PsiPog.net

I was getting my hair cut today, and the barber was talking to an old man across the room. I was reading her and the old man during their conversation, out of boredom I guess... I saw her thought pattern, and could pick up the techniques she used to manipulate the old man. I thought it was interesting, but then I thought if there was a way I could confirm the information some other way...

Eventually I concluded there wasn't any way I could confirm what I read. This made me question: how can I be sure I'm reading things correctly? Or that I'm reading at all? And on the other side of the argument, how can you be sure you AREN'T reading someone? I believe empathy is very natural for human beings to do, and I believe that we do it more often than we think - so often that we take it for granted.

The skeptical side of me says "If you can't confirm when it's happening, then how do you know it's happening at all?" - this argument makes sense. But an important realization is that the opposite argument makes just as much sense... "If you can't confirm when it's happening, then how do you know it when it ISN'T happening?". For some reason, skeptics say we must "default" to the former argument. I believe there is no "default", and honestly, that the latter argument is a better question.

One phenomenon I've witnessed recently is interesting... (it's rated PG-13). A new girl that came to our tech school is a whore/slut. Now, immediately when she arrived, and the first time I saw her, I could tell... and so could everyone else. But how? Body language? Is it related to empathy at all, or is something else going on? Probably something else, but I still can't figure out how everyone got the same vibe from her instantly. You can just TELL... but HOW? . (Little things like this bug me a lot... I suppose others just gloss over it and accept she is a whore/slut right away... I don't care about that, I care about how I came to that conclusion so quickly.)

~Sean