Dear Jeanne:
Message -----
From: "Jeanne Houston"
To: "Stathis Papaioannou" ,
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Many worlds theory of immortality
Date: Tue, 10 May 2005 07:19:01 -0400
I didn't read the article but I am aware of the conceptual basis
for this idea. To answer your question, it is possible that altered
states, including those caused by mental illness, can allow the brain
to pick-up information from elsewhere. However, the differentiation
must be made between such elsewhere (or elsewhen) awarenesses and true
hallucinations (the same goes for dreams. Some people postulate that
some dreams could be awarenesses of other realities but then use lucid
dreaming as an example. Right idea, wrong type of dream). Many of the
hallucinations common to schizophrenics are based on outside stimuli
triggering a preconvieved viewpoint which is then externalized as a
hallucination. For example, such a patient may be on his way to the
pharmacy to get a prescription filled and see a billboard for an auto
body repair shop that features a close-up shot of a man cowering in
fear that says "Watch Out! The Morons are Out There!" (a true
advertisement). This billboard could stimulate a reaction in the
patient based upon the apprehension that the doctor may not know what
he's doing and prescribed the wrong medication. This reaction could
manifest itself as a merely a thought, "Yeah. And I bet my shrink's a
moron too!" or it could extend into the outside world if the patient
looks back at the sign. Suddenly the sign could have its own response
to this sudden thought that the patient's psychiatrist is a moron and
could read something like "Yes! Your shrink's a moron and he's out to
get you!"
This is based on research done by Janssen Pharmaceutica http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2002/aug/schizophrenia/ in
the development of a simulator of the schizophrenic experience. The
simulator was created with the input of actual patients to make it as
realistic as possible, and I have used it before, as part of my
research. In this case, the hallucinations of the schizophrenic are
based on internal apprehensions and are not observations of some
parallel reality. The tendency should be resisted to simply assume that
just because someone is perceiving something that we aren't, that what
they're are perceiving is somehow linked to some interdimensional
knowledge or higher reality. If one wants to take that tact, then they
must also engage in the very real hard work of substantiating exactly
what the nature of these perceptions are and if they have any kind of
objective basis. To do that takes a considerable amount of work.
Otherwise the question goes unanswered and any consideration of what is
or isn't going on is simply unbridled speculation.
Hope that helps.
I'm not one to shy away from what others would perceive to be
"unbridled speculation," however there are a few fundamental problems
with the idea set forth by Jeanne. First, to the best that I
understand, there is no evidence that we will ever be able to access
the information of the parallel outcomes (worlds) in question. We can
access the processing power of the other worlds, but the laws of
physics seem to prevent our pulling information from another "world"
into our world given the collapse that happens at the end of a
computation (when we get our result from a quantum computer). So the
idea seems to be prohibited by the laws of physics. And lets not even
get into the proof problem. It's sort of like UFO's. Is it easier to
believe that someone is crazy/seeing things/misinterpreting stimuli,
or that they really are seeing other worlds/aliens? Spectacular
claims require spectacular proof, and I don't see how this idea
presents the prospect of any proof. Perhaps, if someone could in a
statistically significant way predict future events or the location of
hidden items, like remote viewing, could provide evidence, but there
would still have to be some way to establish the link between that
phenomena and other worlds.
