Friday, April 25, 2014

Most dubious form of psi phenomena...

Of all the forms of High Weirdiness that are claimed to have some degree of scientific validation, the one that I find most difficult to believe is precognition--the idea that it is possible to see into the future in some way that is inexplicable through ordinary means.  

My own philosophical presupposition is that as the future has no actual existence, there is nothing there to intuit by so-called psychic means.  

But the mathematics here seems to prove that it is a reality.  

 

Well, I do posit that it is possible for there to be extrasensory perception of things that are far away in space and also those that are in the past, for the past does have a certain concreteness even if it only exists as a sort of appendage to the present.  

As I understand it, the "presentiment" effects that are claimed are only for things that are a few seconds into the future (but which the subjects can sense quicker than it would be possible for the nervous system to communicate to the brain.)

 I submit that what is actually happening is a kind of extra-sensory grasp of the present or the immediate past and an extrapolation from it into the  immediate future, based also on the a subtle power of the human mind to immediately grasp, process and project patterns of cause-and-effect, a power that is most clearly seen in autistic savants;  for example, some can tell you in an instant what day of the week that April 17th will fall on in the year 3170 A.D.  Whether that power itself is to be considered extra-sensory or, as they say these days, paranormal, is another question.  
 
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Friday, April 11, 2014

A Defense of the Higher Weirdness From a (Very) Unexpected Quarter

I've been working on an essay, off and on, in which I attempt to sketch a sort of unified theory encompassing the areas variously referred to as the paranormal and/or the mystical--or by many as the the king hell crazy...

Initially, it seems there are two kinds of people--those who don't believe in that stuff and those who have experienced it.  

I'm opting for a middle ground of sorts--I vaguely believe a great many of these odd experiences have a reality that goes beyond mere delusion--I'm not sure I ever want to experience any of them myself & exactly which of those experiences I am willing to credit as "real" in some non-trivial sense--well, that fluctuates on a weekly, if not daily, basis.  

The phenomena though are elusive and don't seem to fit  easily into a single explanatory system (but when I finish my essay--hah!)  But long time social activist and author Barbara Ehrenreich has a new book, *Living With A Wild God* that seems to occupy just that middle ground (but to be honest, I haven't read it yet--just reviews)   Not that she has found Jesus or even God, but it seems to me clearly that she gives her unusual experience its proper due.  

Perhaps I will incorporate her conclusions, if any, in my essay.  

BTW, Barbara Ehreneich's book, *Nickeled and Dimed* is the most insightful book I have ever read about the plight of the working poor in the U.S.   Just as John Howard Griffin dyed his skin black and lived as black man (*Black Like Me*) for a whole year in order to find out exactly what it is like to be black in America, so Ehreneich undertook to live for a year on such wages as she could get working as a maid in a hotel and similar venues.  One thing of note:  she found that so-called menial and unskilled jobs actually required a lot of intelligence and skill if an employer was to be satisfied.  


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