The Secret Decoder Ring of +5 Intelligence

[Cramulus]

I was listening to an episode of Chapo Trap House where they were discussing the "redpill" movement. They briefly discussed the allure of these kinds of worldviews.

The "red pill movement" gives [idiots] this framework for understanding the world around them. They can apply the framework to any given situation, it "explains" both how the world works and how they should relate to it. This makes them feel smart--it feels like they understand things that aren't immediately visible, and therefore can operate at a higher level.

That's part of what's so attractive about belief systems. Take the incel community's framework to understand mating behaviors, especially relating to bone structure (that attractiveness is immutably linked to skull shape or something) - to them, these ideas feel like a key which unlocked a new way of understanding, one that justifies the emotions (namely how being rejected feels unjust) they were already experiencing.


In an effort to be better than that, I wanted to examine my own tendency to get caught in these kinds of mind-traps. Certainly, Discordianism appeared at a time in my life when I was looking for answers, and it provided answers (or at the very least, comfort with uncertainty) while appealing to my sense of humor and existing distrust of organized religion. Becoming a Discordian felt good, and this made me turn all my rational faculties to its defense. It wormed its way deeper and deeper into the golden apple of my heart.

The Gurdjieff work is the same way - it appeared at a time in my life when I was looking for answers, and it provided me with a new a framework for understanding both humanity and myself. It helps me focus on the real shit. And so I'm sure that part of my attraction to it is that it partially satisfies my incurable desire to understand.

And this phenomenon definitely appears in much less esoteric disciplines. When I first started learning about design (thanks Netatungrot, btw), all of the sudden all these design principles became visible, everywhere. I was able to go "ooh that's a bad design choice" or "that's some very clever design", and it made me feel smart. I was able to see things that others couldn't, and that felt good.


Probably every religion / belief system has these tendencies.. for an idea to spread, it must provide a benefit to the person spreading it. This is both how jokes evolve, and how gods are born.

But once we've found one of these "decoder rings" that cracks open a secret layer of reality, we have a tendency to stop there.

[Con-troll]

But once we've found one of these "decoder rings" that cracks opern a secret layer of reality, we have a tendency to stop there.

You mean like "establish"-found, or "stumble upon"-found?

[Cramulus]

I mean that when you start using a new worldview / belief system, it feels like you've unlocked something, and will continue using it that tool basically forever

when the only tool you have is a "decoder ring", everything looks like a secret code


the part of the mind which learns and is open to things goes back to sleep
the part of the mind which rationalizes and applies heuristics gets obsessed with it

[altered]

I have to digest this a bit. Definitely interesting to think on. I don't have a lot to say yet, but I certainly have a lot of half formed inchoate reaction patterns swirling about it.

[Doktor Howl]

I mean that when you start using a new worldview / belief system, it feels like you've unlocked something, and will continue using it that tool basically forever

when the only tool you have is a "decoder ring", everything looks like a secret code


the part of the mind which learns and is open to things goes back to sleep
the part of the mind which rationalizes and applies heuristics gets obsessed with it

This will continue to be the case unless and until a person is exposed to multiple problem solving skills.  You see this in industrial maintenance all the time.

[The Johnny]

I think youre talking simultaneously of two different things/issues.

1) On one hand youre talking about "reductionism":

the practice of analyzing and describing a complex phenomenon in terms of phenomena that are held to represent a simpler or more fundamental level, especially when this is said to provide a sufficient explanation.

which involves tunnel-visioning on a single set of factors while ignoring all the others in a complex phenomenom... this happens for a number of reasons, be it incompetence or convenience... and sometimes its very hard to override that when the person in question benefits from the reductionism - for example, try arguing with a non-psycho dynamical psychatrist or a pharma representative that depression has subjective etiology that trascends neuro-biology.

2) The comfort that any belief or worldview offers: be it the "red pill movement" which gives solace to rabid incels, be it religion that gives solace against the uncertainties of death and existance itself, or be it the belief in "unstopabble and continued progress of humanity".

What reductionism and belief have in common, is not accepting reality on realities terms... and although i cant say that i myself or anyone has access to an understanding of "true reality" and least i try to take realities punches to the face instead of hiding behind a pillow of delusions due to cowardice or being lazy.

-Maybe theres no life after death
-Maybe im not getting laid because im not that much of a catch nor as much of a "nice guy" that i think myself to be
-Maybe im too lazy or stupid to approach a complex problem in a complex manner

So maybe im a bit masochistic, but, if any idea or ideology makes you feel gratified or good about yourself, then it probably is just a conglomerate of lies that passes off as truth because its massaging your ego and narcissism in one way or another.

[altered]

I have thought about this. It bothered me since I first read it, in some small way, and I couldn't pin it down.

I think I was able to pin it down, and I have decided that it feels incomplete. It's an observation of some phenomenon, and it hints (rather blatantly hints, I might add) at a (very vague, possibly only hallucinated) response we can make to that phenomenon, which feels to me like a lead in to a second part where a response (or a few examples of a set of responses) are outlined.

Perhaps I'm just getting too comfortable with the general PD style, where when a problem is identified in this clear, specific, example laden way, some explicit options are outlined and the door left open for more. Perhaps that's the decoder ring I use in this forum, and it's fucking with my ability to view this for the complete piece it is.

But it's kind of like seeing someone walking down the sidewalk, looking down, and realizing they don't have feet, they're floating a couple inches off the ground on stumps. It's jarring, and it makes me think, but it's too clear and easily read of a piece to benefit (IMO) from mental digestion much. And it damn well shouldn't be floating like that, that shit is /unnatural/.



It might help if I could provide something to jump off of for a second part. Maybe not, but I ought to try (and also I just want the answer to this question).

If your only tool is a hammer, every problem resembles a nail. This seems to be no different. So when it comes to the problem of needing to get another tool, what does the hammer-wielder do?

Put another way: when you read this and decide "yes, I need to find another approach to interpreting the world!" what's stopping you from running into the trap of using your original decoder ring to try and find the messages hidden in the others? How can someone dodge that trap?

And are there "broken" decoder rings that put their owners beyond hope of ever finding alternatives? E.g., belief systems too well defended by their own (probably tautological) internal structure to ever allow the believer to find any other belief system worth using alongside them? If so: what can one do to identify these systems before we step in them? If not: why not? And what about incels, etc? They certainly seem (as a rule) broken, inflexible, and probably not worth engaging at all, ever.

[rong]

B E S U R E T O D R I N K Y O U R O V A L T I N E

[Cramulus]

What reductionism and belief have in common, is not accepting reality on realities terms...

Maybe... a lot of the systems I'm talking about are genuine attempts to understand reality. There's never going to be a master-level worldview that's "correct", but they do have varying degrees of utility.

Take Discordianism -- a lot of us would not take Discordianism as a belief system, but it does have a lot of "decoder ring" properties. I like to say that Discordianism is an attitude about beliefs and belief systems. We love standing next to someone who is certain, and making turkey noises. Many of us would argue that uncertainty and rejection puts us closer to reality, because reality is complex as fuck and (like the length of a coastline*) very hard to describe.

So maybe im a bit masochistic, but, if any idea or ideology makes you feel gratified or good about yourself, then it probably is just a conglomerate of lies that passes off as truth because its massaging your ego and narcissism in one way or another.

I dunno about that. There is a psychological reward for being correct, but that doesn't cancel out the idea's / ideology's merit.





*what I'm saying here is that a coastline is impossible to measure, and so anyone who claims to have measured one is wrong https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastline_paradox

[Cramulus]

I think I was able to pin it down, and I have decided that it feels incomplete. It's an observation of some phenomenon, and it hints (rather blatantly hints, I might add) at a (very vague, possibly only hallucinated) response we can make to that phenomenon, which feels to me like a lead in to a second part where a response (or a few examples of a set of responses) are outlined.

Perhaps I'm just getting too comfortable with the general PD style, where when a problem is identified in this clear, specific, example laden way, some explicit options are outlined and the door left open for more. Perhaps that's the decoder ring I use in this forum, and it's fucking with my ability to view this for the complete piece it is.

That's apt, Null. You've been real keen, lately.

It is intentionally incomplete. I wrote this based on an observation about how these decoder rings are both problem solving tools and psychological reward systems. I was thinking about why the alt-right redpill fuckwads get so entrenched in a worldview that amounts to carbonating and bottling your own urine, and prostelytizing about the health outcomes of urine-gargling---and the "decoder ring theory" seemed like a useful way of looking at it.

But I can't cleave the redpill decoder ring from basically any other decoder ring out there. Hell, nutrition is a decoder ring, it gives you a key for how to read the world when you're in a supermarket or kitchen. Any belief that has heuristic utility includes an icing of psychological reward.

So I can't wrap it up in a nice little package and tie a conclusion around it in a bow. I'm sure that Wilson touches on this in his writing about Model Agnosticism. Maybe just having a word for this phenomenon helps us recognize something that's happening.

It might help if I could provide something to jump off of for a second part. Maybe not, but I ought to try (and also I just want the answer to this question).

If your only tool is a hammer, every problem resembles a nail. This seems to be no different. So when it comes to the problem of needing to get another tool, what does the hammer-wielder do?

Put another way: when you read this and decide "yes, I need to find another approach to interpreting the world!" what's stopping you from running into the trap of using your original decoder ring to try and find the messages hidden in the others? How can someone dodge that trap?

And are there "broken" decoder rings that put their owners beyond hope of ever finding alternatives? E.g., belief systems too well defended by their own (probably tautological) internal structure to ever allow the believer to find any other belief system worth using alongside them? If so: what can one do to identify these systems before we step in them? If not: why not? And what about incels, etc? They certainly seem (as a rule) broken, inflexible, and probably not worth engaging at all, ever.

maybe we can conclude that
a decoder ring which only works on a very narrow aspect of reality
(but the user perceives that it decodes more than it does)
is more based on psychological reward than utility

my idealistic hope
this crazy werewolf hope that maybe should be shot with a silver bullet

is that there is another decoder ring out there, which decodes more of reality than the Redpill movement, but addresses corresponding psychological rewards

and when presented with this ring, the shithead will toss their existing one over their shoulder because it looks like junk now



let's imagine this for a second



(and I recognize I'm talking about the alt-right phenomenon right here, and not decoder rings in general)

People who have bought into the Redpill movement are vulnerable to be seduced by its more toxic cousin, the Blackpill.
Blackpill is the nihilist version of Redpill.  https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-Black-Pill

Can we imagine an idea system which contains similar psychological rewards as the red pill / black pill, but without the toxicity? Like, in the redpill movement, there's this concept "The Return of Kings", which is an embrace of this mythic masculine archetype... I'm reminded of the Robert Bly Mythopoetic Men's Movement (asterisk, problematic, but hang on) which encouraged people to resonate with "mature masculine" archetypes: the King, the Lover, and the Magician. Essentially, what's non-toxic masculinity look like?

Can Aragorn save these lost men?


like the incel community, aragorn spends a lot of his time in the woods, alone
but one day he must return to the world of men and provide the leadership it needs
Aragorn is beloved by the comely elven maiden Liv Tyler -- not for his beauty, but for his courage and heroism

wouldn't it feel better to be Aragorn than, say, the Punisher?

[LMNO]

B E S U R E T O D R I N K Y O U R O V A L T I N E

A crummy commercial?

[altered]

I don't know that that works.

There's a seductiveness to the darkness. Being as far into esoteric areas as you are, I'm sure you've at least at some point considered one of the real scary, Chapel Perilous-gone-rancid style LHP pathways.

(Aside: I suspect that my interest in those can be directly linked to my current, consistently awful circumstances in life, but more on that in another place, at another time.)

Here's the thing: a fair few of the modern ones I've seen promise the practitioner /nothing/ but a horrible experience and a corrupted spirit. Like, explicitly. They're outlined as something you can do for a guaranteed genuine spiritual experience without fail, and they are in every other respect simply the woo-woo equivalent of huffing powdered plutonium: insanely toxic, radioactive, guaranteed to kill you fucking dead and poison the ground you are laid to rest in.

Then people do them. I know because you see people talking about how they got lost in their ritual and now their life is collapsing around them, /send help please/. Google any LHP community and it will be riddled with this shit. More telling, though, is you get a hard core of people who are like "Yeah I did this shit and now I have a tumor in my right eye the size of a potato. Stop whining kid. This is what you wanna do if you're a /real/ badass."

The whole theme of the "Dark Enlightenment" garbage is that it's evil.

The Punisher is a role model in popular culture now, as someone (can't recall who off hand) posted a few weeks ago in the Pics thread.

To a certain mentality, evil, dark, brooding loners who suffer and create suffering is its own draw. I admit that I am one of those drawn to that sort of thing. I don't even know why, because I have learned the hard way I don't want to be that person or be around anyone remotely like that person, but there is a certain aesthetic obsession I have surrounding that edgy, dark, violent, lonely vibe.

I don't think the people drawn to these sort of aesthetics find Aragorn appealing. I wouldn't have when I was in a similar mindset to them.

For my part, I've managed to redirect my own aesthetic obsessions, but it took effort. It wasn't something that I just chose to do, I had to consciously decide to divorce myself from this and find something else that sated that (hunger? There's a better word but it's gone missing) instead.*

But good luck getting someone who isn't reflective and self-aware by nature to make those choices.



* For me, it was a certain kind of monster that I identified as a rare but occasionally recurring theme in media I liked. A normal person, warped through misfortune and active malevolence into a hideous, monstrous, dangerous form — but without a connected shift in psyche.

Their suffering, loneliness, and darkness are not of their choosing, they are forced upon them, and violence is a function of trying to survive in a hostile territory rather than some sort of vengeance kick. They're capable of interacting in a healthy way, if only people would let them. It fits the bill for me.

[Frontside Back]

Speaking of aesthetics.

I feel like there's this movement in youth. They refuse the aesthetic of rich and successful. In fact they thrive to be the opposite. Instead of trying to claw their way up the pyramid to be the top dog who they've heard "ruins the stuff for everyone", They choose the path of least resistance and see what happens when they drill down.

Maybe the top isn't rising, but the bottom is falling off.

[LMNO]

Examples, please?

[hooplala]

B E S U R E T O D R I N K Y O U R O V A L T I N E

A crummy commercial?