Conpsiracy Theories and Subliminal Messaging

bomberboy0618 · July 15, 2011, 09:07:49 PM

I was interested in starting a thread to see people's views on these two topics. I believe in conspiracy theories, as I do believe that the US government played some part in 9/11. I also do believe that subliminal messaging is very real and is always deliberately done. But I want to hear other people's views. However I must say that there is to be no attacking each other, and if you can, post some good youtube videos on each of the topics as I enjoy watching them. Thanks :)

Boomz · July 15, 2011, 09:17:06 PM

Quote from: bomberboy0618 on July 15, 2011, 09:07:49 PM
I was interested in starting a thread to see people's views on these two topics. I believe in conspiracy theories, as I do believe that the US government played some part in 9/11. I also do believe that subliminal messaging is very real and is always deliberately done. But I want to hear other people's views. However I must say that there is to be no attacking each other, and if you can, post some good youtube videos on each of the topics as I enjoy watching them. Thanks :)

As do I but I'm biased for different reasons...

bomberboy0618 · July 15, 2011, 09:17:38 PM

Such as...

hawk_88 · July 15, 2011, 09:29:08 PM

Subliminal messaging as you probably see it isn't real. Or rather there is a huge lack of any respected science to support it. By this I assume you mean the implanting of messages/desires beyond the conscious human mind.

There is however, a great deal of very interesting psychological work that has gone into the nature of the concious vs the unconscious in the human brain. Can't think of any youtube videos off the top of my head that deal with it, but it is a very interesting field of cognitive and neuro-psychology. Reading into it can really mess with your head though. Well documented effects such as sub-concious priming as well oddities in reaction times that suggest, on the surface that we can see into the future.

If you are interested in that sort of thing, a decent book to start with would be "Fundamentals of Cognition" by Eysenck. You can probably find a copy on Google books. Some stuff is explained better than others but it is a good starting point for further research. You can come at most of the book with a minimal to no background in psychology (like I did) so it is readable by preschoolers (if they are super-intelligent ;D ).

As for "conspiracy theories" (I don't wanna see that pic BP), it is such a broad term that carries far to many connotations to discuss in any serious way. Specific conspiracy theories maybe....

I will say this though. It is healthy (I think) to be sceptical in your observations and interactions with the world. Question things, be inquisitive but be grounded in verifiable fact and always be prepared to admit that you now feel that your previous opinion was incorrect, even if you strongly argued for it before.

bomberboy0618 · July 15, 2011, 09:33:32 PM

Ah yes. BP if you use that pic I will find some way to humiliate you... and yes I have you as a friend on FB (how havent you deleted me yet?) :o

Justin Bieber · July 15, 2011, 11:44:53 PM

Quote from: bomberboy0618 on July 15, 2011, 09:07:49 PM
I also do believe that subliminal messaging is very real and is always deliberately done.

I don't believe you can but can "suggest" things to a person that they'll pick up unconsciously. Like hawk said.

I watched a documentary a few weeks ago about a real life Mentalist (Was AWESOME) where he would literally be able to tell what most people were thinking just by their actions or by "suggesting" things to them that they never noticed. One section was where he was in a psychology class. He was talking about how that many things we see we don't know about but we still detect them subconsciously. During his speech, he gave various hand signals and wrote something on the board at the very start. SPCNOWVIP (or something like that) and the hand signals were in the form of a diamond or a three. At the end he asked them to think about a card, any card (in a deck). About 3/4 of them chose the 3 of diamonds (guess where he got the diamonds from other than the hand signals ;)). He did a bunch of other stuff all over the place (e.g on a street, painting, etc) just by reading other people's actions or by subconsciously suggesting something from them which they didn't think they perceived. Was quite different but very interesting.

Don't get me started on 9/11 :-X.

bomberboy0618 · July 15, 2011, 11:48:34 PM

The thing on the board has somehing to do with diamonds, but what?

Justin Bieber · July 16, 2011, 12:00:05 AM

Quote from: bomberboy0618 on July 15, 2011, 11:48:34 PM
The thing on the board has somehing to do with diamonds, but what?

Read it upside down ;). Didn't even notice that until somebody in the class figured it out (on TV) :-[.

bomberboy0618 · July 16, 2011, 12:21:13 AM

That is scary :O

Master Q · July 16, 2011, 12:26:54 AM

Quote from: bomberboy0618 on July 16, 2011, 12:21:13 AM
That is scary :O

+1 :o

Justin Bieber · July 16, 2011, 12:46:03 AM

Think it was actually SPCNOWVIP. Remember he mentioned 3 three letter words/acronyms and wrote them in a row as to not give anything away. Was Psychology relevant so the class expected not much more than that but still :o.

Luigi197 · July 16, 2011, 06:08:56 PM

Hold on, I Dont see it upside down... What does it read correctly?? :o

AFEV · July 16, 2011, 06:22:01 PM

Quote from: Luigi197 on July 16, 2011, 06:08:56 PM
Hold on, I Dont see it upside down... What does it read correctly?? :o

Reads diamonds ;)

hawk_88 · July 16, 2011, 07:39:46 PM

So called mentalists operate in a very similar way to magicians in that create an illusion of being "magic" or mystical, etc. when in fact what they are doing is exploiting the methods in which the human brain interprets the world.

For this I do actually have a youtube video worth watching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5x14AwElOk

Note that the above isn't hardcore psychology by any stretch, but just uses a simple magic trick to illustrate some interesting principles. For those of you who know of Penn and Teller, Teller is the one giving the presentation, so you actually get to hear him speak.

Justin Bieber · July 16, 2011, 09:27:38 PM

It is interesting video. I love watching Penn & Teller and other magicians. Penn is more of the showman and probably louder :P.

It facinates me how these mentalists and magicians are able to perform "mind-readings" or "illusions" from simple reading of people's behaviour or their perception of the world. Psychics on the other hand aren't in the same league although at times they do read behaviour (those interested look up cold readings). Very much like Mentalists when it comes to doing readings like that but almost all of the time it's just blatant fishing for something.