From: Anders Sandberg (nv91-asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Mon Apr 07 1997 - 06:40:48 MDT
On Sun, 6 Apr 1997 ShawnJ99@aol.com wrote:
> Speeking of these 'buttons', I have a question regarding them. In the book
> 'Dianetics', by L. Ron Hubbord (super mystic of the millenium), he talks of
> these 'buttons' as being something called 'engrams'. I'm sure many of you
> are familiar with it. I have always wondered to what extent the 'engram'
> theory may be true. I don't believe in anything mystical, but I still wonder
> if there are any valid points in the book.
I haven't read the book, but I have heard that there are some valid
self-transformation techniques in it. That is the secret of Scientology:
it actually works when people try it, so they want to learn more and get
better, all the way to the Thetans and Xenu...
The engram is a term used in psychology to refer to the "memory record"
of a person. Quite a bit of research has been done attempting to find it
(Lasley's famous ablation failures are most important), and today it is
generally believed to be encoded in the network connections of the brain
in a rather non-localized manner.
What Hubbard refers to are suppressed painful memories possibly from past
lives. I don't buy the past life part, but all people seem to react
strongly to signals that threaten their identity or peace of mind, even if
they don't consciously think they are threatening (why do my blood
pressure rise steeply when I read *stupid* attacks on transhumanism, but
not when I read logical and well reasoned attacks? Maybe it is the
stupidity that affects me more than the attack).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension!
nv91-asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~nv91-asa/main.html
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