Symbolic Machines

This chapter is a departure from the rigorous format of the previous chapters because the devices and experi­ments to be discussed here and in the remainder of the book are of a somewhat different nature than the amaz­ing mind machines discussed thus far.

Furthermore, it's necessary to break the continu­ity in order to present some background information and describe some experiments that are very unusual and highly controversial but which tend to confirm some of the hypotheses that follow.

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It's also necessary because the amazing mind machines of the remainder of the book are even more unbelievable than those discussed thus far.

Be prepared for and be advised that what is dis­cussed henceforth is pure and simple magic, keeping in mind Arthur C. Clarke's admonition and Robert A. Heinlein's observation.

It is not witchcraft, and one should not be afraid of the modern consequences of the instructions (which are not commandments) of Exodus 22:18: "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." Apparently, the old Hebrew word meaning "poisoner" was mis-translated as "witch.' And it's probably not a bad idea to get rid of people who run around poisoning other people. But if we do indeed agree that (a) magic is a technology we don't yet under­stand, (b) we do not yet know everything there is to know about the Universe, (c) the Universe operates according to orderly principles that can be discovered and learned, and (d) the primary task of "science" is to make a series of successively more accurate approximations to reality, then it must follow that there is no such thing as witch­craft, sorcery, and the "arcane arts," only science that isn't science yet.

But what we are talking about, is not mysticism because it can be described in the English language, it does not require personal training or contact to learn, and it can be duplicated by a large percentage of the population. Therefore, although it is not mysticism, it is

Symbolic Machines

still magic because we do not know the scientific prin­ciples involved nor understand the technology. This doesn't make what we are to discuss any the less real.

Thus far, this book has required an open mind of the reader. Henceforth, it demands it. One of our themes has been, "You don't have to believe or have faith, but you cannot simply snort 'impossible' and turn away. You are challenged to test and draw conclusions based on that solid data rather than from emotional reactions based on what someone else may have told you is true."

The purpose of this chapter is to address, attempt to prove, and to discuss the following:

Hypothesis Number One:

Symbols have real, physical effects on human beings.

Hypothesis Number Two:

Relationships between symbols can change or alter the nature and intensity of these effects.

Note: One does not have to be symbol-minded to conduct the experiments that will either prove or disprove the validity of these two hypotheses.

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For untold centuries, people have believed in the power of symbols and the relationships between sym­bols.

The emotional effect of symbols on people is real. People have killed other people because of symbols or in the process of defending symbols. Some examples of this sort of symbol: the cross, the star and crescent, the stars and stripes, the hammer and sickle, the double-headed eagle, Britannia, John Bull, Uncle Sam, Mother Russia, the rising sun, the swastika, la belle France, th e stars and bars... One of these symbols or its equivalent is certainly capable of stirring emotion within you.

People work for symbols - i.e., pieces of paper bearing the symbol $, for example. A piece of paper with the symbols "$1000" on it along with other authenticat­ing symbols will certainly give you power over other people in such a way that they will willingly do what you want them to do. The same sort of power resides in a rectangular piece of embossed sheet plastic, often coated with a strip of selectively magnetized iron oxide material, which can be carried by the dozens in your pocket or purse. Can any voodoo rite exercise this sort of power as regularly or as reliably with little or no training on the part of the person in possession of the symbol?

Symbolic Machines

Figure 7-1: Left-handed spiral.

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People believe in and depend upon symbols such as the curious ones you are viewing on this page which, strung together and given meaning in your mind, form verbal words in your brain which in turn are symbols standing for something real or unreal.

Symbols give people power over other people in other ways, too. Few uniformed policemen or deputy sheriffs would go on duty without their shield or star badges. Do you realize all the power over the lives of people that a single silver star on a shirt collar possesses, to say nothing of a crimson flag with a single star flying from a short staff on the fender of a car? Or three cloth chevrons sewn on both sleeves of a shirt?

There are few barns owned by my Pennsylvania Dutch relatives in Pennsylvania and Ohio, that do not bear symbols which are repainted annually. No Portu­guese dingy or fishing trawler puts to sea without sym­bolic eyes painted on both sides of the bow to ward off evil. Do they do any good? That doesn't matter. What does matter is that people believe those symbols have power, and because of that the symbols indeed do: they have power over the people who painted the symbols there in the first place.

The relationships between symbols are also very powerful. If you don't think so, wait until your Cousin George dies intestate and leaves a five million dollar estate. What is your relationship on the company orga­nizational chart to the vice president and what power

Symbolic Machines

Figure 7-2: Right-handed spiral.

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does that relationship, which exists only on paper, have over your life? Which is closer to the United States, Great Britain or Cuba? Diplomatic protocol officers have as their life work the analysis of precisely such relationships. The position and relationship to other symbols of the simple mark "." (or "," in some countries) can make the difference of orders of magnitude. There is no question about it: The relationships of both sym­bols and the world are real and have immense impor­tance.

With this background in mind, let's conduct a few experiments that tend to verify the physical power of symbols over the human body.

Symbols and Physical Strength:

The purpose of this experiment is to demonstrate the effect of two different but similar symbols on the physical strength of the muscles of the body.

Any person can conduct this experiment, but it takes two people to do it. There's nothing harmful about it, but it can cause some long-term bursitis-like discom­fort if the experiment isn't, in effect, "turned off."

The materials required are amazingly simple and readily available.

The procedure is also simple and can be con­ducted by anyone. Furthermore, the experiment is a valid scientific one because it can be described in writing,

Symbolic Machines

carried out with no prior training, and produces vivid and repeatable results in 99.999999999% of all cases. (There is nothing in the Universe that can be counted on 100% except death and taxes, of course.) Statistical analysis isn't necessary. However, like any experiment, even firmer results can be obtained through the use of double-blind techniques.

On a sheet of paper, draw with a ball-point pen or a pencil a spiral such as shown in Figure 7-1. Accuracy, size, or artistry are not important. What is important is the direction of the spiral. As shown, it is a left-handed spiral.

On another sheet of paper, draw another spiral like the one shown in Figure 7-2. Note that this is the mirror image of the spiral of Figure 7-1. It is a right-handed spiral.

One person (the subject) stands and extends his/ her arm (either arm may be used) horizontally out from the body with the palm of the hand facing down. (Fig. 7-3)

The other person (the experimenter) stands fac­ing the subject, places one arm on the subject's shoulder and the other arm on top of the subject's extended arm over the wrist.

The experimenter then pushes down on the subject's arm at the wrist. The subject must resist this force with the muscles of the arm. The experimenter pushes down until his actions overcome the resisting

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muscle force of the subject. Both persons should note the amount of force required to move the arm and to resist the movement.

With his free hand, the subject now picks up the piece of paper with the left-handed spiral drawn, on it and holds the paper to his chest.

The muscle-force experiment is now repeated. It should be slightly easier for the subject to resist the downward force the experimenter is exerting on the outstretched arm.

The subject then puts down the paper with the left-handed spiral, picks up the paper with the right-handed spiral, and holds the paper to his chest. The muscle-force experiment is repeated.

The results are usually quite dramatic. The sub­ject is almost totally unable to resist the downward force being applied to his arm by the experimenter.

For some reason unknown to us at this point in time, the act of holding a left-handed spiral symbol against the chest results in a weakening of the ability of the person to resist a force being applied to the muscles of his body.

The experiment should be repeated by holding the left-handed spiral again to the chest to confirm to both the experimenter and subject that the apparent weakness was not caused by fatigue brought about by the initial part

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Figure 7-3: Performing the muscle strength test.

of the experiment. The reapplication of the left-handed spiral symbol to the chest results in a regaining of the muscle strength.

The experiment should also be repeated using the subject's other arm, again to confirm that this phe­nomenon doesn't depend upon using the right or the left arm.

The results of this experiment are always striking. Furthermore, they are repeatable.

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The only caveat that applies to the experiment is this: The final step in the experiment must be to "turn off" whatever factor is weakening the arm muscles. The final step must be to have the subject hold the left-handed spiral to his chest while the experimenter repeats the arm displacement. I discovered the hard way the consequences of performing the right-handed spiral experiment last. Within a week, the muscles of my arm became quite sore and I had trouble raising my arm above the horizontal because of dull muscle pains that I initially mistook for bursitis. When 1 mentioned this to the experimenter who'd been working with me, we realized what was probably taking place and then "turned off" the experi­ment as described above. It was most dramatic because the bursitis-like pain disappeared immediately. If this is "psychosomatic" as many critics have claimed, it is cer­tainly the quickest, easiest, and cheapest way to get rid of bursitis that I've ever encountered because that pain was as real as any I've ever perceived.

Why does the holding of a scrawled symbol again the chest produce such dramatic and striking results?

We don't know. It shouldn't work. But it does. It qualifies in all respects along with the rest of the ma­chines herein as part of "protoscience," something which we can demonstrate but cannot yet explain. In short, it is pure and simple magic.

Symbolic Machines

The amount of force exerted on the subject's arm can be both controlled and measured by using an experi­mental device designed along the lines of a Nautilus machine and instrumented with sensors which will measure the exact forces involved. This can and should be done. It may be done only by amateur experimenters because few if any professional medical researchers are inclined to believe that this is a real experiment.

The Sugar Test:

Another dramatic experiment can be conducted in the same manner as the spiral experiment described above.

However, the symbols and the experimental materials are different.

Instead of using the pieces of paper with symbols drawn thereon, obtain a small package of cane or beet sugar such as can be found in most restaurants. It doesn't make any difference whether the material in the package is cane or beet sugar. Both are basically dextrose.

Perform the initial arm displacement test with the subject holding nothing.

Then perform the test again with the subject holding the small package of sugar against his chest. (Note: Be sure to "turn off" this test b y holding a left-handed spiral symbol against the chest and repeating the arm dis­placement.)

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The results are as dramatic as the right-handed and left-handed spiral symbol tests. The act of placing the package of sugar against the chest acts in the same man­ner as placing the right-handed spiral symbol against the chest.

Why?

We don't know. But we do know that the dex­trose in cane or beet sugar is a right-handed molecule.

The sugar test is a perfect experiment for double-blind procedures. A test series can easily be devised using unmarked but coded packets of identical size and appear­ance, which contain sugar and a "placebo" material that looks and feels like sugar but which is a non-handed molecule. Neither the experimenter nor the subject should know which is which. This series should determine whether or not any pre-knowledge of the nature of ma­terial has any effect upon the results.

Another series of experiments should be con­ducted with only the experimenter knowing what is in each packet.

And yet another series with only the subject knowing the contents.

The purpose of these experiments would be to determine whether or not there is any suggestibility in­volved or any information passing between experimenter and subject by non-verbal or sub-treshold signals. Some people may claim that the information is transmitted by thought waves" or telepathy; if so, this is probably what

Symbolic Machines

is called both a "critical experiment" as well as an "el­egant experiment." If the design of the experiment is done in such a way that non-verbal but visual/auditory signals can be ruled out as causative factors, then it's probably the best experiment yet devised to demonstrate telepathy. (Except the "back scratching test" - i.e., if someone can always scratch your back exactly where it itches without being told, it's probably because of some manner of telepathy.)

However, I would be greatly surprised if telepathy has anything to do with it. Occam's Razor must be applied. There is probably a simpler explanation of hypothesis than would be required if the totally unknown factor of telepathy were postulated.

But I don't know what it is.

And I may be wrong in my honing of Occam's Razor.

But three tilings are certain:

1. The spiral experiment is a dramatic demon­stration of the physical effect of pure symbols on the muscle strength of the human body.

2. All these experiments show that the relation­ship between symbols and the human body is a factor. The symbols and the sugar packet not held in close relationship to the human body have no apparent effects, even though they may be in plain view of both subject and experimenter during the conduct of the tests. The symbols must be in intimate physical relationship with the body.

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3. These tests are of such a nature that they are amenable to "rigorization", they involve methods and procedures that can be instrumented for measurement of the physical factors involved and designed to be con­ducted under the most rigorous protocols. Mechanical devices can be used to apply the required forces, elimi­nating the human factor of the experimenter. The scope of these experiments can be expanded - for example, do other muscles in the body react in the same manner?

Some of the experiments are so simple in nature, conduct, and protocols that they are prime candidates for high school science fairs. Yet none of them are so com­plex nor are any of their extensions or " rigorizations" so difficult that they cannot be carried out by amateur inves­tigators with limited means. They can also be carried out, of course, by professionals in research facilities. But, since the basic knowledge of these experiments has been around for at least several decades and since no profes­sional organization has yet looked into them, it seems unlikely that anyone except amateurs will exhibit the willingness to undertake them.

These amateurs, of course, may well become the non-amateur expert professionals of a totally new and unanticipated field of scientific endeavor. Every field of science was started by amateurs (by definition) and usu­ally with the scoffing (if not the opposition) of the estab­lished professionals. The reasons are easy to discern. Many professionals acquired their expertise at a young

Symbolic Machines

age and at great personal expense; many therefore will unconsciously oppose anything which remotely threat­ens their expertise and/or position. They would prefer to see scientific progress made slowly and carefully in such a way that it doesn't threaten them, that they can adapt to it, and perhaps that they can be tenured or retired before their expertise becomes obsolete.

But every great advance in mankind's knowledge of the Universe has come about as the result of a bold, daring generalization.

The "daring generalization" here is that symbols and their relationships have a definite physical effect upon human beings.

The amazing mind machines that will now be discussed are further examples that tend to strengthen the basic hypotheses stated earlier in this chapter.

What is different is that you don't have to believe in anything in order to get them to work, just as belief played absolutely no role in the simple physical experi­ments described in this chapter. Belief apparently has little or nothing to do with whether or not the devices work or the experiments succeed. This is the most important factor that separates what we are doing from mysticism.

However, the fact that it works and is apparently real (if not understood) doesn't make it any the less puzzling, frustrating, and/or disturbing.

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