Sociopath Community

by Buttered Toast

Well, I'm not sure.  I did try covering one side at a time.  But, I wonder if it is a shadow position, which makes the bottom left indicate a contrary light source to my eyes.  And, I am not a visual artist of any sort...I can't draw that great, even.  But the play of perspective seems to make the top left piece indicate distance through shortening that side.  I dunno...  That shit hypnotises me, even though I am immune to human hypnotism.

 Yep, they are great contemplative pieces, aren't they?

  "Those staircases are "islands of certainty" upon which we base our interpretation of the overall picture. Having once identified them, we try to extend our understanding, by seeking to establish the relationship which they bear to one another. At that stage, we encounter trouble. But if we attempted to backtrack - that is, to question the "islands of certainty" - we would also encounter trouble, of another sort. There's no way of backtracking and "undeciding" that they are staircases. They are not fishes, or whip or hands - they are just staircases.

  So we are forced, by the hierarchical nature of our perceptive processes, to see either a crazy world or just a bunch of pointless lines. A similar analysis could be made of dozens of Escher pictures, which rely heavily upon the recognition of certain basic forms, which are then put together in nonstandard ways; and by the time the observer sees the paradox on a high level, it is too late - he can't go back and change his mind about how to interpret the lower-level objects. 

The difference between an Escher drawing and non-Euclidean geometry is that in the latter, comprehensible interpretations can be found for the undefined terms, resulting in a comprehensible total system, whereas for the former, the end result is not reconcilable with one's conception of the world, no matter how long one stares at the pictures. Of course, one can still manufacture hypothetic worlds, in which Escherian events can happen ... but in such worlds, the laws of biology, physics, mathematics, or even logic will be violated on one level, while simultaneously being obeyed on another, which makes them extremely weird worlds."  (Etc.) 

http://www.physixfan.com/wp-content/files/GEBen.pdf

 

i like the word " pathognomonic "

even though i have no fucking idea what it means

Wow. 

by Turncoat

If you sort the actual shape out, you see the image is slightly twisted to create an unrealistic viewpoint. Even the shadows betray this a bit. The longer, deceptive side would be more obvious if the ball didn't change size.

 Yep, shading (tonality) is a powerful tool in creating alternative perceptions of perspective. Not only visual, here's a nifty musical trick: 

"A Bach Vortex Where All Levels Cross

One cannot help being reminded, when one looks at the diagrams of Strange Loops, of the Endlessly Rising Canon from the Musical Offering. A diagram of it would consist of six steps, as is shown in Figure 147.

It is too bad that when it returns to C, it is an octave higher rather than at the exact original pitch. Astonishingly enough, it is possible to arrange for it to return exactly to the starting pitch, by using what are called Shepard tones, after the psychologist Roger Shepard, who discovered the idea. (...) In words, it is this: you play parallel scales in several different octave ranges. Each note is weighted independently, and as the notes rise, the weights shift. You make the top octave gradually fade out, while at the same time you are gradually bringing in the bottom octave. Just at the moment you would ordinarily be one octave higher, the weights have shifted precisely so as to reproduce the starting pitch ... Thus you can go "up and up forever", never getting any higher! You can try it at your piano. It works even better if the pitches can be synthesized accurately under computer control. Then the illusion is bewilderingly strong."

^ Sounds pretty much like that staircase, huh??  

Here's the original  (un-Shepardised)  version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsgdZFIdmeo 

Speaking of balls, here's two more to fetch  (this time silver & gold): 

- and Escher's take on it, titled 'Crab Canon':

Awesome.

"I read somewhere that psychopaths need to take a "vacation in filth".
I think it was Cleckley who wrote about it. Yes, I have done this in a
way. I was leading a somewhat normal life until I broke off contact with
everyone I knew. After a while (not 100% intentionally) I started to
hang out with low lives, criminals, drug addicts and so on. Did this
for...around 1.5 years I think. Not all these people were bad and I
became accepted as one of them. I don't really see myself as one of
them, but I miss these people and those environments. I sometimes feel
that I really want to go back to those kind of environments and that
kind of people again.And a personal thing that I don't know what
the hell it's connected to, but I often act weird or "out of character"
when I've slept too little. Some of my friends know about this and I use
it as an excuse for the rude jokes I make and so on. If I haven't slept
in a long time I can become "hyper" in a way, like posting 100s of more
or less strange things on the internet, say offhand jokes to people I
meet and so on.So how well do these things coincide with how you are?"





I did that for a while, no regrets

by Storm

"Vacation in filth"

I read somewhere that psychopaths need to take a "vacation in filth". I think it was Cleckley who wrote about it. Yes, I have done this in a way. I was leading a somewhat normal life until I broke off contact with everyone I knew.

Isn't breaking off contact with everyone you know and disappearing liberating? I've been meaning to pull that trigger again for a while.

After a while (not 100% intentionally) I started to hang out with low lives, criminals, drug addicts and so on. Did this for...around 1.5 years I think. Not all these people were bad and I became accepted as one of them. I don't really see myself as one of them, but I miss these people and those environments. I sometimes feel that I really want to go back to those kind of environments and that kind of people again.

You have to get out of your comfort zone. If you don't you can get bored which leads to becoming easily irritated and possibly drinking a lot or doing drugs that make you act strangely. See how it all ties together?

And a personal thing that I don't know what the hell it's connected to, but I often act weird or "out of character" when I've slept too little. Some of my friends know about this and I use it as an excuse for the rude jokes I make and so on. If I haven't slept in a long time I can become "hyper" in a way, like posting 100s of more or less strange things on the internet, say offhand jokes to people I meet and so on.

You can sleep when you're dead.

by murderer

 

by Venator of Verum

Your perspective is derived purely from your ability to understand what constitutes reality and what you believe to be true.

 Should've expanded a bit more on that staircase. 

Can't quite put a finger on any flaw in the perspective:

Yet i can't build a fecking staircase like that in brick & mortar, however much i try. 

Some say it's a trick on the mind. However, lately it's rumoured  (by the Cern crowd et al)  that the universe is in fact fashioned along the lines of Escher's perspective. 

Or perhaps the observer is a trapped animal with an overwhelming and an impossible to resist desire to find a way out of the trap?

To find a way out of the trap it would be essential to figure out which perspective is a trap, to begin with - the brick & mortar staircase, or the infinite one?  If any at all. 

 

 

Every overtly developed/adjusted survival mechanism tends to be devoid of a perfect fail safe. 

Haha, we can cut that shorter: Every survival mechanism tends to be devoid of success. Or else things wouldn't die.  ('Survival mechanism' as in a fancy synonym for 'life'.)

Which raises the question, isn't death the defining factor (proof) of life? 

 

 

 It's the vertical line connecting the top right corner. When connected to the rest of that side, it makes the side appear to be going up, but when connected to the corner piece it connects to the ledge under the top row of windows in a way that the wall of the building transforms into the space between that building and the building next to it.

Easily bored

Yep, it's almost constant with me because I'm constantly craving excitement. The things that do give me a thrill are risky, dangerous and usually illegal. Unfortunately, I can't always do those things and when I do get the chance to do them the excitement never lasts long. It's fleeting.

Act strangely or out of character under the influence of alcohol?

When I drink in social situations I'm usually one of two ways - more aggressive than usual or more flirtatious than usual (depending on who I'm with).

I've threatened to kill people while drunk.

Once I held a broken bottle to a guy's throat for drinking some of my whiskey without my permission and told him I would kill him if I ever saw his face again. I remember hearing his mates say, "she's crazy, man. Let's go". I never did see them again.

On another occasion I grabbed a knife and took it out to kill someone. Long story short. I didn't kill him because, in my drunken state, I forgot that he was serving time in prison. Fortunately, nobody reported me to the police even though I had foolishly made my intentions public (that's how drunk I was).

Easily irritated

Yep. I'm impatient. I like instant gratification. When I yell "jump" I expect you to jump immediately, not 10 seconds from now, but RIGHT NOW, and if you don't, then that just serves to irritate me.

I also have low frustration tolerance and poor behavioral controls. I can get irritated very easily over noises that probably wouldn't bother other people too much. For example: A dog barking nearby can irritate the fuck out of me, so much so I want to go out and slit it's throat. Also, rats scratching in the roof drives me just about insane. I feel like ripping the house apart just to get at them and make the noise stop. It's all about instant gratification. I want the noise to stop NOW.

Emotional people also irritate me.

"Vacation in filth"

 Not sure about this one.

I see this "filth" as not a dirtiness but as a retreat in to the underground. to that place where the wicked live and the twisted thrive. I think it means that how ever well integrated any socio/psychopath is into society and how sophisticated, intelligent, and cultured they are they will feel the urge to satisfy there "dark" side.      

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