You may not have ESP,
but you do have some equally important extra senses.
All of us
have special senses unavailable to machines or other living things. Not reading
the future, or moving objects by pure thought, these senses are more important to
you in almost every way. They are not
called senses in normal parlay but without them, you’d have an empty existence.
Far beyond taste, smell, touch, sight, and hearing, they
carry you through the most difficult times and propel you to excellence and
achievements amazing even yourself. They lift you from despair. They heal
your broken heart. They enlighten your life's journey.
The Paranormal
Suppose
you’ve just heard that a computer can “perceive” the cards of the standard paranormal
deck. You know squares, wavy lines,
circles, stars, and the like. You would
say nonsense and say it quickly. Because if it could, you could. And this is because the computer functions on
algorithms and algorithms are written by people. Yet, many believe that some
people, but not computers, can do just that.
For
generations and centuries, serious people have been discussing whether humans
have a sixth sense. Usually called paranormal, it implies some sort of knowing/seeing/foreseeing/realizing
material facts without an obvious channel of communication. For example, you
just know if the hidden shape is a cube, not a sphere. Seeing or knowing there
is a squiggly line on that concealed card is maybe asking too much. Paranormal
tests have shown such abilities are unlikely.
Paranormal is more like a set of super senses. It is like
instrumentation without machines, vision without eyes. Remarkably 73% of Americans
believe in one of its ten forms. [See Appendix.]
We ask, what
do humans have that computers will never have? Beyond the paranormal, is there
anything else? So, we set our sights on
rather unique and extraordinary qualities some humans have and others do not.
They affect your outlook, relations, performance, and well-being. In short, they affect your way of life, and
they help you foresee possibilities to which others are blind.
Pure Talent and Beyond
We already
accept the senses of geometry, music, art, math, machines, warfare, hunting,
problem-solving, parenting, and many more.
While these may at first be called talents, skills, or manual dexterity,
some have them and some do not. You can read books and take classes to develop
these, but true world-class expertise is rarely achieved. You can learn, and
get really good, but it is questioned whether you can develop a higher
intuition in the purest sense. Such skills transcend normal human ability, even
those apparently mechanical.
For example,
it has been said Leonardo DaVinci had an extraordinary sense of visualization
through which he could see landscapes from the perspective of inaccessible
places, like heights. Mozart composed music in his mind, only writing it on
paper later. Recall, Sir Isaac Newton told us he focuses continuously on a
problem until he sees clear through it. Einstein developed his concepts of
relativity using clever thought experiments carefully guided by real physics.
In
population theory for particular excellences, the square-root rule can be
proved. That is, the square-root of the
total number in the occupation dominates the top ranks. So, if there are ten
thousand skilled artists working at their craft, only about one hundred occupy
the top echelon. However, the
best-of-the-best is proportional to the logarithm of the population. Those who study, strive and strain cannot
hope to achieve the top ranks without something very special inside.
Now, let’s
lift our horizons toward the transcendental, but remain in touch with reality,
humanity, and the physical world – yet just beyond true understanding, at least
for me.
The Big Four
Hope, optimism, faith, and belief are such transcendent qualities – not talents and certainly
not material by their nature. Faith is special because of its association with
religion. We use the term in the wider sense of a human ability or capacity. Call
them the big four. We are all born
with these capacities. To have optimism, in analogy to vision, is not unlike an
ability to see in another way. It is a sense. Some have it; some do not. They provide as well a sense of power. To say a person is powered by hope or faith
makes perfect sense to us all.
Some have
all or in part, while others do not. For
example, some have little optimism or hope, much less faith. In contrast,
having even one of them can ease the burden of parenting or a difficult job. Remarkably,
they have key importance in scientific research. You’ll never do anything great unless you
first believe in it. In addition, they come in quantitative degrees as for say
those brimming with hope in contrast to those with only a little. Many are not
inclined at all toward these. Others have them in abundance, to the aggravation
of those so lacking. Perhaps, these are a part of what is called (secular) spiritualism. Books are written on what
they are and how to get them. [See, The
Faith Instinct, by Nicholas Wade, 2009.] On the other hand, our more
logical cousins may deny them altogether, calling them irrational, wrong, or
primitive. Perhaps, they are simply covering for what they don’t have or cannot
understand.
For
millennia, philosophers and scientists have been asking for the “seat” of
consciousness. The pineal gland in the
brain, the heart, and other locations have been suggested and then rejected.
Currently, there are diverse brain theories which even include quantum effects
and systems theory. We might also ask the location of where hope occurs, or
faith, and the others. In any event, it is difficult to imagine a computer with
any of these. An optimistic
computer? That IBM 7090 had faith in its algorithms? The new supercomputer at Oak Ridge really hoped to find the first odd perfect
number. Sounds silly.
An
interesting question is whether these are aspects of consciousness. If so, then
while you might readily agree people possess the big four in various degrees,
consciousness must also come in various degrees, levels, colors, or whatever
imagery is suitable. As well, so believing provides another avenue for the
study and understanding of that ever-elusive consciousness.
As well,
though one speaks of animals having emotions, abilities, and even thought or
problem-solving processes such as abduction, one rarely talks of an animal with
any of these four qualities or senses.
Does the lion have faith in a kill? Or hope for a kill? Does the Impala
wake in the morning feeling optimistic about the day? Curious, is it not,
asking such questions about animals nearby?
Emotive expressions such as sympathy and empathy are not
included. These can be programmed as a part of the language. It is easy to
imagine a computer using sympathetic language, and some do it now. But can you
explain or understand how a computer can hope or believe?
All that
said, people having the big four, hope, optimism, faith, and belief, are often
more successful, productive, and happy than those without. A sixth sense, spiritualism, higher intuition
or whatever they may be called, they seem to provide a depth of life beyond
those not so blessed. Finally, another
quality possessed in various degrees even by some animals, is courage. On this hundred of novels,
stories, and movies have been created, even the very first written such as The Iliad by Homer. Did you ever hear of
a computer with courage? Shall we make it the big five?
The human
has many other transcendent qualities, worry and depression to name two.
However, we never postulated where the “big four” come from in the brain. The Pineal? The Amygdala? The frontal cortex?
Systemic self-organization? Quantum theory?
I don’t know. We’re learning fast, but when we come to the border
between psychology and philosophy, true understanding always seems to be over
the next hill.
The big four
are transcendent senses, capacities, qualities, powers, and abilities
comprising a very interesting feature of humanity.
------------------------
Appendix.The ten
paranormal forms and the percentage of Americans believing in them follow. Believe
in Extrasensory perception, or ESP (41), Haunted houses (37), Ghosts/that
spirits of dead people can come back in certain places/situations (32),
Telepathy/communication between minds without using traditional senses (31), Clairvoyance/the
power of the mind to know the past and predict the future (26), Astrology, or
that the position of the stars and planets can affect people's lives (25), That
people can communicate mentally with someone who has died (21), Witches (21),
Reincarnation, that is, the rebirth of the soul in a new body after death (20),
Channeling/allowing a 'spirit-being' to temporarily assume control of body
(9).
In all, 73% of Americans do believe in at least one of them.
Fully 20% of all believe in half of them.
See the Gallup poll at https://news.gallup.com/poll/16915/three-four-americans-believe-paranormal.aspx
At the time of the paranormal survey, 2005, the percentage
of those believing in at least one paranormal form is almost the near the percentage
believing they are a Protestant, Roman Catholic, Mormon, Jewish, Muslim, or
another religion, which was 88%. No religion (10%) or no answer (2%) makes up
the other 12%. See, https://news.gallup.com/poll/1690/religion.aspx
Of course, surveys are just that. You rely on the responses you get.
See also,
Definitions from
the Oxford Dictionary.
Hope: A feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen.
Optimism: Hopefulness and confidence about
the future or the success of something.
Faith: Complete trust or confidence in someone
or something.
Belief: An acceptance that something
exists or is true, especially one without proof.
Note, these definitions use words needing clear
definitions themselves. Language!
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