Hi dude,
Up at the top of this page, just under the log-in part, is a little list of things and one of them probably says 'no messages'. This is the private message board, you can ask anything private here, or you can mail NHA (only then all the crew will see it, so not private). If you'd rather keep it off the forum entirely I don't mind being mailed personally, for example if the content is medical & private.

We've had a big batch of newbies lately* and need to keep clear what the forum is for, otherwise people tend to treat it like they do twitbook or whatever the latest TE 'social network' data-gathering exercise is called. :  )  While there are loads of social network sites, there is afaik only one neurohackers forum, and here we are...

Best,
AR
*Is the collective noun for newbies a batch or a bunch?  :  )

Case in point:
    Here is a video, yes originally viewed on the aforementioned twitbook.  This URL is to Youtube however. If you're not into heavy metal be sure to mute.  The video is what got me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiAGSDkkRHw  My issue is that I really had no idea where to post this.  As for its pertinence to N-hacking, well I suppose that's debatable.  Mostly, I just enjoyed watching it and wanted to share with the dudes of the NHA.     

On a side note regarding social networking, besides the obvious stupidity in corporate greed and a total invasion of privacy, it does offer a streamline method of connecting and communicating with those within and without my physical community, thus seems to offer a certain amount of benefit to intelligence.  So purely as a tool for interaction social networking might be quite exquisite.  After all, that's what we're doing right now on this site. 

Now for alternatives, because I've learned here that it's not enough to simply dissuade others from using something.  There must be other options for the input we require.  If videos of head banging construction workers were considered inappropriate for a NH site then where might we turn for such shenanigans?

Mnemo wrote:

Mostly, I just enjoyed watching it and wanted to share with the dudes of the NHA.   

were considered inappropriate

Hi dude,
Please excuse boisterous mood, no offense intended!
Re:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itvnQ2QB4yc 
This is not about 'the world today'.
Society is NOT the world. I should have this tattooed on my face, :  )  ...or make it a passcode to get onto the site; save time keep saying it  ...Welcome to NHA, please type in: "I am not a cement mixer, the earth is not the sun, a whale is not an insect, society is not the world"...

Consequently, due to the fake context, none of it is true. These criticisms only apply to the western industrial lifestyle; they are NOT true if spoken of 'the world' any more than they are if spoken of 'my boots'. Most human beings (around 80% of 'em) simply don't live this way, even I don't live this way right in the middle of it all. Seeing any society (or even species) as all-powerful when in reality it's closer to being a mere zit on history's face is part of the problem, and gives it more power to endure. Societies end, civilizations end, all the time. Planets end too, in their own good time, regardless of what we think or do. But currently ours is a youngster, or at worst middle aged. ...Maybe it's noticed it has fleas...now that's a scary thought  :  )

Reality check: a tiny temporary western minority's society, (regardless, incidentally, of whether it is coming to an end or not), is NOT 'The World', and the sooner we stop thinking about it as such, the better. The world is a bloody great big planet and doesn't show any signs of 'ending' whatsoever for several billion years. It whizzes through space looking very cool, with or without humans. So nobody can tell me this world is coming to an end and expect to get away with it.

Before anyone says, btw, this is a semantic problem, it isn't. It's about thinking from an ontology of truth or delusion, framing our experiences in metaphors that reflect reality or TE BS, limiting or extending our own abilities, putting up boundaries for ourselves or taking them away and walking into freedom. We call some tiny fictional construct 'the world', we give it way more power than it warrants. 'The world is a garden' is an acceptable metaphor, although even that's pushing it a bit. 'The world is a planet' -now we're getting to the truth.

'The world is a huge big beautiful place, with plenty of happy people on it who are not killing each other' -that's true too. Because most of the people on the world don't live in western society we literally behave as though they are not there, and that's a dangerous shortness of sight.

It's like a goldfish writing a poem about how awful 'the world' is, when the little dude lives in a crappy fish tank and thinks everyone else (indeed, the whole of existence) is in there with them. It's a delusion. Sure, life may well be awful crappy in the tank, I don't dispute that at all, but the thing is, most of us don't live in the tank -and many of us left it to get away from all that crap and move INTO the real world.

Its hard to be honest because I don't want to offend, but in fact this is a classic version of the counterfeit game script, 'Awful, isn't it?'* with a classic 'pep' twist at the end**

Humanistic test: how do you feel after watching the vid? Maybe hopeful, determined, or maybe depressed at the enormity of the apparent (illusory) task?

If you have time, try this experiment:
Here's an alternative view of 'the world':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6-iC_aYcug

...how do you feel after watching this?

I felt SO GOOD  :  ) It made me laugh, there is some real joy here and it was communicated in a truly  delightful way. I feel energized by it; I'm inspired to 'make more progress in the good'. This work of art conveyed healthy emotion to me, and it managed to do so without moaning or complaining or running the script of 'Awful, isn't it?'.* I want to watch it again!


Re: why no embedded vids? -Several reasons: (1)the forum began to look like an advert for youtube, (2)folks were posting vids that had nothing to do with NH, (3)some contained TE imagery and nonsense which we didn't particularly want to see on the page, (4) it's easier to edit out a URL, and (5)some could have been described as the dude said in the clip referenced: "the misfortunes of others gone viral"...(which, oddly, it also fits into the set of. -Is this a new class of nested scripts?) :  )


Challenge for the keen: outside of non-fiction documentaries, can anyone find another vid that does feature the real world and doesn't feature any counterfeit game scripts?

Best,
AR
*see Eric Berne, 'games people play', or await tutorial 12.
**ie, creates an illusion of: 'the occasion is piled high with difficulty, yet we shall rise to the occasion' where in reality there is no occasion. (A bit like an alien invasion fleet that got swallowed by a small dog) :  )

Hi dudes,
Well you asked for it  :  )  -warning,long post-

Re: How do you guys manage your own input control

...I don't have a TV or radio and I don't read newspapers, yet I usually seem to know more about what's going on in the (real) world than many who indulge in both. When I do get exposed to TE stuff (for example if visiting others), I either ignore it or weight it congruously as non-relevant to reality/relevant to reality, item by item. Doing this can be a good exercise in truth-discrimination.

The best way I found to get out of the habit of addiction to TE 'news' is to fill your life with REAL news. Once you do, you'll find that the facts contradict both TE 'news' and 'what most people believe'.

We can't follow everything that's going on in the world, and we're not designed to, as much of it is irrelevant to us (such as, what do frogs think is sexy?) I pay attention to the real (science etc) news on what I consider a 'need to know basis'. I need to know about stuff that may affect me, my body, my home, my allies, the environment I live in, my culture and my mind, and overall wellbeing.


Re: i didn't know wtf was going on because i didn't read/listen to the news.

...This is a false framing; it's like saying, 'I didn't know wtf was going on because I missed church.'  What's happening IRL is (1)nobody told you the fares had changed and (2) you were not prepared for sudden change. So you have had an experience of two aspects of real life that you were missing before. The best way to share local changes is by talking to real live people (for example if this happened here, one of us would have told all the others). Real live people talking to each other face to face is one of the things TE input discourages.

It's also possible you were not paying attention (usually when fares change there are notices on buses here in advance (but maybe they don't do that where you live?)

Some would claim these circumstances were 'the universe trying to tell you you should not get on that bus', but I don't believe that sorta thing, and it's up to you what you believe.

Regardless, you will now be better-prepared for changes, which is good because recognizing that unexpected change is the nature of life is part of responding to and interacting with reality. You might decide to always carry an emergency kit (mine is a knife, piece of string, lighter, small amount of cash). ...What was your 'plan B' -for if the bus didn't come at all? Did you have one? Do you have one now?  :  )

Talking to people, especially trusted allies, is a major source of real, small-time news -like, I will tell my colleagues here (when they wake up) that the road is closed at the north end of the village so don't go that way today.

The main trouble is, what we are conditioned to think of as 'the news' isn't the news; it's TE BS. The real news IS out there; the 'big news' on stuff like science, art, medicine and environment is available on websites and in libraries, the 'small news' is available in pubs, shops, streets and homes wherever humans walk about and make friends and speak to each other. This is how communities emerge and allies are made and discoveries and truths are shared between us. This is our culture.

There's also the addiction factor of TE input to consider -and having given it up, I have to ask, why on earth did you go back?  :  )  -could it be that you tried to give up the habit but didn't replace it with real news from your culture?

Giving up TE 'news' is no more of a problem that giving up religious 'news'. How many religious magazines do you read and how many religious programs do you watch? None at all? Do you feel you are out of touch with the real world because of this? Treat TE 'news' the same way. Religious news is about religion & gods, TE news is about politics & celebrities. Both are ultimately about business and making money. Both are trying to sell you ideas that condition you to do what they want instead of taking part in real life. Both provide parent-replacements for the insecure. Both are trying to get us hooked so we keep paying up for more. Most people are hooked on one or both.

If in doubt about what real news is, consider the things most relevant to you in your life in this planet. They are the things you need news about. Top of my list would be issues that affect our health (eg, disease warnings, drug discovery, food/water adulteration and medical progress affect us all). The weather (has its own news websites) and if in doubt, ask a farmer. The wellbeing of our allies -another important issue in our lives- can be ascertained by being with them or talking to them. Environmental issues are covered in geology and natural science news; since these affect us all and give advance warnings of potential problems, its good to wise up on them. New scientific discovery -which may not be urgent but can be useful- also has its own sites. You can set up a block of half a dozen assorted relevant sites to send you updates.


Re:This awkward feeling will be gone when i can bond with nature/world?

...The feeling of unease at dropping TE media input is the same one that a child might experience growing up in a family of religious fanatics, when they get to an age where they realize they don't believe in all this stuff themselves. It IS kinda creepy, like being surrounded by people living in a fairy tale, whenever we start to see through the fantasy BS. I think this awkwardness remains until we accept that some people are simply too conditioned to think for themselves; when it changes into tolerance and understanding.


Re: In a ideal case i think a neurohackers should have all the tools to interact with ALL the input (even TE crap) without being harmed ..

...That's not possible for humans -no matter what you believe about some input (eg, nuclear fallout, eating hemlock), it will still kill you. The correct interaction with some input is always avoidance. But it's true we do build resistance against stressors via practicing anxiety control, and at some point in NH (during T12 as it goes), we can reduce our input-control avoidance tactics for many items because we've developed/improved sufficiently to deal with stuff that would have formerly troubled us. It's called resilience, and its like a mental immune system. Once we are no longer anxious or paranoid, much input that we formerly thought was threatening can be recognized as in fact irrelevant and can be ignored.


Re: Besides the subject of what is real vs not, maybe is just a matter of focus your attention about the people/places etc who are really being happy and doing your best to inspire others even if the other parts are telling truths about how much crap x or y is?

...Yeh, attention control is very much part of resilience. -When not anxious, there is no need to pay attention to crap; it is no threat to us, at worst it is a boring distraction. (This, btw, becomes our attitude to TE 'news'.)


Re: maybe to some people listening that something is "wrong", inspire them to make some changes within.

...This sort of info can be a very good 'first move' or introduction to the possibility of change for newbies and there is definitely a place for that. I tend to think of most of us here as intermediate or advanced level, which is of course an illusion; it's just that the adept ones tend to talk more, having realized the power interaction brings. However, for newbies I'd rather choose congruous input that said 'all these things are wrong with my society' -because then it's the truth right from the start.

For catching up with real news about the real world, try:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN06tLRE4WE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JmrmwIyhAE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK47Pnx46rM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmEE3-UvuaA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjJhh47Emao

Finally, for those in the UK there's a 'methadone' equivalent to get off the heroin of TE BS  if you really can't just drop it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Eye

Very funny, it heartily takes the piss out of the TE and points out all the BS (with evidence). It was a sort of pre-wikileaks leaker of embarrassing whoopsies in the TE and it's never been quite clear who is running it, but their sense of humor is legendary.

If you don't live in the uk and are having difficulty giving up TE BS, try:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_s … _magazines

Publications such as these can be used to help ease you out of the addiction, and also bring much laughter.

Best,
AR

Rush+budget puppetry= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x4bfHllX2A

Here's one about how romanticism ruins love. Enjoy <3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jltM5qYn25w