14 replies to this topic

[Quit Screwing Me]

I was sleeping. I woke up, but was absolutely paralyzed and couldn't move at all. I had this loud, horrible sound in my ears, it was crazy. And my whole body was vibrating. Not shaking, but vibrating. I was awake, because I could hear an audio book playing in the background that I had started before I went to bed.

[mk_378]

You have experienced "sleep paralysis". It is a normal effect that happens sometimes when half-awake. In deep sleep, you should become paralyzed so you won't act out dreams by sleepwalking. Part of your brain woke up, while part of it was still asleep. Some people look at this as a rare window into their inner workings. Others decide that they must have been abducted by aliens.

[tmkats]

You have experienced "sleep paralysis". It is a normal effect that happens sometimes when half-awake. In deep sleep, you should become paralyzed so you won't act out dreams by sleepwalking. Part of your brain woke up, while part of it was still asleep. Some people look at this as a rare window into their inner workings. Others decide that they must have been abducted by aliens.

Go with that one QSM, it will ease your tensions.

[Quit Screwing Me]

So.............no demonic possession then?

[ICANHASMUNY?]

could be what was Identified as "Demonic posession" by the Church centuries ago,


was really an Alien Abduction .


they've been around for a long time.

[Quit Screwing Me]

could be what was Identified as "Demonic posession" by the Church centuries ago,


was really an Alien Abduction .


they've been around for a long time.

I don't believe in aliens as far as the common use of the word. I do however believe in demons.

[tmkats]

could be what was Identified as "Demonic posession" by the Church centuries ago,


was really an Alien Abduction .


they've been around for a long time.

I don't believe in aliens as far as the common use of the word. I do however believe in demons.

What if the "Aliens" are really demons in disguise.....they can do that you know.

[ICANHASMUNY?]

any technology sufficiently advanced is indistigushable from magic.

[Quit Screwing Me]

could be what was Identified as "Demonic posession" by the Church centuries ago,


was really an Alien Abduction .


they've been around for a long time.

I don't believe in aliens as far as the common use of the word. I do however believe in demons.

What if the "Aliens" are really demons in disguise.....they can do that you know.

Well, funny you should mention......because I think it's quite possible that "aliens" are a hybrid between demons and humans.

Maybe this thread should be merged into the "what's weird about you" thread.

[Quit Screwing Me]

any technology sufficiently advanced is indistigushable from magic.

While I can admit it's difficult, I would ultimately have to disagree. This is where discernment would come into play.

[Echo_X]

any technology sufficiently advanced is indistigushable from magic.

While I can admit it's difficult, I would ultimately have to disagree. This is where discernment would come into play.

There are two problems here. First is that the Arthur C. Clarke quotation is incomplete.

"Any technology, once significantly advanced, is indistinguishable from magic, when witnessed by a species or culture which is less advanced."

The second problem is that you view humanity as socially or technologically advanced. In truth, humanity has progressed very little since the days of the wheel and the fire.

I am not saying "in some cultures", indicating less developed areas, I am stating, simply, that humanity has not evolved since the time we lived in caves. We are a species, for all our poetry and self congratulation, that is still motivated purely on self preservation, hubris, avarice, wrath, etc.. The only distinctive difference is that in old days, we threw stones or shot arrows at our enemies, now we throw bullets and explosives.

But back to the quotation of Clarke. Consider if you will, a person, or a soldier, from a far off time. Instead of guns, or visible technology, he is using some combination of augmented reality and neural interface, which operates weapons platforms woven inside his clothing, or in fact, implanted with in his own body, using his own body heat or mass an energy source, or perhaps networked to a UAV platform.

He can see in total darkness without headset or torch because his augmented reality display is capable magnifying ambient light, he navigates through menus partially by thought, partially by using finger or hand gestures, these gestures seeming terribly complicated and confusing from an outside observer, and may even look as though some form of invocation. He targets by selecting from his "installed" weapons, or more likely, from the weaponry available on a UAV platform that is circling high over-head, indicating his target by reaching out his hand and sighting between his index and middle finger, or by concentrating on a specific fixed location, and then a burst of microwaves shoot from his hand, or from the sky, causing his target to burst into flame, or explode from the inside. Or instead the sky lights up as a series of precision laser beams slice the target to chunks, or instead explosives rain from the sky. Heck, maybe there's a tesla coil inside the UAV and it just rains down the wrath of the gods in the good old fashion way.

The point is, all of this is possible through the progression of technology, and even by today's standards, would be identified more as magic then technology, imagine what it would look like to someone witnessing it a thousand years ago, two thousand years ago, ten thousand years ago.

<Speaking of. Historians like to talk about the silly things that the ancients did, like believing that carrying around rocks or idols could guide them when lost, or that staves had magical powers. Considering how fast our cities would decay if they were just abandoned, and how much our knowledge has become computerized, maybe our ancestors weren't so silly, maybe we just don't know how to make their toys work because the batteries died...>

Edited by Echo_X, 10 March 2012 - 01:12 PM.

[sirrowan]

I was sleeping. I woke up, but was absolutely paralyzed and couldn't move at all. I had this loud, horrible sound in my ears, it was crazy. And my whole body was vibrating. Not shaking, but vibrating. I was awake, because I could hear an audio book playing in the background that I had started before I went to bed.

When I was a kid, we used to do this really stupid thing where we'd crouch down and breathe deep and fast, then we'd stand up and someone would grab you from around the middle and squeeze while you held your breathe. The result was that you'd pass out. When you came to, your whole body would tingle like it had fallen asleep and you couldn't really move for a bit.

When they lost my father and got him back, he too had the tingling....

Do you have sleep apnea?

[Quit Screwing Me]

I was sleeping. I woke up, but was absolutely paralyzed and couldn't move at all. I had this loud, horrible sound in my ears, it was crazy. And my whole body was vibrating. Not shaking, but vibrating. I was awake, because I could hear an audio book playing in the background that I had started before I went to bed.

When I was a kid, we used to do this really stupid thing where we'd crouch down and breathe deep and fast, then we'd stand up and someone would grab you from around the middle and squeeze while you held your breathe. The result was that you'd pass out. When you came to, your whole body would tingle like it had fallen asleep and you couldn't really move for a bit.

When they lost my father and got him back, he too had the tingling....

Do you have sleep apnea?

No sleep apnea. I had no tingling or anything though. I can't really say exactly that I had trouble breathing. It did feel like I was a little out of breath, but I was breathing. It's very hard to explain.

[Quit Screwing Me]

any technology sufficiently advanced is indistigushable from magic.

While I can admit it's difficult, I would ultimately have to disagree. This is where discernment would come into play.

There are two problems here. First is that the Arthur C. Clarke quotation is incomplete.

"Any technology, once significantly advanced, is indistinguishable from magic, when witnessed by a species or culture which is less advanced."

The second problem is that you view humanity as socially or technologically advanced. In truth, humanity has progressed very little since the days of the wheel and the fire.

I am not saying "in some cultures", indicating less developed areas, I am stating, simply, that humanity has not evolved since the time we lived in caves. We are a species, for all our poetry and self congratulation, that is still motivated purely on self preservation, hubris, avarice, wrath, etc.. The only distinctive difference is that in old days, we threw stones or shot arrows at our enemies, now we throw bullets and explosives.

But back to the quotation of Clarke. Consider if you will, a person, or a soldier, from a far off time. Instead of guns, or visible technology, he is using some combination of augmented reality and neural interface, which operates weapons platforms woven inside his clothing, or in fact, implanted with in his own body, using his own body heat or mass an energy source, or perhaps networked to a UAV platform.

He can see in total darkness without headset or torch because his augmented reality display is capable magnifying ambient light, he navigates through menus partially by thought, partially by using finger or hand gestures, these gestures seeming terribly complicated and confusing from an outside observer, and may even look as though some form of invocation. He targets by selecting from his "installed" weapons, or more likely, from the weaponry available on a UAV platform that is circling high over-head, indicating his target by reaching out his hand and sighting between his index and middle finger, or by concentrating on a specific fixed location, and then a burst of microwaves shoot from his hand, or from the sky, causing his target to burst into flame, or explode from the inside. Or instead the sky lights up as a series of precision laser beams slice the target to chunks, or instead explosives rain from the sky. Heck, maybe there's a tesla coil inside the UAV and it just rains down the wrath of the gods in the good old fashion way.

The point is, all of this is possible through the progression of technology, and even by today's standards, would be identified more as magic then technology, imagine what it would look like to someone witnessing it a thousand years ago, two thousand years ago, ten thousand years ago.

<Speaking of. Historians like to talk about the silly things that the ancients did, like believing that carrying around rocks or idols could guide them when lost, or that staves had magical powers. Considering how fast our cities would decay if they were just abandoned, and how much our knowledge has become computerized, maybe our ancestors weren't so silly, maybe we just don't know how to make their toys work because the batteries died...>

I hear what you're saying Echo. It's not that I don't understand, but more that I disagree. But it's for reasons I can't post due to TOS.

[cashnocredit]

There are two problems here. First is that the Arthur C. Clarke quotation is incomplete.

"Any technology, once significantly advanced, is indistinguishable from magic, when witnessed by a species or culture which is less advanced."

Indeed, xx.

Sort of like the "consistency is the hopgoblin of small minds" has a significantly different meaning as a partial quote.

Good post.