Thoughts on Brain, Mind, and Thinking inspired by Lehrer’s “How We Decide”

datePosted on 10 November 2010 by cjf

Although I have always been interested in the mind and thinking, I have been suspicious of psychology and the cognitive sciences. Recently, I’ve been impressed by several TED Talks that address new ideas in the sciences of the mind. These subjects are starting to provide valuable insights into how the world really works. It is still wise to be skeptical, but we might have made enough mistakes in psychology that we now have some groundwork upon which to start figuring out what is really going on in our heads.

So I was delighted with the chance to go into more depth in the science of decision making by reading Jonah Lehrer’s 2009 book How We Decide and participating in a discussion with the Ben Franklin Thinking Society. First, some overall impressions of the book. I thought Lehrer gave a good account of how the emotional brain works and some strengths and weaknesses in our decision making. I really value how he presents so many examples of experiences and experiments to illustrate the subject. His conclusion, though adequate, did not bring it altogether for me (cognitive dissonanace is a good thing and it helped me write this post!). Jeannie was turned off by Lehrer’s bone-chilling accounts of airplane crashes and psychopaths. However, we both learned a lot about the neuroscience of decision making. For me it was a good read, if not a great book.

The nature of emotions

One major omission from the book was the lack of a diagram showing the relationships among the brain regions discussed. Jeannie drew a rough sketch entitled Brain Turmoil below to give some sense of how the pieces fit.Brain Turmoil by Jeannie Moberly

Apparently, the brain uses dopamine-mediated “prediction” neurons to recognize patterns (a dopamine “high” if the pattern fits and a “low” if the pattern is “off”). This effect delivers our “feelings” to a decision making center in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). In Lehrer’s synthesis the brain considers these often conflicting signals from its various parts until it forms a decision. Jeannie’s designation Brain Turmoil is apt: chapter 7 is entitled “The Brain Is an Argument”.

As I re-read Lehrer’s text trying to pinpoint what emotions are, I found his description too vague. Still I synthesized this working hypothesis: emotions are the self-communicated feelings, intuitions, or instincts formed by dopamine-mediated pattern detection centers in the brain. This gives a nice concrete notion of the nature of emotions that seems to fit well enough with the text and my experience. Does anyone know a better characterization of emotions?

Mistake Mystique

The message from the (sometimes excessively repetitive) middle part of the book is that both our “rational” and “emotional” brains can make serious mistakes. Lehrer recounts the emotional brain’s proclivity to find a pattern in any situation leading to grave errors whenever randomness is in play. For example, he explains the gamblers fallacy where one is rapturously deceived by occasional but completely random winnings leading to thoughts that “my turn has come” and the likelihood of bigger losses. He debunks the notion of streaks in sports citing the research of Gilovich, Vallone & Tversky that shows they are just random events that our brain misinterprets. There are more stories of this nature in the book. I had already encountered several from reading Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb which goes into great depth on this deficiency in the brain. Taleb details our weaknesses, but Lehrer also highlights some of our strengths and addresses how to make better decisions.

Our “rational” brains are also subject to serious mistakes. Lerher tells stories of “choking” when a skilled person blunders by too much thinking about what they “know” how to do. Philip Tetlock‘s research shows most pundit predictions are no better than random guessing, in part, because we are all subject to rationalization wherein we fit the story to our “mental models” (which are disparagingly known as biases). Apparently the most famous pundits tend to be the least accurate!

When I consider how easy it is to fool our brains, it becomes clear why our news media are so full of misinformation: our nucleus accumbens is thrilled by positive stories, our amygdala responds to negative stories, and the “experts” hew their confident but questionable theories. It leads to a thoroughly engaging presentation mostly filled with distracting poppycock! Similarly politics, which is just a once a year popularity contest, is hyped into grand battles on “the issues of the day” … “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Neuroscience helps us understand why we so easily get sucked into such nonsense.

But there is hope! Lehrer tells two great stories about how “mistake mystique” can help turn our error-prone brains into sound instruments of decision making. First, airline pilots undergo intense training to prepare for dangerous situations in flight simulators (practice!) and are trained to use crew resource management (CRM). The results of these pilot training initiatives have been dramatic: since the early 1990s pilot error has been reduced 71%! If only car drivers were subject to such good training practices, the roads might be made safe! Secondly, the story of Bill Robertie, two-time world champion in backgammon and a chess master, emphasizes the importance of the quality (not just the quantity) of practice in particular by focusing on and learning from your mistakes.

Mistakes aren’t things to be discouraged. On the contrary, they should be cultivated and carefully investigated.
—Jonah Lehrer

One point in Lerher’s account that I found particularly interesting is the strong support in cognitive science for Buckminster Fuller’s thesis that we only learn by trial and error. The stories in How We Decide, make clear that the argument in your brain needs lots of emotional input which is gathered by the trial and error work of “prediction neurons” plus the conscious process of thinking about thinking to hone your judgements. Mistake mystique is an essential part of thinking and learning!

Synergetics and Brain Science

Buckminster Fuller’s Synergetics is subtitled “Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking”. To me, Synergetics is a work that teaches how to think, but it does not have a prescription for thinking or decision making. It has a few interesting passages on the mind and thinking, such as, 509.00-31 Considerable Set and 502.01-25 Experience. Another very nice passage from Fuller’s essay “Guinnea Pig B” is recited by Jeannie in the video to the right. It makes me curious, does neuroscience know enough to map brain functions to Fuller’s concepts of “experience”, “generalized principles”, “brain” and “mind”? How do generalized principles work in the brain? Are they filters of rationalization or are they more associated with intuition or some of both? Can brain science describe the circuitry of Fuller’s mind/brain distinction? What is the psychology of experience?

In the second video, Cherie Clark describes a decision making process that she built on principles in Synergetics. Cherie has a knack for capturing the big picture and making it rememberable! Lehrer’s conclusion, on the other hand, simply advises one to use reason to solve simple or novel problems, embrace uncertainty, trust that your emotional brain knows more than you are aware of, and think about your thinking process. All valid and good advice. So Lehrer’s book with all its stories and examples is a good resource for improving your understanding and practice of decision making and thinking. But Cherie’s video explains how important it is to be “grounded” … to “see your situation clearly” and how to develop a comprehensive thought process. It is an eloquent example of how Synergetics provides tools for a deeper and more incisive system of thinking.

So what do you think?

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6 Responses to “Thoughts on Brain, Mind, and Thinking inspired by Lehrer’s “How We Decide””

  1. Joshua Pang on 16 November 2010 at 5:12 am

    Brain Yoga
    Submitted by Joshua0Pang on October 20, 2010 – 15:21.
    The Team
    Whose name (s) should be listed as winner(s) if your entry is selected?:
    Joshua Pang
    Team Leader
    What Country is the project leader located in? :
    United States of America
    What is the primary profession of the project leader?:
    University
    Is the proposed project the project leader’s primary source of personal income? (select one)::
    yes
    Generally speaking, does the project leader consider themselves to be a(n) (select one)::
    Designer
    What is the highest level of education the team leader has completed (select one)?:
    I would prefer not to answer

    Application Questions
    Summarize your proposal in 50 words or less:
    Language of maximum syntropy, Sanskrit survives. The Yoga Sutras survive as the sanskrit program processing entropy into syntropy. Therefore Yoga is the means by which humanity satisfies purpose. Yoga Sutras can be globally “brained” through Internet and Immersion experiences: a first step to Sanskrit as the Planetary Language.

    Describe the critical need your solution addresses:
    Planetary civilization is collectively talking about survival. Without a planetary language to unite us, there is no hope. Sanskrit is uniquely designed for the human vocal instrument based on five universal mouth positions producing ultimate sound-energy. The Yoga Sutras are ancient roadmaps to get from here to there.

    Explain your initiative in more depth and its stage of development. ** See full questions below box:
    The ultimate goal of the initiative is the establishment of Sanskrit – Planetary Language. To arrive at that point, the Yoga Sutras are the most important to daily life and most readily taken up as software programming for the brain in order to make peace and bring together unity. The Yoga Sutras could be the most exciting television program in all history as masses of people use Sanskrit to solve ever-new problems of life in a way that’s been time-tested by elder civilization. Brain Yoga happens as one streams memory sutra by sutra all the while hypnotically programmed chant by chant. Due to a new tension between an old life of problem-producing and a glimpsed one of problem-solving, the brain is then synergetically forced to delve ever deeper into Yoga until the steady state of Kaivalya – the aloneness of seeing – is arrived at through the gravity of its singularity. A freed imagination appears where only obsessive habits had existed. Global learning of the Yoga Sutras remotely via Internet and locally via Sanskrit trainings suggests a network of yoga scientists in love with the advanced states of consciousness they experience: supporting and augmenting the vibration of group and individual through convergence and deployment of Immersion experiences involving mass chanting borne on toward Kaivalya. Then the Sanskrit Language spontaneously ‘presents itself’ to the planet as the ultimate tool for self-realization and class-one cosmic evolution. Peace and unity woven together with problem-solving excites “brain world” population as ever less ignorance and ever more competence explodes and coheres imagination and play for the sake of Universal syntropy. Developmental-wise, the Immersion experience model is already pioneered by the American Sanskrit Institute’s team of teachers. Included in this is learn at home “Sanskrit by CD” and Yoga Sutras CD and workbook. Skype-learning is found in small communities, but more work needs inputting for ‘Sanskrit by Current Medium’ as capital and initiative begin to dissolve long-held inertias as youth takes hold of Sanskrit.

    How does your strategy and approach respond creatively and comprehensively to key issues? **see full question below box:
    Start with individual integrity. Nature begins individual integrity’s interaction with reality in the brain. The brain’s “secret weapon” for changing itself–through vibrations which clean the fluid in which the brain floats–and the environment–in which other brains may network for “brain-storming”–is sound-energy produced by the human vocal instrument. The Sanskrit language was designed by brains or “seers” in a previous age as the first attempt to discipline reality through seeing the effect of speech on experience. The disciplining process is what concerns the Yoga Sutras. It is as if “Yoga” and all that it has come to mean is a new consumer technology for disciplining the chaos of modern life. The vote is out among the “city-people” who are most inundated with out-of-control technology and the result is that Yoga is front-ranking as a means to brilliance, health, knowledge, happiness while remaining in the mainstream: in short, a higher standard of living. Artifacts of the Sanskrit language such as Ayurveda are right alongside Yoga as more and more western science details how to behave in accordance with this brain-age we live in. We have found that reality is recorded in the brain, and to discipline life the brain must be taken as the starting point. Starting with the brain, the Yoga Sutras are “voted” by the highest in the information-hierarchy as a program for basic human behavior as we develop a new relationship with each other through technology. We can again come to terms with the technology which runs so much of our lives by adopting Sanskrit as the day-to-day planetary language living in the fullness of Yoga.

    Compare and contrast your initiative. **see full question below box:
    Capitalism, power structure, and ‘western culture’ all take life from the world’s dominant language: English. However, English has lost its magic. It is no longer equipped to take on the challenges of global society. We have outgrown English, and are paying for its continued use. Survival is in jeopardy the longer we are attached to the power English has bestowed upon us. A new language is needed with different powers associated with it to rouse our psyches from the lullaby of unenlightened materialism. An enlightened materialism, and beyond, is within the power of Sanskrit. Take for example the United Nations. Instead of multiple official languages, Sanskrit would be the most logical choice once the case for Sanskrit is made based on its universal accessibility and most importantly the new powers and consciousnesses associated with Sanskrit culture. The push for Esperanto is comparable. Another exciting initiative to compare with Sanskrit as the planetary language is Second Life as the planetary virtual reality. Second Life’s key difference from real life is that essentially survivability is assured. One is freed to experience materialism in all directions. Second Life could teach “real life” one important lesson and that is summed up in the phrase “we don’t move on until I get it.” Reality remains undisciplined until the members of society work in harmony. Sanskrit – Planetary Language is comparable to the proposal for a world currency.

    Describe your implementation plan. **see full question below box:
    Much of the fundamentals of Sanskrit learning from English to Sanskrit are already in place – and who’s success is sure through the application of truth found in the Yoga Sutras. These materials are provided by the American Sanskrit Institute for mainstream prices. Essentially, Sanskrit and Yoga need to ‘make the news’. Perhaps the mere endorsement by popular culture is all that is necessary to light the fire in the hearts of the people. TV and Internet are the mediums which ASI has not tackled, and which the initiative here takes as its starting point. In year one (1), by winning the challenge there will be media attention which can be further strengthened by active Sanskrit speakers (ASI Teachers) talking through all the most popular outlets: interviews, musical spotlights… “channel-to-channel mantra madness”. Over the Internet Sanskrit by CD and other learning technologies should be digitized with added interactivity. (2) Once the people start enjoying “samadhi” and other “fringe benefits” of learning Sanskrit the scene will change dramatically. Here, contacts in major game-players such as Google should be established with Sanskrit to allow for Sanskrit-machine interface. Sanskrit is the only natural language compatible with computer processing according to Rick Briggs of NASA in AI magazine. The contacts and media explosion both be seen in two years after the challenge, reasonably. By the third year, the exponential flight could be seen as the explosion from the 2012ers finds a new age tool for realization. The youth must be the focus hereafter.

    Provide details regarding the team and/or partners you have assembled. **see full question below box:
    The American Sanskrit institute is the foremost partner involved in Brain Yoga. They provide all the necessary family of artifacts for learning Sanskrit by mainstream americans. Further support to be extended by teachers following in the ASI model will cover the gap in industry this initiative seeks to fill. As the Sanskrit bough breaks over the Internet, more and more people will seek teacher-trainings to fulfill their obligations to society while attempting to live a life of uninterrupted celestial music provided by Sanskrit speech. Much like the society it seeks to reform, Sanskrit will undoubtably be exploited by those seeking to “own” super-consciousness and ‘sell’ it to those who can afford. The built-in design of inter-locking meaning found in the Yoga Sutras, however, will eventually pacify the “Terrible Twos” of the Sanskrit revolution. Unity between all teams, and partnership with the planet will follow. Essays on the American Sanskrit Institute’s website provide details on Sanskrit and the Technological Age and Sanskrit: A Sacred Model of Consciousness.

    What are the primary obstacles? ** See full question below box:
    “It is code related”. I am suggesting that we are all connected through Brain Yoga; that we seek order; that Sanskrit is the solution to our problem of order. The English language is the primary obstacle. Ambiguity. Embarrassment. Fear. Omens of disorder… Enter courage. The Education Revolution must involve the choice: either choose to see, or choose not to see. I choose to see is the single most important thought to overcoming the obstacles to Sanskrit. I see the truth. I choose to see the truth in the language I have now. I choose to see the truth in the language of Sanskrit.

    What range of funding is needed to bring your project to fruition. **see full question below box:
    For those who have eyes, let them see. The most important funding needed to bring Sanskrit to fruition is an audience who has agreed upon coming together to seek the truth. The truth will out. Out the teachers of Sanskrit. The teachers of Sanskrit from the American Sanskrit Institute receive modest pay. Classes range from $100 to 650. One thousand students could be contacted with the Challenge prize. Of those one thousand, one could make a breakthrough that will pay for everybody else. The truth will out.

  2. cjf on 16 November 2010 at 10:39 am

    Joshua, it looks like you have expanded your proposal over your 2009 submission to the BFI Challenge (the older one is at http://challenge.bfi.org/node/1030).

    Even though I think Sanskrit might be part of the solution, I find it hard to imagine why it would be the only hopeful way to unite us all. That is to say, I think the proposal could be strengthened by better illustrating how Sanskrit would make such a big difference. Also, I think we need a complex of initiatives. I am glad that you a championing one of the them. But I’d recommend structuring your enthusiasm so that it accommodates and honors other efforts: as they all provide hope! Life is a trial-and-error affair: we cannot know which ideas are going to make a big difference: so we must give them all a chance!

  3. Joshua Pang on 16 November 2010 at 7:40 pm

    http://www.americansanskrit.com/read/

    CJ-ji-i-i! (3 counts to the “e”s)

    I learned how to address someone from far away in Sanskrit by Dr. Sharma
    http://www.mywhatever.com/sanskrit/index.html

    So!

    Thanks for the feedback!

    Yes, expanded. Tetrahedron–>Octahedron?

    Even though I think Sanskrit might be part of the solution
    We agree, though I would say Sanskrit is the “whole solution”.

    I find it hard to imagine why it would be the only hopeful way to unite us all.
    Not hopeful, mathematically (the language of numbers, a sub-system of Sanskrit) verifiable only way to unite us all. “Imagine Sanskrit – Planetary Language” … Just like RBF’s definition of Universe, “Universe is communicated experience” Sanskrit = Syntropy = means to Order. You tell me in a means to entropy (English) that Sanskrit is not absolute eternal instantaneity of no lag at all perfect, which is included in my definition of Sanskrit.

    I guess I feel about Sanskrit vs English as Bucky felt about Cosmic Credit Accounting vs Money.

    That is to say, I think the proposal could be strengthened by better illustrating how Sanskrit would make such a big difference.
    Yes, in a certain sense, that proposal was not written all in Sanskrit. Were it written all in Sanskrit, it would be perfect as I define Sanskrit: Language brought to formal perfection. I mean to say this in the same way that RBF calls Dymaxion Map (Cancel That, editor’s note, make that Synergetics) — ‘It (Synergetics) will probably be improved as technology realized improves, but it is the term we use for Nature’s coordinate system, which is perfect. So Synergetics is perfect, but our comprehension from the artifact Synergetics will improve as the artifact improves. Similarly Sanskrit is Synergetics and the artifact Sanskrit devanaagarii books…

    Also, I think we need a complex of initiatives.
    You experience is limited by the communications to self or other. “Life is a dream” experiences entirely limited by Sanskrit, easy. “He gave them speech, and they became souls” – Whitehead
    Those complex of initiatives are subsystems of Sanskrit. RBF thought Synergetics was key to Humanity’s survival (feelingly how Nature works) in addition to OER. Synergetics the topic of the book Synergetics is only comprehended through language. You have to say in language “No, I disagree” “Yes, I agree”. Either way, whatever you say back is in language which is entropic to Sanskrit : that which is nondual (unite us all)

    I am glad that you a championing one of the them.
    Jayah!

    But I’d recommend structuring your enthusiasm so that it accommodates and honors other efforts: as they all provide hope!
    Non-Sanskrit language is entropic by definition. Entropy does not provide hope… well, they do imply regenerativity with Syntropy in the picture, so in a way all this entropy is needed for there to be anything at all — but that’s not really hope is it? that’s more acknowledged than prayed for |

    Life is a trial-and-error affair: we cannot know which ideas are going to make a big difference: so we must give them all a chance!

    “we cannot know which ideas are going to make a big difference”
    We can know. We know by seeing. Knowledge is that which is seen. I have seen like a blind man who is alive that Sanskrit is the doorway to all knowledge – the vedas, omniscience – eternal instantaneity of no lag at all

    J

  4. Joshua Pang on 16 November 2010 at 7:55 pm

    Brain Yoga simply means

    “I exist” “You exist” “We exist, together, forever”
    +”Where do we exist other than in language?”
    +”Existing only in language, the language Comprehensively Anticipatorily Designed by A Priori Intellectual Integrity to create the individuals is Sanskrit”

    Sanskrit is the language created by God in unity which embraces God in multiplicity I, you, We synergy

    When the multiplicty Sanskrit – Planetary Language is realized there will be an entirely new ascension by humanity collectively some call the Singularity. Beyond Sanskrit there is no humanity i.e. Brain Yoga (The Yoga between perfect metaphysical minds and imperfect physical brains)…

    Anyway, I am just languaging (trimtabbing) to syntropy between you and I. I processed (syntropized) the original post, am commenting to balance 0=0

    Is there any way for me to get an email every time there is a new comment or a reply to my post? I sort of just have to check in periodically otherwise., rather than only when I am needed. I don’t remember if I get one every time there is a new post, but I should if I don’t. (See: Unlimited memory by Vyaas Houston)
    http://www.americansanskrit.com/read/a_memory.php

    Anyway, trying not to argue. Just seriously I am trying to make the world work for 100% of humanity through spontaneous cooperation without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone.

  5. cjf on 21 November 2010 at 1:32 am

    To “argue” means to present reasons. Encouraged! To “critique” means a serious examination and judgment of something. Also encouraged! Feedback is critical to thinking. Supportive feedback is very important. Discouraging feedback blocks people: bad. History is filled with examples like Galileo’s defense of heliocentrism where the authorities look stupid for criticising unorthodox work. Therefore, I want to encourage the development of your idea that Sanskrit is a world-changing technology. I do not want to look as stupid as the Church did in discouraging Galileo for his unorthodox “opinion”!

    But history is also filled of people, even famous people, promulgating their “pet” theories beyond their utility. Take Sir William Rowan Hamilton who brilliantly developed quaternions, but spent the rest of his life advocating their importance especially in physics. As it turns out as useful as quaternions are in physics they are not nearly as important as Hamilton alleged. The full history is adequately told in A History of Vector Analysis by Michael J. Crowe.

    So with Sanskrit, what do you mean by “Planetary Language”? That all 6+ billion people need to master it? Do they just need to learn the basics (Sanskrit as a second language?)?

    Language is just communication. How can any language be entropic? I suppose a dull conversation would be entropic. But isn’t it possible to say nonsense in Sanskrit too? If we have a productive conversation in English about how to efficiently improve an engine to achieve twice the work with less materials, wouldn’t that qualify as syntropic?

    I am sure that Sanskrit is a doorway to important knowledge, but all knowledge? Does Sanskrit even have words for “syntropy”, “ephemeralization”, “geodesics”, “synergy”, “electron”, “quaternion”, “vector”, “engine”, etc?

  6. Joshua Pang on 19 December 2010 at 9:39 pm

    http://americansanskrit.brownrice.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=62&osCsid=fngavdr8jmmqujsqmfghhf7sl6
    Ok so http://www.americansanskrit.com
    Reading room
    Sacred model of language
    Age of technology
    http://americansanskrit.brownrice.com/read/a_techage.php
    http://americansanskrit.brownrice.com/read/a_sacred.php

    **Note** I highly encourage reading these **Note**

    To “argue” means to present reasons. Encouraged! To “critique” means a serious examination and judgment of something. Also encouraged! Feedback is critical to thinking. Supportive feedback is very important. Discouraging feedback blocks people: bad. History is filled with examples like Galileo’s defense of heliocentrism where the authorities look stupid for criticising unorthodox work. Therefore, I want to encourage the development of your idea that Sanskrit is a world-changing technology. I do not want to look as stupid as the Church did in discouraging Galileo for his unorthodox “opinion”!

    Nice argument!

    But history is also filled of people, even famous people, promulgating their “pet” theories beyond their utility. Take Sir William Rowan Hamilton who brilliantly developed quaternions, but spent the rest of his life advocating their importance especially in physics. As it turns out as useful as quaternions are in physics they are not nearly as important as Hamilton alleged. The full history is adequately told in A History of Vector Analysis by Michael J. Crowe.

    Nice critique! Well I take into account using experience vs axioms. We’re all sharing modern thought, I am sharing my “grand vision” as humans do around the fire drinking the soma. Just a quick note to say written language is different from oral language –> Think about the difference between the written Bible and a recording of Jesus speaking. Also just a quick thought on syntropy and psuedoscience, I am in the process of taking Mercury compounds prepared medicinally. Guinea Pig J
    Bucky has that bit about Orgone energy — pseudoscience

    So with Sanskrit, what do you mean by “Planetary Language”?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash
    Just like in Snow Crash, I liken Sanskrit’s ultimate connection with the collective unconscious (and modern thought) with how it is presented instead of Sumerian.

    That all 6+ billion people need to master it? Do they just need to learn the basics (Sanskrit as a second language?)?

    CADS I would like to tell a little something about my Anthropology fieldwork. Sometimes humanitarian aide is given to cultures in which it is scientifically valid but interferes with current “modes of thought” (ANW) … For example, people not using medicine because of authority given to shamans, not WHO. In applied Anthropology, we might solve the problem by working with the shaman to have him give out the medicine while performing his exorcisms as well. Similarly I think the bridge of Sanskrit and Yoga have already been built, but people aren’t using it even then!
    http://www.democracynow.org/2008/6/24/two_decades_after_his_death_visionary
    (Jaime Snyder Bridge CADS)
    I think also in part this is due to invaders consciously interfering with Sanskrit as a bridge — historically.
    So yes, the goal is everybody afterimage realized speaking Sanskrit.
    But also in a very real sense English is just an applied-science subsystem of Sanskrit. Sanskrit, like Synergetics, is defined as the sound-system Nature uses.(coordinate system) … Everybody is tripping on English across the Planet, and it is a problem! English-drug-language is not appropriate to access the technology we have at our fingertips. English is not appropriate to behold the sights of ancient days. Modern day mathematics, then, becomes an applied science subsystem of Synergetics. Modern mathematics is not appropriate to sober us from the English-drug-language http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6088867521723616224#

    Language is just communication. How can any language be entropic? I suppose a dull conversation would be entropic. But isn’t it possible to say nonsense in Sanskrit too? If we have a productive conversation in English about how to efficiently improve an engine to achieve twice the work with less materials, wouldn’t that qualify as syntropic?

    Well…. Language is just communication…… I dunnnnoooo…. Oral language, maybe. Written language are like these symbols. Sound is not a symbol. I’ll share with you a secret that comes around every now and then in my thoughts. So the GRUNCH-Golem JP Morgan built that is AI running the show is procreatively sterile, it is a one-way trip [day tripper] allowing explorations for the great roastbeef mountain, but not a return journey home to the self. Ahab against the Whale. (haha, maybe) All of this whole thing between you and me is anticipated and worked out in the Yoga Sutras, though. Thirstlessness for the Soma (Vairagya), AI on computers vs Minds on brains (Chitta vs Purusha).
    It is disorderly when I interpret something written, when sound and meaning are divided. Language is sound (even in your head), the written stuff is just for when we didnt have better forms of recording. Even visual memory is address in Yoga.
    Sanskrit can be used survivalistically but it is built anticipatorily to transcend.
    Yes, English can be used as a Sacred Language, and it has to be to begin a study of Sanskrit

    I am sure that Sanskrit is a doorway to important knowledge, but all knowledge? Does Sanskrit even have words for “syntropy”, “ephemeralization”, “geodesics”, “synergy”, “electron”, “quaternion”, “vector”, “engine”, etc?

    Yep, the Vedas mean all language (err, “knowledge”). Besides mushrooms representing an alien two-way tv communication device, some say Sanskrit came from the “Gods”…
    Setting in order the facts of experience
    Anyway, I acknowledge the finiteness of Universe, and time. I’m willing to work on this until we get sobered to the Utopian Unified Field Noosphere Internet http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=471148502357&id=514196707
    But if I’m going to get to the other requests for feedback tonight, I have to move on with what class-one evolution conscious participation has been recorded in written English (sorry for all the marginalia) …

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