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Miguel
code : 1964
Film test 4

1. Have you ever had a paranormal experience? Or, do you know of someone who claims to have had one? How would you explain it rationally? Does the Chandian Effect apply?

It was near Christmas time when my buddy Sal and I had stopped by to visit Sabrina. During long school breaks, she would travel back down home and stay for weeks. After our greetings and catching up, we began to talk about horror stories. One thing I love to do is hearing or telling scary stories on late nights in with friends and family. Quickly, we all became immersed in the stories that Sabrina’s mom had to offer from the paranormal phenomenon she had seen while living in Mexico. There were tales of witches, curses, abductions, and haunted homes. In fact, Sabrina and her mom would attest to witnessing dark shadows, hearing eerie laughter, along with the quick shuffling of feet across the floorboards at night in their house. In that moment, Sal looked up and swore that he say a lady in white floating near the dim hallway. I was envious. Immediately, I turned in the direction where the ghost was allegedly located in hopes of finally getting a glimpse at a ghost, but my eyes failed to catch anything in the hallway merely a few inches from my seat on the couch. Sal remained sitting near the table in front of me amazed and petrified to the ephemeral image he had seen.

To this day, Sal and I discuss if the sight he saw was an authentic apparition appearing before him. Rationally, I would try explain that the image was likely to be a hallucination. First of all, on that night Sal was the only person in the house to see the alleged ghost. Secondly, in the years between then and now we have yet to have a second encounter. Thirdly, we were already on the topic of haunted homes when the apparition appeared possibly resulting in Sal cautiously anticipating a humanoid shaped shadow to be creeping through the shadows. As a result, I believe that the Chandian effect does apply because assuming Sal was honest about the image he saw, then it was due to his mind making the illusion that if there was a ghost in Sabrina’s house then he would likely see it.


2. Think of your own astrological sign and find a horoscope that pertains to you. Does it fit? How would a critical thinking explain it?

Looking at one daily Scorpio horoscope, it readily felt as if it had a basic understanding of me, my past, and current circumstances. The horoscope commented on the possibility of feeling worried that day. It mentioned that I would be “rowing against the current”, hence facing some challenging adversity, and that I would perhaps look for aid from someone. It seemed as if it knew that I was awaiting my test result from the national EMT exam and was causing me to feel a bit uneasy of my exam result. It also appeared to know that I had a take home midterm test that was due that same day and had help from my study group. Additionally, the reference to rowing stuck out to me as a fitting analogy for facing hardship. In the past I had joined the UCSD rowing team and persevered through the daily gruesome practices. However, the report from the horoscope only seemed relatable to my life for the reason that it was awfully broad. It failed to pin point any specific source to my problems and instead I filled in those blanks. In fact, it is very likely that on any given day there is at least one issue or circumstance that could bring about worry as well as challenges to my day such as school work, financial decisions, and stress from work. The horoscope then simply goes on to offer generic advice by suggesting I seek help from others. Furthermore, the significance I found in the rowing analogy could be a result of mere probability for the reason that it is likely that thousands of internet users that also read the same horoscope on MSN did not find as much significance from use of the rowing analogy as I did.

3. If an intelligent alien did indeed visit this planet and came over to your house, what do you think he would find most odd about human behavior?
If an alien were to come to earth it would find the fact the many humans enjoy taking risks as odd. The reason being that some of the risk humans take for amusement deliberately places them in situations that could cause physical harm, financial loss, or even death. Some examples of the risky activities we may take are snowboarding on the unpaved mountain in the back country, riding motorcycles on slippery hill sides, playing for hours on the slot machines available in casinos, and taking a new route on a leisurely run. These examples all have the potential for unfavorable results. Snowboarders on mountains untouched by paving machines are at a greater risk of creating and being caught in an avalanche. Motorcycle riders on granny twisting roads are more likely to fall off their bikes. Gamblers have the potential to waste more money than intended, and a runner can find themselves with unwelcoming residents of the road or aggressive animals. An intelligent alien might try to explain this oddity with ignorance. It could think that humans are simply unaware of the potential dangers. However, the people involved in each activity is likely to be aware of the dangers associated with the activity as seen by bringing some sort of safeguard. For example snowboarders and motorcycle riders bring extra protective equipment to prevent or minimize any injuries from falls, Gamblers can set a certain monetary or time limit to their games, and the runner can lower the music on their headphones to be more aware of their surroundings and prepare to run away from any threatening attacker. Instead the reason why humans find risk entertaining is that we often feel a sort of thrill and excitement that is unreachable by other methods. Thus, making humans sometimes resort to potentially risky and dangerous activities.

Film test 5
Code : 9765

1. Subjective experience without objective proof. Can you explain it?

The hour was 2 am on a Halloween not too long ago. I was behind the wheel while three friends slept in the back of my spacious Chevy Suburban. Previously, we had all decided to use the holiday weekend to visit our distant friend in the north at the University of California, Davis. The approaching holiday meant that midterms were coming to an end as well as signaling the forthcoming of our birthdays. My friend in Davis and I both shared the same birthday which landed two days after Halloween. Continuing on the journey north, I began to notice an object further up ahead on the highway. As our truck got closer, I was slowly able to identify the object’s characteristics. It was large, moving slowly if at all, and it was on my lane. Then my heart froze as my eyes spotted a gigantic wolf on the freeway. I blinked to recheck and focus my vision but upon opening my eyes the beast was gone after that split second. After witnessing the wolf I proceeded to take the next exit to wake up one of my friends to ask them to take over driving. I was not the slightest bit drowsy due to ingesting an energy drink earlier that night, but I reasoned that if I was hallucinating giant best on the middle of the freeway I should give up the wheel. I called it a hallucination because I was the only witness to the wolf. My friends missed the opportunity as a result of being sound asleep. Also, none of the other cars on the freeway seemed to react to wolf on the road. This was my subjective experience for which I had no objective proof. I would attribute the origin of the image to be from watching a video on the paranormal phenomenon that took place around a ranch in Utah. In that video there was a mention about a gigantic wolf that the owner had faced. Additionally, though I was not feeling tired my body may had been fatigued from attending class as well as attending my clinical training in an emergency department. Therefore, it is more likely that the wolf was imagined as opposed to genuinely meeting a demon on the I-5 North on all hallows eve.

Film Exam Questions #3
Test #0987
1. Provide two or more examples of “Gumby Land” thinking in your own life or from someone you know.
Gumby land thinking is believing something but not being able to prove that whatever it is can be proven to be real nor can it be proven to be false. It’s just a neutral thought that can’t be explained. I’ve always believed in aliens. I give the reason that of all the planets, solar systems, galaxies, and universes found in outer space that are both known and unknown the human population here on Earth and all other living organisms can’t be the only life forms that exist anywhere else. With the recent discovery of water on Mars it just leads me to have more faith in my belief that there is life out that we haven’t yet discovered. This is Gumby land thinking because no matter what claims I have to back up my argument it can’t be proven true nor can it be proven false.
I was always told that if you really wanted something in life you needed to work to earn it and pray to God to help guide you toward your goal. As I kid I took this in the way that if I wanted a new toy that just came out or wanted to go somewhere all I had to do was constantly be asking for that want from God. This is Gumby land thinking because it can’t be proven that always praying for whatever it was that was in need would be granted by God himself showing that you asked for it that much and deserved it, nor cant It be disproven that you got whatever you were asking for just out of luck or that its probabilistic chance of you getting that desire really did happen.
2. Describe two or more examples from your own life where you have been caught by "Maya" and how did you extricate yourself from such a delusion?
One night walking on the Vegas strip I saw street performers who appeared to be levitating in a seated position holding onto a cane for support. Compared to all the surrounding acts they were the most cherished receiving plenty of tips from the impressed tourist that were passing them, all trying to figure out how they were sitting above the ground so effortlessly. At first I was just like the rest of the crowd and was shocked about how they pulled that trick off. Instead of just seeing it and walking on to forget about it I didn’t let it leave my head, when I got back to the room I did research to try and figure out how the street performers pulled off this clever idea. I found that they aren’t levitating but they are sitting on a metal plate that is connected to steel rods that run through their sleeve that is connected to a plate in the ground that supports them. Me researching is how I extricated myself from Maya.
A rather embarrassing but well known example of Maya that is well known amongst males is the deception of eye contact or rather any interaction from a female to male. When a girl does anything completely unintentionally as to look at a guy for a second too long or playfully touch or hit a guy; In our minds it’s like we are hardwired to believe there is an attraction from the opposite sex. This has happened to me on many occasions and one way that I’ve extricated myself is that no matter what my mind or instincts are telling me in that moment. Always play things out and wait some time to see the true position of that other individual toward yourself.
3. How would "Feynman's Imperative" help you to think more scientifically in the future? Now, how would Ivash's caution help you in not being so cynical?
“Feynman's Imperative” is trying to get an individual to open up their beliefs no matter how ridiculous an idea may sound so that they can learn to accept more either if that idea can be proven true or untrue. Teaches the thinker to not only believe what can be true due to hard hitting facts but to be susceptible to all ideas that are presented to them. Ivash’s caution is just reiterating that no matter how unbelievably unreal an idea may sound always consider it in your research because you never know if it may be helpful to you in finding a solution or not.

EXAM 1 (11632)
1. Drawing from the Star Trak metaphoor, and using your own life as a tempalet, describe three or more incidents from your life where you reacted as "Spock", "Kirk", and "Scotty".
I believe I react as Kirk. During an argument I tend to think and react emotionally. I shut down because the person that loves me is saying negative things. In my mind if the person loves you, he or she should not be mentioning negativity. Which leads to making me think they are talking bad or putting you down. I also tend to cry but not because I am sad but because I get mad. I will get mad because I do not like it when my mistakes are being pointed out. I have let my emotions take over and I say things without thinking how I come out.

2. Drawing from the film, Surfing Matrix, and using our own life as a template, describe tow or more incidents from your own life where you experienced an unusual coincidents. How would Bertrand Russell or a skeptic explain it rationally?
On 2006 the first anniversary of my cousin's death, I was sitting down in the lobby room of my job waiting on my ride home. As I sat there in the dark room, with only the light of the moon coming in. I began to think of my cousin, still not believing that he had past away. I remember saying "Jr. if you really are dead please give me a sign. After I was done saying that the lobby door moved as if it was going to open. I then said to myself "It might be the wind that did it and not Jr." Part of me knew that it was the wind that made the door move but the other part of me was hoping that it was cousin due to the fact that it was the anniversary and because I was still in denial that he had past away.