Talk:Consensus trance
Hemispherical dominance?
There is no evidence to support the hypothesis that people can be manipulated or are in a "consensus trance" because their brains are not developed to their full potential. Tony Wright goes right from hypothesis to diagnosis in his book "Left in the Dark" (which is not referenced). This is a very dangerous path and I consider his work 100% speculation (an interesting speculation though, and I feel sympathy for his individual life style).
Human perception is based on pattern recognition that's about all we know. Linking complex psychic phenomena to brain functions never had a scientific basis to it. It's the environment which can turn good people into "sheep" or "sociopaths" (see i.e. Zimbardo:Stanford prision experiment). We need to consider the conditions of this environment more than that of the people in it. Urban (talk) 13:59, 29 March 2015 (IST)
- I just referenced Tony Wright's book, which was the most interesting book I read last year. It is speculative, and I've just redone the text to make that clear. I also moved it to the bottom, since it is not central to the topic of Consensus trance - I agree that Asch and Zimbardo etc. have more directly relevant evidence. Nevertheless, it deserves a place on this page, since I see a pretty clear connection. How many people feel trapped by obedience to a logical system of thought which on one level they know goes against their love of life...? Robin (talk) 18:07, 29 March 2015 (IST)
- I agree it's a wonderful thought provoking book. BTW I engage in mind altering practices mythelf, i.e. special breathing technics, inner qigong, taichi, making music, mountain climbing, meditation. Undoubtedly most of us have been trained to limit the use of our mind, resulting in a loss of connection to our feelings and needs (or 'love of life', M. Rosenberg), intuition and health. Propabely functions of our mind are not limited to our head but may be found everywhere in our body (i.e. guts). And certainly conciousness extends well beyond that.
- The western 'style of living' creates deficits in the needs for social connection and others which makes people especially vulnerable for propaganda appealing to conformity. Urban (talk) 18:53, 29 March 2015 (IST)
- Did you notice how Tony Wright tells us on 200 pages of the shortcomings of the left hemisphere, yet at the end of the book he uses exactly the simple linear logic supposedly provided by his left brains to (1) diagnose a problem and (2) propose a "fix". This thinking is of course part of the problem he wants to cure ;-) Urban (talk) 08:19, 30 March 2015 (IST)
