The Secret of mindreading ! Want to know what the people around you are thinking? The skill may not be so esoteric after all, if Professor Nicholas Epley is to be believed - to know more read this interesting article : http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-fridayreview/the-secret-of-mindreading/article5782004.ece
Able to read the mind of somebody else. Awesome ! Lovely ! Super ! Any such exclamatory words will not be sufficient in the event of a success in devising such a method or tool.
Take the case of recent incident of missing the Malaysian Airlines aircraft. It could be a terrorist act. It could be a suicide. Such theories are going around. Assume we had a mind-reader installed in the security check in. What going through the mind of the pilot or the terrorist would have flashed on that big screen. Tragedy could have been averted.
In the article it says that the Prof did an experiment with couples. "The couples were asked to respond, together and independently, guess their spouse’s response. The result was abysmal and the couples showed they understood each other even less than strangers would understand each other." Last evening I was looking at my wife closely. She adjusted her posture well thinking that I was enjoying her beauty. Little did she know that I was thinking what funny things I could write about her in my next blog ! And a little later while I was browsing the internet, I heard her singing that famous Hindi song "Hamein Tum Se Pyaar Kitna...." I sincerely hope she is trying to convey how much she loves me, but while singing what actually goes through her mind could be "This moron, always "wired" to get "weird" ideas for the day, no time for him to listen to what I'm saying" !
Infy stocks plunged 9% in a day. Couple of days ago. All because its chairman spoke what was in his mind. No good the company performance would be in coming quarters. No bad feeling in my mind, as I stopped working for Infy. Nor I hold any stocks of Infy. But there are many people who hold Infy stocks. There was a huge dip in their accumulated wealth.
What those heavy-duty investors can do is invest in a company that can develop the mind-reader. Attrition of key people is one of the big reasons for bad performance. It is so difficult to get early signals from such key people, that's my experience at least. Normally people who are planning to quit, gives you warnings with out telling what's there in their mind. Coming late, not listening to what you say in a meeting, a distant old relative dies when an important task is assigned - more than enough to know what is happening. No need of a mind-reader there. But those sincere, key people will not show any symptoms. They will carry out their work as usual and one fine morning you would hear the bad news. It would be too late by then to take any preventive action. One would definitely need a mind-reader in these cases.
Facebook asks you "What's on your mind " when you want to update your status. In a way, it is a tool to dissipate things that go through one's mind. But then, you know I know, that what one writes there something that he/she explicitly wants others to know. FB will be of no use in extracting those secret things that one does not want to divulge. Twitter asks "What is happening ". It is a much more open ended question. Chances are high that a week mind can drop a few things here and there. Suicides can happen !
I am waiting for that day. The day when that super gadget is available in the market. All I have to do is wear it in my wrist while walking on the road. And when I go past that lady, it would beep with a message "Dirty fellow, why are you staring at me? As if you haven't seen a lady before " the decoded message received from the mind of that lady. So that I can continue my walk looking at those sign boards in the opposite direction "Hungry Kya ?" or "We make the impossible possible" or "Interested in rental or lease? " et all.
Years back, I developed a growth on my left shoulder. It was a small, tiny lump. As my wealth grew, that also grew. I had to go to my physician who directed me to surgeon, Dr Seshadri. Seeing his face itself I could easily make out as what's going through his mind - another "bakra" to cut through! I was not wrong. After giving a nice massage to that lump, he declared "this needs to be removed, biopsy required". Understandable. But while telling that he made a face which could convey hundred things. I wish I had one powerful mind-reader to know what was going through Dr Seshadri's mind. It could be that, this is too small a lump, an insult to his surgical skills. It could be that, he does not know what the hell it is, he had never seen such a strange person with equally strange lump on peculiar part of his body. Or it could be that, he very well knew how dangerous the lump was and this person would not be able to see next Divali.
You may analyse your mind as much you can, if you are free and you do not have any thing else important to do. But do not try to read too much into other person's mind and draw conclusions. Let that person tell what is in his/her mind. That would be better to keep you happy. To keep the other person happy too.
Here wishing you a mind-boggling weekend ahead !
Able to read the mind of somebody else. Awesome ! Lovely ! Super ! Any such exclamatory words will not be sufficient in the event of a success in devising such a method or tool.
Take the case of recent incident of missing the Malaysian Airlines aircraft. It could be a terrorist act. It could be a suicide. Such theories are going around. Assume we had a mind-reader installed in the security check in. What going through the mind of the pilot or the terrorist would have flashed on that big screen. Tragedy could have been averted.
In the article it says that the Prof did an experiment with couples. "The couples were asked to respond, together and independently, guess their spouse’s response. The result was abysmal and the couples showed they understood each other even less than strangers would understand each other." Last evening I was looking at my wife closely. She adjusted her posture well thinking that I was enjoying her beauty. Little did she know that I was thinking what funny things I could write about her in my next blog ! And a little later while I was browsing the internet, I heard her singing that famous Hindi song "Hamein Tum Se Pyaar Kitna...." I sincerely hope she is trying to convey how much she loves me, but while singing what actually goes through her mind could be "This moron, always "wired" to get "weird" ideas for the day, no time for him to listen to what I'm saying" !
Infy stocks plunged 9% in a day. Couple of days ago. All because its chairman spoke what was in his mind. No good the company performance would be in coming quarters. No bad feeling in my mind, as I stopped working for Infy. Nor I hold any stocks of Infy. But there are many people who hold Infy stocks. There was a huge dip in their accumulated wealth.
What those heavy-duty investors can do is invest in a company that can develop the mind-reader. Attrition of key people is one of the big reasons for bad performance. It is so difficult to get early signals from such key people, that's my experience at least. Normally people who are planning to quit, gives you warnings with out telling what's there in their mind. Coming late, not listening to what you say in a meeting, a distant old relative dies when an important task is assigned - more than enough to know what is happening. No need of a mind-reader there. But those sincere, key people will not show any symptoms. They will carry out their work as usual and one fine morning you would hear the bad news. It would be too late by then to take any preventive action. One would definitely need a mind-reader in these cases.
Facebook asks you "What's on your mind " when you want to update your status. In a way, it is a tool to dissipate things that go through one's mind. But then, you know I know, that what one writes there something that he/she explicitly wants others to know. FB will be of no use in extracting those secret things that one does not want to divulge. Twitter asks "What is happening ". It is a much more open ended question. Chances are high that a week mind can drop a few things here and there. Suicides can happen !
I am waiting for that day. The day when that super gadget is available in the market. All I have to do is wear it in my wrist while walking on the road. And when I go past that lady, it would beep with a message "Dirty fellow, why are you staring at me? As if you haven't seen a lady before " the decoded message received from the mind of that lady. So that I can continue my walk looking at those sign boards in the opposite direction "Hungry Kya ?" or "We make the impossible possible" or "Interested in rental or lease? " et all.
Years back, I developed a growth on my left shoulder. It was a small, tiny lump. As my wealth grew, that also grew. I had to go to my physician who directed me to surgeon, Dr Seshadri. Seeing his face itself I could easily make out as what's going through his mind - another "bakra" to cut through! I was not wrong. After giving a nice massage to that lump, he declared "this needs to be removed, biopsy required". Understandable. But while telling that he made a face which could convey hundred things. I wish I had one powerful mind-reader to know what was going through Dr Seshadri's mind. It could be that, this is too small a lump, an insult to his surgical skills. It could be that, he does not know what the hell it is, he had never seen such a strange person with equally strange lump on peculiar part of his body. Or it could be that, he very well knew how dangerous the lump was and this person would not be able to see next Divali.
You may analyse your mind as much you can, if you are free and you do not have any thing else important to do. But do not try to read too much into other person's mind and draw conclusions. Let that person tell what is in his/her mind. That would be better to keep you happy. To keep the other person happy too.
Here wishing you a mind-boggling weekend ahead !
Nice article.Wish sometimes we dont need a mind reader .If life should be complicated then we need a mind reader .But some cases you mentioned like in case of the plain disappearance there should be a mind reader .Somecases it would be funny to have a mind reader for ex in coming elections we place a mind reader there can be many days of funny serials . .
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