When people talk about cursed knowledge I never think of it like the brain can’t physically handle the amount of information I’ve always thought of it like the realities of the universe are so fucked that the brain can’t handle the truth
There’s indeed knowledge like that. Like there’s knowledge that, at the moment of understanding, overloads your brain. It’s like your entire model of reality has become invalid, and it can cause physical pain as your brain burns out trying to recalculate everything you know in this new paradigm. Sometimes you go through days in a fog as your brain recovers, sometimes it can still hurt every time you think of it months later. The implications of certain understandings just start the process over all over again
Here’s a particularly grounded and well supported example that’s not transmissible enough to be an info hazard - everything is waves. There’s no particles, just waves of energy that form stable patterns
That’s what happened to me when I got attacked while homeless. The guy had me on my back in the street and was just continuing to kick my neck and head. He wasn’t stopping.
I’d never seen this guy in my life.
It only stopped because some other strangers happened to see and pulled him off me.
I’ve been close to dying before but it didn’t invalidate my whole worldview. But this guy’s rage, the willingness to kill a random stranger just for the hell of it, changed me deeply.
When people talk about cursed knowledge I never think of it like the brain can’t physically handle the amount of information I’ve always thought of it like the realities of the universe are so fucked that the brain can’t handle the truth
There’s indeed knowledge like that. Like there’s knowledge that, at the moment of understanding, overloads your brain. It’s like your entire model of reality has become invalid, and it can cause physical pain as your brain burns out trying to recalculate everything you know in this new paradigm. Sometimes you go through days in a fog as your brain recovers, sometimes it can still hurt every time you think of it months later. The implications of certain understandings just start the process over all over again
Here’s a particularly grounded and well supported example that’s not transmissible enough to be an info hazard - everything is waves. There’s no particles, just waves of energy that form stable patterns
That’s what happened to me when I got attacked while homeless. The guy had me on my back in the street and was just continuing to kick my neck and head. He wasn’t stopping.
I’d never seen this guy in my life.
It only stopped because some other strangers happened to see and pulled him off me.
I’ve been close to dying before but it didn’t invalidate my whole worldview. But this guy’s rage, the willingness to kill a random stranger just for the hell of it, changed me deeply.