PSYCHOLOGY
The field of Psychology is akin to the theories concerning the
Market/Planned Economy. There is too much complexity to „Plan‟ an
economy of tens of millions of people hence the market is more effective
at catering to the choice of multiple tastes. Even if we narrow down the
complexity to a small nation of say, 4 million, it is still ridiculously too
complex to plan. Ditto Psychology. Try solving the psychological problems
of an individual affected by the complexities of collective culture. It‟s
practically impossible. We clearly do not need to refer to „millions‟ of
people here. We can imagine the complexities when we remind ourselves
that a families problems can go unresolved for months, years or even
forever. And the number of people in a family may be less than 5. It may
be merely 2 people! Nevertheless when we focus on problems between 2,
3, 4 people we can and must act more akin to a planned economy. The
people involved must talk to one another. Therefore I am saying that in
the field of psychology we cannot devise CURES at the collective level.
The context is at the devolved level. Societal culture is a „given’ but it
(i.e., societal culture) is obviously „not’ regarded as a player that must
change in order to cater for the individuals problem. When I think like this
I understand why Jung didn‟t possess solutions that fit every patient that
comes to him.1 For me I just need to know the „context‟… i.e., the other
key players in the person‟s life. It is then up to those players to talk
honestly to one-another. Someone within the family (or someones) must
be thinking, feeling, behaving in a way that is psychologically self-
defeating… i.e., by not taking into account the other (or others) in the
family… he or she is causing psychological problems that inevitably
rebound back onto him or her because the others (naturally enough) start
to view him/her negatively. Obviously this situation can spiral out of
control. I have deliberately worded this in a very general sense because
there are a seemingly infinite number of specific psychological problems
that can arise within a family or between friends.
I have recently started to write about the Technological Singularity.2
Technology may be starting to help psychology in the area of „Cure‟. Ariel
Garten (from the company called Interaxon) lectures on the issue of
„Thought Controlled Technology‟ which enables the individual to discover
the patterns involving their thoughts that result in them becoming
anxious, depressed, angry etc.3 If the technology works as an enabler…
and if the individual listens to it… then Garten believes that the person
will achieve a more balanced and healthy mind-state. This technology is
new and I await to see if it is effective. I can more confidently say that as
technology reduces bodily suffering, eliminating bodily pain and bodily
disease, that the psychological suffering that would have been
inextricably linked to it… will never arise. So future technology will
eradicate extreme distress through eliminating life situations associated
with extreme trauma to the body. And maybe Garten and Interaxon are
right to say that technology has already come up with devices that can
enable people to overcome mild neurosis. However, even if these devices
work it is still the case that other people will be causing some of the
negative mind-states. Therefore communication between the individual
and the key players in his or her life remains absolutely essential.
Notes
1. Jung writes “I am often asked about my psychotherapeutic or analytic
method. I cannot reply unequivocally to the question. Therapy is different
in every case. When a doctor tells me that he adheres strictly to this or
that method, I have my doubts about his therapeutic effect. So much is
said in the literature about the resistance of the patient that it would
almost seem as if the doctor were trying to put something over on him,
whereas the cure ought to grow naturally out of the patient himself.
Psychotherapy and analysis are as varied as are human individuals. I
treat every patient as individually as possible, because the solution of the
problem is always an individual one.” (Jung, 1995, p152 & 153). I come
close to Jung‟s logic in the sense that psychological problems tend to be
local so-to-speak. However the problem will often involve another person
or persons. Hence my emphasis on “key players” such as family or
friends.
2. The most relevant proponent of the Technological Singularity is Ray
Kurzweil. His most important book on the matter is The Singularity is
Near: When Humans transcend Biology. (2005). Kurzweil explains that
humans are progressing towards a post-biological future. Technology so
far has become miniaturized. In the future technology will be inside us
(e.g. nanobots) and then humans will go inside technology. (hence,
merger). (Kurzweil, 2005). The reason why Kurzweil is the most relevant
proponent of the Technological Singularity is due to his track-record… he
predicted the emergence of the internet in the 1980s when others did not
even think about its emergence… and others outright rejected the
possibility. He predicted a machine to beat the world‟s greatest human
chess player… indeed the occurrence happened one year ahead of
Kurzweils prediction when Deep Blue beat Gary Kasparov in 1997. And he
predicted that Artificial Intelligence will become increasingly less specific,
less task orientated and more general until it is human-like. The victory
for IBM‟s Watson AI (in 2010) on the U.S. game-show Jeopardy… is
certainly a less narrow AI than seen before. Incidentally, even when work
started on creating Watson AI there were many naysayers even within the
field of AI itself. (Ferrucci)
3. See Garten, A, (December 10th 2011) and see Interaxon‟s main
internet page (bibliographical addresses below)
Bibliographical References
Ferrucci, D, interviewed by Waters, R, (2011) Exponential Times: The Future
Comes Faster than you Think. (YouTube Video:
http://exponentialtimes.net/videos/computer-called-Watson)
Garten, A, (December 10th 2011) Thought Controlled Computing: When
Science Fiction becomes Science Fact (Heliade.net:
http://www.heliade.net/2011/12/10/1359/)
Interaxon: Thought Controlled Computing, Connect with Us (Internet
Page: http://interaxon.ca/contact)
Jung, C, (1995) Memories, Dreams, Reflections Recorded and Edited by
Aniela Jaffe (Fontana Press)
Kurzweil, R, (2005) The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend
Biology (Penguin)