>Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 13:47:00 -0600
>From: MICHAEL.FULFORD.HD2O@statefarm.com
>Subject: virus: Levels
>I don't think you're alone in your view. There is already a widely used term
>in the field of cognitive science for what R.B. desribes as "level 3." That
>term is "psychosis". From Tabers Medical Dictionary...
>
> Psychosis: "...this condition is manifest in the behavior,
> emotional reaction and ideation fo the patient, who fails to
> mirror reality as it is, reacts erroneously to it, and builds
> up false concepts regarding it."
>
>"Ideation; "fails to mirror reality"; "builds up false concepts"? Could these
>descriptions apply to someone who has attained level three?
>Also, my intention is not to make any judgement about level 3 theory, but just
>to make an observation.
I think it's a good observation. The terms "psychosis" and "neurosis" have a long history beginning even before Freud established psychoanalysis. I think you could imagine Level 3 as a kind of psychosis...I've thought of it that way also, though I was reading some work in psychoanalysis by Jacques Lacan...a distant relative, at best, to modern american psychiatry.
An analogy might be the "fly-by-wire" system modern jet fighters use. The aircraft is inherently unstable, but a very sophisticated computer compensates continiously for the random and violent changes in heading so that the craft flies in a straight line. When the pilot pushes the stick the computer actually disengages partially and channels the instability. Jets using this system are much more manuverable.
Given the negative connotation of psychosis, however, you can imagine why this line of thinking is seldom used to sell the idea.
Reed
Reed Konsler konsler@ascat.harvard.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------