CAUTIONARY NOTE ON THE AFTERLIFE
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From: purple on 4 Jan 2010 15:47 On 01/04/2010 02:14 PM, Occidental wrote: > Occidental<Occiden...(a)comcast.net> wrote: >>> [Hammond's] underlying problem appears to be that he perceives logical or >>> causal connections abnormally, finding correspondence where none >>> exists. This IMO is the basic kook pathology. The rest is just normal >>> grandiosity at being the discoverer of this world-changing idea, and >>> understandable frustration with a world that ignores him. > > BruceS<bruce...(a)hotmail.com> wrote: >> Aren't you describing schizophrenia? Not being well versed in >> psychology, I may be way off base. > > My point is that kooks of the Hammond variety have a dysfunction of > the intellect which leads them to find Great Truths where there are > none to be found. They then spend years trying to get their point > across to an indifferent or hostile world. The more they are rejected, > the more insistent and indignant they become. > > This will not necessarily impact the rest of their lives; outside > their monomania they may be able to function more or less normally > (though they may appear eccentric to their peers). Schizophrenia is a > far more serious condition: > > "A person diagnosed with schizophrenia may demonstrate auditory > hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized and unusual thinking and > speech; this may range from loss of train of thought and subject flow, > with sentences only loosely connected in meaning, to incoherence, > known as word salad, in severe cases. Social isolation commonly occurs > for a variety of reasons. Impairment in social cognition is associated > with schizophrenia, as are symptoms of paranoia from delusions and > hallucinations, and the negative symptoms of avolition (apathy or lack > of motivation). " - wikipedia > > What interests me about Usenet kooks is that they reveal an area of > bizarre psychology that is fundamentally different from the > traditional mental disorders, and which has not been systematically > studied. To complicate matters, conspiracy theorists (Jewish > international finance, Kennedy assassination, 9/11, etc), though > obviously kooks, seem to be fundamentally different from theoretical > "innovators" like Hammond. The taxonomy could probably be extended > further. Any psych PhD candidates out there looking for a research > project please take note. I've had the pleasure of meeting two real nutcases posting to usenet over the years. Their very real insanity doesn't show as much in real live interactions, though if you pay attention to them beyond the superficial, it is clear that they're on their best behavior and covering their insanities (usaully multiple.) Emails with some others I never met i person were revealing in their own right. > >> ... kooks are often more >> entertaining than non-kooks, which explains their reply rate. Few >> would pay to see an ordinary goat, but if it has an obvious >> abnormality, people line up. > > You are comparing Hammond to a mutant goat? On a good day! > >> For my part, I usually avoid replying to >> the kook and instead try to talk to the person who is replying to >> him. In this thread, I was mainly talking to geo, who seems an >> interesting, sane, and intelligent person. OTOH, sometimes I'm just >> an adolescent poking a dead rat with a stick, > > Oh, now he's a dead rat. On a bad day! >> and while that's hardly >> admirable, I don't exactly apologize for it either. I'm still young >> enough (and male enough) to play the little boy. Might as well hang it up when you can no longer play. But then you'd know all the unknowable answers, right?
From: Geopelia on 4 Jan 2010 15:55 "George Hammond" <Nowhere1(a)notspam.com> wrote in message news:c654k5h9k99q19o3dj4onrmfam0pv8h1ij(a)4ax.com... > On Tue, 5 Jan 2010 02:23:09 +1300, "Geopelia" > <phildoran(a)xtra.co.nz> wrote: > >> >>"George Hammond" <Nowhere1(a)notspam.com> wrote in message >>news:97l3k5d7hisq8ve509501qqgbq2ggm5l3n(a)4ax.com... >>> On Mon, 4 Jan 2010 23:55:31 +1300, "Geopelia" >>> <phildoran(a)xtra.co.nz> wrote: >>> >>> >>>>>> >>>>> [Hammond] >>>>> Anybody your age who considers themselves an "agnostic" >>>>> ought to be flogged or put in jail quite frankly. You're >>>>> old enough to know better. >>>> >>>>(Geopelia) >>>>When we are kids we believe what our elders tell us. In our late teens >>>>and >>>>twenties we think we know everything. That's the time for taking up >>>>various >>>>religions. >>>> >>>>But at my age, I realise not only that I know very little, but that it >>>>is >>>>impossible for a human mind to know everything. >>>>There may be a God, but if so it is something that can't be understood >>>>at >>>>our present level of evolution. >>>>I look at the pictures from the Hubble telescope, some of the space >>>>clouds >>>>etc are light years across, and wonder if some kind of intelligent >>>>being >>>>could create all that. Is there a mind behind it or not? >>>> >>>>But if you are right, perhaps we find out just after we die. >>>> >>>> >>> [Hammond] >>> I am of the opinion that it is never too late to teach an >>> old dog new tricks. I believe this because old dogs have a >>> very long history of Encyclopedia information, and the >>> problem is that they simply have failed to interpret it all. >>> At your age you must be aware that the most common topic >>> of conversation is gossip about other people, mainly about >>> the psychology of personality. thousands of expressions and >>> anecdotes have been invented to describe other people's >>> personalities and what makes them tick, and certainly you >>> must be familiar with Miles and miles of the stuff at your >>> age. >>> When you have failed to realize is that this >>> populardiscussion is all about God. God is not something >>> that you look for in outer space, God is something that you >>> look for in other people, and frankly a person of your age >>> and social experience should've figured this out by now. >>> When you hear people make remarks like George bush is >>> called "Dubblya'", or Ronald Reagan fell on his "keester", >>> or common nicknames like "MoJo", "Kitty", "Lefty", or common >>> expressions like "enough to make a fox bark", "between the >>> devil and the deep blue sea".... these are all COMMON >>> EXPRESSIONS DESCRIBING THE PHENOMENON OF GOD. >>> The reason there is so is because GOD IS A MAN, not a FORCE >>> FIELD IN OUTER SPACE. >>> How on earth you ever get to the age of 80 with our >>> realizing this is beyond my imagination since the ENTIRE >>> WORLD does nothing but jabber about it all day long 365 days >>> a year. television sitcoms are ALL about it... in fact they >>> actually have no plot, they are nothing but metaphorical >>> descriptions of God and the human condition. >>> So please try to wake up and stop talking about juvenile >>> rubbish like looking for God in outer space through a >>> telescope....... it does nothing but make you the butt of >>> jokes. and realize that even in your old age there is still >>> a fast revelation for you to uncover........ and that is the >>> fact that the entire human race has been talking about God >>> in metaphorical terms right in front of your face for last >>> 80 years.... and you've never realized it. when she >>> realized that, you'll realize what real humility is..... and >>> not the tongue-in-cheek variety of humility that you think >>> it is! >>> >>> Per usual, if you find any odd words in this post, be >>> reminded that I am using voice recognition software and >>> occasionally in this identifies the word, and I don't have >>> time to proofread everything. >> >>New Zealand is a secular country. People can believe anything they like, >>or >>nothing at all. >> >> > [Hammond] > So is the US, by constitutional law. >> >> >>I doubt if many people think much about God, unless some crank starts a >>weird cult. >> > [Hammond] > All gall is divided into three parts (no that is not a > misquote, it is an original statement by me). it means that > all of human society is divided into three classes depending > on their understanding of God. > > THE FIRST WORLD: > Actually knows what God is and has for thousands of > years. they know that God is a perfect man who has no > growth deficit and that no such person has ever walked the > face of the Earth, so therefore he is the invisible man > within us. all of the peculiarities, foibles and > idiosyncrasies in people are caused by the 20% of us that is > missing, particularly of our brain. the nobility, the > aristocracy, the elite and the leadership of world history > have always known this andhave transmitted it from > generation to generation for thousands of years. The first > class talks almost exclusively in metaphorical terms about > people, politics, society and history. in other words they > talk almost exclusively about "God". > > THE SECOND WORLD: > Consists of professionals, bureaucrats, business people, > and most of the middle class; are generally aware of the > shortcomings of human awareness due to the vicissitudes of > human growth. however they are not explicitly aware that > this phenomenon is what people are talking about when they > say "God'. the second class talks almost exclusively about > "ideas", plans, schemes and activities. > > THE THIRD WORLD: > Consists of people who almost exclusively talk about > "facts"... dates, names, events, amounts, prices, times and > places etc. > These people have an almost totally na�ve idea about God, > believing perhaps that is an invisible man living in the sky > floating on a cloud etc. > > As for you Geopelia, you are somewhere in the Second World, > as are all people who refer to themselves as "agnostics" or > "atheists" or say that they believe in an unknown "higher > power" and have literally no realistic comprehension of what > the phenomenon of God actually is. >> >> >> >>But do you seriously think that a rather advanced ape (us!) on one little >>planet of a very small star could possibly be the God that created >>everything? >> > [Hammond] > This is the kind of question typically asked by people > hovering between the second and third worlds. a person > belonging to the first world considers such a question > ludicrously pathetic. only a person belonging to the Third > World would think the question is deep and intellectual. a > person like yourself in the Second World of course thinks > the question is "erudite" and "profound". Doesn't that question occur to everyone, whether they ask it or not? I call it an "obvious" question, nothing profound about it. I suppose I am nearer the second world than the other worlds, but I seem to be in the world of seemingly ridiculous questions most of the time. Perhaps the God of the first world's belief is what Christians call the Holy Spirit, third Person of the Trinity? The God inside everybody.
From: Geopelia on 4 Jan 2010 16:18 "BruceS" <bruces42(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message news:012d715f-a507-4c81-8735-12ac6e5f1ddc(a)h9g2000yqa.googlegroups.com... > > > > One must ask - if Hammond is all you say he is, why are you so > > > preoccupied with him? > > > Hah! Well, I have to say that I'm not preoccupied with him, or with > > his fellow travelers. At times, I find his ilk amusing, and I play > > along a bit, but mostly I ignore them. I'm much more likely to read > > and post when someone I respect seems to be interacting with one of > > them. > > My complaint about Usenet is that, given the choice between kook and > normal, most posters, however bright and knowledgeable, will respond > to the kook. That is why I challenged you about responding to Hammond. > You cannot make an unreasonable person reasonable by reasoning with > him. No real disagreement here, but note that kooks are often more entertaining than non-kooks, which explains their reply rate. Few would pay to see an ordinary goat, but if it has an obvious abnormality, people line up. For my part, I usually avoid replying to the kook and instead try to talk to the person who is replying to him. In this thread, I was mainly talking to geo, who seems an interesting, sane, and intelligent person. OTOH, sometimes I'm just an adolescent poking a dead rat with a stick, and while that's hardly admirable, I don't exactly apologize for it either. I'm still young enough (and male enough) to play the little boy. > rec.org.mensa has seriously deteriorated over the years; so have other > NGs. There was a time when substantial discussions took place. Not > often, but often enough to make place worth visiting. By slow degrees > the kooks took over, causing the better contributors to disappear one- > by-one. And here we are. I remember in the '90s seeing a good mix of posters here, but even then we had kooks and cranks. Anything with "Mensa" in the name will attract some mentally unbalanced people who think they can somehow be important by talking to "smart" people. The fact that they didn't need to pass any sort of IQ (or sanity) test to talk here doesn't seem to dissuade them. I bet mtm is nowhere near as busy or interesting as rom. ----------------- Thank you for those kind words. I came here hoping to talk to people more intelligent than myself, and have found plenty over the years. Geopelia
From: " SNIP HECKLER>" on 4 Jan 2010 18:22 X-No-Archive: Yes On Mon, 4 Jan 2010 12:14:30 -0800
From: " SNIP HECKLER>" on 4 Jan 2010 18:23
X-No-Archive: Yes On Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:47:46 -0600 |