The Interbrain

Courtesy of the SPR Facebook page, here's a report about a forthcoming book by Professor Digby Tantam of the University of Sheffield, about his theory that we are in continuous subliminal communication with the brains of people nearby, perhaps mediated by "a minute body odor release associated with changes in body chemistry caused by emotions like fear or sexual arousal". It's also billed as "Human Wi Fi Telepathy", but I can't see any suggestion that the process is paranormal:
http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2018/01/pr...hy-exists/

The book will be out next week:
https://www.amazon.com/Interbrain-Embodi...1849054762

Yes, I thought Malf would like that. Wait until Max logs in, we'll never hear the last of it !

Courtesy of the SPR Facebook page, here's a report about a forthcoming book by Professor Digby Tantam of the University of Sheffield, about his theory that we are in continuous subliminal communication with the brains of people nearby, perhaps mediated by "a minute body odor release associated with changes in body chemistry caused by emotions like fear or sexual arousal"

I can just hear the sneer, in the remarks around afternoon tea in Oxford and Cambridge, at the "smelly brain theory".

In terms of observation of the phenomenon - it is just fundamental common sense that humans AND animals (maybe better) sensually detect the mental outlook of beings in close proximity.

My take (as always) is that looking under the street lamp of physics for chemical signals transmitted by smell or as vibrations in electronic signals is unproductive.

Minds, in action, change real-world probabilities.  Minds exist in an informational environment.  Changes in the probabilities of actualization in informational environments -- is the place to look and measure activity that is communicated subliminally.

Courtesy of the SPR Facebook page, here's a report about a forthcoming book by Professor Digby Tantam of the University of Sheffield, about his theory that we are in continuous subliminal communication with the brains of people nearby, perhaps mediated by "a minute body odor release associated with changes in body chemistry caused by emotions like fear or sexual arousal".

Sounds like a pheromone thing, no? Hardly “brains communicating”. More like what Max said about leaving notes, but less sophisticated. Admittedly I haven’t followed the links.

Every cat I've known has been aware of even a passing thought of a trip to the vet and has disappeared for the day. And when I look after my son's dog, he knows when I decide to take him for a walk before I make the slightest physical move or bodily signal of any kind.

So are we to believe that there is a "walkies" odour? I'll stick with telepathy, thanks.

I doubt there is much dispute about that in academic circles.

Do you mean for Digby's idea's ?

Well that's how things are... I doubt there is much dispute about that in academic circles. What is external appears to affect me internally, and visa-versa. That's how I seem to experience things. Anybody can write a note to themselves now, which can aid their recollection of something in the future. Perhaps it's news to the general public...

Digby presents the framework of the subjects as "continuous subliminal communication" taking place in an environment called "interbrain".

This becomes scientifically tractable as an information science problem.  Apparent information transfer is taking place.  There is an implicit assumption that next: Physics comes to play.  If there is information transfer - where is the physical signal that carries it?

Intentional instructions, such as a note to yourself, seemingly smear the subjective information that links to a self, beyond the cranium.  But that happens all the time.

A person walking in a charged emotional environment, seemingly "gets" large amounts of important information from "feelings".  Sure; there are "notes with messages" as physical clues streaming-in, such as facial expressions.  But the feelings experienced are more comprehensive understandings of complex relations.  The meanings of the hundreds of clues from vision, smell and hearing are felt as holistic gestalts, with deeper insight than from just a cursory snapshot.  In fact, in reviews of charged emotions at a later date, those "feelings" can be examined and logical connections can reveal more detailed meanings.

Telepathy has been searched for "super" mental powers and for fraud through physical tricks.  Isn't it time we measure the communication from instinct and feelings and document the structures and working processes in informational environments?

 

Who are we? And what is our role in the universe?

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is radically changing not only how we deal with the world and make sense of it, or interact with each other, but also how we look at ourselves and understand our own nature, existence, and responsibilities

In this book, written for non-experts,  I discuss such impact of ICTs on our lives and on our self-understanding. I suggest that ICTs are bringing about a fourth revolution, in the long process of reassessment of humanity’s fundamental nature and role in the universe. We are not immobile, at the centre of the universe (Copernican revolution); we are not unnaturally distinct and different from the rest of the animal world (Darwinian revolution); and we are far from being entirely transparent to ourselves (Freudian revolution). ICTs are now making us realise that we are not disconnected agents, but informational organisms (inforgs), who share with other kinds of agents a global environment, ultimately made of information, the infosphere (Turing revolution).

In light of this conclusion, I argue that we should upgrade our philosophy and expand our ecological and ethical approach to both natural and man-made realities, in order to cope successfully with the new challenges posed by ICTs. - Luciano Floridi

http://www.philosophyofinformation.net/b...n-reality/

I'm willing to accept that we are in more or less continuous communication with others. However, I very much doubt that it involves either subliminal sensory cues or even the brain.

I'll give a typical example. I used to spend a lot of time on various online forums, often where technical subjects were discussed. Sometimes I would post a rather abrasive response, expressing my view that what the other person had written was pretty stupid. I'd go away, feeling a smug sense of self-satisfaction. Then some time later, it might be a few minutes, it could be many hours, I'd get an uneasy, restless feeling, a stressed state of mind. When I checked the corresponding forum, I'd find a rightfully indignant response to my post, made at just the time when I'd had those stressed emotions. Distance was irrelevant. It didn't matter whether the other party was a total stranger and this was our first ever interaction.

Nowadays, in order to avoid those types of experience, which are pretty unpleasant, I try rather more often to treat others more gently. Behaving in a better way towards others could be said to be purely selfish behaviour on my part, since it benefits me directly.

I've long understood that these types of emotional and sometimes informational exchanges with others also take place during ordinary face-to-face encounters. But looking for it in the brain and in ordinary physical senses would be to go down a blind alley.