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posted by Fnord666 on Sunday March 19 2017, @06:22AM   Printer-friendly
from the hello-operator dept.

Memory is notoriously fallible, but some experts worry that a new phenomenon is emerging. "Memories are shared among groups in novel ways through sites such as Facebook and Instagram, blurring the line between individual and collective memories," says psychologist Daniel Schacter, who studies memory at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "The development of Internet-based misinformation, such as recently well-publicized fake news sites, has the potential to distort individual and collective memories in disturbing ways."

How Facebook, Fake News and Friends Are Warping Your Memory


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  • (Score: 2) by https on Sunday March 19 2017, @07:49PM (6 children)

    by https (5248) on Sunday March 19 2017, @07:49PM (#481241) Journal

    Perhaps my understanding is incomplete, so fill in my gaps:

    1. Personal anguish is a real thing.

    2. This real thing has causes.

    3. Removing the causes removes the anguish.

    4. The eightfold path removes the causes.

    I mean, really, it reads something straight out of a beginner's Boolean logic class.

    --
    Offended and laughing about it.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 19 2017, @11:03PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 19 2017, @11:03PM (#481287)

    I fit in my suit, my suit fits in my plastic bag, therefor I fit in my plastic bag...

    You're still making some leaps there, friend.

    • (Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Monday March 20 2017, @01:22AM

      by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Monday March 20 2017, @01:22AM (#481310)

      Karma can be rephrased as "don't piss in you own pool". (Not that I am Buddhist myself)

      You do have an effect on those around you. If you believe in reincarnation, there is a good chance you will eventually experience both the good and bad vibes you put out (behaviour seems to be at least somewhat contagious).

  • (Score: 2) by Zyx Abacab on Monday March 20 2017, @09:07AM (3 children)

    by Zyx Abacab (3701) on Monday March 20 2017, @09:07AM (#481417)

    Buddhism is a complex religion, with an enormous number of schools and branches, some of which have radical departures from mainstream Buddhism—such as Zen Buddhism. I can't accurately speak for such schools, but my knowledge of the Four Noble Truths consists of:

    1. Dukkha: pain and dissatisfaction. The craving of and clinging to impermanent things. Karma, which binds us to this world, comes about as a result of dukkha.
    2. Samudaya: the thing that generates dukkha. The cycle of death and rebirth is predicated on Samudaya.
    3. Nirodha: the cessation of dukkha and, in turn, the death/rebirth cycle. Nirodha is the path to nirvana.
    4. Magga: independence from dukkha and freedom from the death/rebirth cycle. Like you point out, it's in relation to magga that the Noble Eightfold Path is mentioned.

    Most teachings imply that dukkha is synonymous with unenlightened life, but the actual content of all the texts I've ever read are incredibly vague.

    1. Personal anguish is a real thing.
    2. This real thing has causes.
    3. Removing the causes removes the anguish.
    4. The eightfold path removes the causes.

    Your points are a really, really, really boiled-down interpretation of the Four Noble Truths. These points ignore a lot of both the teaching and the spirit of the Truths (at least as practicing Buddhists understand them).

    For example, the First Truth is not that personal anguish is a thing. (Although, clearly, it is a thing.) Rather, the First Truth is more like "life sucks because shit hurts and you get old and nothing lasts forever". That is a much more involved idea than merely pointing out that personal anguish exists; and it is an idea that one might have a fundamental difference of opinion against.

    Even if we were just going by the one passage from the Dharmacakrapravartana Sūtra, we would still have a list of what suffering is, not a mere statement that suffering is.

    Some schools of Buddhism reveal the idea of karma, as well as the cycle of death and rebirth, along with the First Truth (dukkha), while others reveal it along with the Second Truth (samudaya). In either case, the notion of death/rebirth is usually keyed to one of these Truths—and, as I pointed out before, I am very skeptical of this whole death/rebirth thing. The simplified interpretation completely ignores these (very relevant and very important) ideas.

    Admittedly, the passage from the Sūtra does not directly mention karma or the death/rebirth cycle, but I was taught that these ideas go together.

    The Third Truth and Fourth Truths are actually pretty much as simple as you make them out to be—though, again, anguish is still a very broad simplification of the idea, whether it is drawn from only the Sūtra or from other texts as well. (And the Third Truth presents the idea of nirvana, which further complicates things.)

    To make clear: the Truths as you state them are logically sound, but misrepresentative of the teaching and practice of the Truths. It doesn't do justice to what Buddhism is, and to what is an intrinsic part of the Four Noble Truths to Buddhists.

    -----

    N.B.: I am no longer a Buddhist; don't worry about offending me. I hope I haven't offended you. :)

    • (Score: 2) by https on Monday March 20 2017, @02:29PM (1 child)

      by https (5248) on Monday March 20 2017, @02:29PM (#481503) Journal

      I'm not a buddhist, but a few years back I figured I'd look into it before trashing it blindly. You said it best yourself:

      Admittedly, the passage from the Sūtra does not directly mention karma or the death/rebirth cycle, but I was taught that these ideas go together.

      What schools teach and what buddy said are frequently different no matter what faith you discuss.

      --
      Offended and laughing about it.
      • (Score: 2) by Zyx Abacab on Tuesday March 21 2017, @05:59AM

        by Zyx Abacab (3701) on Tuesday March 21 2017, @05:59AM (#481977)

        I didn't think you would trash it blindly; just that some relevant details were being ignored in your logic-reduction of the Four Noble Truths.

        It's true that dogma and the text-as-written are very often divorced. So let's ignore dogma and focus on the earliest known text of the Buddha's teachings.

        How do you respond to the fact that the First Truth, as stated in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sūtra, does not, as you suggest, state only that anguish is; but that it states what anguish is?

        In opposition, your logic is premised on the notion that personal anguish exists, not on a definition of what personal anguish is. That logic does not accurately reflect the nature or the actual words of the First Truth.

        (Furthermore, as part of the First Truth, the text of the Sūtra explicitly refers to the five skandhas; this involves a definition of existence and the self. A reduction of the First Truth to just "personal anguish is a real thing" also leaves out this detail.)

    • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Tuesday March 21 2017, @12:22AM

      by maxwell demon (1608) on Tuesday March 21 2017, @12:22AM (#481886) Journal

      Karma, which binds us to this world, comes about as a result of dukkha.

      That's obviously wrong. Karma comes as a result of moderation! :-)

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.