
Influencing Machines - kawera
http://reallifemag.com/influencing-machines/
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GuiA
Two theories:

\- mind first: mental illness of the form described has always been with
humans, just that new technologies give people new words to describe the core
phenomenon

\- technology first: the human species has developed tools/mental abstractions
(telephones, internet, germ theory, global warming, cancer, radio waves,
nuclear physics, etc.) which intricacies have some weird interaction with the
minds of a small percent of the population. I don't mean that these things in
themselves affect the human mind; but that these sort of things are like "mind
viruses", hijacking thought processes.

Reminds me of:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgellons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgellons)

[http://www.meltingasphalt.com/neurons-gone-
wild/](http://www.meltingasphalt.com/neurons-gone-wild/)

~~~
b6
It seems clear to me that schizophrenic people generally think they are being
tortured with whatever technology is appropriate from the age in which they
live. In that famous first writeup, the method of torture was "pneumatic
chemistry". In the 70s, it was all about picking up radio signals in tooth
fillings ("what's the frequency, Kenneth?"). Now people are being tortured
with stuff akin to wifi signals or satellites.

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b6
Man. I feel like I got blasted with a word salad here. To me the main value of
this piece is to raise awareness that the internet is serving as a kind of
incubator for mental illness just as it does for, well, everything else.

I often see it in action because a lot of my YouTube subscriptions are to
people who are almost certainly schizophrenic. The videos they post have very
little to offer a normal person. I think most of the people who show up to
watch and comment are also mentally ill. Someone may post a video claiming
that the NSA is monitoring their thoughts via satellites and then receive 10
comments about "yeah, it's happening to me too" and "it's not via satellites,
it's from black helicopters" and "it's not the NSA, it's Satan", etc.

If you've not run into this before, I think it would be eye-opening to spend
an hour or two watching videos related to "targeted individual", "gang
stalking", "voice to skull", "v2k", "remote neural monitoring", etc.

~~~
Baeocystin
Honest question: why do you subscribe/follow these individuals? What do you
get out their inchoate worldview?

~~~
b6
When I was much younger, I found it funny. But then I learned about it, and it
stopped being funny and became worrisome and frightening. An extremely
debilitating disease that can strike anyone for no apparent reason, that makes
you and your loved ones miserable, with no cure, that causes you to deny you
are sick and actively resist treatment.

What I find most frightening about the possibility of developing schizophrenia
is, nobody can talk you out of it. Your best friend and most trusted advisor
could plead with you, and you'd probably see them as part of the evil empire.

And I just don't like it when we write people off. I can't treat people like
ghosts. If I were schizophrenic and frantically uploading nonsensical "proof"
to YouTube every day, I think I'd want someone to take 30 seconds to say
something like "hey, buddy, sorry you're having a hard time, but I don't see
any RF orgies being beamed to you. Have you talked to a doctor?"

~~~
Baeocystin
I admire your compassion for your fellow human being. I mean that sincerely.

I also have a word of warning:

>"hey, buddy, sorry you're having a hard time, but I don't see any RF orgies
being beamed to you. Have you talked to a doctor?"

Is a potentially dangerous thing to say to the genuinely ill. Like you said,
no one can talk someone out of it, just like you can't talk a diabetic out of
an insulin crisis. It is a physical ailment. While most schizophrenics are not
violent, some are, and the ones that are can be deadly so. One of my high
school teachers, who was a wonderful, warm woman, was recently murdered by her
schizophrenic son during one of his episodes. He had never been violent
before, but his breaks from reality were getting worse, and one day, that was
enough. Just be careful of your own self, too, when offering a hand of help.

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lawless123
Se a ton of facebook groups about this kind of stuff and "organized gang
stalking".

Poor people genuinely believe everyone around them is deliberately tormenting
them, but it's made worse as they all enable one another.

~~~
njloof
Oh, the irony of discussing an all-powerful organization tracking your every
movement... on Facebook.

------
golergka
So, what's the difference between these guys sharing a collective delusion and
any other typical religion?

~~~
Baeocystin
Most religious activities, in most major world religions, are boringly
prosaic, and function as simple shared loci for community activities as much
as anything else.

The mentally ill as described in this article simply use their shared
experiences as paranoia fuel. None of the other aspects apply.

