone”. I do this randomly in my OBEs. I’ve never gotten a response… but I don’t really see the harm in trying, so I do it a lot when I get out.

Usually when I try to talk, I use the same method as when I speak in real life. I use my mouth, and say things. For whatever reason, I decided to try another technique this time around… I specifically focused on my thoughts. I focused on clearing the gibberish in order to deliver a nicely focused non-verbal message. I thought the message “hello? anybody there?”, with a specific type of mental clarity/wavelength.

I then continued on my normal process of playing around in my environment. Sort of like when you walk into a dark room, and say “hello?” — you don’t really wait or expect a response… you just say it and move on.

To my surprise, I got a response. “Yes, hello?” I was blown away. It was an older gentleman.

I tried to remember my technique, and started asking questions: “Where are you? Why can’t I see you? Can you see me?”

“I’m right over here… Yes, I can see you.” (I still couldn’t see him.)

Me: “So what are you - a dead person or something like that?”

He took a moment to think. “Haha, yeah, something like that I suppose.”

Me: “A spirit?”

He kind of sent a confused shrug/nod.

At this point I was starting to get really excited… I started formulating a strategy. What would be the best thing to ask? Who he was when he was alive? Or tips for how to move around while out of body? He struck me as just a normal person, not like some spiritual sage or anything crazy like that. Imagine visiting a foreign nation… would it be appropriate to walk up to a random stranger and start grilling them with questions? But I should certainly ask something, or do something… Or was this some sort of dream? Should I do something that I can verify later?

By this time, my thoughts were all over the place. I think in the midst of all these thoughts, I heard him say he was leaving… so I focused on sending gratitude for taking the time to talk to me. I couldn’t really think with clarity from the excitement, so I hope he got the message.

I returned to my body. I still am debating about the best thing to converse about. But at least I know how to talk correctly now.

Posted in Dream Phenomenon | 8 Comments »

December 29th, 2009 by Sean
Steorn Update

Looks like the Orbo guys have updated their site and added diagrams and videos:

http://www.steorn.com/

I’m not seeing any claims of over-unity… (EDIT: Oh wait, yes they’re still claiming over-unity).

Still waiting on a video where the electrical output is fed back into the machine.

Posted in Random Stuff, Science | 3 Comments »

December 25th, 2009 by Sean
Higher Intelligence

I find it interesting that there seems to be this conflict between science and religion. There are times when modern scientific belief seems to spit in the face of spirituality, but really, I derive a lot of spiritual feelings from understanding science.

One thing that continues to amaze me is evolution. The classical argument is always between evolution vs. intelligent design - i.e., did nature randomly produce living creatures, or did some higher intelligence design living creatures?

If you believe in evolution, it usually implies you are denying the existence of some form of higher intelligence. If evolution is true, then God didn’t create everything… natural processes that don’t rely on God’s existence did.

What’s really interesting though is that - if you believe in evolution - it becomes highly probable that higher intelligences do exist.

Evolution is something that happens inside of systems. If a system is flexible enough to have self-replicating objects, then life will eventually evolve. This “system” can be the reality that we live in… or it can be numbers in a computer. The system itself doesn’t matter - just whether the system has enough flexibility to support the process of evolution.

The physical world we live in, on Earth, is flexible enough to support the process of evolution. Self-replicating objects, starting at the molecular level, slowly evolved over millions of years into multi-cellular organisms.

How far-fetched is it to believe that there are other systems in our reality that are flexible enough to support evolution? I would argue that it’s not only possible - it strikes me as quite probable.

For example, perhaps the laws of electro-magnetism have enough flexibility to support evolution. If they do, then non-physical beings of light could exist right now, having evolved for the past 13 billion years. That destroys humanity’s 6 million years of evolution.

It does sound silly to say “non-physical beings of light”, but that’s exactly what it would be. And if the laws of electro-magnetism are flexible enough to support evolution, then these non-physical, highly-evolved light organisms most certainly exist.

How can you justify being an Atheist, other than you’re just pissed off at your dad?

Posted in Consciousness, Science | 5 Comments »

December 2nd, 2009 by Sean
Wolfram, Again

I know a lot of you guys aren’t convinced that Wolfram’s theory of everything is correct. The more I think about it, and the more I digest his book… the more I become convinced that he has simply figured it out. I believe Wolfram will go down in history for being the first human being to discover how reality works. Again, if you haven’t seen his presentation, start here. If you need more detail, then buy his book.

Part of me always hesitates to align myself with one particular mindset. I like to hold conflicting views in my head, and force myself to see things from different perspectives. But Wolfram’s theory is just… genius. It’s amazingly convincing. It speaks directly to my programmer’s mind, and gives me clarity. Or maybe I’m just sick of all the philosophical questions, and Wolfram has become “good enough” for me :-).

-

It’s important to realize: Wolfram’s theory doesn’t really make predictions about how reality behaves. It sounds strange… you would think that if you know how everything works, then you should be able to predict what’s going to happen. Wolfram’s genius is in dispelling this assumption. How does PK work? Are OBEs real? Is there life after death? I still don’t know. Wolfram’s theory isn’t in the same ballpark as these questions.

Wolfram’s theory only really asserts two core ideas: 1. Reality is deterministic. 2. Reality is inherently unpredictable.

As you can see, these two ideas don’t really offer solutions to any “real world” problems. We still need to worry about global warming. We still need to explore space. We still need to eat, breathe, love, and survive. Nothing really changes.

But these ideas… They just feel like such a giant sigh of relief. They say, in a loud booming voice: Everything is OK. There’s always a third option. Reality is divinely balanced, and no one can take that away. Every experience is new and unique, and the only way to know for sure what’s going to happen is to wait and see.

And these ideas aren’t just nice thoughts anymore. They’re proven, in black and white, in Wolfram’s book.

I feel satisfied. Yes, I still have an infinite number of things to learn and experience — but that’s the point! My philosophical self has been extinguished. Thank you, Wolfram.

Posted in Philosophy, Belief Systems | 7 Comments »

November 11th, 2009 by Sean
Larger Than Mind

Happy 11/11!

I don’t really have anything to offer today. I don’t know… for the past two months or so, I just haven’t been interested in “truth” or the “paranormal”. I think it’s related to the crystallization of Wolfram’s theory of everything. I just don’t feel the same passion that I used to.

I mean… Wolfram solved it. He figured reality out. Of course, there are an infinite number of details… but the big picture is complete. (Well, technically the big picture isn’t complete yet, but Wolfram has pointed in the correct direction, and it’s just a matter of time at this point… and I always reserve the right to be completely wrong.)

It’s funny, because I think we hold on to this illusion that God is some sort of personal being. Like a human, sitting and making decisions, and interfering with our lives, helping us along, etc. I see a different God now… neither personal nor impersonal. Larger than mind. I can’t contain the idea in my head anymore. I can’t label it, and parse it, and move it around… it’s too unknowable.

Inherent unpredictability. What a beautiful thought. What a sigh of relief.

Anyways…

There is so much to learn and wonder about in the world. I really love this world… it’s such a curious phenomenon. No box is big enough to contain it.

And the sneaky part is when I say “larger than mind”, our mind immediately grasps the concept. But what a slap in the face! “Larger than mind” loses all meaning once mind thinks it understands.

Like I said, I have nothing to offer you today… just random musings on life, the universe, and everything.

Posted in Note to Self, Philosophy | 8 Comments »

October 28th, 2009 by Sean
Human

I would like to think that my “search for truth” is some noble venture. I would love to inflate my ego, and declare that my pursuit is a result of higher thinking, or that I stand on principle, or philosophy, or some other big idea. All lies!

My obsession for truth originates in my strong sense of survival. I don’t pursue truth for some higher purpose - I pursue it because my biology wants to survive, and my programming is betting that this abstract concept of “truth” will give me an evolutionary advantage.

And with that, my obsession is vanquished. Awareness is a bitch.

See, now the real questions start. The real hard ones. Such as, How does one live a fulfilling life? What matters?

These glowing rectangles are killing me.

Human.

Posted in Note to Self | 2 Comments »

October 3rd, 2009 by Sean
Solution to Determinism/Free Will

Hi there… My great friend, Stephen Wolfram, has clued in me to the solution to the apparent contradiction between determinism and free will. He told me about it here.

In philosophy, there is a debate between determinism and free will. The idea goes like this: if the world is deterministic, that means there is a math formula for everything. As a result, if you knew the initial conditions of the universe - you could simulate the entire universe using the math rules. However, if that is true, then free will doesn’t exist. If everything is just a math formula, then YOU don’t really ever make a choice… you are just making pretend choices governed by the chemical reactions in your brain, which are governed by math.

The appeal here is that we all feel like free will exists. I feel like I make choices. I don’t feel like a robot, calculating my next move - I feel like an individual with a soul, that somehow magically makes real decisions. I choose whether to write this article or not… I choose what I’m going to say, or what I will eat, or how I spend my weekends. I choose.

So, if I have free will, where does it come from? If free will exists, then that means reality can’t be deterministic, and that a soul of some sort must exist.

Luckily, Mr. Wolfram has cleared this up. It turns out determinism is true (despite our ignorance in the field of quantum physics). But there’s a catch…

Reality is something called a “universal computer“. To explain this concept, let’s talk about our intuition…

In our minds, we might think of “problems” on a sliding scale of difficulty. Some problems are really easy to solve. Some problems are a little hard. And other problems are really really hard.

For example, if I give you the length of two sides of a right triangle, you can figure out the length of the third size. You would just use the Pythagorean theorem (a2 + b2 = c2), pull out your calculator, and figure the solution. Fairly simple.

However, if I asked you for a prediction of what the weather will be like in London on 15 March 2010… you can’t just plug that question into a formula and figure it out. You could give a best guess, but you won’t have a definite answer.

Or how about - how will humans evolve in another million years? This question seems much harder than the weather question! How would you even begin to estimate an answer? You might as well just make something up off the top of your head.

Our intuition tells us that there are many different levels of difficulty in answering problems. However, our intuition is wrong. There are really only two: things you can plug and chug in a formula… and things you can’t know for sure, and just have to wait and see.

Predicting the weather is the same level of mathematical difficulty as predicting the evolution of humans. The questions are equivalent. Likewise, any sort of formula-based question is the same level as well - just about all of math, physics, and chemistry is just figuring out which formula to use, and how to use it correctly. Plug and chug.

Now here’s the kicker (if I haven’t bored you already): it is mathematically IMPOSSIBLE to have a problem with MORE difficulty than predicting the weather. Our intuition tells us that problems can be more and more difficult. This is not true. Once a problem reaches a certain level of complexity, it is basically maxed out. It can’t get more difficult.

That tells us something about reality though: since we witness these difficult problems in reality, then reality must be complex enough to contain them. And since there is a limit to complexity - reality can’t be any MORE complicated. Therefore, the laws that govern reality MUST create a system of maximum complexity.

How does free will fit into this?

When a system reaches maximum complexity, the only way to predict the future is to wait and see. There are no short cuts. For example, I can’t write a computer program that predicts the output of another computer program. I can’t do it. It’s mathematically impossible. The ONLY way to predict how a computer program will run is to run it! You can sit back and analyze it all you want, but you CAN NOT predict the results without actually running it.

We are deterministic. However, we have reached the maximum level of complexity. Therefore, the only way to see what we’re going to do is to wait and see.

In our original thought in the second paragraph, we thought that if the universe was deterministic, then we could simulate the entire universe. Yes - in fact, that’s what we’re doing RIGHT NOW. However, we can’t predict the future. Our universe is moving as fast as it can… we cannot skip ahead, and predict the results before they happen.

Reality is deterministic, but unpredictable. Math saves the day. Thank you, Mr. Wolfram.

Posted in Video, Philosophy, Science | 16 Comments »

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