I am sure scientists would then want to see if some signals were being passed back and forth via particles detectable with measuring instruments. But until and if they do, the certainty many expressed in the prevailing conclusion in the aforentioned debate would likely diminish.
I’m not sure why you find the supposed “lack of scientific studies” to be “alarming” any more than you would find the lack of expeditions by professional zoologists to look for signs of the Sasquatch to be “alarming”; in both cases, there is no evidence on record to support it other than vague, spurious claims that lack objective evidence or which satisfy any of a multitude of questions as to why the purported phenomenon or creature isn’t more commonlyh seen.
There have, for the record, been experiements with various hallucinogens with the attempt to produce remote viewing and other forms of extra-sensory perception or manipulation of the brain to induce suggestive or compliant states (e.g. a ‘truth serum’), incluing the declassified CIA/US Army BWL MKUltra program, various studies performed by the Stanford Research Institute, trials performed by Kurt Plötner (a Nazi medical experimentalist who was transported to the United States after WWII under Project Paperclip and later returned to teaching medicine in West Dermany in the ‘Fifties despite demands for his extraction and trial by the French), and various studies at private institutions such as Esalen Institute. While many of these studies would not meet modern standards of experiement controls or ethics, none of them produced anything that could credibly be indicative of legitimate ESP phenomenon. There is no plausible mechanism for direct communication between brains to account for a “shared hallucination” and given that hallucinations are intrinstically subjective experiences it would be difficult to institute controls. Even if two people hallucinate the same thing—say, a dragon—you would expect them to describe it in different ways, and unless you could have an external control over the form of the hallucination it is unclear how you could verify that the experiences are identical.
Also, the use of LSD is known to cause certain dysfunctions in the brain. While there could be theraputic value in the controlled use of LSD to address people with congitive defects or emotional problems (a claim made by some advocates), giving LSD to healthy subjects just to attempt to ‘prove’ a hypothesis with no explicable mechanism or evidence that it exists is unethical even if the subjects give informed consent, and no legitimate medical authority in the developed world would perform this type of experiment openly and subject to peer review. (Whether they would perform it covertly on unwitting subjects is a matter for an entirely plausibile John le Carré novel; medical ethics seem to go out the window when there is no accountability.)
There are certainly physical forces and mechanisms which we do not currently have the technology or science to detect with high resolution, such as the neboulous “dark matter”, the cognitive structures responsible for individual mental thoughts or concepts, or the effects of gravity between individual particles, but if you are suggesting that there are nonphysical mechanisms which nonetheless somehow affect the physical world, this is not a sensible statement, nor one that could lead to legitimate scientific study and analysis. Physical science can only study physical objects and forces by definition, and anything ‘extraphysical’ like magic, psionic powers, gods, ghosts, angels, qi, élan vital, et cetera are the domain of fantasy and superstition.
The brain can, of course, produce these concepts because it is evolved to make predictions even in the absence of complete evidence; it is not limited to physically realizable concepts. And our minds enjoy ‘playing’ with unreal ideas because that is how we develop an internal construction of the external universe, and by playing with concepts or optical illusions that defy reality we are treated to novel ideas that appeal to the affective systems (in particular, SEEKING). But despite what your parents may have told you, just because you can dream it doesn’t make it practicable.
Stranger
When the people have to be on the same drug to see the same hallucination (i.e. Drug X tends to cause Specific Hallucination Y), that particular hallucination sounds like a property of the drug. I’d be more inclined to try to discover what that drug is doing, than what the brain is doing.
Or are you saying that if I take Drug X at the same time you do, if you see Random Hallucination Z then it becomes more likely that I’ll also say that I saw Random Hallucination Z?
DavidwithanR: That would be a possibility these experiments would ideally have investigated.
Stranger: This would have been a relatively tame, safe, nonoutlandish experiment back in the days of MKULTRA. It seems like one of the first experiments you would think of if researching hallucinogens. I’m not proposing the experiment be done: it is not 100 percent safe for the subjects. I am just surprised it was not done back when they were doing all sorts of unsafe experiments. If it was done I would like to read about it. Perhaps no one noticed shared hallucinations back then, but thanks to anecdotal reports on the internet it now jumps out as a common phenomena (when all the reports are so easily accessed thanks to the internet).
This is just conspiracy theory stuff. “There’s no evidence for this thing I believe in, so the evidence must be being suppressed by the government.” If there were any studies with verifiable positive results, the researchers would be tripping over their feet in a rush to publish. It would be one of the biggest discoveries of the century and would immensely enhance the reputation of the scientists. Even assuming that some mysterious organization actually had the power to “classify” or suppress such results, why on earth would they do so? Who would be harmed if evidence were provided for something that 3/4 of the population already (erroneously) believes exists?
The Internet also gives us claims that the supposed Phoenix Lights are alien spacecraft and Bigfoot videos, not to mention whatever crazy Alex Jones (“The Walter Cronkite of shrieking batshit gorilla clowns”). So, “I found it on the Internt” gives any notion about as much credibility as Joe Isuzu’s endorement.
Stranger
You are saying nothing substantial can remain classified? I am not saying I understand shared hallucinations, I am hoping to read some scientific studies of them. I would be surprised if even 1 percent of the population has heard of shared hallucinations. So how can 3/4 of the population believe anything about them?
Stranger: I am hoping to read studies of shared hallucinations. I have not accepted any answer yet. See my deja vu hypothesis above.
I’m hoping to find instructions on how to reach the Quantum Realm but so far I just have this pompus British guy making vague wavy motions with his fingers and telling me that he’s “strange”. I started reading a book about magic but he took it from me and told me that it is important to read the warnings which, for some reason, come after the spell.
Stranger
You might find some of the answers you’re looking for in the power of suggestion, mob or crowd psychology. And old popular favorite read is Extraordinary Popular Delusions and Madness of the Crowds by Mackay.
No, that was Thomas Hertog telling you how to detect an alternate universe:
He’s actually from Belgium.
Note that that doesn’t actually talk about detecting other universes, but rather of detecting a signature of the background within which all of these universes lie (that is, if they exist, which itself isn’t a given). And if such universes do exist, they would be so incomprehensibly far away that they would have no chance of interacting with ours. It’s worthwhile science, but it doesn’t mean what you think it does.
There are other models for things which might be called “alternate universes” which might be very, very close by to ours, but in a direction that we can’t directly perceive. On the surface, that sounds like it might be closer to what you’re trying to grasp at, except that we know how such an alternate universe would interact with ours, and it’s be via gravity, if at all. You’d have a lot better chance of detecting phenomena from such a universe with a lead cannonball than you would with your brain. Which people have actually tried to do, but with no success so far.
I have been told by several soldiers who have served at high altitude posts (22-23,000 feet) that multiple individuals had the same hallucinations at the same time. One officer told me he is certain he and his men all saw a Yeti!
Everyone attributes it to oxygen starved brains being suscepitable to suggestion, one guy saw he sees “something”& now everyone sees it. The Yeti-seer mentioned above told me he had been reading about them sometime before.
Also, the human brain is inherently predisposed to hallucinations which appear human-like, because a lot of our pattern-matching ability is dedicated to recognizing other people.
If they all saw it at the exact same moment and all pointed to it at once, and then the talking started after that, it would be a shared hallucination. Being easily suggestible is completely different, not sort of similar.
I have discovered which drug is most important in this discussion: SHROOMS.
Second Hand Reporting Of Observations Means Sh*t. 