Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id FAA15859 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 5 Feb 2002 05:14:51 GMT X-Originating-IP: [209.240.222.132] From: "Scott Chase" <ecphoric@hotmail.com> To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: Abstractism Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2002 00:09:07 -0500 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Message-ID: <F75V9g1DEtPvYXvPIPK0000d46b@hotmail.com> X-OriginalArrivalTime: 05 Feb 2002 05:09:07.0639 (UTC) FILETIME=[3D1ADC70:01C1AE03] Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>From: "Joe Dees" <joedees@addall.com>
>Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>Subject: Re: Abstractism
>Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2002 18:25:55 -0800
>
>
>
> >Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2002 17:24:44 -0500
> > Re: Abstractism "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu>
>memetics@mmu.ac.ukReply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> >
> >On Saturday, February 2, 2002, at 11:42 , Grant Callaghan wrote:
> >
> >> The Rorschach test conveys information to some of the people who see
> >> it, even though no information was transmitted.
> >
> >> Transmitting an idea is a complicated process that goes far beyond
> >> keying words onto a surface for someone to read.
> >
> >And there you have the cup and the lip.
> >
> >Of course, there's a real problem in you saying that the Rorschach test
> >has no information to transmit. First off, it's man-made. That's a big
> >'duh'. (Okay, it's made by psychologists- you have a point. What real
> >information have any of them ever come up with, after all....) And
> >anything non-chaotic and procedural has information, and the Rorschach
> >tests are always symmetrical designs- far from informationlessness.
> >
>Left-right symmetricality and color (black on white) would seem to be the
>only thing that individual rorshach blots have in common.
>
Don't people tend to impose some sort of pattern on them blots though? I
know I've looked at some interestingly shaped clouds before.
I'm not saying the typical usage of the ink blots is valid, just
(self-referentially?) reflecting on the capacity we may have to see stuff
that ain't really there, like when a friend of mine once pointed out that a
smallish tree (or shrub?) on the side of the road looked slightly like
Freddy Krueger in a certain angle of the streetlight as we passed by in a
car.
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