aet.radal ssg wrote:
> Dear Jeanne:
>
> Message -----
> From: "Jeanne Houston"
> To: "Stathis Papaioannou" , r.standish.domain.name.hidden
> Subject: Re: Many worlds theory of immortality
> Date: Tue, 10 May 2005 07:19:01 -0400
>
> I didn't read the article but I am aware of the conceptual basis for
> this idea. To answer your question, it is possible that altered
> states, including those caused by mental illness, can allow the brain
> to pick-up information from elsewhere. However, the differentiation
> must be made between such elsewhere (or elsewhen) awarenesses and true
> hallucinations (the same goes for dreams. Some people postulate that
> some dreams could be awarenesses of other realities but then use lucid
> dreaming as an example. Right idea, wrong type of dream). Many of the
> hallucinations common to schizophrenics are based on outside stimuli
> triggering a preconvieved viewpoint which is then externalized as a
> hallucination. For example, such a patient may be on his way to the
> pharmacy to get a prescription filled and see a billboard for an auto
> body repair shop that features a close-up shot of a man cowering in
> fear that says "Watch Out! The Morons are Out There!" (a true
> advertisement). This billboard could stimulate a reaction in the
> patient based upon the apprehension that the doctor may not know what
> he's doing and prescribed the wrong medication. This reaction could
> manifest itself as a merely a thought, "Yeah. And I bet my shrink's a
> moron too!" or it could extend into the outside world if the patient
> looks back at the sign. Suddenly the sign could have its own response
> to this sudden thought that the patient's psychiatrist is a moron and
> could read something like "Yes! Your shrink's a moron and he's out to
> get you!"
>
> This is based on research done by Janssen Pharmaceutica
> http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2002/aug/schizophrenia/ in
> the development of a simulator of the schizophrenic experience. The
> simulator was created with the input of actual patients to make it as
> realistic as possible, and I have used it before, as part of my
> research. In this case, the hallucinations of the schizophrenic are
> based on internal apprehensions and are not observations of some
> parallel reality. The tendency should be resisted to simply assume
> that just because someone is perceiving something that we aren't, that
> what they're are perceiving is somehow linked to some interdimensional
> knowledge or higher reality. If one wants to take that tact, then they
> must also engage in the very real hard work of substantiating exactly
> what the nature of these perceptions are and if they have any kind of
> objective basis. To do that takes a considerable amount of work.
> Otherwise the question goes unanswered and any consideration of what
> is or isn't going on is simply unbridled speculation.
>
> Hope that helps.
>
>
I'm not one to shy away from what others would perceive to be "unbridled
speculation," however there are a few fundamental problems with the idea
set forth by Jeanne. First, to the best that I understand, there is no
evidence that we will ever be able to access the information of the
parallel outcomes (worlds) in question. We can access the processing
power of the other worlds, but the laws of physics seem to prevent our
pulling information from another "world" into our world given the
collapse that happens at the end of a computation (when we get our
result from a quantum computer). So the idea seems to be prohibited by
the laws of physics. And lets not even get into the proof problem.
It's sort of like UFO's. Is it easier to believe that someone is
crazy/seeing things/misinterpreting stimuli, or that they really are
seeing other worlds/aliens? Spectacular claims require spectacular
proof, and I don't see how this idea presents the prospect of any
proof. Perhaps, if someone could in a statistically significant way
predict future events or the location of hidden items, like remote
viewing, could provide evidence, but there would still have to be some
way to establish the link between that phenomena and other worlds.
Danny
Received on Tue May 10 2005 - 13:36:18 PDT