Steady State Nature of Evolution, Learning, etc.
257
FISCHER:
Both Zen and Yoga practitioners shield their cerebral space against stimulation
from sensory and physical space-times. Habituation to auditory stimulation
does not occur at the peak of meditation in Zen experts as measured by the
EEG, whereas non-meditating control subjects show marked habituation of ex
blocking to repetitive stimulation.
SUGITA:
Once I asked a Japanese priest something concerning Zen and he said that
mental activity deteriorates if one continues Zen too long, say more than
5 years. This I think is an interesting finding.
FISCHER:
It is not surprising! The proof of the (sensory) pudding is in the (motor) eating.
If a Zen priest continues his (sensory) meditatory practices for some time, he
is experiencing the universe in a "slanted" way, that is under the auspices of
a high sensory to motor ratio.
LOCKER:
Why do you use the term "cerebral" instead of "mental" which would suit
better here?
FISCHER:
Since I deal with hallucinations and dreams, a field widely open to attack by
other scientists, I use the word "cerebral space" which was the first concrete
one before the use of "mental". But, I mean "mental"!
ARLEY:
From the department of pharmacology at the University of Gothenburg a
series of papers have been published attempting to localize the action of tranquillizers and, if I may use the term, anti-tranquillizers to specific steps in
distinct biochemical reactions within the brain cells, so that we might perhaps
hope to plan their use in psychiatry somewhat more systematically. What do
you think about the reliability of these results and the possibilities they offer?
FISCHER:
Phenothiazine tranquilizers display over a dozen pharmacological properties
and it is therefore nearly impossible to relate their organismic effects when
experimenting on the molecular level. By the way, the "exact" mode of action
of most of the drugs including that of aspirin is unknown.
LOCKER:
It is interesting enough that you, starting from purely psychological studies,
arrive at a triadic scheme, which seems to correspond with the structure of
the theory of signs. Here we distinguish between signs which represent
themselves and exhibit mutual relations; this sphere is called syntax and
would represent your' 'physical space", if preliminarily supposed as existing independent of the observer. The next sphere (within the theory of signs) relates
to signs and the things mapped by them; it includes syntax as a partial area and
is called semantics. Your "sensory space" would possibly correspond to it.
The third sphere, called pragmatics, refers not only to signs and to the world
mapped by them, but also to the user: your "cerebral space".
17 3. Symp. Quant. BioI.
257
FISCHER:
Both Zen and Yoga practitioners shield their cerebral space against stimulation
from sensory and physical space-times. Habituation to auditory stimulation
does not occur at the peak of meditation in Zen experts as measured by the
EEG, whereas non-meditating control subjects show marked habituation of ex
blocking to repetitive stimulation.
SUGITA:
Once I asked a Japanese priest something concerning Zen and he said that
mental activity deteriorates if one continues Zen too long, say more than
5 years. This I think is an interesting finding.
FISCHER:
It is not surprising! The proof of the (sensory) pudding is in the (motor) eating.
If a Zen priest continues his (sensory) meditatory practices for some time, he
is experiencing the universe in a "slanted" way, that is under the auspices of
a high sensory to motor ratio.
LOCKER:
Why do you use the term "cerebral" instead of "mental" which would suit
better here?
FISCHER:
Since I deal with hallucinations and dreams, a field widely open to attack by
other scientists, I use the word "cerebral space" which was the first concrete
one before the use of "mental". But, I mean "mental"!
ARLEY:
From the department of pharmacology at the University of Gothenburg a
series of papers have been published attempting to localize the action of tranquillizers and, if I may use the term, anti-tranquillizers to specific steps in
distinct biochemical reactions within the brain cells, so that we might perhaps
hope to plan their use in psychiatry somewhat more systematically. What do
you think about the reliability of these results and the possibilities they offer?
FISCHER:
Phenothiazine tranquilizers display over a dozen pharmacological properties
and it is therefore nearly impossible to relate their organismic effects when
experimenting on the molecular level. By the way, the "exact" mode of action
of most of the drugs including that of aspirin is unknown.
LOCKER:
It is interesting enough that you, starting from purely psychological studies,
arrive at a triadic scheme, which seems to correspond with the structure of
the theory of signs. Here we distinguish between signs which represent
themselves and exhibit mutual relations; this sphere is called syntax and
would represent your' 'physical space", if preliminarily supposed as existing independent of the observer. The next sphere (within the theory of signs) relates
to signs and the things mapped by them; it includes syntax as a partial area and
is called semantics. Your "sensory space" would possibly correspond to it.
The third sphere, called pragmatics, refers not only to signs and to the world
mapped by them, but also to the user: your "cerebral space".
17 3. Symp. Quant. BioI.