Whew, that was a good one! I had to break this one up into bite-size pieces and go slowly, and there are still bits that went over my head. A few things came up for me, barely formed and in no particular order.
I loved the link to heliocentrism as a new understanding of time being nonlinear. Lately, I've been coming out of a long burnout spell, and my dreams have been popping off. I keep a journal, and sometimes I end up spending an entire hour writing them down in the morning. I've noticed something about the dream state - how there can be numerous storylines going on simultaneously, almost like the narratives are stacked on top of each other. I used to think the plots of dreams just shifted rapidly, like you can be in one location and then blink and you're in a different scenario. But now I'm realizing that (at least for me), it wasn't a rapid shift, it was my waking consciousness trying to make sense of something that made perfect sense in the dream. This is immediately what I thought of when you described time as being a "spherical spiral".
Reflecting on the stacked nature of events in the dream state has led me to play around with conceptualizing my waking life as the same - a stack of infinite timelines. This idea of shifting to a new timeline that already exists makes the whole idea of progress feel so much more accessible and optimistic. I'm not trudging along towards a goal-version of me that exists in the future, I just have to align with the version that already exists... parallel to this one. She's right there... what would she do in this moment?
The studies on retrocausality are fascinating. I wonder if this is linked to a way that I've found to navigate tough times. It's similar to the 30-Day Mental Challenge - I remember times when I was in alignment, when things felt "right." Those moments when I can look back and marvel that every thing happened precisely the way it had to happen in order to bring me to this place. This state of being is pretty rare, I've only experienced it twice in my life, but it was potent enough to leave a strong impression. Now, when things get challenging, chaotic, or confusing, I try to place myself in a future place of alignment, looking back, and seeing how worthwhile these moments were. It doesn't always soothe the immediate angst, but it does feel a bit like "time travel". I've also had moments where I felt like I was visited by my future self - I could feel her reaching out to me, offering support. Present me has also reached back and offered encouragement to my past self, intuitively, feeling like she was in trouble or scared. I guess I'm saying that time has always felt fluid to me like that. (But that doesn't stop me from panicking about its passing too quickly most days, lol).
"The authors omitted a critical detail from their own database. By deadline, they possessed two independent studies that replicated Bemβs results. They made no mention of the opposing studies despite their preset ground rules for doing so." Precisely what a government funded review of homeopathy did in Australia. They hid (but did not destroy) the original study results; then threw out all the case studies which supported homeopathy as efficacious, by redefining the parameters of case inclusion/methodology rules (in contravention of their original guidelines) and submitted a second, revised set of "findings", all set to ban homeopathy as rubbish/illegal to practice, and close down all the schools of (which in fact did all have to suspend operation on account of the report, but are now re-establishing). Luckily a homeopath happened to be working for the Therapeutic Goods Administration, and got a hold of the original paper. The ombudsman, 7 years on, still has not ruled against the Review, but it has labled the findings as flawed. It makes my head want to explode that so many "men of science" are on such a benighted path of myopic status quo mongering. so unimaginative and coercive.
Very cool to read this piece, and know that discussions are open in important places. My own brain cells fuse when it comes to the equations etc. in physics, but intuitively, as someone else said, I find it all exciting and the gist of it resonates with my version/experience/expectations of reality.
As am I. But I am also interested in the way prevailing "central narratives" seem to compell more marginal ones to answer for themselve in their terms that the central narratives deem appropriate. For example, the way Descartes had to fall all over himself in "The Meditations" to appease Catholicism or the way Origina failed to do so and was labeled a hereti c despite trying to not appear so.
My career is marked by willing exclusion from domains of offical knowledge (and I've dwelt in them, e.g. NY Times, NPR, you name it). I go where the water is without concern for who likes it.
I wonder why so many people are so interested in "proving" that psy phenomena are real.
Maybe these things remain elusive to keep them from the "vile and profane". Given how we have used great power, from nuclear energy to psychedelics to AI, I'm not sure we'd do much good by "unlocking" these "secrets".
This is an intense read, and I must admit that there are parts that I feel to be beyond my understanding. Nonetheless, I so appreciate the depth of your thinking, and feel so excited by the parts that I do understand. I wonder what you think about the Telepathy Tapes podcast...forgive me if you've written about it and I've missed it. Thanks for another great (if slightly baffling, at least to me) read.
βTheir logic? The unfalsifiable hypothesis that precognition cannot exist because precognition cannot exist.β
Yeah, faux-skepticism is understandably comforting to materialists. But who knows, perhaps the veil of unknowing was cast by ourselves before crash-landing into these crazy carcasses! π€π΄ββ οΈ
This is fascinating, what an in-depth piece. The backwards rehearsal being valuable has grabbed me. I was once absolutely convinced that something specific was going to happen in the futureβ and it was extremely improbable given the current circumstances. I had done everything I could and given up.
Sure enough, current day me is living that life and I often think back to that previous self and encourage her.
Back then, I used to feel really tough feelings about the situation and suddenly get a rush of calm. I never knew why. π
Thank you for sharing Nevilleβs theory of Revision. You explain it perfectly and beautifully.
Whew, that was a good one! I had to break this one up into bite-size pieces and go slowly, and there are still bits that went over my head. A few things came up for me, barely formed and in no particular order.
I loved the link to heliocentrism as a new understanding of time being nonlinear. Lately, I've been coming out of a long burnout spell, and my dreams have been popping off. I keep a journal, and sometimes I end up spending an entire hour writing them down in the morning. I've noticed something about the dream state - how there can be numerous storylines going on simultaneously, almost like the narratives are stacked on top of each other. I used to think the plots of dreams just shifted rapidly, like you can be in one location and then blink and you're in a different scenario. But now I'm realizing that (at least for me), it wasn't a rapid shift, it was my waking consciousness trying to make sense of something that made perfect sense in the dream. This is immediately what I thought of when you described time as being a "spherical spiral".
Reflecting on the stacked nature of events in the dream state has led me to play around with conceptualizing my waking life as the same - a stack of infinite timelines. This idea of shifting to a new timeline that already exists makes the whole idea of progress feel so much more accessible and optimistic. I'm not trudging along towards a goal-version of me that exists in the future, I just have to align with the version that already exists... parallel to this one. She's right there... what would she do in this moment?
The studies on retrocausality are fascinating. I wonder if this is linked to a way that I've found to navigate tough times. It's similar to the 30-Day Mental Challenge - I remember times when I was in alignment, when things felt "right." Those moments when I can look back and marvel that every thing happened precisely the way it had to happen in order to bring me to this place. This state of being is pretty rare, I've only experienced it twice in my life, but it was potent enough to leave a strong impression. Now, when things get challenging, chaotic, or confusing, I try to place myself in a future place of alignment, looking back, and seeing how worthwhile these moments were. It doesn't always soothe the immediate angst, but it does feel a bit like "time travel". I've also had moments where I felt like I was visited by my future self - I could feel her reaching out to me, offering support. Present me has also reached back and offered encouragement to my past self, intuitively, feeling like she was in trouble or scared. I guess I'm saying that time has always felt fluid to me like that. (But that doesn't stop me from panicking about its passing too quickly most days, lol).
"The authors omitted a critical detail from their own database. By deadline, they possessed two independent studies that replicated Bemβs results. They made no mention of the opposing studies despite their preset ground rules for doing so." Precisely what a government funded review of homeopathy did in Australia. They hid (but did not destroy) the original study results; then threw out all the case studies which supported homeopathy as efficacious, by redefining the parameters of case inclusion/methodology rules (in contravention of their original guidelines) and submitted a second, revised set of "findings", all set to ban homeopathy as rubbish/illegal to practice, and close down all the schools of (which in fact did all have to suspend operation on account of the report, but are now re-establishing). Luckily a homeopath happened to be working for the Therapeutic Goods Administration, and got a hold of the original paper. The ombudsman, 7 years on, still has not ruled against the Review, but it has labled the findings as flawed. It makes my head want to explode that so many "men of science" are on such a benighted path of myopic status quo mongering. so unimaginative and coercive.
Very cool to read this piece, and know that discussions are open in important places. My own brain cells fuse when it comes to the equations etc. in physics, but intuitively, as someone else said, I find it all exciting and the gist of it resonates with my version/experience/expectations of reality.
As am I. But I am also interested in the way prevailing "central narratives" seem to compell more marginal ones to answer for themselve in their terms that the central narratives deem appropriate. For example, the way Descartes had to fall all over himself in "The Meditations" to appease Catholicism or the way Origina failed to do so and was labeled a hereti c despite trying to not appear so.
My career is marked by willing exclusion from domains of offical knowledge (and I've dwelt in them, e.g. NY Times, NPR, you name it). I go where the water is without concern for who likes it.
Just s few thoughts:
I wonder why so many people are so interested in "proving" that psy phenomena are real.
Maybe these things remain elusive to keep them from the "vile and profane". Given how we have used great power, from nuclear energy to psychedelics to AI, I'm not sure we'd do much good by "unlocking" these "secrets".
I am interested in all compelling insight, whether traditional or modern.
This is an intense read, and I must admit that there are parts that I feel to be beyond my understanding. Nonetheless, I so appreciate the depth of your thinking, and feel so excited by the parts that I do understand. I wonder what you think about the Telepathy Tapes podcast...forgive me if you've written about it and I've missed it. Thanks for another great (if slightly baffling, at least to me) read.
Fantastic fun article, thanks.
βTheir logic? The unfalsifiable hypothesis that precognition cannot exist because precognition cannot exist.β
Yeah, faux-skepticism is understandably comforting to materialists. But who knows, perhaps the veil of unknowing was cast by ourselves before crash-landing into these crazy carcasses! π€π΄ββ οΈ
This is fascinating, what an in-depth piece. The backwards rehearsal being valuable has grabbed me. I was once absolutely convinced that something specific was going to happen in the futureβ and it was extremely improbable given the current circumstances. I had done everything I could and given up.
Sure enough, current day me is living that life and I often think back to that previous self and encourage her.
Back then, I used to feel really tough feelings about the situation and suddenly get a rush of calm. I never knew why. π
absolutely. and we are the means by which the omniverse continues to expand ...