Must be HARD keeping Alice away during No Nut November. Sadly Fappy is unrestrained all year long.
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You beat her off? Shouldn’t it be the other way?
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None. Except for the ones made up in my monkey brain that evolved the fight or fight mechanism to allow me to visualise an immediate future that, if I take a step forward, I might be dead. Or, if I walk away, I might live. What I imagine in those few seconds before I take either step is just that, imagination.
I encourage you to google the Scientific American episode where the “third man” syndrome was reproduced with electronic impulses to the brain by, undoubtedly, the coolest hat I have ever seen. I believe the experiment is one proof that our monkey brains are hardwired to “see”, and imagine the “paranormal.” Whether it’s to comfort in times of extreme stress, including induced (self or not), highly emotional, hormonal episodes, which include carefully choreographed religious events, the “feeling” of a separate entity is just that. A feeling. Nothing more.
Anyway, take a look.
I can’t seem to find that video. Is it on YouTube? Do you have an exact title? Searching on YouTube got me mostly an avalanche of BS about the paranormal and life after death. I’m surrounded by people who believe in this phenomenon as something mystical. The tv in the break room has often been tuned to some paranormal show. I guess it beats fox news. The mental gymnastics they go through to align there being ghost with their religious beliefs is amazing. No one has been able to answer me as to why anyone’s spirit would trot off to hell if it could just stick around here. Hell would be empty.
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I have watched that episode several times and now I can’t find it. I will search again later today.
Have to agree with you on the bad or worse choice for tv.
I WILL find the episode. Even if I have to go back and watch the whole series.
Gosh, I hadn’t meant to put you to such trouble. It does sound interesting, but please don’t go too far out of your way 
. I find it particularly interesting because in my younger days I worked in a national park and met some climbers. Several mountaineers have written about their experience of the feeling of an invisible companion in times of stress. The mind is a fascinating subject. That our mind can play such tricks as to convince us of nonexistent companions is scary. I also find it scary that we often can’t even explain our own actions and motivations. I agree with the Spock quote: Perhaps,“because it is there” is not sufficient reason to climb a mountain. There’s some evidence that Mallory (a man who attempted to be the first to climb Everest and died trying) said the “because it is there” quote in exasperation after being asked why do it so many times and not really having an answer.
Oh how I wish I had a dollar for every time my dumb ass did something stupid just for the simple sake of, “because it is there.” Whether it was a rock wall to climb, or ramp to jump with my bicycle, or any other such damn-fool dare-devil stunt, it was a challenge in front of me I simply could not resist. Most of the time, oddly enough, it did involve climbing something. Sadly, it rarely (if ever) involved anybody daring me. It was most often a self-induced challenge brought on from a strong unexplained urge to know, “Can I do it?” It’s almost disturbing to think of how many times I’ve been clinging by my fingertips to the side of some cliff wall, no safety line, starting to slip, forty to sixty feet above the ground, nobody else around, thinking to myself, “Well, this was a stupid idea.” Not sure how I got out of some of those spots.
Edit to add: Oh, but I’m pretty sure there was no “third person” or any supernatural influences involved. 
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No worries!
I actually had an almost instantaneous deconversion when I saw the episode for the first time. I say almost, because I think I was primed for it. Lots of little things over my lifetime that culminated in an ‘Ahaa!’ (more like ‘hahahahaha! How could I have been so dumb for so long!) moment. One of the things that triggered my ‘ahaa’ was the example used in the research of religious euphoria. It was so simple after that.
I really want you to see it when I find it. Imho, it’s worth every second I spend looking.
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Can you please define “paranormal”? You you demonstrate the “paranormal”?
The definition of paranormal is quite simple. Just look it up in a dictionary:
not scientifically explainable
Which means stuff that we cannot currently explain rationally. One reason may be that the phenomenon is not sufficiently defined or described, and thus impossible to explain. Another might be that current scientific understanding is not sufficiently developed to describe the phenomenon. Yet another might be that it is “magic”, “otherworldly”, “godly” or similar. But this last option is just obscuration, as it tries to conceal phenomena behind terms that are by definition unexplainable.
I don’t believe in the “paranormal.” There is no such thing. If there was, it would be normal, not “paranormal.” Explainable, repeatable and falsifiable.
Sorry. I don’t know if I answered your question. But there it is.
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Still looking.
Monkey brain might have conflated programs, episodes or whatever, but I am going to find it if I have to read every transcript pbs has available.
And there you have another reason why there is no reason to trust monkey’s brains when it comes to stress, memories and the like! I watched that episode so long ago and may very well have created a mishmash. Hopefully not, but there you have it.
David… WTF Man! You know, P…A…R…A…N…O…R…M…A…L. Sheesh! Why you gotta get so hung up on definitions. Everyone knows what paranormal means. You know paranormal things that are described as paranormal by people who have paranormal experiences. What else could you possibly call them? Paranormal things happen all the time, just look at the trees.
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I would say fapping happens 100% more than Paranormal Events. Yes, you’re likely to see a guy jerking off than you are going to see a ghost or a vampire.
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If it is inconsequential and may not even exist, why did you bring it up?
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I think the context was more along “spiritual” or such…more a descriptor for how some people perceive a brain function, which has an explanation.
seen. I believe the experiment is one proof that our monkey brains are hardwired to “see”, and imagine the “paranormal.” Whether it’s to comfort in times of extreme stress, including induced (self or not), highly emotional, hormonal episodes, which include carefully choreographed religious events, the “feeling” of a separate entity is just that. A feeling. Nothing more.