I did give you a link to his profile. One of his recent postings even has “hypnosis” in the title.
As I observe it (but he is the one to speak—or be read—in detail) the act involves such things as a confident manner, establishing a frame for the conversation and breaking any conflicting frame coming from the subject, internally staying always at the meta-level and regarding the subject as a thing to be operated, not an equal in a conversation. There are any number of detailed technical tricks that may be employed, many of them coming from NLP. The purpose is to get the subject to do whatever it is that one wants them to do, that they may not be able or inclined to do just on someone’s say-so.
I have described this in a way that says nothing about using this art for good or for evil. (On the evil side, see the Zizians and Leverage, of which there are detailed accounts on LW.)
They say in computer security, “a trusted system is one that has the ability to break your security.” One trusts that the system will only use its elevated access to do the things you gave it that access for.
The thing that makes hypnosis so bizarre and seemingly powerful is it’s ability to keep attention, [...]
[...]
In full blown hypnosis [...] they are putting their attention where I specify without doubt or hesitation.
This sounds like it corresponds to “the idea of a state of focused attention”, so I don’t understand why you rejected it. Just because he talks about it as a spectrum (vs a state)? Or something else?
“Focussed attention” is far more wide-ranging than what people talk about, when they talk about hypnosis, including the article that you linked, and even the quote you excerpted from it.
Right now my attention is focussed on composing this comment. Is that “hypnosis”? A couple of days ago my attention was focussed for several hours on a long bicycle ride. (Or to put that another way, I did a long bicycle ride.) Is that “hypnosis”? This evening, my attention will be focussed, for a time, on bell-ringing. Are any of these things “hypnosis”?
I say, no, they are not. The only reason to describe hypnosis as just “focussed attention” is to conceal everything else that is going on.
To know how the magician does the trick, watch his other hand.
I did give you a link to his profile. One of his recent postings even has “hypnosis” in the title.
As I observe it (but he is the one to speak—or be read—in detail) the act involves such things as a confident manner, establishing a frame for the conversation and breaking any conflicting frame coming from the subject, internally staying always at the meta-level and regarding the subject as a thing to be operated, not an equal in a conversation. There are any number of detailed technical tricks that may be employed, many of them coming from NLP. The purpose is to get the subject to do whatever it is that one wants them to do, that they may not be able or inclined to do just on someone’s say-so.
I have described this in a way that says nothing about using this art for good or for evil. (On the evil side, see the Zizians and Leverage, of which there are detailed accounts on LW.)
They say in computer security, “a trusted system is one that has the ability to break your security.” One trusts that the system will only use its elevated access to do the things you gave it that access for.
Beware who you give root access to your self.
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/StoioB9Tv9uyMbkLW/the-spectrum-of-attention-from-empathy-to-hypnosis says
This sounds like it corresponds to “the idea of a state of focused attention”, so I don’t understand why you rejected it. Just because he talks about it as a spectrum (vs a state)? Or something else?
“Focussed attention” is far more wide-ranging than what people talk about, when they talk about hypnosis, including the article that you linked, and even the quote you excerpted from it.
Right now my attention is focussed on composing this comment. Is that “hypnosis”? A couple of days ago my attention was focussed for several hours on a long bicycle ride. (Or to put that another way, I did a long bicycle ride.) Is that “hypnosis”? This evening, my attention will be focussed, for a time, on bell-ringing. Are any of these things “hypnosis”?
I say, no, they are not. The only reason to describe hypnosis as just “focussed attention” is to conceal everything else that is going on.
To know how the magician does the trick, watch his other hand.