Lies with Long Legs. Prodosh Aich
of knowledge through the ages, based on observation, perception, interpretation, evaluation, replacement and continuous critical inspection of prior assumptions in the light of real life. Not in labs!
How has it been possible for this false premise, this forgery, to be successfully marketed all over the world? An interesting question and an important one as well. Yet, we must leave this question unanswered. But we ascertain here that this caesura introduced by protagonists of “modern science” is false and problematic as well. It excludes one major field of human experience, the metaphysics. The established culture of “modern science” is even worse. Whatever goes beyond the horizon of “modern scientists”, just cannot exist and therefore does not exist. On the other hand, we know that the capacity of comprehension of the “modern scientists” depends much on prevailing market conditions.
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Let us go back in time to when our ancestors begin accumulating knowledge and “storing” it in their brains. As alert observers (empiricists) of their environment, they soon notice that there are occasional mistakes while activating their “brain-memory”. So, what to do? They must have tried many ways to make sure that once the knowledge is gained, it is also saved effectively for future. We can comprehend, appreciate the fact that they must have tried out various techniques of memory storage within their scope, starting with collectively practicing to improve their memory to a point of nearly flawless recall. They must have constructed mental crutches, composing realistic stories based on various areas of knowledge and referring to many events metrically versifying strings of facts for easier storage and recall, creating recognisable sound-signs and finally developed external memory storage on long-lasting materials. And, ultimately, signs become symbols, graphical representations, drawings, the alphabet, words and writings.
The variety of „media“ having different ranges and qualities handed down by our ancestors tells us about their apprehensions regarding a possible loss of acquired knowledge, accumulated by face-to-face communication, and, therefore, saved it in as many exterior-memory-storage as possible to support brain memory. They also send us the distinct message that no “exterior memory” is a substitute for “mind memory”. The concept of “signs” in writing to indicate different sounds (phonetics) is a further message for us never to forget the danger of the sound getting lost whilst using “external memories”.
There is no doubt that the invention and development of writing facilities as a medium of language are important cultural achievements. Writing has made possible the storage of accumulated knowledge outside the human brain—though never as accurately as in mind. Thus the limitations of space and time are overcome for intellectual communication. The quantity of experience and their appraisal is thus enlarged. The range of human perception and experience has been enriched. But only as an intermediate complementary to face-to-face communication.
Where there is light, there is shade. As we communicate more and more by writing, it seems, the extent of face-to-face communication is gradually on decrease. Thus the opportunities of immediate verification and correction of erroneous communication are also getting systematically reduced. We know from our daily experiences that it is often difficult to put ideas into words, though they are clear in our minds. Even more so, when they have to be written down as a communication for others. In face-to-face communication we can mutually observe the reactions and make sure that intended messages are received without distortions. In cases of doubt we choose different words, change the sentences, resort to gesticulation and repeat at times the whole process. We provide additional explanations. We end the process of exchange in mutual understanding. Face-to-face communications are far less prone to misunderstandings.
The probability of circulating a false story convincingly in a face-to-face communication is extremely low. We remember “Pinocchio” whose nose enlarged whenever he lied. While reading we have to depend upon our ability to decipher and comprehend that the meaning is clear and therefore should be easily understandable. But what happens if some false messages are relayed deliberately? Long or short, we see no noses when reading. And our impression is that we get accustomed to “long noses”. We prefer mediated (passive) communications to direct encounters. We begin to willingly accept whatever is being communicated. Soon the fictitious, the virtual world might become our home rather than the real world.
It is not our purpose to reconstruct the process how the dominance of the external memory has grown and the importance of the “mind–memory” has been diminished. We recall only the “quantum leaps” of this evolution, as already mentioned, the invention of script, printing, film, telegraphy, radio, phone, television, Internet, digitalisation. And we also think of the negative aspects of these “quantum leaps” also. They teach us that the external memory is never a copy, but only a translation of the original. And the profiles of a translation are always more blurred than copies and the profiles of copies are more indistinct than the original (except for digital copies). There is no need to emphasise that the translations from copies and the translations of translations become more and more faulty, even without conscious forgery. Just due to the nature of the matter or caused by the “malice of the object”.
We have repeatedly used the expression “quantum leap”. We withdraw this term, which has been taken from the nuclear physics, with an excuse. We had intended to indicate an “unexpectedly giant leap” in the course of a development, and not the behaviour of quanta during nuclear fission. We don’t know anything about it. But using such “terms” leaves marks; it is pretty and impressive but also a bluff and a forgery of idea, isn’t it?
Let us now turn our attention to the unexpected “giant leaps” and let us not be distracted by the “Guinness–question”: how large is large really? The leaps mentioned by us refer to the quantities and possibly to qualities of “storage rooms” and “transport carriers” of knowledge and not to a great leap forward in knowledge level. And we must admit that we don’t know anything about the jumps in knowledge. Why don’t we? This is a non-question for “modern science”. We are children of “modern science”. And the topics, which are not dealt with, are forgotten and buried sooner or later.
Now is the time to apologise for having mentioned a news agency called “Terra” earlier in this chapter. “Terra” never did exist. We admit that we played a little mischief in order to demonstrate how easily a “non existing something” can be brought into circulation in a world of virtual reality. Do we have the time to uncover lies and forgeries? Do we still have that consciousness that makes us recognise that a mountain is nothing more than a stable deposit of different layers of large stones? We must also withdraw our unintentional bluff that: It is not our aim to try to reconstruct here how the dominance of the external memory has increased at the cost of mind-memory and is still increasing. We know nothing about that as well. No research has yet been done on substitutes of mind-memory and on their consequences. This process has been marketed as the “humanisation of work”. These facilities have superior selling qualities than that of training programmes to increase the efficiency of “mind-memory”. What do we know about the functioning of our mind-memory? How far has research discovery advanced in this field? What is the extent of knowledge of neurologists, of brain researchers about the brain substance? Brain substance? Can the composition of the brain substances be analytically described and reproduced in labs? How does it function? What can it accomplish?
We cannot neglect the fact that knowledge is directly derived from perception, from discovery vis-à-vis within the immediate environment and from its analysis. The need of storage occurs only after knowledge has been acquired. But the human head as a “store” has always been there independently from our knowledge. In other words, the functioning of the mind-memory does not depend on discoveries of the bio-chemical composition of brain or on invention of “new technologies”. And language belongs to the realm of technology. The script is also a technology. “External memory” is not a discovery. It is an invented tool. A set of technologies might lead more readily to discoveries, to knowledge, but the invention of technologies is never a scientific activity. In fact, invention presupposes accumulated scientific knowledge. We think that a clear distinction between science and technology is necessary for judgement and evaluation of our realities. This distinction alone