State of the Art Psychic Musings
POSTED BY: HKCavalier
UPDATED: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 06:14
VIEWED: 1843
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Hey everyone,
I've been travelling the cyber-highways and by-ways discussing psychic phenomena and trying out various arguments and models and such and I felt it was time to come back to my Firefly home and share with you some thoughts.
A friend on another board asked me the following question:
Quote:
What if the conceptual and cognitive faculty also came as part of a new kind of sense organ that is still in evolutionary development? That means that it would receive input from a part of reality that is not accessed by the traditional senses.
A new kind of sense organ...hrm. Seems to me that in order for the body to reorganize itself so conclusively as to give rise to a whole new organ, it would require some kind of survival necessity to do so. There would have to be some revolutionary new factor in human survival to account for it. Perhaps, in your science fiction story human beings could colonize another planet and something there would change our needs so drastically that the body would have to overhaul its sensory make-up.
Let's play "what if" in the other direction, though. Thinking about what might be, always puts me in mind of how things begin. Let's think about the evolution of the fab five in the first place. What's so useful about any of the five senses in their most primitive incarnation that nature would select for enhancing and refining them to their present state of sophistication? What decisive advantage does the vaguely photosensitive creature have over the totally blind? How would the mere notion that there was "something over there somewhere, maybe" greatly improve the lot of the primitive organism? I'm thinking about "light," but this question applies to other senses as well--some utterly vague odor or something that might be some kind of sound, supposing the primitive brain were somehow able to conceptualize a meaningful difference between barely perceived sound and soundlessness. I mean, there's the problem right there: how do you evolve a sense of hearing, say, without first conceptualizing "sound" as something worth sensing?
Of course this line of reasoning traditionally takes us in the direction of (god help us) intelligent design, but let's not go there--please! Here's where I'd rather take this: what if awareness had a primal sensory capacity built in? Philosophically, what if awareness stands in need of something to be aware of? What if the fact of simply being alive implied that there is a world outside of the self? What if all perception began on this conceptual level and awareness was a kind of pull, like gravity (and just as mysterious), toward the sensible world? What if this innate "knowledge" that there was "something out there" drove the evolutionary process? In short, what if awareness were a drive, like sex or hunger?
Put another way, what if this connection between raw awareness and the sensible world were a force like gravity? As gravity pulls the physical body, so the sensible world would pull awareness. Just as the body creates complex structures of bones and muscles, peristalsis and blood pressure in reaction to gravity, so the primal organism would create complex structures to bring this raw awareness into sharper and sharper focus over millennia. What if awareness preceded its organization into five senses? What if the five senses were not the source of our awareness, but simply the way we manage it?
Touch of course would seem like a natural development of even the most primitive organism. From this a creature gains a sense of movement, of collision, of presence. But if awareness is a drive, the motive force behind the senses, then even our most primitive awareness would have important implications. What if the evolutionary process had, therefore, a predictive faculty? What if our selfish genes, could extrapolate mutation beyond a specific slight shift? In that case, the first photosensitive cell in a creature's body could be extrapolated to something that would give the organism greater awareness of its environment and the "awareness drive
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WOW. That's a lot to think about.
But here are some initial thoughts - the prokaryotes called bacteria to start. They are by far the most successful life form on earth (looking at total mass). Their senses are primitive - mainly chemical. Their actions and responses tend to be literally chemical/physical. For example, they have chemicals on their outsides that will anchor them onto chemicals on an organism's cells (in order to start the colonization/infection process). They will secrete chemicals in response to other chemical signals they receive (biofilm formation, toxin secretion). The pathway from input to response is short and automatic. In the case of conflicting inputs, the stronger input 'wins'. (Some bacteria are also motile, I don't know if they move in response to chemical stimuli, or simply bump along till they contact something they react to.)
On a slightly higher level of organization, like all eukaryotes, singled-celled ones have small organelles in them (mitochondria, plastids like chloroplasts). Some of these organelles are light sensitive, creating another sense (light) besides direct chemical sensing.
Then there are the motile single-celled eukaryotes that definitely move along gradients of light and/or chemicals. They also seem to have a sense of touch - the paramecium will motor along until it bumps into something, then back away.
Multi-celled sponges may have specialized sensing cells (under debate). Organisms like soft corals and jellyfish have a nerve net, but no 'brain'.
The planarium (or planaria, flatworm) is the most-studied multi-celled organism with a primitive cluster of sensing organs in the head - a 'brain' and nervous system.
So the development of varied senses is not necessarily applicable to all life forms. At some point there is simple chemical reaction, and the responses tend to be genetic.
That leaves out the whole question of awareness, which I will need to think about quite a bit more.
Thanks for the interesting post.
Sincerely,
Rue
Nearly everything I know I learned by the grace of others.
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Quote:I'd always taken that as a given, however, your words spread it out for understanding better than mine ever could!
Originally posted by HKCavalier:
What if humans had moved beyond normal evolution and so evolved beyond awareness as a need? A more primitive creature's awareness of the world around it is the key to its survival. What if modern man's ability to manipulate his environment were to replace awareness as the guarantor of survival?
It, of course, goes back to what you said on another thread about removing yourself from this buzzing, electromangnetically charged human bio-mass, and seeing who you were and what you were capable of alone in a forest or on a mountain.
Some things long forgotten can be remembered....
Wow, can you write!!!!!
Chrisisall
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I'm too lazy to read the whole post. it was real long and late, so sorry HK. I did feel I would put in my ignorant two cents though.
The 'telepathic' sensor in ants is just a highly evolved neuron, it's nto particularly different in an 'organ' sort of way.
Also, we do have one, called the Vomero-nasal organ, which takes in pheromones. It operates on the basic mechanism of chemical signature which sends signals to the brain, alters thought processes.
A variety of these might work. For electro-magnetic pulses I think there's a serious problem. There's so much electro-static noise in our environment that you you exceeded the shield of the skull and were able ot send brain signals through the air, I don't see how you would deal with all the noise.
Not just the buff 3.18 earshot problem which is one, but also the infinite random noise of the universe.
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HKCavalier,
Man today is at the top of the food chain, and has little need to fear being eaten. However, in many places on this planet, such as deep in the African bush, native Africans still have a good chance of being eaten, say, by lions. So do such persons have a higher-developed sense of being in touch with the subconscious? I think so. In that situation, the native African does seem to have more frequent psychic experiences than, say, New Yorkers, and the African takes them for granted. Many an explorer has remarked on the native bush African's uncanny ability to know where the game is, and to know that danger lies in yonder direction and won't go there, and the like. But of course, Africans are still eaten on occasion....
Another thing I've read was when human predators in, say, New York, are looking for a mark, someone to attack, they pick the easiest marks available, based on the look or aura of the potential mark. In one study, some potential bad guys picked out easy marks, but they all avoided a completely normal-looking and normal-acting guy who was, as it turned out, a former Special Forces guy with vast knowledge of personal self defense. So how did the thugs know to avoid him?
Good post, Cavalier, and I wish I had more time here. Best wishes to all the thoughtful posters on this thread.
.........Ruxton
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Quote:
However, in many places on this planet, such as deep in the African bush, native Africans still have a good chance of being eaten, say, by lions.
Natives of central africa are eaten by west africans with a frequency many orders magnitude more commonly than africans are eaten by lions. A million people were eaten over the last decade or so by people, vs. only a handful of scattered cases of people being eaten by predators.
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Studies in parapsychology have shown that hit rates (which are still significantly above chance, sometimes a billion to a trillion to one against) are not effected by electromagnetic shielding nor distance.
Therefore it seems unlikely that 'psi' phenomena are dependent on some classically understood mechanism such as Electro-Magnatism or Pheromones.
This isn't as fantastical as you may think, unless, for instance, you can explain how Quantum entanglement is facillitated by EM or Pheromones 
.
My general point is that there's a lot going on in the world that we've observed that we simply don't understand. The funny thing is even though there is LESS evidence to support Quantum Entanglement it is more readilly accepted.
Quote:
Natives of central africa are eaten by west africans with a frequency many orders magnitude more commonly than africans are eaten by lions. A million people were eaten over the last decade or so by people, vs. only a handful of scattered cases of people being eaten by predators.
I'm not sure what your point is here?
More insane ramblings by the people who brought you beeeer milkshakes!
Remember, the ice caps aren't melting, the water is being liberated.
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Quote:Absolutely! There are pockets of this level of awareness throughout the western world as well--you and I, Ruxton, are living proof of this! I think my piece is more a study in western psychology than in metaphysics. I'm trying to describe the reality you and I take for granted in as logical and reductionist a way as possible.
Originally posted by Ruxton:
So do such persons have a higher-developed sense of being in touch with the subconscious?
All the same, I believe that to a certain extent psychology is metaphysics (consensus reality, that sort of thing). You see, to my understanding there is a single overarching purpose to all life on earth: namely, the marriage of Spirit and Matter.
(***Woo-woo alert, hardcore materialists proceed with caution***)
At the beginning of time Consciousness decided that Spirit and Matter were to become one and all of history reflects this ongoing project. Everything was going fine until about the time that all the world's major religions cropped up. Apparently, as our Couple was walking down the aisle, Spirit got cold feet and tried to get out of the marriage. So all these major religions started up with the notion that we're all really "spiritual beings" and Matter is just an empty shell or an illusion, not really important at all in the "grand scheme of things."
And what happened then? As history proves again and again, when a spiritual community reaches a certain critical mass of "otherworldliness" Matter gets "mad" and pulls Spirit back down into the mud. We get the dark-ages, we get the conquistadors, we get the holocaust. To the extent that the New Age is really a rehash of anti-materialist propaganda, that movement too will suffer. Spirit and Matter, or if you like, Mind and Body need finally to be integrated and the method chosen by Consciousness for this integration, like it or not, for better or worse, is Science.
Today, we are in the critical last stages (but of course on the scale I'm talking about the "last stages" could last another million years, or it could last another 50, or as few as 7 if you hold with the Mayans). The whole project has boiled down to the agon between our left and right brain hemispheres. The left brain, which holds sway in 3 dimensions will not believe anything it can't prove in the most literal reductionist way possible. The superconscious purpose of science is essentially to find God (or a reasonable facsimile there of). I think that's why there's so much activity of late coming from the skeptic/debunker side of the debate. Subconsciously, these folks are drawn to this subject, deep down they know that this is the most important issue in the universe. But science isn't quite ready to cross the threshold into real knowledge, so they're stuck at the freeway entrance, so to speak, and people stuck in traffic get cranky and start honking their horns.
I've observed that before these folks will accept the existence of a world invisible to modern science, they must accept that such a world might exist. The purpose of my last post is to outline in as rationally grounded a way as possible, the plausibility of this important gap in modern scientistic thought.
Quote:In my shamanistic work, I've come across a curious but very consistent phenomenon. The police stand at the boundary between the worlds. Are you familiar with the practice of power-walking as practiced by Native American men of knowledge? Try doing it in a city and the first thing you'll encounter is a police line of some kind. Without fail. There are lines all over any city between the daylight places and the shadow world. Non-whites, drug addicts and criminals tend to live outside the comfy world which the police protect. Anyone with any intu
In one study, some potential bad guys picked out easy marks, but they all avoided a completely normal-looking and normal-acting guy who was, as it turned out, a former Special Forces guy with vast knowledge of personal self defense. So how did the thugs know to avoid him?
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HK:
I think you've got a good point on science, except nobody practices real science. If something falls outside of current scientific doctrine it is not possible. That is scientists don't say its possible but unproven (which is the scientific approach) it is not possible.
Like parapsychology they don't look at the evidence, they don't need to, it conflicts with what they know so it MUST be wrong. To me a lot of modern scientists are more like priests than true scientists.
I'm not against science, btw, just the attitude of sceptics who feel they don't need to even look at the evidence before dismissing something, because they are more scientific than those who gathered the evidence. They seem blissfully ignorant of the fact that their attitude is about as unscientific as you could possibly hope for. Really winds me up.
More insane ramblings by the people who brought you beeeer milkshakes!
Remember, the ice caps aren't melting, the water is being liberated.
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Dreamtrove, "Natives of central Africa are eaten by west Africans...."
Well, that too....
Cavalier, I think the guy who was an ex-Special Forces was emitting an aura the thugs could pick up. I'm not sure why they could, except that as predators, they would be attuned to survival in a very keen way.
Again pressed for time...Whole day spent trying to get driver upgrades for the ol' box.
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