Why does the US versus THEM mentality persist between those who favorably view the ramblings of Jack Hershey and others less favorably impressed by him ? I believe its because of two diametrically opposed and mutually exclusive views of the nature of reality.
Hershey expresses his view of reality in his writings here and by reference to outside works. For example , he favorably recommends a movie titled "What the Bleep Do We Know ?".
In Hershey's worldview there is no objective reality, just the one created by the individual. In this worldview backtesting is useless because it was created by someone else and hence from their universe and has no bearing on one's own universe. Likewise Hershey can give no rules to trading or even show his trading because he believes any results and any methods are unique to the individual. At best he discusses transference which is a sort of reality seeding from which an individual may hope to sprout his own similar universe. Hershey sums up this worldview as BE DO HAVE.
The opposite worldview is that objective reality exists.Usually those holding this worldview believe that reality exists regardless of ones own feelings or thoughts about it and that it is a more or less common reality which everyone existing shares. In this worldview, individuals may use the same exact rules in trading and achieve the exact same out come, execution problems notwithstanding. That is why proponents of this view want to see the results obtained by Hershey and often use backtesting. They believe that reality is not affected by their thoughts about it so much as their actual actions within it.
No amount of mystical musings will dissuade an objectivist and no amount of reason will dissuade the mystics. So that leaves the two permanently at odds.
Hershey expresses his view of reality in his writings here and by reference to outside works. For example , he favorably recommends a movie titled "What the Bleep Do We Know ?".
Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle
(10/8/2004) -- Read this to see whether you're in the target audience for the new cult-hit documentary What the Bleep Do We Know!?
"There's a great mystery called the mystery of the direction of time," says one of the film's talking-head authorities. "It's a puzzle in the fundamental laws of physics why we should be able to remember the past but not have the same access to the future. Or that by acting now we control the future, but not the past."
Duh. The future hasn't happened yet, you twit.
Yet the so-called authority continues that such things "are so basic ... not to think about them is to be three-quarters dead." If that's the case, start shoveling the dirt on me now. I got better things to worry about.
Then there's another authority who assures us, "If you believe with every fiber of your body that you can walk on water, well, of course you can." Right. Of course. Or is that a blub-blub-blub that I hear?
What the Bleep Do We Know!? is New Age hooey disguised as a scientific documentary about quantum physics, which is described as the science of possibilities.
Certainly, in its broadest sense, the film is right that there are myriad untapped mysteries in the human mind and body, and it's intriguing to speculate about them. And, yes, the film spotlights some interesting material, particularly a middle section about the body's chemical responses to emotions and how they trigger attitudes and behaviors. But to get that five minutes of insight, filmgoers have to patiently wade through many more minutes of gobbledygook.
Granted, What the Bleep features quite an array of professors, Ph.D.s, authors and teachers among its talking heads, and some are very impressive. However, credibility goes bye-bye when we get to JZ Knight, a woman who supposedly "channels" a mystic named Ramtha. If she'd just bend a spoon or pull a bunny out of a hat, we could all go home.
To try to make sense of its scattergun science and pseudo-science, filmmakers William Arntz, Betsy Chasse and Mark Vicente present a fictional character named Amanda (Marlee Matlin), who goes on a vague odyssey into her consciousness, trying to understand her own behavior and her place in the universe. There's not a plot, per se; Amanda is more like an everywoman who becomes a modern-day Alice, jumping down a rabbit hole.
Despite my strong skepticism, I realize some filmgoers are passionate about Bleep; it's become a cult hit, particularly on the West Coast.
However, if I'm going to recommend a documentary about physics, it'd be A Brief History of Time, a superb Errol Morris film from 1993, in which famed physicist Stephen Hawking discusses his ideas on the origins of the universe and its possible future. If I'm going to leap down a rabbit hole, I'd rather have Morris and Hawking as my guides.
In Hershey's worldview there is no objective reality, just the one created by the individual. In this worldview backtesting is useless because it was created by someone else and hence from their universe and has no bearing on one's own universe. Likewise Hershey can give no rules to trading or even show his trading because he believes any results and any methods are unique to the individual. At best he discusses transference which is a sort of reality seeding from which an individual may hope to sprout his own similar universe. Hershey sums up this worldview as BE DO HAVE.
The opposite worldview is that objective reality exists.Usually those holding this worldview believe that reality exists regardless of ones own feelings or thoughts about it and that it is a more or less common reality which everyone existing shares. In this worldview, individuals may use the same exact rules in trading and achieve the exact same out come, execution problems notwithstanding. That is why proponents of this view want to see the results obtained by Hershey and often use backtesting. They believe that reality is not affected by their thoughts about it so much as their actual actions within it.
No amount of mystical musings will dissuade an objectivist and no amount of reason will dissuade the mystics. So that leaves the two permanently at odds.