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Propeller Head Plaza Technical and scientific discussion of amps, cables and other topics. |
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Propeller Head Plaza Technical and scientific discussion of amps, cables and other topics. |
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I am only posting the intro of this rather lengthy paper. The full artcle (as pdf file) can be found at:http://www.princeton.edu/~pear/pdfs/jse_papers/Filters pdf.pdf
Sensors, Filters, and the Source of RealityROBERT G. JAHN AND BRENDA J. DUNNE
Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research
Princeton University
D-334 Engineering Quadrangle
School of Engineering/Applied Science
Princeton NJ 08544-5263
e-mail: rgjahn@princeton.edu; bjd@princeton.edu
Introduction
At birth, that tiny portion of the boundless, timeless spirit of all existence that defines our personal identity takes residence for one mortal span in a physical corpus we call the human body, which is given to us to experience, explore, and influence a sensible surround we call the world. That corpus, like the spacecraft and submersible vehicles with which we explore the physical environments of space and sea, has locomotive and manipulative capacities, and is equipped with an array of physiological sensors that can acquire specific forms of information about the environment in which it is functioning. It also possesses a neurological grid and control center, called the brain, which can be trained to interpret the signals generated by these sensors, and to activate therefrom appropriate
responses. It is primarily via these channels of experience and response that we endeavor to infer, either intuitively or analytically, composite functional models of our world and of ourselves on which to base our subsequent behavior.
The biophysical architectures and the neurological and biochemical processes by which these sensors and channels execute their respective functions have been broadly and deeply studied, and are sufficiently well understood that their
maintenance, protection, healing, and enhancement can be profitably practiced, but considerably less insight has been achieved regarding their roles in establishing the subjective qualities of life. It is well recognized that these physiological sensors have limited ranges of sensitivity, and thus ignore major
segments of their corresponding stimulation spectra. Human eyes perceive only the narrow band of electromagnetic radiation from 400 to 700 nanometers in wavelength, and are oblivious to the much more extensive infrared and ultraviolet domains that border it. Our ears respond only to a similarly narrow
range of acoustic frequencies, beyond which lie imperceptible infrasonic and ultrasonic realms of the same form of physical oscillations. Our taste, smell, and sense of touch likewise are sensitive only to tiny portions of their potential physical or chemical informants.Whereas we have become technically adept at artificially extending these ranges of information access via a host of optical, electrical, and mechanical devices, our brains must then translate their outputs into extrapolations of our physiological sensitivities to effectuate their utility. We also have developed an armamentarium of equipment to amplify and refine the incoming signals for both the natural and artificially extended sensory capacities: telescopes, microscopes, hearing aids, photographic facilities, radio and television technologies, seismographs, etc. While all serve to enhance our
experience of the physical world, here again our brains must execute additional steps of recognition and logic if we are to benefit from them.
More salient to our thesis here, however, is the acknowledgment that other, more subtle mechanisms for acquisition of information, such as intuition, instinct, inspiration, and various other psychical modalities, also can enhance the flux of incoming information. Although commonly experienced, these
channels involve less readily identifiable sensors and therefore are less susceptible to orderly reasoning, and they are correspondingly less respected and utilized in modern scientific practice, traditional education, and contemporary social activity. In the extreme materialistic view, this imbalance extends
to total dismissal of these subtler capacities, thus restricting experience to the five primary sensory capabilities and their technological extensions alone. Consequently, the inferred models of reality are limited to those substances, processes, and sources of information that constitute conventional contemporary science.In this paper we ally ourselves with the sharply contrary position that there exists a much deeper and more extensive source of reality, which is largely insulated from direct human experience, representation, or even comprehension. It is a domain that has long been posited and contemplated by metaphysicians
and theologians, Jungian and Jamesian psychologists, philosophers of science, and a few contemporary progressive theoretical physicists, all struggling to grasp and to represent its essence and its function. A variety of provincial labels
have been applied, such as ‘‘Tao,’’ ‘‘Qi,’’ ‘‘prana,’’ ‘‘void,’’ ‘‘Akashic record,’’ ‘‘Unus Mundi,’’ ‘‘unknowable substratum,’’ ‘‘terra incognita,’’ ‘‘archetypal field,’’ ‘‘hidden order,’’ ‘‘aboriginal sensible muchness,’’ ‘‘implicate order,’’ ‘‘zero-point vacuum,’’ ‘‘ontic (or ontological) level,’’ ‘‘undivided timeless primordial reality,’’ among many others, none of which fully captures the
sublimely elusive nature of this domain. In earlier papers we called it the ‘‘subliminal seed regime,’’ (2,3) but for our present purposes we shall henceforth refer to it simply as the ‘‘Source.’’*In similar spirit, we also reject the popular presumption that all modes of human information processing are completely executed within the physiological brain, and that all experiential sensations are epiphenomena of the biophysical and
biochemical states thereof. Rather, we shall regard the brain as a neurologically localized utility that serves a much more extended ‘‘mind,’’ or ‘‘psyche,’’ or ‘‘consciousness’’ that far transcends the brain in its capacity, range, endurance, and
subtlety of operation, and that is far more sophisticated than a mere antenna for information acquisition, or a silo for its storage. In fact, we shall contend that it is the ultimate organizing principle of the universe, creating reality through its ongoing dialogue with the unstructured potentiality of the Source. In short,
we subscribe to the assertion of Arthur Eddington nearly a century ago: Not once in the dim past, but continuously, by conscious mind is the miracle of the Creation wrought. (4)By whatever names we label these two primary poles of the information dialogue, it is our contention that the highly selective group of experiential channels based in our five physiological senses allows only very limited communication between them, so that via these narrow, cloudy windows in our Source-faring capsule consciousness can obtain only petty glimpses of the grand complexity and scope of its ultimate environment, and correspondingly petty reflections of itself. Like the fabled blind men examining the elephant, our experience of the world and of ourselves is severely circumscribed by our observational inadequacies, yet it is on the basis of these shallow specifications that we presume to construct correspondingly limited models of our environment and of our cogent minds. Worse yet, these impoverished models, their concepts
and terminology, are then allowed to constrict further our channels of incoming information, by constraining our experiential data, their interpretations, and our responses, to conform to such authoritarian constructs of ‘‘reality’’ and
the expectations they engender. This composite dilution of experience we shall henceforth refer to as ‘‘filters.’’******************* End of Intro ********************
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Topic - Intro to another PEAR paper (long) - geoffkait 16:17:31 04/12/07 (0)
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