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escherplex | 7 years ago | on: First government survey of hikikomori

Side note: according to EDICT:

引きこもり [ひきこもり] (n) (1) shut-in, stay-at-home, hikikomori, people

引きずる [ひきずる] (v5r,vt) (1) to drag along, to pull, (2) to force someone along, (3) to prolong, to drag out, (4) to influence strongly, to seduce, (P)

子守 [こもり] (n,vs) (1) nursemaid, nanny, babysitter, (2) child-minding

But starting from [ひきこもり] ambiguities are possible.

escherplex | 7 years ago | on: First government survey of hikikomori

It's interesting what the sense of a direct translation of hikikomori implies. Original form is (if you have the font)

引き子守

The first two characters imply someone who is dragged along and the second two refer to a nursemaid suggesting nursemaid-ing someone who doesn't want to be here. Not in defense of any such defeatist behavior but there is the question of how (and possibly why) would you impose measures to counteract that mindset if individuals and their support context are comfortable with it?

escherplex | 7 years ago | on: A Magician Explains Why We See What’s Not There

Right. So there is a received cognitive operating system which generates an interactive model of 'reality' shaped by historic experience, a facet of this system involves 'hierarchical predictive coding.' When parsing percepts, this subsystem front-loads what aspects of a new experience of interest to accept and what to ignore based on shaping from past experience. A simple example: promise a child a quarter if the correct hand is chosen. Place quarter in right hand then fold fingers up, occluding quarter. Appear to grab coin with left hand, quickly close both hands, and present both fists to child then ask 'which hand holds the quarter?'. Based on past experience it would appear that just a transfer of an object from one hand to another took place so child selects the empty left hand. Then immediately rerun the same test with the new experiential history encoded and find the child (usually with a smirk) chooses the right hand (assuming you didn't pocket the coin to further confuse the child).

escherplex | 7 years ago | on: How to open a microchip and see what’s inside

Which reminds me of a story from a retired Bell Labs, Murray Hill engineer who related how they would add useless circuits to microprocessors to see if these sections were duplicated or deleted by the old Soviet military engineers. They were duplicated.

escherplex | 7 years ago | on: How Japanese Police Turned Cyber Prank into Arresting Cases

However, the above link does point out a convention ripe for abuse:

Because suspects are put through continuous interrogation which could last up to 23 days as well as isolation from the outside world, including access to lawyers, both the Japanese judiciary and the public are well aware that confession of guilt can easily be forced.

escherplex | 7 years ago | on: M-16: A Bureaucratic Horror Story (1981)

In discussions with older Viet Nam vets there were numerous complaints about the reliability of the earlier M16s. Seems squads would use captured AK47s when they could since they were found to be considerably more reliable in combat scenarios. Always seemed strange that the military wouldn't have adopted some re-engineered Kalashnikov design. The vets chalked that up to bureaucratic chauvinism.

escherplex | 7 years ago | on: CIA Doc on Time Travel, Consciousness, and Existence of the Absolute (1983) [pdf]

Your link tells of Ingo Swann's pivotal role in the remote viewing program

About 10 years ago came across research papers (not via Blavatsky) on an old mind-altering Buddhist copper wall setup which involved a wooden chair oriented towards magnetic north placed over a thick panel of glass with a sheet of copper suspended vertically in front of a sitter with a 50 gauss magnet (N up) suspended by cord over the sitter's head. Colleagues with an interest in this subject pointed me in the direction of Ingo Swann, Elmer Green, with the Monroe Institute as a possible source of information. Via an email exchange with Ingo Swann and later with his ameneusis Tom Burgin it turned out that Swann had a copper wall setup in his flat which he found useful in meditation. Elmer Green, on the other hand, decided to construct an entire room with copper walls and ceiling emulating the original idea, which Swann (and others) commented drove them into overload. OK, Faraday-cage format out. What about emulating a pair of facing mirrors with two copper sheets, one in front and one behind the sitter? May act as an amplifier. Figuring this was an obvious experimental configuration decided to contact Skip Atwater over at the Monroe Institute:

was planning on experimenting with a classic 'copper wall' setting. If you are not familiar with this set up, essentially an individual is seated upright in a wooden chair placed over a panel of thick glass situated between 2 large vertical facing Cu panels affixed to parallel walls, and a 15 to 150 gauss magnet (North up) is suspended by an insulated cord above the subject and brought to within a centimeter of the crown of the head. (cf Elmer Green's work). I would imagine that you have worked with this configuration and am curious whether you have such a sensory amplification chamber which is available for monitored use.

response:

Yes, I am familiar with Elmer's work and years ago I was in Kansas an actually saw the copper wall setup. His work has never been replicated but as I know of his work for years, I believe it remains as an important finding. He also knew Bob Monroe personally.

We have not experimented with the "copper wall" setup. I would think that such experimentation would be valuable, however. Please keep good record and let us know how things go for your work.

Skip Atwater

results: overload. Stick with the original configuration if you want to experiment. :-(

BUT, this is HN not a Psychic Times :-) so stick to a data suggests motif if you feel like commenting and data-mine away :-)

escherplex | 7 years ago | on: CIA Doc on Time Travel, Consciousness, and Existence of the Absolute (1983) [pdf]

Well, looks like these Monroe Institute activities segued into CIA interest into what was called 'remote viewing' for use as a possible supplemental espionage methodology. Apparently one H. E. Puthoff was one of the primary researchers in this activity and there's an online history of this CIA initiated RV Program at SRI that he authored which may be of some interest:

URL = https://www.aestheticimpact.com/_pdf/AAestheticImpactCIABiof...

escherplex | 7 years ago | on: What's the minimum number of words you'd need to define all other words? (2012)

You are confusing 'definition' with positivism

Interesting. But the subject is the nature of the definition. What is the OED definition of definition (circularity intended):

a precise statement of the nature, properties, scope, or essential qualities of a thing; an explanation of a concept, etc.; a statement or formal explanation of the meaning of a word or phrase

Well that's nice. The first component would be amenable to a sclerotic positivism (which denied subjective phenomena as inaccessible to measurement ergo epiphenomena to be ignored; this jettisoned by contemporary cognitivism and phenomenology ); the second addresses the conceptual without a hint of pragmatic methodology; and the salient element of third component is the word meaning which OED defines as:

that which is or is intended to be expressed or indicated by a sentence, word, dream, symbol, action, etc.

So the definition of definition by the ipse dixit English authority on definitions alternates between a call for precision and some rather vague references to intentionality. That was the intent of the above tidbit on the topic of definition. Namely some labels for subjects are amenable to degrees of precision in definition while others with only conceptual referents will have their proffered definitions disputed, diluted, or otherwise hedged and seemingly imprecise.

Steven Stitch in Fragmentation of Reason which is a personal overview of contemporary epistemology alludes to the inherent vagueness of consensual definitions and eventually settles into what he calls pragmatic epistemology

escherplex | 7 years ago | on: What's the minimum number of words you'd need to define all other words? (2012)

Yeah, but there's always Popper's observation hovering in the background concerning definitions: 'all definitions involve the use words which themselves remain undefined'. Now if particular constituents of language (nouns, verbs, qualifiers) have empirical referents (EG, oak tree) then something other than words can be supplied to buttress and shape consensus for any formulated definitions, using words which themselves have empirical referents. But with conceptual referents (EG, democracy) definitions become subjective and lack clear capacity for unambiguous validation. So a definition of a concept which resonates with one individual based on their understanding of its verbiage may be dissonant for another based on that individual's understanding of the content of the definition.

escherplex | 7 years ago | on: Drone Control via Alexa

Not bad! Be interesting to include this tech into a FPV drone headset which could yield serviceable complete heads-up control for area sightseeing. BTW hope you turned off the projected sniper's reticle during the demo as this does tend to elicit angst in the observers - sorry :-)

escherplex | 7 years ago | on: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

Bad actors exist and they're cleaver. Plus these days you don't have to remember anything. Adding an updatable PIN field to a personal call file in such an app coupled with a software protocol with a pop-up button labeled say 'PIN entry' which appears once a contact device answers (say, with a message enter PIN) that can transmit the PIN number would be sufficiently user-friendly for such an app. Better than receiving junk calls while waiting indefinitely for regulations with teeth from dysfunctional legislatures.

escherplex | 7 years ago | on: Let’s Destroy Robocalls

A smart phone app which behaves as a firewall requiring callers to enter, say, a three character PIN code before phone rings may be useful. Incorporate two message files, one for leaving messages from those who know the PIN code and one those who don't, would allow for any contingencies. A front end answering machine box for the home with the same functionalities may be useful as well.

escherplex | 7 years ago | on: Sub-Acute Effects of Psilocybin on Empathy, Creative Thinking

experiencing an entheogen. A psilocybin experience can literally restore your spiritual faith

Interesting point. Given individuals temperamentally and experientially predisposed to depression and who report they know no other cognitive condition then entheogen exposure could supply the experience of alternate (positive) states of mind. Assuming these individuals report they want to entertain these induced positive states then you could imagine a therapeutic regimine which would involve use of psilocybin-like compounds coupled with presentation of social interaction simulations through 3D VR headsets outfitted with strategically placed EEG monitoring probes. If simulations are shaped to elicit negative reactions which subsequently are detected then audio queries can be inserted such as 'is this an appropriate reaction? What would be a better reaction or strategy?' which could aid individuals in shaping their own cognitive behavior. - does sound like a personalized interactive AI date-sim plus often the only winning move is not to play :-)

escherplex | 7 years ago | on: That photo of Colossus

If interested in WW2 Allied code breaking you may want to watch the BBC documentary Station X - The Code Breakers of Bletchley Park on Acorn tv
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