What can't you talk about?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

This article may cause great indignation among my readers, because the phenomenon described in it contradicts classical science. And classical pseudoscience too. The reflections that I will share do not have an important criterion of scientificness, which in the philosophy of science is usually called "intersubjective testability", and also does not satisfy absolutely all invented criteria for the demarcation of science and nonscience (at least starting from positivists). Lovers of pseudoscience will also be disappointed, since it is impossible to powder the brain with this topic, all the individuals I know who have abused this are already dead: some in the physical and some in the spiritual sense. Realizing the possibility of a fall in confidence in me, I will write this text anyway, because my task is to warn unwary people about the danger that may await them, and this is more important for me. This article will not provide answers to the questions and riddles that arise, because I do not have them, but there will be a warning for those who have not yet managed to lose themselves.

Joke

Let's start with a simple anecdote. A man stands in the middle of a building corridor and claps his hands, another man comes up to him and asks:

- Why are you clapping?

- I scare off flying crocodiles, - the strange man answers, - they are very afraid of these pops.

“But there are no flying crocodiles here. - the approached person informs in perplexity.

- Do not thank.

What do we see? A similar logic is found in all sorts of sects, when a leader endows himself with a number of qualities and reports that it is these qualities that save the planet from danger. Yesterday he stopped the aliens, and today, even before dinner, he led away a huge meteorite that could blow the Earth to shreds. How can we verify this information? If there is no meteorite, then it might not have been; on the other hand, the almighty hierarch could really have taken him aside. Of course, since you have never seen anything like it, you will rightly doubt the mental health of your leader … but for some reason, in many sects, I did not observe this doubt. Was it raining in your city yesterday? Did not have? Well, it was the almighty hierarch who stopped the clouds and sent them to another area, and if there was rain, then these were exactly the clouds that he sent to you from where there was no rain. Try to argue.

Usually, this anecdote ends the thinking process of a person with an ordinary consciousness, who has met with an opponent who does not want to explain some secret knowledge to which he is involved, or to reveal some of his abilities. Have you seen this? When a person induces a mystical secret, saying that he is doing something important and great, however, he cannot explain this, since this knowledge is not available to the layman, and the disclosure of the secret is very dangerous. Here lies the border between modern scientific methodology and the sphere of mysticism. That is, for an official academic scientist with a classical system of representations, the further part of the article cannot be of interest in principle. These people cite such an anecdote as an argument or for the purpose of ridicule in cases where they cannot get direct evidence from the opponent of some of his abilities or knowledge, which he hides for some reason, shrouding himself in such a secret, hinting at belonging to some higher dedicated castes, for example.

It is believed that if a person cannot explain or prove that he has some kind of deep understanding, ability or wisdom, avoids attempts to reasonably explain his position, then this person is an inventor or is mentally ill - something makes him believe in his exclusivity, and for his "Secret" he hides emptiness and ignorance. Whoever thinks this way and agrees with the previous sentence should not read further, because he will waste his time. I warned.

Secret plan

And then we have a more vital, but still also a fictitious example.

There is a person who has a secret plan that allows you to implement some super important idea. This man is so smart that he is able to implement a plan monstrous in its complexity, but the most important condition for its implementation is a complete mystery, and he must remain a mystery for some time after its implementation, so that all launched processes have time to complete correctly. Let's imagine that in order to implement an idea according to this plan, a person needs the support of a certain number of other people, for example, some money or other resources, or maybe some services or just votes in elections. But people look at our wise man, and do not see anything in his actions that would make it possible to be convinced of the actual efficiency of the plan. These people offer other, straightforward solutions, which, although they are not good, will still at least lead to something, and the actions of our hero are incomprehensible to them, too complicated and abstruse … and so, to prove the genius of their plan, they have to to uncover. Our strategist climbs the podium, glances around the skeptical crowd and says: "Today, as never before, we must rally, blah-blah-blah …". The people listened to the plan, and said, “Oh-oh-oh! How great it is! Indeed, this is how it should be done! " The crowd applauds their hero, waves flags and rejoices … However, the plan has already failed, because it is not secret. The chance is missed - and people go to dry crackers; but at least they know what they have lost.

A similar situation is well described in the tale by H. H. Andersen "The Wild Swans". Remember the most important rule that Eliza had to adhere to? “But remember that from the minute you start work until you finish, even if it lasts for years, you must not say a word. The very first word that comes off your tongue will pierce the hearts of your brothers like a deadly dagger. Their life and death will be in your hands. Remember all this! ".

As an almost similar example of this situation, consider the actions of V. Putin towards Ukraine in 2014, when some people believed “Putin’s cunning plan”, while others, of course, sitting on the couch, offered to send in troops and rule everything by force. The most important argument of ordinary opponents of "Putin's plan" was this: there is no cunning plan, and if there is, then tell me - what is it? I have not been able to figure out why the people who asked this question-argument did not see an internal contradiction in it. After all, the trick is that no one should know about it until a certain moment. Moreover, how can a secret plan be good if it could be revealed only by observing the performer from the outside? But people with an ordinary consciousness believed that they were able, by very superficial external signs, to determine the degree of intelligence of the commander-in-chief and reliably determine the correctness of his actions, and even better than the real enemy in the person of you know which country tried to do. However, my opinion on this diplomatic issue will not be announced here, so the reader should not even try to define my position in the political sphere. I just gave an example … Now we go further.

Self-canceling prophecies

There are so-called self-fulfilling prophecies that I am writing about in a series of articles. This is when the very fact of voicing a certain prediction becomes the reason for its execution. As I was rightly reminded in the comments, there is another version of prophecy, when the very fact of voicing a certain plan cancels the possibility of its implementation. The simplest trick, I'm sure, you yourself used in discussions or used it against you. When you try to anticipate your opponent by voicing what he will do now, so that he does not do exactly that. For example, wanting to end the conversation, you tell your opponent a phrase like: "I know that you will not hold back and still, in the end, tell me that I am blah blah blah."Of course, if your opponent answers you exactly as you predicted, you say “I told you so,” and he will be humiliated, as it were, because it is so easily predicted. Therefore, your opponent will not answer you in this way, but this is exactly what you need. Here is another example of self-canceling prophecy. You are a member of a collective, in which there is definitely a daring traitor who betrays your intentions to the enemies. You have a plan, but its implementation is impossible in the event that the traitor finds out about it. You do not know who the traitor is, and therefore you are forced to carry out your plan in secret. Announcing the plan immediately cancels the possibility of its implementation - and you find yourself in the situation of Eliza from a fairy tale.

There are many more examples of how the transmission of some information cancels its truth or usefulness. But you can find these examples in your life yourself … well, say, have you noticed that if you divulge to many people about your plans or intentions, they almost certainly will not come true or will come true completely not the way you wanted? That's it, this is also one of the examples, but much more complex than the ones given above. And I repeat, there are a lot of such regularities in life.

Loss of abilities

And now, dear readers, I will write what the whole article was started for. From now on, you can consider me anyone you like, but it is more important for me to share one observation that I came to while fighting one of my ideological crises. Who does not understand, do not be upset, you will understand later, or maybe this phenomenon has bypassed you - then, probably, rejoice … although it may not be worth it. If someone knows more about this topic than me, then you know what to do (or rather, what NOT to do).

It happens that a person is given some kind of ability that, in comparison with some average indicators, can be called phenomenal or extraordinary, well, or simply unusual. Someone even claims that among such abilities there may be paranormal, but I personally do not presume to assert this. What, for example, can these be abilities? For example, extreme strength and reaction, tens of times greater than the capabilities of an ordinary person of the same height and weight, photographic memory, the ability to quickly count in the mind, etc. This also includes the ability to foresee danger - I wrote very little about such "magic" in the article "Affirmation Bias II" when he told the story on the road. There are also more cunning abilities that can be attributed to the category of mysticism, but I do not take responsibility for judging such by the isolated examples that I personally observed … you never know, it was some kind of clouding of consciousness or hypnosis, or maybe just a coincidence, and I I was deceived by this, succumbing to cognitive distortion. I need to accumulate more evidence in order to take such phenomena into account, so let's go without mysticism for now.

So, the most important thing that I noticed: attempts to mismanage your abilities trigger a certain mechanism in nature that eliminates these abilities.

I don't know how it works, but I know how it looks. Just imagine, a person has a certain position in life due to his secret knowledge or cunning ability, but he cannot prove this position, because opponents do not believe ordinary words, but only believe what they see. Opponents cheat our hero “weakly”, declaring: “Yes, you are a lousy, you can’t do anything, since you cannot show it, you simply envelop yourself in an aura of secrecy, do not say anything in order to bring a mystical curtain on yourself, blah blah blah, but in reality you are a dummy. And the loshok is really being carried on, demonstrating its ability, and after a while it simply disappears. Opponents are happy that they have made a good job and now there is no longer a person who is somehow different from them for the better. This story is quickly forgotten or overgrown with legends, and the little horse remains at a broken trough. Nobody will believe him anymore. This is the first example.

Second example. A person has achieved high performance in some kind of work, but a daring clown comes, who declares: “you do everything wrong, you don’t know how to do anything, you haven’t achieved anything in life with your method, who needs you, you idiot”. A humiliated person, in a fit of indignation, begins to shake his merits: “Yes, I can do that, yes, I have 20 diplomas and patents, but my students, oh, what are they doing, but the presidential adviser personally came to my bow! blah blah blah . And a person loses the opportunity to further develop in his field. A self-fulfilling prophecy is triggered: a person really becomes what the impudent clown described him, because he misused the abilities and capabilities given to him. The whole future career of a person will be gray in comparison with the past that our clown questioned when he bred an inexperienced poor fellow.

How it works, I do not know, but the fact is that if you entered into a discussion, and to prove that you are not a camel, decided to show something amazing that you can or know, then this skill will disappear from you, and the knowledge it will cease to be useful. If you just decided to show off your talents, then in this case the ending will be the same. If you use the ability to achieve the right goals, dictated by the highest morality for you, then the ability will only develop. Any departure from the moral ideal using this ability is guaranteed to eliminate it.

About myself

“It looks like delirium; how to check it? " - the reader will ask. You will not test another person in any way, because the very fact of a successful test will destroy the presence of the ability, and even if a certain "louse" sacrifices himself for the sake of some demonstrations for you, then you will not prove anything to anyone. You can check this only on yourself.

Cursing the last six months in the ideological crisis in which I found myself, I scrolled back and forth the "film strip" of my life and noticed an absolute pattern. Before high school, I had excellent eyesight, almost three times the strength of what is considered the norm. I boasted of this to the librarian, choosing the book I needed from the shelf across half of the library hall, that is, somewhere from 15 meters, and saying: "see what excellent eyesight I have?" Very quickly thereafter, the indicators deteriorated to normal, like everyone else.

I had an unusual endurance that allowed me not to get tired for a very long time. The pulse in the run rose to 210, the muscles did not get tired, but then, however, it rolled sharply. All this made it possible to win in running disciplines even among those who specially trained. When I noticed this, I began to exhibit and use my ability for self-assertion, even humiliated someone, considering him inferior, since he trains so much, but can not do what I could without training completely. As a result, some events occurred, after which the endurance disappeared, and by the first year it turned out that I began to run worse than most ordinary people, I could not pass the standard in physical education, and only after 10 years of hard training I managed to achieve victories at the level of my field, and then only because the stronger athletes then retired to their sports retirement.

I had students involved in programming who won prizes at the All-Russian Olympiads. Some people tried to prove to me that my teaching method was far from correct, but I somehow self-confidently stated in response that I was not interested in the advice of amateurs who did not educate anyone at all. You probably already guessed what happened next: I never had a single student about whom I could say at least something good in terms of programming skills.

It was the same in science. I quickly grasped the essence and received results of a very high level (judging by the level of the field in which I live), subsequently very successfully defended my Ph. D. (physicist and mathematical sciences), received several invitations to work from institutes from different parts of the world. Received articles for review from prestigious foreign journals, the impact factor of which was 6-7 times higher than the same parameter of even the best Russian scientific journal on this topic. When doctors of sciences from my university began to openly fight with me for the right to dominate the scientific arena of our small town, I publicly told them everything I think about the quality of their scientific research, the total amount of which, I quote, “hardly exceeds what I do one”(this, of course, was an exaggeration, but my level was really high by their standards, and they knew it). After that, a number of events occurred, as a result of which I can no longer engage in classical academic science … however, this loss makes me more happy than sad.

There was also a story when I earned a lot of money in my youth, but not for long. You can guess why not for long. Everything disappeared instantly after I started to boast about it.

And these are the stories in my life, of which there are about a dozen serious and twice as many a little less significant, all had the same plot as a blueprint: I brag, assert myself, or they just bred me "weakly", and I betray my quality, ability or some kind of knowledge. Almost immediately after this, the quality or ability disappears, and knowledge ceases to be useful.

At the same time, those abilities that I did not tell anyone about (except for my wife, so that she knew more about her choice), remained with me and are only developing, bringing not only me, but also some people tangible benefits (about the nature of which they do not even guess).

But there are people who do not lose anything …

Yes, there is, and we know about them. Why is it that some people do not lose their differences, although they trump them right and left?

It seems to me that each person should have their own life circumstances that teach him something. Some events in the life of one person can mean one thing, and in the life of another - completely different. Moreover, we cannot judge others by those externally visible circumstances in which they find themselves, because the meaning of such circumstances can only be interpreted correctly by the person with whom they happened, and not by the one who sees the situation superficially from the outside.

Based on this reasoning, such assumptions can be made. If a person misuses his abilities, they may not disappear from him, but they will not significantly develop further, because the person has not passed the protection from the fool. Imagine that we would be watched by some creatures that could endow us with superpowers, but before recklessly doing this, they give some simple, but powerful abilities like those that I described above. If a person passes the test, he is allowed to get more, if he does not pass, they leave it as it is, or take what was. To each his own.

Now imagine that there are no creatures, but there are only some rules for the life and development of the Universe as a whole, about which we still do not really know anything, and some of these rules could well be exactly the same as I described above.

Returning to talking about myself, I can share one more observation. There is a tactic called "the end justifies the means." So, I cannot use this tactic, because no matter how I twist, adhering to this tactic, although I achieve the goal, I get much more damage from this than the benefits, so the goal never justifies the means for me. Observing some other people, I notice that this tactic works great for them. Why? Probably for some of the same reasons that people like me are deprived of everything that they mismanage. Again, to each his own.

Why don't we know people with supernormal abilities?

Now let's dream. As I said above, I have reason to believe that there are people with supernormal abilities, but so far there is not enough information for this to say for sure.

Why do true owners of superpowers never show up to demonstrate their skills? Just think: why would any of these people pretend to be? To get something? Surely such people already have everything. To find recognition? Why, if they have such a "toy" that is much cooler. Moreover, the high morality of these people is simply not comparable with such primitive forms of self-realization. These people do their job, and it doesn't matter to them what others think of them, because the rest are not yet ready to understand such phenomenal abilities, and they are also not ready to possess them.

We dream further. People with supernormal abilities do not interfere in the affairs of our society unnecessarily, because the porridge in which we cook is the evolutionary process from which truly intelligent people can grow. If "super" people intervened, they would break an important rule, according to which each person CAM must understand his meaning of life and how to properly dispose of his life potential. If the person did not do this himself, and everything was explained to him in advance, then the act of independent thinking did not take place, as a result of which the boundaries in which he found himself were overcome. Without overcoming these boundaries, a person will not be able to control those instruments for transforming the world, which is what we call the word "super-ability". As an analogy, remember the famous example from some textbooks on psychology: there is a cocoon from which a butterfly hatches, if you help a butterfly by cutting the cocoon with a knife, the butterfly will never fly, because it did not overcome the border itself, did not make an effort - and its wings were not filled with a special liquid, which gives them the properties they need for flight.

The interference of people with supernormal abilities can be detected indirectly, when ordinary people are already so confused that by their actions they can destroy not only themselves, but also the nature of the planet. Look behind the political events and pay attention to the fact that in the event of an emergency danger to the planet as a whole, a certain mysticism occurs, which unexpectedly settles everything. Now someone has an earthquake, then a flood, then some more attack, canceling daring plans. Is it just that? I will not argue with either theists or atheists here, although I know they have other explanations. But that’s their business, and it’s good if their explanation answers all their questions.

How to explain what cannot be explained?

Fair question! After all, you must agree that since people still somehow agree with each other, then there is a mechanism thanks to which it is still possible to say what cannot be said without losing anything.

Of course you can. For this, there is a technique called indirect explanation. When a person observes nature, he discovers patterns in it, and when he picks up enough of these patterns, he creates a theory that explains all existing, and many phenomena that he has not yet seen, which, of course, are subsequently discovered. The situation is similar with the explanation of a certain phenomenon, which cannot be expressed directly. A number of thoughts or ideas are given that all in general speak about the same thing, but indirectly and from different sides. A person who has studied these ideas, systematizes them, understands them, finds them confirmation in life and - Oops! - an act of independent thinking takes place, when all these elements of the puzzle are suddenly assembled into a complete picture, which is the key to those doors that were hiding something important and new from him.

Actually, the concept of Social Forestry (about which I still don't know if I will describe it) consists in explaining those things that cannot be explained. My technique is to give the person enough pieces of the puzzle, which he will only collect himself. Where do I get these pieces? They lie all around us, in our culture, in art, in the work of other people, in our life circumstances. I just collect all this, systematize and present it in forms that are more understandable for most people. Almost every article on this blog is an indirect description of something that cannot be said in words. This is not possible not only because if it is said it will lose value, but also because if it is chewed completely and put in your mouth, it will not be of any use to you.

Conclusion

Never let yourself get bogged down, these are checks, failing which you will not be able to move on. Moreover, it is better to learn not to even hint at the presence of any abilities. But if you fail the test, do not despair; you put in tremendous efforts to improve yourself, you will find that abilities can be returned, but new ones can be acquired. In this case, the rules of the Game remain the same for you. The nature of the effort that will have to be made can be expressed in the words: "on the verge of your capabilities."

Not many readers will be able to understand the price I paid for the opportunity to write this article. I ask you to take good care of my work as a whole, so if something seems nonsense to you, just pass by, because there are other people who my thoughts help to become better.

Don't thank.