A thread through the archive
Essays tagged “hallucinations”. Follow an idea across the archive.
Scott Alexander reports on a 1990s Buddhist sun miracle in Bangkok that closely resembles the famous 1917 Fatima miracle, suggesting sun miracles may be a specific psychological phenomenon related to meditation practices rather than divine intervention.
Scott argues that AI 'hallucinations' should be called 'shameless guesses' because they work the same way as students guessing on tests - making their best attempt when uncertain rather than admitting ignorance, revealing an alignment problem.
Scott reviews Julian Jaynes' controversial theory that ancient people lacked consciousness and instead heard hallucinated voices of gods, critiquing some aspects while finding value in the idea of theory of mind as culturally constructed.
Scott Alexander investigates the prevalence of Hallucinogen Persisting Perceptual Disorder (HPPD) and explores potential connections between perception, cognition, and belief in supernatural phenomena.
Scott Alexander hypothesizes that mystical experiences, hallucinations, and paranoia might be linked to an overactive pattern-matching faculty in the brain.
Scott Alexander presents a roundup of recent scientific and medical studies, covering topics from hallucinations to obesity genetics to schizophrenia treatment.
Scott questions whether mass hallucinations are real, distinguishing between mass hysteria (false beliefs) and actual shared vivid hallucinations, and asks for evidence of the latter.