1 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:06,279 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuffworks 2 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:14,880 Speaker 1: dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 3 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:17,480 Speaker 1: My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. And 4 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:21,239 Speaker 1: todays St Patrick's Today. So we have a little bit 5 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:23,520 Speaker 1: of a little bit of fun here for you from 6 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:27,000 Speaker 1: the archives, an episode about lepri Cons a little bit, 7 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:33,840 Speaker 1: but also primarily about hallucination. Yes, Liliputian hallucinations we're talking 8 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:36,720 Speaker 1: about on the tiny, tiny scale. So we hope that 9 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:42,239 Speaker 1: you guys enjoy and have a happy holiday. I have 10 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:46,720 Speaker 1: always loved St. Patrick's Day. I don't have I'm basically 11 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:49,159 Speaker 1: of Scotch German heritage, so I don't have that you know, 12 00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:53,280 Speaker 1: distinctive Irish roots link to it, and I don't have it, 13 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:55,360 Speaker 1: you know, I don't have the like the Catholic link 14 00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:58,960 Speaker 1: to it either. But from a very early age, like 15 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:01,280 Speaker 1: my family was always in to St. Patrick's Day. You know, 16 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:03,760 Speaker 1: my mom's mom is a kindergarten teacher, so we would 17 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:07,200 Speaker 1: have green things, we would eat green treats, green beer, well, 18 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:09,560 Speaker 1: no green beer, but but maybe like a green cake 19 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:12,039 Speaker 1: or a cupcake or something. And I still with St 20 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:13,520 Speaker 1: Patrick's Day comes around, I'm like I need to eat 21 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:15,960 Speaker 1: something that's green. I need to get like a pistatio cupcakes, 22 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:19,840 Speaker 1: the Statio pudding. Um. But more importantly, we would, to 23 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:24,120 Speaker 1: a certain extent, we would celebrate the the Irish myth 24 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:27,760 Speaker 1: of the of the leprechn We would always watch Darby 25 00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:31,080 Speaker 1: O Gil and the Little People, that classic Disney film 26 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 1: with Sean Connery in it. Wow, you guys did it up. Yeah. Yeah, 27 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:37,720 Speaker 1: we were big into the holidays, so we would always 28 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:40,360 Speaker 1: watch Darbo Gil and a Little People. Sean Connery would 29 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:42,880 Speaker 1: sing and it was awesome. Lepri cons would run around, 30 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:45,480 Speaker 1: there was a banshee. Um. You know, it was just 31 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:48,160 Speaker 1: it was a great film. I still watch it from 32 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:51,160 Speaker 1: time to time. I just I feel like this is 33 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: really informed, like your ideas of creatures in the world. 34 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: Like somehow this is like an early influence on you. Yeah, definitely, 35 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:00,800 Speaker 1: I mean we we really we got into Halloween and 36 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:03,080 Speaker 1: then we would really get My big thing on on 37 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:05,760 Speaker 1: holidays is that if a holiday has magic to it, 38 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:10,080 Speaker 1: then it's in creatures specifically, then it's great. Like I 39 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:13,760 Speaker 1: can obviously Halloween. I love Christmas. You know, you know, 40 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:15,560 Speaker 1: the Christmas season can get a bit annoying when it's 41 00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:19,600 Speaker 1: over commercialization, but ultimately it's a season in which, on 42 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:22,840 Speaker 1: one hand you have a magical man sneaking into your 43 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 1: house to give you gifts. There's there's Crampus running around 44 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:29,400 Speaker 1: beating people. There's what's his name, Brumschnickel, the the other 45 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:33,399 Speaker 1: Germanic holiday visitor. There at various takes on St. Nick 46 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:35,400 Speaker 1: And then and if you get into the more religious 47 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:37,200 Speaker 1: aspect of it too, you have like the Son of 48 00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:40,200 Speaker 1: God being born on earth. They're they're all these fantastic 49 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:43,120 Speaker 1: things happening. St. Patrick's Day is also in that vein, 50 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:46,160 Speaker 1: unlike Valentine's Day, where it's just about people in love 51 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:49,360 Speaker 1: and stuff. But but St. Patty's Day there's this backbone 52 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 1: of myth and legend to it and uh and it's awesome. 53 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:55,560 Speaker 1: So so what is your background with Leprika? Well, quickly, 54 00:02:55,720 --> 00:02:58,799 Speaker 1: Valentine's Day clearly needs some sort of creature's lacking that 55 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:02,200 Speaker 1: we should really get into the idea of brainstorming that 56 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:04,840 Speaker 1: without listening. Yeah, yeah, that's another s side project for 57 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:08,000 Speaker 1: all of us. Um, But for me, St. Pat's has 58 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:09,960 Speaker 1: just always been St. Pat's. I gotta say. In my 59 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:13,160 Speaker 1: family it was sort of like their Santa Claus is 60 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:15,679 Speaker 1: really like the dude down the street who's dressing up 61 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:20,720 Speaker 1: and um, lepricrons don't exist truly, really, and happy fourth Birthday, 62 00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:23,880 Speaker 1: I'm just kidding, no, but really that wasn't That's not 63 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:27,480 Speaker 1: really something that we celebrated much. But I will say 64 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:32,800 Speaker 1: that the diminutive, diminutive stature of lepricrons always thought were 65 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:36,520 Speaker 1: fascinating as a little kid. And what I find even 66 00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:40,920 Speaker 1: more fascinating is that there is a type of hallucination 67 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 1: that deals with this, this Liliputian quality. Um. And that's 68 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:49,040 Speaker 1: what we're going to talk about today, because again in 69 00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:53,000 Speaker 1: celebration of St. Patty's Day, but also as a further 70 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:56,480 Speaker 1: investigation into how the mind works and how it scales 71 00:03:56,520 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 1: our reality. Alright, So the Leprechnilipic from Irish folklore, this 72 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:05,720 Speaker 1: is a fairy shoemaker uh and he's and he goes 73 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:08,400 Speaker 1: by various names including it really depends on where you 74 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:11,600 Speaker 1: are in particular region of Ireland uh and or the 75 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:14,800 Speaker 1: history books. So you have lucre pan and again this 76 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:18,480 Speaker 1: basically translates to little body and then there are various 77 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:24,520 Speaker 1: versions of that lubrican lubrican lucre pan Luprican. They are 78 00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:26,920 Speaker 1: all these various takes on it, but as the one 79 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:29,359 Speaker 1: that we really go with today, of course is Lepricn. 80 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:34,080 Speaker 1: And the Lepricn is a is again a shoemaker. You 81 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 1: generally would see him with just a single shoe. There 82 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:39,279 Speaker 1: would never be a second shoe around, which is a 83 00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:41,760 Speaker 1: little suspect and should have been a tip off to 84 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:44,159 Speaker 1: people who end up messing with said lepricon. This is 85 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:47,200 Speaker 1: like waste management job, Like, you know, maybe that's for 86 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:50,240 Speaker 1: Lepricn being is shoemaker. Yeah, like you should be a 87 00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:52,640 Speaker 1: little aware that where's the other shoe. There's something fishy 88 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:55,200 Speaker 1: going on also, and this is something that will come 89 00:04:55,240 --> 00:04:57,840 Speaker 1: up if, especially if the Lepricn is pressed about his 90 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:01,400 Speaker 1: personal belongings. He carries a p but the purse only 91 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:04,800 Speaker 1: contains a single shilling, much like a pizza delivery boy 92 00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:08,840 Speaker 1: only carries twenty dollars or less. The idea here is, oh, 93 00:05:08,839 --> 00:05:11,279 Speaker 1: you're gonna try and steal me gold. I only have 94 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:15,560 Speaker 1: this one shilling, but I may have lots of gold elsewhere. 95 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:19,560 Speaker 1: That's the big thing. This idea grows that Leprichns have 96 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:23,960 Speaker 1: access to a massive quantity of gold and and certainly 97 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:27,560 Speaker 1: in the mythology they do. They're paid by the ferry 98 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:29,800 Speaker 1: folk for what I'm not sure. I guess repairing that 99 00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:32,440 Speaker 1: one shoe over and over again. So and there they 100 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:35,640 Speaker 1: save up their money and they're laundering the money kind 101 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:40,200 Speaker 1: of kind of money Launders h. But people get this 102 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:42,360 Speaker 1: in their mind, Oh there's a Lepricn. If I capture 103 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:46,080 Speaker 1: the Lepricn, then I can get access to his fabulous gold. 104 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:48,200 Speaker 1: I can make him tell me where it is. And 105 00:05:48,279 --> 00:05:50,080 Speaker 1: later you get into the idea of the Lepricn gives 106 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:52,400 Speaker 1: you three wishes. But ultimately the route is, if you 107 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:55,160 Speaker 1: catch a Leprichn, you can totally rob him of everything 108 00:05:55,200 --> 00:06:00,680 Speaker 1: he owns. That's how the the average Lepricn chasing uh 109 00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:04,960 Speaker 1: individual was was thinking. So, um, what would typically happen? 110 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:07,039 Speaker 1: I should say that the classic story, of course, is 111 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:08,960 Speaker 1: the guy catches the Lepricn says, oh, take me to 112 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:11,279 Speaker 1: your gold. And you have to know that if you 113 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:14,440 Speaker 1: look away from the Lepricn at all, then he can vanish, 114 00:06:14,480 --> 00:06:17,120 Speaker 1: he can turn it visible. He's a supernatural creature with 115 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:20,120 Speaker 1: these powers at his disposal. So what happens if the 116 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:21,880 Speaker 1: Lebricn says, oh, I'll take you to the bush that 117 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:24,599 Speaker 1: I have the gold buried beneath and so, and who 118 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:26,839 Speaker 1: knows if this bush actually has the gold under it 119 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:30,320 Speaker 1: or not. Um it works. The trick works well either way. 120 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:32,160 Speaker 1: But it takes him out there and says, oh, it's 121 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:34,160 Speaker 1: under this bush. And then the guy who's captured the 122 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:36,719 Speaker 1: Lepricn realize I don't have a shovel. I have no 123 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:40,120 Speaker 1: way of digging up this gold. So he says, I 124 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:42,840 Speaker 1: know what I'll do. I'll take this red bandana or this, uh, 125 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:45,240 Speaker 1: this kerchief or whatever, and I'll tie it, tie this 126 00:06:45,279 --> 00:06:47,280 Speaker 1: red kerchief to this bush, and then I'll go home 127 00:06:47,279 --> 00:06:49,160 Speaker 1: and I'll get my shovel and i'll come back. So 128 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:51,560 Speaker 1: he lets the Lepricn free, goes back home, he gets 129 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:53,360 Speaker 1: the shovel, comes back, and what has the Lepricn done. 130 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:56,680 Speaker 1: The Lepricn is tied the red kerchief to every bush 131 00:06:56,720 --> 00:06:58,800 Speaker 1: and tree in sight, so there's no way for him 132 00:06:58,839 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 1: to remember which uch. What's he gonna do dig up 133 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:03,159 Speaker 1: all of them? He'll try for a little bit before 134 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:06,159 Speaker 1: he loses his mind, I guess. But that's the trickster 135 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:08,240 Speaker 1: aspect of the lepricn. Okay, see that just takes me 136 00:07:08,279 --> 00:07:11,640 Speaker 1: back to the thirty Rock maxim, which is never follow 137 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:15,520 Speaker 1: a hippie to a second location. Same thing with the lepricron, right, yeah, 138 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:20,080 Speaker 1: so he the elepricns engage in various tricks like this. 139 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:23,600 Speaker 1: They are largely solitary creatures, though they do have a 140 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:28,600 Speaker 1: king name Lubden. They're all males too, correct. Yeah. I 141 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:31,000 Speaker 1: did see some possible mention of female elepricns, and the 142 00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:33,560 Speaker 1: idea being that female elepricuns do exist, but they're even 143 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:36,200 Speaker 1: more tricky, so they're I guess they're harder to observe 144 00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:38,680 Speaker 1: in nature. They're making that second too, yeah, or maybe 145 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:43,239 Speaker 1: they're lessened to messing around and and and deceiving humans. 146 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:48,960 Speaker 1: Because ultimately, the idea here is that lepricns are a 147 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:52,840 Speaker 1: type of fairy folk. They are fairies and fairies. The 148 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:56,400 Speaker 1: notion of fairy varies greatly around the world, but there 149 00:07:56,440 --> 00:08:01,400 Speaker 1: exists a nearly global idea of diminutive men, magical humanoids 150 00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:05,040 Speaker 1: and that are out there in the world, often generally 151 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:07,920 Speaker 1: hidden from view, kind of an underworld taking place or 152 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:10,240 Speaker 1: you know, or in the natural world or underground or 153 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:12,320 Speaker 1: you know, somewhere that the humans are less likely to 154 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 1: see them during the course of their day. What I'm 155 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:17,880 Speaker 1: trying to say is that they have a rich cultural 156 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:22,680 Speaker 1: history um and some amazing mythology going on there beyond 157 00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:25,760 Speaker 1: the lepricn but all of this relates to fairy f 158 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:30,000 Speaker 1: like Eventually, the idea is that even these magical people 159 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:34,160 Speaker 1: were defeated by essentially the modern day Celts, and they 160 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:36,680 Speaker 1: drive all these magical people out into the peripheries of 161 00:08:36,679 --> 00:08:39,120 Speaker 1: the world. But you can still glimpse them, you still 162 00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:41,839 Speaker 1: see them sometimes. Well. See, this is what I think 163 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:44,079 Speaker 1: is so interesting about it, is that it is so 164 00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:48,880 Speaker 1: deeply ingrained in the cultural fabric, particularly and when we 165 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:52,880 Speaker 1: talk about lebri cons in Ireland right and how this 166 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:57,920 Speaker 1: really informs everybody's perception of life. And I wanted to 167 00:08:57,920 --> 00:09:00,960 Speaker 1: point out a couple of things. One is that Lepricrons 168 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:06,360 Speaker 1: are protected under European Union Law KULD you not, yes, 169 00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:09,520 Speaker 1: at least the ones that dwell in calling Ford in Ireland. 170 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:12,840 Speaker 1: The directive is an effort to preserve the rich biodiversity 171 00:09:12,920 --> 00:09:16,440 Speaker 1: of the area called the slab Foy Loop, which is 172 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:19,960 Speaker 1: now a protected area for flora, fauna, wild animals, and 173 00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:23,720 Speaker 1: lepri cons. And this is a directive that was stemmed 174 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:25,760 Speaker 1: in part by a group of lobbyists who recounted a 175 00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:28,960 Speaker 1: tale in nineteen nine of p J. O'Hare who happened 176 00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:31,960 Speaker 1: to be over by wishing well this man and he 177 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:34,200 Speaker 1: heard a scream and he said he went to the 178 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:37,520 Speaker 1: wishing well and he found, um, first of all, a 179 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:41,080 Speaker 1: patch of burnt ground. And beside this patch he found 180 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:44,640 Speaker 1: a little hat, jacket and trousers with four gold coins 181 00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:48,720 Speaker 1: in the pockets. The close of the naked lepre con, 182 00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:51,959 Speaker 1: as this lepricon is called, are actually on display at 183 00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:55,559 Speaker 1: Pj's Pub in carling Ford. So you know, as this 184 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:58,560 Speaker 1: a tourist trap, absolutely, but again is it part of 185 00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:03,440 Speaker 1: the imagination, the the cultural fabric. And um, you know, 186 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:06,800 Speaker 1: I'm not saying that pg o hair was that he 187 00:10:06,880 --> 00:10:11,520 Speaker 1: actually witnessed. You know this What we see is that 188 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:16,760 Speaker 1: maybe a streaking lebre con gone gone wild. But um, 189 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:23,800 Speaker 1: but but perhaps p J O'Hare was also participating and um, 190 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:27,360 Speaker 1: you know, some sort of cultural tradition. Maybe he had 191 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:31,679 Speaker 1: too much to drink, or maybe he had a hallucination. Okay, 192 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:34,880 Speaker 1: And this is where this really comes into play because, 193 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:39,240 Speaker 1: according to Oliver Sacks and his World Science Festival interview 194 00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:44,199 Speaker 1: about his new book on hallucinations. He says that hallucinations 195 00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:48,280 Speaker 1: really are cultural in nature and specific to the individual's background. 196 00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:51,400 Speaker 1: So he said that seeing miniature people is one type 197 00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:54,640 Speaker 1: of hallucination, as we said, a subtype. But depending on 198 00:10:54,679 --> 00:10:58,640 Speaker 1: the person's cultural background, the miniature person could be a lepricn, 199 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:02,640 Speaker 1: a dwarf, a ary. So that's why I think this 200 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:06,760 Speaker 1: is fascinating because, uh, if you have this hallucination, it 201 00:11:06,880 --> 00:11:09,559 Speaker 1: is colored by your perception, what you have grown up with, 202 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:12,160 Speaker 1: the sort of stories, and this is the sort of 203 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:16,199 Speaker 1: thing that might be expressed depending on certain external conditions 204 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:20,480 Speaker 1: or neurological conditions that you have. So of course, if 205 00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:24,040 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about these Liliputian hallucinations, and that's 206 00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:26,640 Speaker 1: what they're called, we should first sort of give a 207 00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:30,440 Speaker 1: little bit of an intro on hallucinations. Yeah, it's worth 208 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:33,720 Speaker 1: noting that hallucination is we're discussing here. It's just one 209 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:38,600 Speaker 1: way of looking at essentially paranormal experience. As we discussed 210 00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:42,120 Speaker 1: in our alien abduction episode. People have always seen weird 211 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:44,520 Speaker 1: things in the woods and the skies. He used to 212 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:47,240 Speaker 1: be fairies. Then depending on your cultural flavoring, maybe it's 213 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:50,440 Speaker 1: angels or maybe sci fi flavoring makes you see UFOs. 214 00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:54,480 Speaker 1: We've always seen things, We've all we've always had these experiences, 215 00:11:54,559 --> 00:11:56,600 Speaker 1: and there are various ways you can explain them that 216 00:11:56,800 --> 00:12:00,400 Speaker 1: range from simple imagination of a youngster to neuro logical 217 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:05,480 Speaker 1: disorder and uh and and it's it's definitely happening for 218 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:08,560 Speaker 1: the person who is experiencing them. Yeah, and UM. When 219 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:12,520 Speaker 1: we talk about hallucinations, we're talking about many different sensory modalities, 220 00:12:12,559 --> 00:12:17,559 Speaker 1: turning about visual, auditory, old factory, gustatory, tactile, and other um. 221 00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:20,520 Speaker 1: And you can actually if a person is undergoing a 222 00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:22,680 Speaker 1: hallucination at the same time that they're going m R right, 223 00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:24,960 Speaker 1: you can actually try to figure out the type of 224 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:28,240 Speaker 1: hallucination there have having by looking at the blood flow 225 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:30,200 Speaker 1: to the region of their brain. And so, for instance, 226 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:33,559 Speaker 1: if you see increased blood flow to the fusiform gyus, 227 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:36,960 Speaker 1: which is where you detect face faces, then you know 228 00:12:37,040 --> 00:12:40,760 Speaker 1: someone is having some sort of um visual hallucination having 229 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:44,640 Speaker 1: to do with perhaps even a little person. UM. So 230 00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:46,760 Speaker 1: it's kind of funny to me because when we talk 231 00:12:46,760 --> 00:12:50,000 Speaker 1: about hallucinations, we really think about them as being apart 232 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:52,560 Speaker 1: from us and otherworldly. Yeah, we tend to think of them. 233 00:12:52,679 --> 00:12:57,240 Speaker 1: An hallucination is seeing something in the world as it is, 234 00:12:57,240 --> 00:13:01,080 Speaker 1: not it's seeing the world wrong, but that that really 235 00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:03,880 Speaker 1: implies that there is a correct and definitive way to 236 00:13:04,040 --> 00:13:07,440 Speaker 1: experience reality. Yeah, because I was thinking about this. We 237 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:13,160 Speaker 1: really do have a very tenuous line between imagination and reality. 238 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:15,200 Speaker 1: And I was thinking about this in the context of 239 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:18,800 Speaker 1: our blue sky, right, because what is the blue sky 240 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:21,560 Speaker 1: butt an illusion to us? Because if you think about it, 241 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:25,160 Speaker 1: the only reason why we're seeing a blue sky is 242 00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:30,920 Speaker 1: because violet and blue have the shortest wavelengths and they 243 00:13:30,960 --> 00:13:33,800 Speaker 1: scatter a lot more than long ones. Some particles like 244 00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:36,560 Speaker 1: oxygen and nitrogen molecules are present, so those are the 245 00:13:36,559 --> 00:13:38,760 Speaker 1: ones that are most apparent to us. So that's what 246 00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:41,120 Speaker 1: we see when we're looking up in the sky. And 247 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:43,680 Speaker 1: then it's not that we just see a purple and 248 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:46,520 Speaker 1: a blue sky. No, the mind can't even really sort 249 00:13:46,520 --> 00:13:48,760 Speaker 1: of deal with that because of the machinery that we 250 00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:52,440 Speaker 1: have um with our perception of color, it kind of 251 00:13:52,440 --> 00:13:54,920 Speaker 1: has to mix some of that with white until it 252 00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:58,200 Speaker 1: turns out to this cohesive blue that we look up 253 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:01,360 Speaker 1: in the sky at so it really makes you think 254 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:04,120 Speaker 1: to what extent am I experiencing the world around you? 255 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:08,680 Speaker 1: I mean, ultimately, our brain, it's it's it's inside of 256 00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:11,000 Speaker 1: some bone, it's inside of some skull, depends on these 257 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:15,600 Speaker 1: sensory uh mechanisms to experience the world and then translate 258 00:14:15,640 --> 00:14:20,080 Speaker 1: that into data. So essentially the brain is blind anyway. Well, 259 00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:23,720 Speaker 1: and it's highly sensitive to suggestion. We've mentioned this before, 260 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:26,000 Speaker 1: but there's a twenty eleven study at Whole University in 261 00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:29,120 Speaker 1: the UK, and it asked participants to imagine a color 262 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:33,040 Speaker 1: while looking at a great pattern. And what they found 263 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:36,400 Speaker 1: is that those people who were most susceptible to hypnosis 264 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:39,200 Speaker 1: in other words, given to suggestion, they were able to 265 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:42,720 Speaker 1: actually hallucinate the colors at will when they were asked to, 266 00:14:43,320 --> 00:14:46,280 Speaker 1: which was corroberated by an m R. I. So again 267 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:49,200 Speaker 1: there's this idea of you know, what is you know, 268 00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:50,960 Speaker 1: we bring this up a lot, like what is reality 269 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:54,200 Speaker 1: and how much of it is colored by our perceptions? Yeah? 270 00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:56,280 Speaker 1: So much of the I mean you can argue that 271 00:14:56,280 --> 00:14:58,960 Speaker 1: our perception of reality itself is a is an hallucination, 272 00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:02,800 Speaker 1: and any um alteration of that is just a it's 273 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:05,280 Speaker 1: just a change in the flavoring. Um. We're gonna take 274 00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:06,840 Speaker 1: a quick break, and when we get back, though, we 275 00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:10,000 Speaker 1: are going to talk about this specific type of hallucination 276 00:15:10,040 --> 00:15:14,640 Speaker 1: that deals with the detection of tiny things, tiny people, 277 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:29,360 Speaker 1: tiny animals. All right, we're back. And in this episode, 278 00:15:29,360 --> 00:15:32,040 Speaker 1: we of course started off by talking a little bit 279 00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:36,320 Speaker 1: about fairy folk and Laprikaans paranormal experience essentially, and we're 280 00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:40,760 Speaker 1: getting into into discussion of how hallucination, it's particular modes 281 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:46,920 Speaker 1: of hallucination make us see tiny people and tiny things. Yeah, 282 00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:51,200 Speaker 1: and you know, before we start talking about um about 283 00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:54,440 Speaker 1: this perception or this illusion of tiny people or things, 284 00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:58,200 Speaker 1: I wanted to point out that it is amazing when 285 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:01,480 Speaker 1: you think about it, that our eyes and our minds 286 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:06,200 Speaker 1: are able to visually reconstruct things. So for instance, if 287 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:08,400 Speaker 1: you have, you know, a plate on the table and 288 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:10,480 Speaker 1: the fork next to it, and you continue to look 289 00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:13,080 Speaker 1: back and forth at those items, your brain has to 290 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:17,480 Speaker 1: over and over again visually reconstruct those items and also 291 00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:20,440 Speaker 1: do that, um, you know, in the context of moving 292 00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:24,040 Speaker 1: back and forth. So it's got the movement element. And 293 00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:28,920 Speaker 1: what we're talking about here is perceptual constancy. So what 294 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:30,720 Speaker 1: your mind is doing is saying that plate is still 295 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:32,800 Speaker 1: the plate, and is still the dimension that it is, 296 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:34,720 Speaker 1: is still the scale that it is. And this is 297 00:16:34,960 --> 00:16:37,000 Speaker 1: a lot of work for your brain to do, in 298 00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:38,640 Speaker 1: your eye to do, to take in all of this 299 00:16:38,880 --> 00:16:41,080 Speaker 1: data and make us feel as though we are on 300 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:45,640 Speaker 1: the same, uh constant state where things are the same 301 00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:47,560 Speaker 1: and have a constancy to them. Yeah. One of the 302 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:50,000 Speaker 1: things that this discussion of hallucination really drives home is 303 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:54,160 Speaker 1: that site and our perception are the mental processes that 304 00:16:54,200 --> 00:16:58,600 Speaker 1: makes site possible are pretty complex and uh, the least 305 00:16:58,640 --> 00:17:02,640 Speaker 1: little bit of something can can go wrong or or change, 306 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:06,399 Speaker 1: and it can can have some pretty dramatic effects on 307 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:09,280 Speaker 1: how you perceive reality. Yeah, it's funny because you really 308 00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:11,960 Speaker 1: do take it for granted. How stable the images are 309 00:17:12,080 --> 00:17:14,639 Speaker 1: around you and how stable the story that that your 310 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:18,879 Speaker 1: perception is telling you is all because of these different 311 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:21,399 Speaker 1: parts of your brains working in concert. There is something 312 00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:26,520 Speaker 1: called micropesha or alice in Wonderland syndrome, and this is 313 00:17:26,560 --> 00:17:30,520 Speaker 1: when objects actually appear smaller, and it's not necessarily the 314 00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:32,840 Speaker 1: mechanics of the guys, but it's really the interpretation of 315 00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:35,919 Speaker 1: the data that causes the objects in the visual field 316 00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:41,240 Speaker 1: to appear minuscule. So when you have these lilocution hallucinations, um, 317 00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:45,080 Speaker 1: they are forming complex visual hallucinations of people, objects, or 318 00:17:45,119 --> 00:17:48,840 Speaker 1: animals that are greatly reduced in size or sometimes exaggerated, Yes, 319 00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:52,000 Speaker 1: sometimes exagger which also ends up going into all sorts 320 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:54,840 Speaker 1: of mythological possibilities there as well. Right, we've got some 321 00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:56,960 Speaker 1: example too that that really sort of dwell in this. 322 00:17:57,480 --> 00:18:00,919 Speaker 1: And the hallucinations are vivid and they evoke varied responses 323 00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:04,440 Speaker 1: including fear, anxiety, or even pleasure. Um, They've been seen 324 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:07,840 Speaker 1: across the board and people who are experiencing delirium tremens 325 00:18:08,119 --> 00:18:11,000 Speaker 1: from alcohol withdraw, people who have eyesight problems such as 326 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:16,000 Speaker 1: macular degeneration, and people with mental disorders like schizophrenia. Although 327 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:20,320 Speaker 1: in schizophrenia, even though hallucinations are are more common, this 328 00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:24,880 Speaker 1: type of hallucination, this little acution, is very rare. Yeah, 329 00:18:24,920 --> 00:18:26,760 Speaker 1: And most of the cases that we're looking at with 330 00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:29,600 Speaker 1: little acuction, Uh, it's a it's a situation where the 331 00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:34,399 Speaker 1: person is otherwise mentally fine, Like they're not They're not 332 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:38,920 Speaker 1: a disturbed individual or a quote unquote crazy person. It's 333 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:40,680 Speaker 1: not like, oh, that crazy person on the streets seeing 334 00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:42,920 Speaker 1: little people. Of course, they are they're crazy. No. It's 335 00:18:43,119 --> 00:18:46,000 Speaker 1: for instance, one of the cases that Oliver Sacks talks 336 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:49,040 Speaker 1: about in in his book Hallucinations, which is excellent high 337 00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:52,439 Speaker 1: They recommend anyone at all interested in this pick that up. 338 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:55,880 Speaker 1: It's very readable, just a great book. Uh. In his book, 339 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:58,920 Speaker 1: he talks about a patient that he refers to his Zelda, 340 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:02,520 Speaker 1: who eated in two thousand nine. She was an historian, 341 00:19:03,359 --> 00:19:08,040 Speaker 1: and some of the hallucinations that she ended up seeing 342 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:11,439 Speaker 1: included she saw a great granddaughter, she saw a trio 343 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:14,119 Speaker 1: of witches. She saw her hair rising up in the 344 00:19:14,160 --> 00:19:17,280 Speaker 1: mirror like it was witless. She saw tiny people crawling 345 00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:20,280 Speaker 1: out of the TV. She saw gaily dressed figures sort 346 00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:23,600 Speaker 1: of parading around. She saw six ominous tall men in 347 00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:26,879 Speaker 1: brown suits around her hospital bed. She saw a little 348 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:30,280 Speaker 1: men in green caps. And she saw small fairy like 349 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:34,119 Speaker 1: children sort of moving around as well. Just to give 350 00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:37,480 Speaker 1: you an idea, because a lot of these hallucinations, again 351 00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:39,760 Speaker 1: it's things are larger or smaller than they need to 352 00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:43,800 Speaker 1: be um So you're you're encountering giants, you're encountering little 353 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:47,240 Speaker 1: people oftentimes that they're really brilliant to behold. The color 354 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:50,800 Speaker 1: scheme will be amazing. So you in the costuming if 355 00:19:50,800 --> 00:19:54,080 Speaker 1: the if costumes are perceivable, the costumes will be crazy 356 00:19:54,240 --> 00:19:57,679 Speaker 1: and exotically bright. So you can really see where the 357 00:19:57,720 --> 00:19:59,919 Speaker 1: idea of a fairy folk can emerge from. This beca 358 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:01,720 Speaker 1: all they were little people, and they were dressed like 359 00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:04,680 Speaker 1: they were from another world, and their colors were unreal 360 00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:08,359 Speaker 1: and magical. Well, and they were mischievous. To write, a 361 00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:12,520 Speaker 1: lot of times these accounts have um the little people 362 00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:15,560 Speaker 1: that are running around doing various things that we are 363 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:19,800 Speaker 1: nefarious or yeah, and they're disappearing or they're reappearing necessarily 364 00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:23,360 Speaker 1: obeying the physical laws of our world. Now, these are 365 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:26,280 Speaker 1: called released hallucinations because it's thought that they are released 366 00:20:26,359 --> 00:20:30,600 Speaker 1: or instigated by the removal of normal visual afferent input 367 00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:34,720 Speaker 1: into the association quartex. So in the case of Zelda, 368 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:38,879 Speaker 1: there was reduced blood flow to the optical and parietal lobes, 369 00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:44,040 Speaker 1: and so this caused the hallucinations. Um. But probably one 370 00:20:44,119 --> 00:20:48,400 Speaker 1: of the one of the things that is most associated 371 00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:51,160 Speaker 1: with this is something called the Charles Bonnet syndrome yes 372 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:54,399 Speaker 1: or CBS, and this is a common condition among people 373 00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:57,520 Speaker 1: with compromised vision. So when you think compromised vision, of 374 00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:00,719 Speaker 1: course We're not saying the person is necessarily completely Uh. 375 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:05,879 Speaker 1: They might be suffering from just age related necular degeneration, cataracts, glaucoma, 376 00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:09,439 Speaker 1: diabetic eye disease. Their site may be somewhat limited, but 377 00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:12,639 Speaker 1: they're still able to visually perceive the world to a 378 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:15,879 Speaker 1: certain degree. Yeah. The idea is that the information received 379 00:21:15,880 --> 00:21:18,320 Speaker 1: from your eyes actually stops the brain from creating its 380 00:21:18,359 --> 00:21:22,000 Speaker 1: own pictures. So when you lose your sight or partially 381 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:24,679 Speaker 1: lose your sight or it's damaged, your brain is not 382 00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:27,359 Speaker 1: receiving as much information from your eyes as it's used to, 383 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:30,480 Speaker 1: and it begins to fill in those gaps by creating 384 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:34,479 Speaker 1: this sort of fantasy uh, pictures or patterns. And then 385 00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:37,280 Speaker 1: when this occurs, you experience the images short in your 386 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:40,040 Speaker 1: brain as hallucinations. It's kind of this idea that the 387 00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:43,120 Speaker 1: world that we live in, because you can we look 388 00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:45,360 Speaker 1: at like when we're just looking around a room, we're 389 00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:48,560 Speaker 1: looking at particular little spaces, and then then we're moving 390 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:51,320 Speaker 1: in another little space where we're kind of basically the 391 00:21:51,359 --> 00:21:54,119 Speaker 1: world that we're in exists in our minds, and we 392 00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:57,479 Speaker 1: use our vision to constantly upgrade the details of that 393 00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:01,400 Speaker 1: mental image that we interact with there was a one 394 00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:04,400 Speaker 1: case of a Miss c an eighty year old woman. 395 00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:07,720 Speaker 1: She complained of little people dressed in blue and gray 396 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:11,600 Speaker 1: leaves hiding in her cupboard cupboards, and she also saw 397 00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:14,240 Speaker 1: tiny black cats from time to time, and her chief 398 00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:17,480 Speaker 1: complaint was that the little people like to watch her undressed. 399 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:21,600 Speaker 1: So of course she was examined. They found that her 400 00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:26,639 Speaker 1: cognitive functions were fined fine, fine and uh, and that 401 00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:29,919 Speaker 1: really again it came down to impairments in her visual field, 402 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:33,719 Speaker 1: again creating in this story from this lack of information 403 00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:38,840 Speaker 1: that was being processed. Another interesting aspect about little acutions, 404 00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:43,200 Speaker 1: especially as a as a related to CBS, Alver Sachs 405 00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:48,480 Speaker 1: points out that most CBS hallucinations are ultimately inspiring, pleasant, 406 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:51,600 Speaker 1: even friendly. Um not to say they are there. There 407 00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:53,360 Speaker 1: will be some that are a little serving, such as 408 00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:58,080 Speaker 1: the brown uh dressed men that are really taller around 409 00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:01,240 Speaker 1: Zelda's hospital that was that is ominous in nature, But 410 00:23:01,359 --> 00:23:03,240 Speaker 1: for the most part they tend to be lighter and 411 00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:06,920 Speaker 1: more amusing and magical in a in an uplifting sense. 412 00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:10,760 Speaker 1: Whereas there's a lot that goes on with with paranormal experience, 413 00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:14,200 Speaker 1: be it alien abduction, that is rude of scenario which 414 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:17,560 Speaker 1: is rooted in say sleep paralysis, which is terrifying because 415 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:20,760 Speaker 1: your your mind body connection is doing something weird and 416 00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:24,800 Speaker 1: add a little flavoring to it from whatever your worldview 417 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:27,480 Speaker 1: or mythology is, and it's it can be a terrifying situation. 418 00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:30,000 Speaker 1: But with CBS you tend to see these more sort 419 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:31,880 Speaker 1: of like, huh, there are little people in my closet. 420 00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:34,200 Speaker 1: That's totally cool, but I would rather than not look 421 00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:36,639 Speaker 1: at me while I'm naked. There's this idea to you 422 00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:41,120 Speaker 1: that perhaps, um, you know, it has an adaptive function 423 00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:44,200 Speaker 1: in terms of people who in general with hallucination is 424 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:47,159 Speaker 1: not just little people that if someone has lost someone 425 00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:50,399 Speaker 1: in particularly in the elderly, if they hallucinate, you know, 426 00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:52,680 Speaker 1: maybe a loved one who has departed, that this is 427 00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:56,600 Speaker 1: a source of comfort to them, bereavement hallucination, so that 428 00:23:56,680 --> 00:23:59,600 Speaker 1: this is a whole area as well. Um yeah, it's 429 00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:02,119 Speaker 1: this idea that we're as as one. If we're losing 430 00:24:02,119 --> 00:24:04,640 Speaker 1: our ability to update the mental image in our head, 431 00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:08,520 Speaker 1: we're having to update it internally. Like imagine you're inside 432 00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:11,040 Speaker 1: your house and you're wanting to paint an image of 433 00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:14,080 Speaker 1: your backyard, so you look out the back window every day, 434 00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:15,560 Speaker 1: and you paint a little more of this image, and 435 00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:17,760 Speaker 1: you updated a little more, and then one day your 436 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:20,320 Speaker 1: windows are walled up or they're frosted over and you 437 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:22,639 Speaker 1: can't see out them all that. Well, well then you 438 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:25,760 Speaker 1: have to maybe you're listening, maybe you're you're drawing on 439 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:28,440 Speaker 1: your memory to try and and uh and and alter 440 00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:31,280 Speaker 1: that picture and make it as accurate as possible. But 441 00:24:31,359 --> 00:24:35,159 Speaker 1: then inevitably you're bringing in errors. You're bringing in um 442 00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:38,720 Speaker 1: even magical creations into that painting. That reminds me of 443 00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:43,480 Speaker 1: Anton syndrome when they'ror you have someone who is trying 444 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:46,720 Speaker 1: to replace I put in quote their their reality with 445 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:49,960 Speaker 1: a hallucination to simulate eyesight. Because because this occurs and 446 00:24:50,119 --> 00:24:54,280 Speaker 1: joining people that are really like totally blind, extremely deteriation, 447 00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:57,840 Speaker 1: totally blind from cortical damage um and and that damage 448 00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:02,359 Speaker 1: can be caused by stroke UM and this affects the 449 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:06,320 Speaker 1: optic lobes. So these people are absolutely unaware of their 450 00:25:06,359 --> 00:25:09,400 Speaker 1: blindness and they insist that they can still see. Yeah, 451 00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:12,800 Speaker 1: like they'll say they'll they'll say like, hey, you you're blind. 452 00:25:13,119 --> 00:25:15,440 Speaker 1: Don't try and walk across the living room because their 453 00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:17,000 Speaker 1: toys all over the floor and they'll say I can 454 00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:19,199 Speaker 1: totally see, and like they believe they can see now, 455 00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:22,160 Speaker 1: they'll they'll end up stepping on the toys because ultimately 456 00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:26,440 Speaker 1: they that they can't they are blind. But but to them, 457 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:28,920 Speaker 1: they feel they're experiencing. Now. If you tell them, hey, 458 00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:31,760 Speaker 1: describe that person setting on the couch over there, they 459 00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:35,280 Speaker 1: won't blink. They'll just describe the person. The description may 460 00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:38,679 Speaker 1: be completely wrong, or it may be reasonably correct based 461 00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:42,720 Speaker 1: on previous knowledge of the individual, you know, whatever, But 462 00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:45,359 Speaker 1: but they won't hesitate because in their in their mind, 463 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:48,600 Speaker 1: they do see and see. I find that example so 464 00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:53,199 Speaker 1: fascinating just because that really does point to this adaptive function, 465 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:56,080 Speaker 1: because if you have lost your your eyesight and you 466 00:25:56,119 --> 00:25:59,720 Speaker 1: are lacking that's stimuli, then your brain is just making 467 00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:03,639 Speaker 1: us smelacrum of that of reality, which I think is 468 00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:07,840 Speaker 1: just fascinating. Sacks also shared an account of a patient 469 00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:11,520 Speaker 1: who in the in the nineteen eighties, UH would a 470 00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:16,439 Speaker 1: blind patient went on a drinking binge and saw again 471 00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:19,080 Speaker 1: while in the midst of this this drinking like the 472 00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:23,880 Speaker 1: next morning remembered having seen as if his side had returned, 473 00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:27,919 Speaker 1: But it was a hallucination. Hallucination and again it's just 474 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:29,679 Speaker 1: all it's a lot of this really drives home just 475 00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:34,240 Speaker 1: how complex side is and how how complex our our 476 00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:36,399 Speaker 1: observation of the world is to it and to what 477 00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:41,119 Speaker 1: extent is is all of our site hallucination. Yeah, again, 478 00:26:41,119 --> 00:26:44,679 Speaker 1: this idea that there's this, uh, this visual constancy that 479 00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:47,880 Speaker 1: goes on that we just that's running in the background, 480 00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:51,720 Speaker 1: and we don't even think about how tenuous that is. So, 481 00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:56,119 Speaker 1: as Oliver Sacks points out, Liliputian hallucinations can also occur 482 00:26:56,240 --> 00:27:00,040 Speaker 1: in migraines. Particularly, He points out the Migraine Blog, a 483 00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:04,199 Speaker 1: series host of it on New York Times, which is 484 00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:07,680 Speaker 1: a blog just about the author's experiences with migraines. Now, 485 00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:11,080 Speaker 1: I do experience migraines. I do. Yeah, what what are 486 00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:13,439 Speaker 1: they like for you? Do you ever see anything with them? Sometimes? 487 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:16,480 Speaker 1: I've seen lights And actually a good many of the 488 00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:19,840 Speaker 1: females in my family have histories of really like pretty 489 00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:23,159 Speaker 1: intense histories with migraines, and they complain of something they 490 00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:26,440 Speaker 1: call an aura. It's a feeling, and and they also 491 00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:30,560 Speaker 1: get the strobe light effect. Interesting, I've never experienced a migraine. 492 00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:32,200 Speaker 1: My father used to get them, and I think my 493 00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:35,159 Speaker 1: My sister experiences them from time to time as well. 494 00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:39,040 Speaker 1: But in there they're more extreme nature. There, it's almost 495 00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:42,679 Speaker 1: like a supernatural experience, like it's it's like something from 496 00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:48,040 Speaker 1: another world is reaching out and touching your brain rather painfully. Uh, 497 00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:51,600 Speaker 1: but in in a certain way, illuminatingly for a few 498 00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:54,920 Speaker 1: seconds or minutes or what have you. Um. And again, 499 00:27:54,960 --> 00:27:58,760 Speaker 1: what we're talking about is uh a sort of impairment 500 00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:02,119 Speaker 1: of the visual field care right, Yeah, people will see lights, 501 00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:05,680 Speaker 1: like you said, geometric patterns, uh, flashes of light, zigzags, 502 00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:09,239 Speaker 1: blind spots, shimmering spots or stars are as, and in 503 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:12,480 Speaker 1: some cases tiny man and tiny animals uh. In On 504 00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:15,199 Speaker 1: the Migraine blog, the author of was talking about how 505 00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:17,840 Speaker 1: they were reading a reading a book lying there, um, 506 00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:21,880 Speaker 1: and they looked down and they saw a small pink 507 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:26,200 Speaker 1: man and his pink ox, perhaps six or seven inches high. 508 00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:29,119 Speaker 1: So the audice says, they were perfectly made creatures, and 509 00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:31,440 Speaker 1: except for their color, they looked very real. They didn't 510 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:33,600 Speaker 1: speak to me, but they walked around and I watched 511 00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:36,880 Speaker 1: them with fascination and the kind of um amiable tenderness. 512 00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:39,600 Speaker 1: They stayed for some minutes and then disappeared. I have 513 00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:43,880 Speaker 1: often wished they would return, but they never have um, 514 00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:47,240 Speaker 1: which is this just amazing to think of that. And 515 00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:48,880 Speaker 1: you know, you just said there's migraine hits and you 516 00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:51,120 Speaker 1: look down and there's a little pink farmer in his 517 00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:53,520 Speaker 1: ox and they're they're not really concerned with you, which 518 00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:56,280 Speaker 1: which ties in nicely with when we were talking about 519 00:28:57,280 --> 00:29:00,240 Speaker 1: fairy experiences and in a lien experience. Paranormal exper is 520 00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:03,120 Speaker 1: around the world. They vary so much. Sometimes it is 521 00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:05,160 Speaker 1: a terrible experience where you're like, oh, I'm being abducted 522 00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:07,240 Speaker 1: by aliens or I'm tormented by demons. But in other 523 00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:10,680 Speaker 1: cases it's it's a matter of for a brief second, 524 00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:13,640 Speaker 1: you have a peak into a magical world just beyond 525 00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:16,920 Speaker 1: our own. Well. I think anybody who has ever had 526 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:19,320 Speaker 1: a really bad migraine can attest to you. One of 527 00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:21,800 Speaker 1: the things that is probably interesting to them as well 528 00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:24,760 Speaker 1: as me, is that when you have an awful one, 529 00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:27,240 Speaker 1: it feels like the fog is rolling in and it 530 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:29,520 Speaker 1: to some degree it does feel like your vision is 531 00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:32,840 Speaker 1: being affected, not just with the strobe light effect, but 532 00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:36,160 Speaker 1: as if, um something's just kind of moving over your 533 00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:40,000 Speaker 1: brain like a cloud. So it's interesting to see that 534 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:46,560 Speaker 1: that sort of deprivation of stimulation or stimuli might manifest 535 00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:51,200 Speaker 1: itself with a Litiputian hallucination. Yeah. And in the book, 536 00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:54,719 Speaker 1: Fax points out that in a migraine, a wave of quote, 537 00:29:54,920 --> 00:30:00,560 Speaker 1: electrical excitation slowly moves across the visual cortex and on 538 00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:04,640 Speaker 1: the way, it's possible that it directly directly stimulates clusters 539 00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:08,120 Speaker 1: of orientation sensitive neurons in the visual cortex, and this 540 00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:14,320 Speaker 1: direct stimulation causes patterns patients to see shimmering light, zigzag fortifications, etcetera. 541 00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:16,440 Speaker 1: As we and as we see the wave move through 542 00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:20,040 Speaker 1: the brain during a migraine, when we're looking at brain scans, uh, 543 00:30:20,040 --> 00:30:23,160 Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's matching the movement of the shimmering 544 00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:25,920 Speaker 1: bars in the patient's site. Huh. So that that's very 545 00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:29,360 Speaker 1: interesting that that sense of movement isn't necessarily an illusion. Yeah, 546 00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:32,160 Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's amazing. I mean, I I'm not 547 00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:34,880 Speaker 1: envious of people who have to deal with migraines because, 548 00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:38,080 Speaker 1: like I said, it's just a normal headache suffer. Um. 549 00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:40,320 Speaker 1: I would see my father get these migraines and I 550 00:30:40,640 --> 00:30:42,600 Speaker 1: it was like, Wow, how can a headache do that bad? 551 00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:45,040 Speaker 1: That you just you know that you're you're just you know, 552 00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:47,680 Speaker 1: gripping your skull like I've never had had I had 553 00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:50,400 Speaker 1: a headache that bad. Uh. But but now that now 554 00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:52,520 Speaker 1: that I see a little bit more that it's involved 555 00:30:52,560 --> 00:30:59,080 Speaker 1: in it, I can totally get it. So there you 556 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:02,720 Speaker 1: have it, leprech On Hallucinations. Fun little topic that we did, 557 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:04,800 Speaker 1: and uh, you know, today was a perfect day to 558 00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:08,440 Speaker 1: bring it back out for your amusement. Hey. In the meantime, 559 00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:09,960 Speaker 1: check out the rest of stuff to Blow your mind 560 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:12,560 Speaker 1: dot com, where you'll find all of our podcasts, videos, 561 00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:15,240 Speaker 1: blog posts, and links out to our social media accounts. 562 00:31:15,760 --> 00:31:17,560 Speaker 1: You can also drop us a liney. 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