Category: questions

Solving a “Problem” or Digging a Karmic Abyss?

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

There is no way that you can convince the cunning and the clever of the existence of karma nor of its consequences perhaps spanning lifetimes. The cunning imagine that they can always get out of gaol free.

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The only way they can learn is by experiencing the karmic consequence of karma themselves. Karma cannot be taught it must be experienced and hopefully understood.

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It is up to you if you think the above is some hippie-trippy shit or not.

At the moment deep malevolence is being visited upon two countries, Iran and Ukraine. The justification for Iran is that the Israelis in particular do not want them to have nuclear weapons. The Americans have gone along with this reasoning.

What they are in fact teaching is the need for nuclear weapons.

“If we had nuclear weapons they would not bomb the fuck out of us…”

The message is crystal clear. Negotiations with the fickle do not work. A nuclear deterrent might.

I’ll postulate that neither the Israelis nor the Americans are winning friends. They do not care overmuch, they have the big arsenals.

It is just possible that in solving the “problem” of Iranian nuclear weapons they are digging a karmic abyss. A sore which will fester for generations to come. A short term “win” may lead to a never ending grievance and problem.

The cunning may think that decapitation works but it may give rise to a hydra.

There is no way that you can ever convince the cunning and the clever of the error of their ways. It is by definition impossible.

So many people seek a reactionary short cut, an ersatz, a convenient band aid solution which buys apparent time. All they are doing is giving time for the so-called problem to evolve and  grow. To use the Boris idea of Whack-a-Mole does not eradicate the cause. It merely deals with visible “symptoms”. If you are cunning you would back yourself to be able to keep whacking moles for ever. Eventually you may have way too many plates spinning in the air. The moles may breed.

Often avoidance digs the karmic abyss ever deeper. In the profound darkness of a karmic abyss you can easily lose sight of what caused the problem in the first place. The tendency when in a hole is foolishly to keep on digging. You are committed to the hole, the “solution”.

If you are on a spiritual journey the normal faulty reasoning of society no longer works. A supposed tempting shortcut is not wise, more often than not it is a temptation. A way of looking better and coming up smelling of roses abnegates responsibility something which is karmically poor. Karma does not care about your apparent kudos, importance or reputation.

Karma is about learning the authenticity of your Soul and aiming to live life thereby.

Quite often problems are made up in the mind and can be delusional. Self-importance and arrogance are core ingredients in many so-called “problems”.

Whenever faced with a quandary or a problem a useful question  is:

Am I solving an apparent “problem” or am I digging a karmic abyss?

How Do ‘Phones Work?

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

Last night I was having a little trouble drifting off to sleep and it occurred to me that I do not know how mobile ‘phones work….

The first thing that came mind was that they must have analogue to digital converters (ADC). These must change voice into digital and digital into sound. Then I wondered if the carrier frequency of the ‘phone signal is amplitude or frequency modulated. Which means that there must be demodulators.

The precision or resolution in terms of bit per volt need not be overly high for sound given that the loudspeakers or headphones are not audiophile quality. High resolution at 32 or 64 bit would make for big files and large data.

But the business IS data. People want to flog you ever more data so whilst there is a speed – dollar trade off, they must be pushing towards more data throughput – more dollars.

The big bucks are in images and video which need giga-dollars to send and vast increases in the global carbon budget to store.

Who needs more selfies, vacuous influencer posts and cat videos?

The purveyors of data…you can find one on each street corner {man}.

I learned today that some ‘phones have microphones to sample background noise for noise cancelling…

If it is possible to receive a mobile phone call or SMS message it must be possible to intercept it. There is no copper or fibre optic. The message floats freely. It must be possible to clone a ‘phone. Two ‘phones receiving the same signal do not weaken it. How can you detect an intercept. You probably can’t from the intercept alone; subsequent actions might give a hint…

So how does a ‘phone uniquely identify itself as the recipient of a message / call?  Has it a unique identity? In principle yes, but these must also not be clone proof…If you can set up digital identity on one ‘phone its should be possible to copy it.

When a call comes does it open a gate which allows the ‘phone company to allow the message to flow? There must be some “switch” flicked.

“Hey, I am ready for your call..”

People talk of end to end encryption? How does that work? Is there a sender’s key and a receiver’s key. How easily copied are these keys?

Which caused the ancillary question how does this encryption work?

I suspect that calls and data fly around willy nilly without people worrying about intercepts.

As an aside we have recently watched a number of “spy” dramas in which people are using their mobile ‘phones to chat, text and take pictures of evidence. It seems markedly non clandestine to me. Is this real life or transference of ‘phone junkie thinking into drama? Surely you would not take a traceable device into a sneaky meeting with your favourite mole on a Berlin bridge?

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“Quantum communication has seen some big announcements in 2024, with smartphone markets and data centers turning to the technology for secure and robust data security that can be trusted. IDTechEx’s report, “Quantum Communication Market 2024-2034: Technology, Trends, Players, Forecasts”, details the many national and international benefits and uses for quantum communication alongside some of the main challenges of implementation.

Safer smartphone security

 Smartphones today contain an abundance of personal data, including passwords to banking and email accounts and online purchase histories. 2024 saw the announcement of the Galaxy Quantum 5, with Samsung literally alluding to the smartphone’s quantum capabilities with its name. The smallest quantum random number generator available has been installed within the device to provide users with the highest levels of authentication and encryption, ensuring that communications and authentication features are safe and can be trusted. As smartphones today are relied upon as small computers that can access and store any information, quantum technology will enable them to do their job reliably and securely.

{https://www.idtechex.com/en/research-article/quantum-communication-satellites-and-smart-phone-security/32332}

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As usual there is a hyper large amount of hype.

The Q word has cropped up already…

It kind of suggests that ownership of the quantum key is the route to secure call and answer communication. The pitfall of any QKD has to be trust. If you do not trust the locksmith… who assures you that the key is unique – you are buggered. That is unless you yourself supply the key. {possible idea here?}

 One could imagine a quantum spam blocker…

Basically the best assurance against being spied upon is introversion. If you don’t say anything it can’t be heard.

Maybe I need to get a “Mobile ‘Phone Communications for Dummies” book…

Clearly I don’t know how the devil spawned devices work…

Ego Trips and Imposter Syndrome

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

Is there such a thing as an inverted ego-trip?

Doing a brief search on this today I came upon the notion for reverse impostor syndrome. Which does not seem to be greatly overestimating your abilities and bullshitting rather it is having a realistic high assessment which is not yet matched by the perceptions of others. There is bias against the lack of overt pushy presentation and showing off. The book must be shiny and well branded. The highly strategic global vision introvert may not be so highly rated as the “gobshite” blagger snake oil salesman. There is apparently an issue in VC circles where surface performance is funded more readily than in depth potential. It is not the best investment on occasion. Founders can have reverse impostor syndrome; they know their ideas are good but everybody else has yet to catch up.

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  • Imposter syndrome is other people thinking you’re good, but you still don’t believe it for yourself on the inside.
  • Reverse imposter syndrome is knowing you are good, but others don’t believe it (as much as you know it to be true).

Wes Kao

VC-backed founder turned coach. Writing for 80,000+ operators on executive communication and influence at {newsletter.weskao.com}

It raises a philosophical idea.

If you think you know what you are talking about and this has significance are you on an attention seeking ego trip or is your assessment simply premature?

If the world at large is not interested or does not notice, who is mistaken them or you?

Who is kidding who?

If you don’t appreciate someone who know things well because they differ with your own views, exactly who is on an ego trip?

Can people use telekinesis to stop the penny from dropping, if so, for how long?

It is very easy when one is on an ego trip to point the finger at someone else and assert that it is they in fact who are on an ego trip…

Who defines, who is the expert, on what is and what is not an ego trip?

Expressions fall easily into the vernacular..

Far out….

Differing Metrics – Human Love of League Tables

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

Over the last few weeks we have been watching the six nations rugby competition. People want to know who won and who finished last, what was their position in the league table. Wales came last and got the wooden spoon. The world is obsessed with metrics

The QS word university rankings for 2025 are:

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I taught at one of these for over a decade {Imperial} and got a B.Sc. and a Ph.D. from another of these {UCL}. I had very brief spells teaching at two other top ten UK based universities. On paper then I was at pukka places for a while. I was not Mickey Mouse and I did not teach “Application of Media Studies To Pre-Carthaginian Naval Cultures”.

That track-record of mine is however ancient history.

I am not quite sure why people are so obsessed with league tables. Each football season hundreds of millions of people around the globe check the league position of their team and follow each football match with an avid interest.

People read polls to see how well Nigel Bellend Farage is doing. They make extensive soporific current affairs programmes to discuss poll positions.

They can base their interactions with others on their relative positions in various league tables. Trump has probably damaged the upcoming global league position of US universities.

Those at the top of the league can look down their noses at those at the bottom

For whatever reason people like lists. People measure different things. To your average Manchester City supporter the ranking of Oxford over Cambridge is of no interest.

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What happens when you speak different league table languages?

Is the share price of Nvidia more important than the degree of enlightenment?

Does it matter who has more cheap drones, who has more expensive Patriot missiles?

Must we discuss over beers down the pub from our soap boxes?

I think some people can get boners and/or go a bit damp about league table positions….

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Are you obsessed with league tables?

If so, why?

Will that help you achieve liberation and enlightenment?

Is Excel the secret key to escaping the wheel of rebirth?

It tabulation better than meditation?

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Thought Experiment – Could a Toltec Fake Science Know-How?

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

The notion of Men of Knowledge, Toltecs, and the warrior’s path first came into the public domain via the opus of Carlos Castaneda. Many have been on a mission to prove him wrong and label him a charlatan. Unmasking and debagging and disproving generates a lot of clicks and kudos.

“Look at me aren’t I clever, Trevor?”

In his narratives the Nagual don Juan is wise in plant and fungal lore. Juan takes the piss a lot and makes Carlos trip his nads off. He makes him sew together the lips of lizards. Nevertheless Carlos got an Anthropology Ph.D. for his work at a respectable university in California. Juan is part yokel-part shaman. So for him to remain wise in his own context out bush is more acceptable. In general I’ll speculate that things flaky are more acceptable in California than in London or Oxford, old chap.

What would happen should such a being end up in a world top ten university trying to teach fee paying undergraduates? How long could such a charlatan maintain his disguise?

My own personal view is that a true man of knowledge should have a wide subject coverage and that should include “modern” versions of science.

Théun Mares outlines a putative organisational flow chart:

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So the not doing of a Toltec might be to act as a mainstream science academic for over a decade, publishing papers, writing grant applications, raising venture capital and filing patent applications.

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Could a Toltec fake science know how?

Could a scientist fake Toltec know-how?

Would the Toltec be the not doing of the scientist or vice versa?

Is Tantra Poppycock ?

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

There is a tendency for people to pooh-pooh things without ever trying them. They may rely on the witness of “some bloke down the pub” or on the collective omniscience of their own peer group.

In the previous post I have put a link to “The Tantra of the Blue-Clad Blessed Vajrapāṇi”

There are no gonads or well-ness orgies therein. No V-scented candles or merch.

I would encourage any doubter to sit alone in a room at night with a few lighted candles and incense sticks and then read aloud the full translation. Many might think that Tantra and magic are poppycock few of these would have the balls to do what I have just suggested.

The only reliable way to learn is personal experience. The true test is in the act and not the words.

Place your bets if you dare…

Approach a Tantra like this one with a wrong attitude and you will FAFO, as the saying goes.

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A lot of people are sure in front of and with their peers, less so in the wee small hours on their own.

The translation of the Tantra linked to in the previous post shows that it is a spell of some considerable age and has many facets some of which are powerful even lethal. It is very well crafted.

I have always approached anything to do with Vajrapani with the utmost respect. My intuitive response to the first of the dreams today was to turn towards Vajrapani practice.

I personally am OK reading the Tantra because I am in control of my emotions and have a generally benign intent. Although I have not been granted any permission from a lineage holder, I am reasonably safe. I have a good instinct and in me there is very little dark or nasty. My self-assessment is probably realistic. For me I am not trying to use it or abuse it.

I have spent a lot of time on my own doing things which might freak others out. I have learned a few things on the way.

A lot of people imagine themselves skill full, clever and resourceful. They may be foolhardy enough to bet their “magic” against that of others. Which in itself shows a poor understanding and a lousy intent.

Somethings are beyond our ken. Each of us would do well to remember that.

I was toying with an idea the other day and I do not know how people might respond.

The question was, “how would people respond if, in all earnest, I offered to perform an exorcism on them?”

I guess it would depend on circumstance. Exorcism is a Tantric rite…

How would you respond if someone offered to exorcise you?

Is exorcism poppycock too?

Do I Have an Attitude Problem, Am I Too Irreverent?

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

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41. Bodhidharma Pacifies the Mind

Bodhidharma sits facing the wall. His future successor stands in the snow and presents his severed arm to Bodhidharma.

He cries: “My mind is not pacified. Master, pacify my mind.”

Bodhidharma says: “If you bring me that mind, I will pacify it for you.”

The successor says: “When I search my mind I cannot hold it.”

Bodhidharma says: “Then your mind is pacified already.”

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Mumon’s comment: That broken-toothed old Hindu, Bodhidharma, came thousands of miles over the sea from India to China as if he had something wonderful. He is like raising waves without wind. After he remained years in China he had only one disciple and that one lost his arm and was deformed. Alas, ever since he has had brainless disciples.

Why did Bodhidharma come to China?
For years monks have discussed this.
All the troubles that have followed since
Came from that teacher and disciple.

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Excerpted from“The Gateless Gate”,

by Ekai, called Mu-mon, tr. Nyogen Senzaki and Paul Reps [1934], at sacred-texts.com

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I suspect that many people are uncomfortable with clarity.  My own experimental evidence suggests that providing clarity can be unpopular and politically unwise. People are fond of brown nosing and otherwise sucking up to those with kudos related positional power. If one is not sufficiently reverent one can become a “problem”. Upsetting the applecart etc. can go down like a lead balloon on a planet with very high mass and low diameter.

If for example you think I have an attitude problem, where does that stem from? Is that from my behaviour or some preconceived idea you may have about how people are and should behave according to the gospel of you? If you say that I have an attitude problem are you in effect simply criticising your own reflection in a mirror?

Who defines which attitude is correct and/or appropriate?

Who is the expert and/or authority on this subject?

It is a part of my nature to take the piss. This can seem irreverent particularly to those who are pompous and very self-important.

I am reasonably confident that some people think that I am not sufficiently reverential and therefore I have an attitude problem. I don’t have a problem with my attitude but others might…

I had this sudden intuition this afternoon that people think I have a bad attitude…there is nothing I can do about what others think….

Geocentrism and Perception

~ quantumdreamer ~ Leave a comment

For many centuries the powers that be and the so-called wise held a view that the heavens rotated around the centre of the universe, aka Earth. Looking out from Earth it was assumed that we were the very epicentre of all God’s creation. This understanding has been proven wrong by the use of modern electromagnetic astronomy. Yet people were adamant that the world revolved around them and any disagreement in public could be fatal, a taboo punishable by excommunication, shunning and execution.

This innate human tendency towards self-diagnosed omniscience persists to this day in various forms.

One could postulate that a self-centred world view is very common. This holds for institutions and individuals. Moreover a kind of gravitational attraction is assumed. Say for example you were a Harvard or an Oxford university you might assume that would be scholars of merit would be irrevocably attracted to you, both to share in your divine reputation and the chance to participate in highbrow scholarly intercourse. People see things from their own point of view. To some a “Hogwarts” school dinners form of collegiate catering may be attractive to others it is not.

Those with power and reputation might assume that this is attractive to others and these exert a quasi-gravitational pull. Moths are drawn to the candle flame. Seen from the inside one sees an attractiveness which externally may not hold. A self-centred perception may lack accuracy.

I have seen some of the mythos associated with a university I worked at briefly. It was held in high regard by some less so by me. My perception was based upon experience and not PR or mythos.

Some people are very corporate in their thinking. Imagining that some corporate or institutional identity is attractive. I once went to an Accenture “do” while I was a start-up founder with a lot of dosh in the bank. All the young guns were full of themselves and very Accenture on-board. All they could see were the internecine pecking order, rankings and power struggles. They knew best. They did not leave a good impression on me. I thought that they were a bunch of wankers. These ambassadors for Accenture left me thinking that the organisation was full of bellends. I wanted no more to do with it ever.

When you are caught up in an institution, church or cult it is very easy to become enamoured and imagine oneself the best thing since sliced bread. The group perception internally may differ significantly from that held externally.  For example other Buddhist groups may think that the Dzogchen and Bon influenced Tibetan Buddhism is bad for Buddhism as a whole. Although the Dalai Lama is arguably the most famous Buddhist one might question as to the type of being this attracts towards Buddhism. The difference between high Tibetan ritual and Thai Forest simplicity is marked. There is a cultural agenda in Tibetan Buddhism which extends past sutra and towards a national historical identity. I don’t know to what extent reflection is made. Evangelism of any kind suggests an imagined innate superiority of world view which must be shared with others. A similar story might hold for STEM advocacy in schools. Everyone must be blessed by the all-encompassing wisdom of the STEM doctrine and creed. All hail the standard model. Blessed be its name.

When you are within the encircled wagons out on the wild prairie armed with your trusty Winchester rifles, it is easier to kill the Apache. After all he is the ignorant savage and you are the God fearing pioneer enacting justified ethnic cleansing in the name of the Lord. It is your divine right to drive the indigenous off their lands. They need your conversion to go to heaven.

Humans can believe whatever it is convenient for them to believe and their ability to seemingly justify slaughter and murder to themselves continues unabated to this day.

When you look in a geocentric, self-centred  manner anything out there is an enemy to be conquered and slain. They must revolve around you or die.

Mathematically whether that be with spherical or cartesian coordinates perception starts at the origin, the self, which is placed at the centre of the world, the centre of the known universe. Many imagine that the entirety of creation revolves around them, their wants, their needs and their petty grudges and complaints.

Although historically Geocentrism has been determined to be inaccurate, a poor model of reality, many fail to see that their whole view is self-centred. Me-centrism. They fail to see that they too are old fashioned and archaic in their notions of world. This observation applies to even the most intelligent amongst us. Intelligence can confer a sense of entitled arrogance. Those on Olympus after all, know what is best for us plebs.

Many people whose perception is very self-centred imagine that it is right and dandy that this should be the case.

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Does the entire universe revolve around you, are you the very centre of all creation?

Are you the flame to which all moths are irresistibly drawn by your magnificence?