Shadow Reaper
Space Marshal
I went on reddit just kinda looking to see whats going on. I found a guy on one of the subreddits who seems to have touched on what ive been talking about. He seems batshit insane. It was a great reality check. I'm not saying im crazy, i just need to keep my mouth shut until I have something worth sharing to the right people. This field of Theoretical and Computational Cognitive Science is just wild and im just now learning to navigate it without a formal education.
Shadow Reaper
Space Marshal
Yeah, I’m not surprised you found someone bonkers on a subreddit. Goes with the territory. I am readily reminded of my shortcomings and as I said, kinda scared of philosophy or mind as well as AI, so I’ll respectfully abstain from checking out your work. I’ll just remind that you need to do the obligatory literature review to know both that you are not reinventing the wheel and have authentic claims to “novelty”, which is necessary to any sort of IP.
As to your personal revelations—I totally admire what you’re doing. I was able to keep my mom out of nursing care for 8 years after her open heart surgery and subsequent strokes. That was 8 years of thankless service. Very hard, and everyone took advantage. Your family will probably avoid you and “forget” to thank you because everyone not serving feels guilty they’re not serving. So chin up. It’s all normal and it’s not about you.
I wrote my first screenplay while I was caring for Mom and started an aerospace corp, so hey yeah; use that time.
As to your personal revelations—I totally admire what you’re doing. I was able to keep my mom out of nursing care for 8 years after her open heart surgery and subsequent strokes. That was 8 years of thankless service. Very hard, and everyone took advantage. Your family will probably avoid you and “forget” to thank you because everyone not serving feels guilty they’re not serving. So chin up. It’s all normal and it’s not about you.
I wrote my first screenplay while I was caring for Mom and started an aerospace corp, so hey yeah; use that time.
They don't ban hammer this guy because he makes up half the posts on the forum.
Because he's chased the other half away.
@Montoya can we all go gloves off please?
Shadow Reaper
Space Marshal
Oh I’m scared. “gloves off”! on the internet!
I am most horribly frightened. I can taste the knuckles carefully pampered with palm oils and pansy wax. Next Yex will sic his mommy on me.
Or, Sour Puss could note that was actually funny. C’mon Yexy. There are no speech police here. Admit it. It was funny. IIRC it’s from a Bill Murray routine.
I am most horribly frightened. I can taste the knuckles carefully pampered with palm oils and pansy wax. Next Yex will sic his mommy on me.
Or, Sour Puss could note that was actually funny. C’mon Yexy. There are no speech police here. Admit it. It was funny. IIRC it’s from a Bill Murray routine.
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Life is to short to be annoyed by insignificant people.
Do what I have done ages ago, block that guy and forget his existence.
I tried and mostly succeeded at not reading most of his content and to not get emotionally baited - minus my personal lapse above. Didn’t realize there was an “ignore” function on this site. I took your advice and my hair count is going to thank you! Although, I fear the damage has already been done.
Just stick to the discord channel. The community there is much better than here. Although you’re not obligated to use your mic there, I have noticed people tend to behave more when they’re in a group situation where there’s microphone usage.
Either way you don’t really meet any Walter Mitty-esque philosopher/astrophysicists/aerospace entrepreneur/intelligence community member/Disney bashers there.
Either way you don’t really meet any Walter Mitty-esque philosopher/astrophysicists/aerospace entrepreneur/intelligence community member/Disney bashers there.
Shadow Reaper
Space Marshal
Yes, words are violence! Humor is hate!
Make America Vapid Again!
We should have a thread for all the emotionally disabled, who look for ways to take offense. We can call it the MAVA thread.
Make America Vapid Again!
We should have a thread for all the emotionally disabled, who look for ways to take offense. We can call it the MAVA thread.
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Yeah, this is the first place I've ever used it. Free speech is important, but not everything people shout deserves an equal share of your attention.
I understand our desire to go straight for the ignore button. The problem though is after a while this place becomes an echo chamber for that certain individual in question who then thinks that their views are the norm in this community. One wouldn’t want that to go unchallenged. At the very least it’ll drive away prospective future members who just want a place to ‘hang out’ not discuss about how ‘Woke Disney is destroying Western Civilization’ or whatever.
I’ve had many a discussion with leadership about this situation and they’re honestly too busy to moderate here. In truth these forums have been partially abandoned. Discord is another matter though. It’s far more active and there is much more moderation there.
Meanwhile poor @Jolly_Green_Giant is trying to have a discussion about AI. I dunno bro….Skynet!
I’ve had many a discussion with leadership about this situation and they’re honestly too busy to moderate here. In truth these forums have been partially abandoned. Discord is another matter though. It’s far more active and there is much more moderation there.
Meanwhile poor @Jolly_Green_Giant is trying to have a discussion about AI. I dunno bro….Skynet!
The thing is, when youre having a group discussion you dont have to respond to everyone. You have to stop and think do I turn this thread into my crusade against someones behavior, or do I maintain decorum as best i can and disengage. Its strategic engagment. Im not worried about this, not a big deal tbh, kinda takes the eyes off me looking crazy :) Anyways, heres a good update to what im doing, ran through gpt:
What I’ve Been Doing Lately (EEG Modeling + Mental State Mapping)
I’ve been experimenting with EEG data to see if I could model and visualize different mental states over time—emotion, focus, awareness, and internal thought—using both raw electrical signals and symbolic labels.
Here’s a breakdown of how I approached it:
EEG Data Source & Processing
For each window:
Symbolic Mental State Mapping (with EEG Frequency Correlates)
I mapped EEG features into four simplified symbolic “mental states”:
1. Pathos – Emotional Arousal / Narrative Resonance
2. Logos – Reasoning / Language Processing
3. Noema – Visual Thought / Inner Semantic Content
4. Ontos – Baseline Awareness / Self-Presence
Visual Output
In some cases, entropy spikes aligned with emotional scenes or intense visual sequences. Dips matched slower scenes, silence, or resting states.
Why This Matters (to me)
This isn’t trying to replace neuroscience. The goal is to create a symbolic, visual representation of changing mental states—grounded in EEG features but interpreted through cognitive categories that make sense to humans.
I’ve also been building a related language-based system where these states act like internal modules—emotion, memory, attention, etc.—that evolve over time. The idea is to eventually blend EEG signal input and symbolic reasoning output into one loop.
All experimental, but fascinating to watch mental states take shape—numerically and visually—through brain data.
What I’ve Been Doing Lately (EEG Modeling + Mental State Mapping)
I’ve been experimenting with EEG data to see if I could model and visualize different mental states over time—emotion, focus, awareness, and internal thought—using both raw electrical signals and symbolic labels.
Here’s a breakdown of how I approached it:
EEG Data Source & Processing- Dataset: Pulled raw EEG recordings from OpenNeuro.org
- Task: Subject watching a movie (Despicable Me)
- Sampling rate: 250 Hz
- Channels used: Mainly central/frontal/parietal
- Preprocessing: Bandpass filtered, segmented into 5-second windows (with 50% overlap)
For each window:
- Extracted power spectral density (via Welch's method)
- Calculated spectral entropy to measure complexity / information spread
- Generated a time-series of entropy values and relative bandpower by frequency
Symbolic Mental State Mapping (with EEG Frequency Correlates)I mapped EEG features into four simplified symbolic “mental states”:
1. Pathos – Emotional Arousal / Narrative Resonance
- EEG markers:
- Theta (4–7 Hz) – Increased power, especially in frontal regions (emotional encoding, memory recall)
- Frontal Alpha (8–10 Hz) – Suppression or shift, often indicating engagement
- When triggered: Character-driven scenes, emotional music, humor/surprise
- Interpretation: Emotionally loaded moments; heightened narrative salience
2. Logos – Reasoning / Language Processing
- EEG markers:
- Low-Beta (13–18 Hz) – Frontal & left temporal lobes (language, syntax, problem-solving)
- Mid-Beta (18–25 Hz) – Associated with sustained cognitive effort
- When triggered: Dialogue-heavy scenes, internal prediction or logic processing
- Interpretation: Structured thought, linguistic parsing, internal modeling
3. Noema – Visual Thought / Inner Semantic Content
- EEG markers:
- Alpha suppression (8–12 Hz) – Especially in occipital/parietal regions (visual focus)
- Gamma (30–45 Hz) – Sometimes bursts in semantic binding or image formation
- When triggered: Visually rich scenes, mental imagery, immersion
- Interpretation: “What” the subject is thinking about or holding in awareness
4. Ontos – Baseline Awareness / Self-Presence
- EEG markers:
- Global alpha coherence – Often in resting, eyes-closed baseline
- Low entropy – Reflects low complexity, steady brain state
- When triggered: Pauses, calm moments, stillness, breath awareness
- Interpretation: Grounded presence without narrative or emotional engagement
Visual Output- Heatmap: Shows relative symbolic “activation” of each mental state per time window
- Entropy graph: Plotted below to show complexity shifts
- High entropy (0.8–1.0) = cognitive/emotional “spikes” (e.g. Pathos + Noema overlap)
- Low entropy (0.4–0.6) = calm, resting, possibly Ontos-dominant moments
In some cases, entropy spikes aligned with emotional scenes or intense visual sequences. Dips matched slower scenes, silence, or resting states.
Why This Matters (to me)This isn’t trying to replace neuroscience. The goal is to create a symbolic, visual representation of changing mental states—grounded in EEG features but interpreted through cognitive categories that make sense to humans.
I’ve also been building a related language-based system where these states act like internal modules—emotion, memory, attention, etc.—that evolve over time. The idea is to eventually blend EEG signal input and symbolic reasoning output into one loop.
All experimental, but fascinating to watch mental states take shape—numerically and visually—through brain data.
Shadow Reaper
Space Marshal
Well, this is certainly outside my wheelhouse. My only observation is that, there is a lot of important detail lost in an EEG. I think you might consider using fMRI instead. With that you can actually see people think in real time.
I have fMRI data as well but i havent figured out how to translate it into something useable yet.
Shadow Reaper
Space Marshal
Again I recommend a literature review. People take this too lightly. I once knew a guy doing his PhD in Electrical Engineering who was working in advanced propulsion, whose doctoral advisors did not require him to do a literature review because they presumed nothing like what they were building had ever been built; and fifteen years later it turned out the device the lab he built was using was the exact same form as an electromechanical device already in use for 80 years. Had the advisors required the standard literature review the experimental work would have saved literally fifteen years wasted effort. (I did the literature review over 3 years so I was the one who discovered this. The devise in the lab was not patentable because it was not novel. Big problem to have after 15 years.)
Always check to see what others have contributed. It makes you better educated and saves reinventing the wheel. You will think very differently about the subject when you know what others have already thought.
So far as I am aware, all PhD studies start with about a year long literature review, and you should keep notes in a form that you can access them easily in the future. Copy and paste sentences and paragraphs from important finds with the standard reference into a single document you can draw from in the future. If you ever decide to share your findings, you will need to convince others, and that will require a paper with references in whatever is today’s standard format. 30 years ago that was APA format. 40 years ago it was Chicago format. I think the current style guide is MLA. You can learn all you need about it from clicking that link. Don’t be concerned. The point of a standard format for things like footnotes or endnotes is to make using them as easy as possible. It only takes a few seconds to save a reference properly and each one could save you many hours of grief in the future. BTW, the converse is true also. If you fail to write about your work in standard format in what is essentially a “white paper”, no one will take you seriously. Very smart people have this problem all the time. The superb physicist Eric Weinstein has had trouble for years getting other physicists look at his work because he hasn’t yet written a cogent white paper.
I also knew a guy at CIA who was an MD and Uber neurosomething or other. He was doing cutting edge fMRI 15 years ago. All the way back then, he said the fMRI was a foolproof lie detector. If that kind of facility was available 15 years ago when that machine was barely a year old, you can rest assured the literature on it is vast. You’ll have plenty to choose from. The majority concerns treating concussion, which you can neatly set aside.
Innovation is adventure. However, if you want your adventure to ever be useful, you have to be able to communicate it clearly in the specialized language of people in the field—proper jargon. If you create your own jargon, you need to explain it when you introduce it. Mastering jargon is not just a badge of honor. It is a sign of mastery you’ll need.
From what we have all seen in this forum, you are an excellent communicator, so put in the effort. You’ll be glad you did.
Finally, keep in mind what your review tells you is not always what you want. While learning the subject you could find your thoughts are not novel, or that they are just wrong. If that happens you may be set on another path, but if that happens or not; best is you know. You need to know.
Always check to see what others have contributed. It makes you better educated and saves reinventing the wheel. You will think very differently about the subject when you know what others have already thought.
So far as I am aware, all PhD studies start with about a year long literature review, and you should keep notes in a form that you can access them easily in the future. Copy and paste sentences and paragraphs from important finds with the standard reference into a single document you can draw from in the future. If you ever decide to share your findings, you will need to convince others, and that will require a paper with references in whatever is today’s standard format. 30 years ago that was APA format. 40 years ago it was Chicago format. I think the current style guide is MLA. You can learn all you need about it from clicking that link. Don’t be concerned. The point of a standard format for things like footnotes or endnotes is to make using them as easy as possible. It only takes a few seconds to save a reference properly and each one could save you many hours of grief in the future. BTW, the converse is true also. If you fail to write about your work in standard format in what is essentially a “white paper”, no one will take you seriously. Very smart people have this problem all the time. The superb physicist Eric Weinstein has had trouble for years getting other physicists look at his work because he hasn’t yet written a cogent white paper.
I also knew a guy at CIA who was an MD and Uber neurosomething or other. He was doing cutting edge fMRI 15 years ago. All the way back then, he said the fMRI was a foolproof lie detector. If that kind of facility was available 15 years ago when that machine was barely a year old, you can rest assured the literature on it is vast. You’ll have plenty to choose from. The majority concerns treating concussion, which you can neatly set aside.
Innovation is adventure. However, if you want your adventure to ever be useful, you have to be able to communicate it clearly in the specialized language of people in the field—proper jargon. If you create your own jargon, you need to explain it when you introduce it. Mastering jargon is not just a badge of honor. It is a sign of mastery you’ll need.
From what we have all seen in this forum, you are an excellent communicator, so put in the effort. You’ll be glad you did.
Finally, keep in mind what your review tells you is not always what you want. While learning the subject you could find your thoughts are not novel, or that they are just wrong. If that happens you may be set on another path, but if that happens or not; best is you know. You need to know.
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Agreed, and I’ve had this same exact conversation with my wife and at least one other time here. But, at the same time many of us don’t come here to hear about the evils of Kathleen Kennedy and Disney, DEI, third wave feminism, feminazis, etc, etc over and over again. Whenever he’s confronted about these kinds of posts the forum devolves into a place nobody wants to visit. At least, I don’t.
Just wanna talk to friendly people about friendly topics that don’t glorify tearing down people or groups of people (i.e., mostly women). Ignoring doesn’t fix the problem but neither does challenging a narcissist who seems to revil in confrontation and finds gaslighting his second nature.
I’ve stuck my neck out several times to try to address this toxic behavior with little to no seeming benefit. To that end, @LurchLord has the correct remedy other than what I previously posted in the drama section. At least for me going forward.
Apologies to @Jolly_Green_Giant for derailing the conversation. Back to our regular broadcast…
Awk lads you're all sweeties, @Arrangingstars would've fisted this weeun into the sun already
When did we lose our way; bullying degenerates is what we were founded on.
"Awwwh yeah FOOKN WAMENS AN THER LOVE FUR WASHED MEN! tHe BaR iS tOo HiGh*glug glug sniff sniff*"
Must be infuriating
When did we lose our way; bullying degenerates is what we were founded on.
Out of curiosity; you're like some sort of gluebag right? Like I can see it now, stained wife beater, all day on the internet wanking to slightly sus anime.
"Awwwh yeah FOOKN WAMENS AN THER LOVE FUR WASHED MEN! tHe BaR iS tOo HiGh*glug glug sniff sniff*"
Must be infuriating
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Shadow Reaper
Space Marshal
Yex, I quoted a twenty year old joke and now three of you Gestapo wannabe forum monitors are 2-3 posts in each, whimpering like rabid children that you need to censor me. Anyone with any common sense can tell a joke is a joke. You three on the other hand are so divorced from self appraisal that you are addicted to judging others instead.
In the old days, before the current blight of immoral morality; common men and women judged themselves so they would not be judged. That’s the biblical heritage of all Western Civilization. Take the plank out of your eye and so forth. Your problem—all 3 of you—is that no one ever taught you right from wrong. So you spend your time haphazardly judging others. Even after I explained I had quoted a Bill Murray joke, you can’t let it go. Your hate makes you crazy. You just can’t control yourselves.
It’s a joke. Grow a sense of humor and redirect that judgementalism toward yourself where your parents should have told you it belongs. Your continuing persecution, thread after thread, after thread is nearing a legal definition of harassment. Just stop. Please, act like adults. You’re scaring the children.
In the old days, before the current blight of immoral morality; common men and women judged themselves so they would not be judged. That’s the biblical heritage of all Western Civilization. Take the plank out of your eye and so forth. Your problem—all 3 of you—is that no one ever taught you right from wrong. So you spend your time haphazardly judging others. Even after I explained I had quoted a Bill Murray joke, you can’t let it go. Your hate makes you crazy. You just can’t control yourselves.
It’s a joke. Grow a sense of humor and redirect that judgementalism toward yourself where your parents should have told you it belongs. Your continuing persecution, thread after thread, after thread is nearing a legal definition of harassment. Just stop. Please, act like adults. You’re scaring the children.
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