He may have unraveled the secret of synchronicity. Will science prove him right?|306|

I've outlined the proposed mechanism in a few recent articles, especially these two: http://thenightshirt.com/?p=3441, http://thenightshirt.com/?p=3519 . Stringing a number of "precognitive neurons" together would create circuits that tended (on aggregate) to fire milliseconds or even seconds in the advance of a stimulus. The exact mechanism is speculative, but it would explain not only psi anomalies but also the various timing shenanigans that Libet discovered in the late 1970s, not to mention "mirror neurons," etc. The hypothesis that precognitive neurons exist is based on a helping of "if it can happen in nature, life will find a way,"

(Paul Davies has already argued that post-selection explains the arising of life in the universe). "Post-selection" is the quantum computing parameter that prevents any retrocausal influence from being paradoxical; transferred to philosophy/metaphysics, it's just a statement of the truism that we live in a possible universe.
Thanks for the links. I believe I see "post-selection" is the root-cause for prehension, as an overview of what I read of your thesis. Paul Davies is a leading figure in exploring ideas such as this and I will start to do more homework to understand how his analysis of the process can fit into a bigger picture.

I’d bet money that select neurons deep within specific circuits of the brain are going to turn out to be finely tuned time machines that fire before they are stimulated. - E. Wargo

While trying very hard to hang-on to my personal physical/digital tokens that represent value in a trading exchanges, I would not deter your enthusiasm for the above risk proposition. I agree that there must be a corresponding physical activity to how we plan for and affect the future. Looking into the future for possible information objects that one desires - is the basic stuff in all literature about the human condition.

It is the organization of planning, designing and desiring that is the focus of living thing's mental activity. "Its" (as in its from bits) come from these informational activities; and not the reverse case, where physical activity is the sole cause of information bits toward an end. The hallmark of life is the mental activity in the structuring of bits connecting them to perceived affordances. I am wondering that the "post-selection" -- which is of interest to P. C. Davies and yourself -- is just our mind's ability to perceive information objects, which have standing that spans physical space/time.

I think very highly of Orch-Or research and of G. Tononi's Integrated Information hypothesis.
 
I understand your frustration and to a certain extent share it, but I guess I have learned to live with it and enjoy it. :) I think if there were only one "speaker" (i.e. god with a personality and intentions), then we'd still have just as many questions. Why can an omnipotent god not communicate with exactitude all the time? If he could, then why doesn't he/she/it? Would he be morally obliged to help us if he could? If he can't, then he's not really omnipotent? Etc...

I take the view that there are possibly many beings with many intentions at work including ourselves and we all have certain limitations (because no limits creates a meaningless story). We have purposefully gotten lost in a story or a maze for the purpose of amazement and trying to figure out how to get back out. That's my view at least.

But what if you were limited in how you could interact? It seems imperative to me that every agent/actor has limits - at least to participate in this reality - because any agent/actor without limits would make this reality moot... its like playing a video game with all the cheat codes on... it gets dull very quickly.
"

Hi Hurmanetar, thank you so much for your detailed comments and apologies for getting back to you so late but there are many reasons for it 1) lack of time 2) need to "digest" the many valuable inputs I have been exposed to in this Forum (I'll never be able to thank Alex enough for it!) as well as in its "conversation" functionality 3) and moreover, to coin a phrase, "life is what happens to you while you're trying to make sense of it" :) , in other words, I've also had to deal with everyday life (including work), as well as the synchronicities which have been accompanying me on a daily basis for almost 3 years now. No UFOs or NDEs or dreams or OBEs for me, just synchronicities - and that in itself is mind-boggling to me, though it's also kind of reassuring because I am a very rational person, and syncs after all are "facts" that happen in consensus reality. Then of course one can disagree as to whether some or all of these facts should be considered syncs, but at least they are not entirely private experiences. This, as I said, makes me feel more comfortable dealing with them, but my approach to them is still "scientific" (although not in the sense of "mainstream scientific" of course), despite the fact that I've had to become exposed to information about all sorts of so-called paranormal phenomena while trying to make SOME sense of my own experiences. Anyway, this was just to say that I very much appreciated your input although as I said I do not fully share your way of seeing things. As I wrote in a previous post, I see that we are pretty different: I mean, to me existence (for humans & animals) is not intrinsically (or certainly not exclusively) exciting and fun as you describe it (its purpose according to you would be "amazement"; the mystery would be there so that life doesn't get "dull"). I see too much suffering and struggle to survive in human societies as well as in nature to believe that existence on this planet is all about "getting lost in a story". Not everybody likes thrillers or horror movies, you know :). Also, as regards your point about "God" or whatever there might be out there not being able to communicate with exactitude, OK, but here we are talking about extreme weirdness and confusion - if synchronicities are some form of communication: we cannot even be sure about that, despite the fact that lots of people choose to believe this and even think they know exactly what they're being told (again, I have the utmost respect for them, I just don't buy it because I can see too many other alternative explanations, both for the phenomenon itself and for the actual -supposed- meaning of each individual sync). So the bottom line is: this is far, far too weird and mysterious to be 'acceptable' to someone like me. Again, going back to my metaphor of a "room full of smoke", I dislike this situation, I can't remember asking to be here (it's an unfalsifiable dogma that we asked for this but then we forgot all about it, so there's not point in arguing with that), therefore what I'm trying to do (wish me luck!) is making some makeshift gas mask for myself in order to breathe a somewhat cleaner air than I've been forced to inhale so far :). While of course protesting, in the hope that someone will eventually let me out :).
Many thanks to you and to all the people around here for your posts (not just in this thread), it's great being here!
 
Just remembered a synchronicity I experienced...

When I was in high school I was hanging out with friends one evening and we decided to have an art night and just draw sketches. I drew a picture of an old man in a dried up place pulling himself along with his staff. At the time I was pretty fanatical about Christianity so I titled it: "Me without God". I put it up on my wall throughout college as a reminder to be humble. After college having no money for real art, I put it on the wall in the bedroom of my first house.

Going back all the way to high school and maybe earlier I started experiencing hip pain and symptoms of Lyme disease although I didn't know that was the cause. My hip pain gradually grew worse and I punished my body thinking I could just strengthen my hip joints and get over this so at 23 I was running bleachers and doing insane workouts on hips that were worse than most 60 year olds. I finally hit a wall and my hips got so painful I couldn't walk. I remember taking 45 minutes in the morning just to make it out of bed and across the room to the shower. I was so disabled by the pain, I took a clothes rod out of my closet and used it to pull myself along the floor. Having been into backpacking rock climbing and all sorts of outdoor stuff, it was a very depressing situation. I finally went to a doctor and got some help, but was on crutches for several months.

I remember dragging myself across the bedroom floor one morning with the clothes rod and looking up at this picture I drew thinking... Oh god... That IS me.

image.jpg
 
wow very interesting Hurmanetar!....I'd be curious to hear your interpretation of this sync of yours - very probably it's the "person concerned" who is in the best position to interpret syncs, but certainly I can think of at least 4 possible "explanations/interpretation" for this one - which once again shows that, even if we agree on the existence of syncs (and not all do of course: "materialists" maintain that there is no such thing, because in their world view anything for which no material cause can be found is automatically considered to be just a chance event), the real issue is: "yes, but what does a specific synch mean exactly (if it does mean something)?" I don't need to repeat what I have already written in several posts in this thread.... To me, there's the rub - and I sooooooo wish I could know, because I experience lots and lots of synchs!
 
wow very interesting Hurmanetar!....I'd be curious to hear your interpretation of this sync of yours - very probably it's the "person concerned" who is in the best position to interpret syncs, but certainly I can think of at least 4 possible "explanations/interpretation" for this one - which once again shows that, even if we agree on the existence of syncs (and not all do of course: "materialists" maintain that there is no such thing, because in their world view anything for which no material cause can be found is automatically considered to be just a chance event), the real issue is: "yes, but what does a specific synch mean exactly (if it does mean something)?" I don't need to repeat what I have already written in several posts in this thread.... To me, there's the rub - and I sooooooo wish I could know, because I experience lots and lots of synchs!
Throughout my life future and past meaningful occasions are represented in the present regularly. Synchs are pretty standard, if one expects them to happen.

I think the follow quote in this thread by Eric Wargo is a good try at what is happening
Precognition (I am suggesting) is just memory in reverse. When something encountered in the present resembles the future stimulus, it stands out or alerts us more than it otherwise would. Thus precognition is really the wrong word: It’s more of an associative preconditioning toward future rewards.

Jouissance reflects not an intrinsic aspect of psi specifically but an intrinsic aspect of what humans find interesting as part of our natural threat-vigillance orientation. Some kind of excitement or pleasure needs to be paired with certain types of threats in order for us to be interested in them and vigilant about them. Thus presentimental phenomena reflect “future excitements,” very often about disasters involving fire and other forms of entropy. Edwin May thinks entropy gradients carry a psi signal; I think we are just always interested in entropy gradients, and that it is information about them that gets passed back through entanglement processes in neurons. - Wargo on the first page
 
Throughout my life future and past meaningful occasions are represented in the present regularly. Synchs are pretty standard, if one expects them to happen.

I think the follow quote in this thread by Eric Wargo is a good try at what is happening

Indeed, that was one of my 4 possible interpretations :-). May I have your opinion on a different type of sync, though, which I just posted in a different thread? (# 77 http://www.skeptiko-forum.com/threa...d-you-up-to-the-flames.1218/page-9#post-89445)
 
Just remembered a synchronicity I experienced...

When I was in high school I was hanging out with friends one evening and we decided to have an art night and just draw sketches. I drew a picture of an old man in a dried up place pulling himself along with his staff. At the time I was pretty fanatical about Christianity so I titled it: "Me without God". I put it up on my wall throughout college as a reminder to be humble. After college having no money for real art, I put it on the wall in the bedroom of my first house.

Going back all the way to high school and maybe earlier I started experiencing hip pain and symptoms of Lyme disease although I didn't know that was the cause. My hip pain gradually grew worse and I punished my body thinking I could just strengthen my hip joints and get over this so at 23 I was running bleachers and doing insane workouts on hips that were worse than most 60 year olds. I finally hit a wall and my hips got so painful I couldn't walk. I remember taking 45 minutes in the morning just to make it out of bed and across the room to the shower. I was so disabled by the pain, I took a clothes rod out of my closet and used it to pull myself along the floor. Having been into backpacking rock climbing and all sorts of outdoor stuff, it was a very depressing situation. I finally went to a doctor and got some help, but was on crutches for several months.

I remember dragging myself across the bedroom floor one morning with the clothes rod and looking up at this picture I drew thinking... Oh god... That IS me.

image.jpg
Lymes is a vary serious disease when left unidentified, and hence, untreated. There was "deep-meaning" for you - in the future - and a real need for problem solving to restore health. Lymes has been present in my area for more than 25 years and back then folks in Abington and Huntington Valley didn't know about deer tics as the source. http://articles.philly.com/1989-05-...e-disease-lyme-project-number-of-actual-cases

I hope your recovery was complete. Love the driftwood look of the drawing. Do you think the drawing inspired you to seek treatment at the time?
 
wow very interesting Hurmanetar!....I'd be curious to hear your interpretation of this sync of yours - very probably it's the "person concerned" who is in the best position to interpret syncs, but certainly I can think of at least 4 possible "explanations/interpretation" for this one - which once again shows that, even if we agree on the existence of syncs (and not all do of course: "materialists" maintain that there is no such thing, because in their world view anything for which no material cause can be found is automatically considered to be just a chance event), the real issue is: "yes, but what does a specific synch mean exactly (if it does mean something)?" I don't need to repeat what I have already written in several posts in this thread.... To me, there's the rub - and I sooooooo wish I could know, because I experience lots and lots of synchs!

I believe my first thought at the time was, "Is God trying to tell me he's abandoned me since I titled this picture 'Me Without God'?" But by this point in my spiritual life I had come to the point where I knew better than to take all positive things as evidence of God's approval and all negative things as evidence of God's disapproval. Ecclesiastes 9:11 (there's that number again) says, "The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all."

I still thought it was an odd coincidence (didn't know the word synchronicity at the time) and in a way it was a little comforting to feel like what I was going through was known ahead of time... part of the "plan of god." I tried to take it as more encouragement to be humble and pursue miracles. One thing that set me apart from many of my Christian peers was the persistence at which I pointed out how miracles didn't seem to be happening the way the Bible said they should be. The Bible has all kinds of examples and promises of healing by faith alone. I tried so hard to have faith for all kinds of miracles. At one point in college I even threw away my glasses attempting to have faith for my poor eyesight to be healed... it didn't happen... although I did get Lasik a couple years ago and now have 20/15 vision :)

So the whole lack of healing thing continually drove me to try and figure out why miracles weren't happening on command as promised in the Bible. I had read plenty of testimonies that were very convincing and had friends where some seemingly miraculous things happened to them, so I at least believed it was possible and happened on occasion. I wasn't getting the answers I was looking for in solely Christian circles which was one thing that drove me to keep looking beyond Christianity and eventually led me to all the subjects talked about here on Skeptiko.

My downhill slide in health was certainly a very "dry" period of my life and like in the picture I felt like I was barely making it. Got quite depressed at times. I would have been able to adapt to my situation much sooner and find peace and get medical help had I accepted it as it was and tried to work around it instead of holding out waiting on a miracle which never came. But was I wrong for believing for a miracle? Especially since that drove me on to seek broader truth? If I had gotten my miracle, would I be here? Or would it have reinforced my narrower belief system preventing me from ever looking beyond it? I don't know.

Lymes is a vary serious disease when left unidentified, and hence, untreated. There was "deep-meaning" for you - in the future - and a real need for problem solving to restore health. Lymes has been present in my area for more than 25 years and back then folks in Abington and Huntington Valley didn't know about deer tics as the source. http://articles.philly.com/1989-05-...e-disease-lyme-project-number-of-actual-cases

I hope your recovery was complete. Love the driftwood look of the drawing. Do you think the drawing inspired you to seek treatment at the time?

Yes its a terrible disease and probably far more widespread than is publicly known. I'm doing really well now. My mom had fibromyalgia/CFS and neck pain since before I was born. We had seen a doctor my whole life who was a fairly open minded D.O.. He came across information about chronic Lyme and tested and treated himself for it and a bunch of other patients with arthritis and auto-immune diseases. He found many patients with arthritis and auto immune diseases and CFS fibomyalgia tested positive for Lyme.

Anyway, to make a long story short, this D.O. had previously treated both my parents for Lyme, and my parents tried several times to convince me to get tested before I finally hit the wall, but I was still waiting on my "miracle". So I refused to go to a doctor until I was on crutches. I don't think the drawing motivated me to go to a doc... I just literally couldn't do anything anymore so I had to go. He put me on long courses of Doxycycline which (after a couple years off and on) got rid of it entirely. After a few weeks of being on the Doxycycline I was able to walk or "waddle" again but still unable to do lots of things and had a lot of pain after activity and no flexibility due to the completely worn out hip joints. I saw 7 hip surgeons and none wanted to do surgery at my young age. So a few years went by and then a couple years ago I finally went to see a local hip surgeon who gave me new hips and life is grand again. :)
 
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