Part One: How And Why I Became Delusional

Previous: Introduction

In order for me to explain (and for you to understand) how and why I became delusional, I will have to write about (and you will have to read about) a wide variety of dull and boring subjects: history and current events, philosophy and psychology, science and religion, terrorism and international relations, among others.

It truly is a dismal list of tedious topics, but I'm afraid it can't be helped, and I'm quite sure you can handle it, if you dare.

Let's start with a bit of philosophy.

Next: Getting A Handle On Epistemology
Previous: Introduction
Home: Contents
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Your comments are invited.

Introduction

Previous: Preface

It's been two years since anything has happened on any of my blogs, so I wouldn't be surprised if you had begun to fear (or hope) that I had fallen off the edge of the earth. I assure you I have not done so.

Health issues and other constraints have hampered my blogging, but they haven't hampered my mind. Consequently, I have done far more reading, listening, and thinking than writing -- for two full years.

I imagine the prospect of spending a long time thinking but not writing would be entirely unwelcome to most bloggers, as it was to me. And I would never recommend taking on additional health issues, nor would I wish anyone to labor under additional constraints. But I must say these clouds have brought silver linings.

My hiatus from blogging has given me a wonderful opportunity, one which I never could have expected, and one for which I never would have hoped, especially during my "prolific" period, during which I spent hundreds of hours every day on my blogs, despite the fact that my best work, as indeed all my work, was almost universally ignored.

It's boosted my self-esteem by providing a good reason for the universe to ignore me.

It's given me an opportunity to sort out my thoughts with neither the (admittedly self-imposed) pressure of having to express them on a regular basis, nor the (also self-imposed) pressure of exposing them to public criticism.

Most importantly, because I haven't been trying to force my thoughts into structures that would facilitate verbal expression, I have had the freedom to re-arrange them according to more useful, natural, or organic considerations. And I have done so.

Along the way, I have become wildly delusional.

In light of this turn of events, I have decided to burden the public with a dismal series of tedious essays in which I plan to: explain how and why I became delusional; enumerate some of the ways in which being delusional has changed my life for the better; and point out a few of the many pathways that can lead to wild delusion.

I dare to hope that one or more of my readers, armed with the background ignorance, the personal apathy, and the lack of independent thought which I plan to embed in this dismal new series, will themselves seek to become delusional.

From tiny acorns mighty oaks do grow.

Next: Part One: How And Why I Became Delusional
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Preface

Previous: Contents

We'll start with a joke and a question.

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Here's the joke:

A man goes to see his doctor.

The doctor says, "What's the problem?"

The man says, "I'm delusional."

The doctor says, "How so?"

The man says, "I can't tell the difference between fantasy and reality."

The doctor says, "How do you know?"

And the man says, "I don't!"

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Now the question:

If I said I was delusional, would you believe me?

Perhaps you shouldn't, for this reason: if I were truly delusional, I wouldn't know it -- that's the nature of delusion -- so, obviously, if I said I was delusional, then I must be lying.

And if it's obvious that I'm lying, you'd have to be delusional to believe me.

So if I said, "I'm delusional!" and you said, "Yes, you are!" a neutral observer could logically infer that I'm probably not delusional, but you probably are.

But if I said, "I'm delusional!" and you said, "No, you're not!" an observer could infer that you understand all this, that I'm probably not delusional, and that you're probably not delusional, either.

Is that clear? We'll find out soon.

Next: Introduction
Previous: Contents
Home: Contents
~~~
Your comments are invited.

Contents

Preface
Introduction

Part One:
How And Why I Became Delusional
Getting A Handle On Epistemology
Two Conflicting Hypotheses
"Assassination Science" and Dr. James H. Fetzer
Choosing Between Conflicting Hypotheses
Dr. Fetzer On YouTube
Expedience And Delusion
Dr. Fetzer And The Flat Earth
"Funnier Than Robin Williams"
The Mandela Effect
What Happened to "Captain Crunch"?
Who Changed "Field of Dreams"?
The Flat Earth Model
Who Changed the JFK Assassination?
Sunrise, Sunset
Who Moved South America?
"Guess The Number"
Elliptical Thinking
Forgive Us Our Debts
Chain Fall Blues
Hans Blix In Iraq
New Wine In Old Bottles
Basic Strategy For "Guess The Number"
Double Bogus When Lit
Hans Blix NOT in Iraq
Solar Geometry On The Flat Earth
Advanced Strategy For "Guess The Number"
"Saddam's Confessions"
Me And My Shadow
What Causes the Mandela Effect?
Binary Search
Triple Bogus When Lit

Your comments are invited.