Experiment: A week of "ignorance"

Hello, fellow ATSers.

Like most of you, I love this site dearly, and I constantly attempt to live up to its motto of "deny ignorance." So, ultimately, they will only take me away from the computer (and ATS) for good when they pry the keyboard from my cold, dead hands....

Nevertheless, after several decades spent searching constantly for truth in any and all forms, I've decided its time for a brief break. In the true spirit of inquiry, however, and realizing that truth takes no breaks, I will be making it an experiment: To wit, I ask myself -- what will a week of self-imposed "ignorance" feel like?

Here is my plan:

1) From the moment I punch in this post until one week has elapsed, I will be going on a self-imposed media blackout. This (sadly) includes ATS and several other blogs, sites, etc. I cannot in the long run live without.

2) I will only inturrupt this self-imposed info blackout in the event of a major, history-making-level crisis or turning point that truly cannot be ignored -- i.e., something on the scale of a nuclear exchange, an alien craft landing on the White House lawn in broad daylight, etc.

3) During my "vacation," my basic information intake will limited basically to old books and conversations with those around me, insofar as is possible. I will be concentrating on doing things with my hands: gardening, perhaps a bit of sketching, etc.

4) After one week I will report back to this thread and summarize my experience.

Points I will be thinking about include:
-What does it feel like to from massive immersion in information flow to almost nothing?
-What, if any, psychological changes in myself will I note? This includes both positive and negative?
-How will it feel to "plug back in" after a week?
-Will the break have impacted my views on any given topic or topics in the news?
-Will I feel dumber or more refreshed? Or no change at all?
-What will I miss the most?

See you in a week, ATS! I'll miss you...

Love,

Silent Thunder

While you're out there, would you mind picking up a few bagels?

Good luck with your experiment!

I love this idea. If I weren't in a psychological place where I needed this kind of thing to soothe me, I'd give it a shot myself.

reply to post by silent thunder

Points I will be thinking about include:
-What does it feel like to from massive immersion in information flow to almost nothing?
-What, if any, psychological changes in myself will I note? This includes both positive and negative?
-How will it feel to "plug back in" after a week?
-Will the break have impacted my views on any given topic or topics in the news?
-Will I feel dumber or more refreshed? Or no change at all?
-What will I miss the most?

We'll miss you too, ST. Have a good week in your self-imposed intellectual isolation (kidding!).

We'll hold you to your report upon your return. And remember, if it gets to be too much, you can always log-in.
It's okay.

reply to post by silent thunder


Well the thing is ... if you go through with 1 and 3, you're enacting the very definition of denying ignorance. You're in fact engaging on self imposed clarity ... darez I say enlightenment, as 'denying ignorance' is mostly accomplished by doing what you're doing. Namely turning things off not on.

You see the problem?

Originally posted by silent thunder
2) I will only inturrupt this self-imposed info blackout in the event of a major, history-making-level crisis or turning point that truly cannot be ignored -- i.e., something on the scale of a nuclear exchange, an alien craft landing on the White House lawn in broad daylight, etc.

Anyone else see the flawed self-defeating logic in point number 2?

Originally posted by ghostsoldier

Originally posted by silent thunder
2) I will only inturrupt this self-imposed info blackout in the event of a major, history-making-level crisis or turning point that truly cannot be ignored -- i.e., something on the scale of a nuclear exchange, an alien craft landing on the White House lawn in broad daylight, etc.

Anyone else see the flawed self-defeating logic in point number 2?

Presumably, he'll expect to hear about it from someone else.

reply to post by silent thunder


You didn't fall off the edge of the Earth, did you?


Can't wait to hear how your week went. I'll bet it was either a week of pure hell or blissful ignorance and peace of mind.


Is this considered the 6th or 7th day?

I'm baaa-aaaack...thanks for the comments and interest, people.

Well, it was an interesting week. Disclosure: I cheated. A very little bit. The Russian fires exceeded my capacity to restrain myself. It was sheer agony holding off, and in the end I succumbed and did a bit of web-surfing on this issue. The nightmarish commodity-market charts just kept twisting themselves in imaginary knots in my head, and without any grounding reference in what was actually happening I felt like a fish out of water. But, I kept it to a minumum and felt bad about it afterwards *hangs head in shame* Like being caught out back with a pack of cigarettes by mom at age 14...

But on the whole, that aside, I was able to achieve my essential goal. Perhaps the first unplugged week for me in at least a decade.

I learned that I am probably happiest as a human at this point in life swimming in the dense information flow I have grown to take for granted. And I also learned, at the same time, that it is very healthy to take a break, and I'm glad I did. But I'm more than glad to be back. Being an info-junkie is just who I am. And there are lots worse things to be, believe me.

Looking at the specific points in my original post:

What does it feel like to from massive immersion in information flow to almost nothing?

At first it felt very bad. Every ten minutes I would think: "Oh, X would make a great topic on ATS..." or "Wonder what is happening with such-and-such thread?/on such-and-such blog"?

Then after a few days, it felt good. I unwound and focued on using other parts of my brain and body. I did some grubbing around in the dirt, some fiddling with tools, and I even built myself a modified "looty." But when I started to hear stuff about the Russian fires, I was in agony...like a nicotine-fit...

By the end of the week (yesterday), I was more relaxed than I have been in some time, and ready to come back.

What, if any, psychological changes in myself will I note? This includes both positive and negative?

Positive: After an initial bit of squirming, I really did relax. It felt good to force myself to do mindless busy-work with my hands. I was surprised at how impatient I've grown with things I used to devote much more time to.

Negative: I saw how easy it could be to fall into general slothful ignorance. I realized how many people in a world don't have *clue one* about what is going on. I mean, I always knew that, of course...we all know it...but knowing it is one thing and wallowing in it is another. Ignorance is not bliss. Not if you have a working brain.

I guess it all comes down to moderation.

How will it feel to "plug back in" after a week?

Really good.

Ignorance is a nice place to visit...but I wouldn't want to live there.

Will the break have impacted my views on any given topic or topics in the news?

Hmm....tougher to answer. Surprisingly, perhaps not really. Maybe I'd have to get lost in the woods for a month for that to happen.

As noted, the Russian fires were the single strongest thing to penetrate through my dense fog of almost-completely-avoiding-eye-contact-with-newspaper-headlines.

I have some catching up to do...looking at the headlines it seems that the war-drums have sped themselves up a bit in the Middle East and Northeast Asia...

Will I feel dumber or more refreshed? Or no change at all?

Refreshed. Definitely refreshed. And more patient, interestingly.

What will I miss the most?

ATS, of course.

It's good to be back. Thanks for playing...

Silent Thunder




[edit on 8/12/10 by silent thunder]

I get to do this quite a bit. I live in a small Spanish village on the hillside, internet and electric goes out alot, ect. I have found the less input, the happier and saner existance seems. It's only when my husband insists on something on TV that the silence is broken.

But most of all, I found that I percieve the world more sanely when I have no input to distort reality.

Just prior to the big July predictions that were rampant on ATS I lost connectivity. It seems someone in the house overused our bandwidth and so everything came to a screeching halt.

I remember one day was right around the corner, a Saturday I believe, where the Aliens were going to appear but no cameras would be able to be used because all technology would come to a halt (for that day).

So here I sat thinking, "OMG I am missing it all"!! Two weeks passed and finally I was able to get a text only page opened. My service provider hates me because I was so livid after two weeks and my % of downloads was still too high and connectivity would not restore. LOL

I finally get back and everything here in ATS was just as I left it, nothing happened I guess, I don't think I ever caught back up with those past threads because the new threads were all too interesting anyways.

Two years ago I lost internet because of something called a "Tria", or something or other, that is attached to my satellite failed. Apparently there is a left "Tria" for one part of the country and a right "Tria" for another. I ended up with the bad one and the parts from China just would not arrive. I spent the next 8 months completely cut off of the World. I survived! I managed to get a ton of work done at any rate.

I finally forced them to cancel my contract so I could sign a new fresh one and get a new dish out of the box; very frustrating. Why couldn't they just open a new box for an existing customer?

I do feel for those that are so integrated/connected to the Internet; I think that there will be a day, soon, that all of our technology will be put on hold while the World goes through its "changes". I doubt the younger generation will cope as well as I did since I do remember half my adult life without a computer. I am also someone that does not rely on cellphones or the like. I may be a bit cavemanish when it comes to cellphones, I cannot even hold one without getting a cramp they are so tiny.

It was no biggy without the doomy gloomy every day, I am sure you will agree on your return. Unless of course the Aliens do land! LOL