[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":1335},["ShallowReactive",2],{"evidence-index":3,"evidence-doc-the-weight-of-nothing":511},[4,19,35,48,61,74,93,106,117,129,141,153,164,175,192,207,217,235,246,259,278,300,326,343,353,375,385,407,417,427,439,448,459,471,485,496],{"path":5,"title":6,"description":7,"keywords":8,"field":17,"order":18},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fmaxwells-equations","Maxwell's Equations","Four equations that joined electricity, magnetism and light, and set physics on the road to relativity.",[9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16],"electromagnetism","electric fields","magnetic fields","electromagnetic waves","light","Gauss law","Faraday law","Ampere law","Physical",1,{"path":20,"title":21,"description":22,"keywords":23,"field":34,"order":18},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fnumerology-origin","Numerology Origin","How ancient number symbolism, built to describe cosmic order and interpret sacred texts, became modern personality numerology.",[24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33],"number symbolism","Pythagoras","gematria","sacred numbers","divination","history of mathematics","tetractys","monad","decad","perfect number","Cultural",{"path":36,"title":37,"description":38,"keywords":39,"field":47,"order":18},"\u002Fevidence\u002Forigin-of-life","Origin of Life","What chemistry, geology and genomics currently tell us about how non-living matter became the first living cells.",[40,41,42,43,44,45,46],"abiogenesis","RNA world","Miller-Urey experiment","prebiotic chemistry","hydrothermal vents","protocells","LUCA","Biological",{"path":49,"title":50,"description":51,"keywords":52,"field":34,"order":18},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fsuffering","Suffering","How Siddhartha Gautama tested both luxury and severe self-denial, and what his diagnosis of suffering became.",[53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60],"Buddhism","Buddha","Siddhartha Gautama","dukkha","Four Noble Truths","Middle Way","Eightfold Path","craving",{"path":62,"title":63,"description":64,"keywords":65,"field":73,"order":18},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fthe-evolution-of-trust","The Evolution of Trust","How the prisoner's dilemma, Axelrod's tournaments, and later models explain when cooperation beats selfishness, and when it does not.",[66,67,68,69,70,71,72],"game theory","prisoners dilemma","cooperation","Robert Axelrod","tit for tat","reciprocity","evolutionary dynamics","Social",{"path":75,"title":76,"description":77,"keywords":78,"field":73,"order":92},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fcivil-disobedience","Civil Disobedience","How Gandhi turned a refusal to obey into a political force, why open, nonviolent law-breaking works more often than violence, and where it fails.",[79,80,81,82,83,84,85,86,87,88,89,90,91],"civil disobedience","Gandhi","satyagraha","Salt March","nonviolence","ahimsa","Thoreau","Martin Luther King","non-cooperation","nonviolent resistance","Chenoweth","Orwell","wu wei",2,{"path":94,"title":95,"description":96,"keywords":97,"field":105,"order":92},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fplacebo","Placebo","How an inert treatment can change pain, symptoms and brain chemistry, why it works, and where its power ends.",[98,99,100,101,102,103,104],"placebo effect","nocebo","expectation","conditioning","pain relief","clinical trials","endogenous opioids","Mind",{"path":107,"title":108,"description":109,"keywords":110,"field":105,"order":92},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fpuer-aeternus","Puer Aeternus","The Jungian \"eternal youth\" archetype, what it describes, what empirical psychology can and cannot say about it, and where such people thrive or struggle.",[111,112,113,114,115,116],"Carl Jung","Jungian psychology","eternal youth","archetype","Peter Pan","adulthood",{"path":118,"title":119,"description":120,"keywords":121,"field":34,"order":92},"\u002Fevidence\u002Ftaoism","Taoism","What the Dao, wu wei and naturalness mean, and why Daoist texts separate caring for something from clinging to it.",[122,123,124,125,126,91,127,128],"Daoism","Laozi","Zhuangzi","Daodejing","Tao Te Ching","yin and yang","attachment",{"path":130,"title":131,"description":132,"keywords":133,"field":17,"order":92},"\u002Fevidence\u002Ftime-dilation","Time Dilation","Why moving clocks and clocks deeper in gravity tick slower, and how the twin paradox resolves.",[134,135,136,137,138,139,140],"special relativity","general relativity","twin paradox","Lorentz factor","proper time","atomic clocks","GPS",{"path":142,"title":143,"description":144,"keywords":145,"field":17,"order":152},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fhiggs-field","Higgs Field","How an invisible field filling all of space gives mass to fundamental particles, and how it was found in 2012.",[146,147,148,149,150,151],"Higgs boson","particle physics","Standard Model","CERN","Large Hadron Collider","symmetry breaking",3,{"path":154,"title":155,"description":156,"keywords":157,"field":105,"order":152},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fmeditation","Meditation","What meditation trains, how it seems to work in the brain, and how strong the evidence really is.",[158,159,160,161,162,163],"mindfulness","attention","neuroscience","brain","stress","contemplative practice",{"path":165,"title":166,"description":167,"keywords":168,"field":34,"order":152},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fthe-god-of-the-gaps","The God of the Gaps","Why explaining unknowns by appeal to God keeps losing ground, and why many theologians reject the move themselves.",[169,170,171,172,173,174],"theology","religion and science","argument from ignorance","naturalism","cosmological argument","fine-tuning",{"path":176,"title":177,"description":178,"keywords":179,"field":105,"order":152},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fthe-illusion-of-free-will","The Illusion of Free Will","A machine that knows what you will choose, what physics and psychology say about the feeling of choosing, and why philosophers still disagree about whether free will exists.",[180,181,182,183,184,185,186,187,188,189,190,191],"free will","Newcomb's problem","Newcomb's paradox","predictor","Laplace's demon","compatibilism","illusionism","decision theory","one box","two boxes","Wegner","conscious will",{"path":193,"title":194,"description":195,"keywords":196,"field":205,"order":206},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fif-the-world-was-vegan","If the World Was Vegan","A scenario analysis of whether global agriculture could feed everyone without animals, and what it would mean for land, soil and ecosystems.",[197,198,199,200,201,202,203,204],"veganism","plant-based diet","agriculture","livestock","food security","soil fertility","biodiversity","nutrition","Prospective",4,{"path":208,"title":209,"description":210,"keywords":211,"field":17,"order":206},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fkaluza-klein-reduction","Kaluza–Klein Reduction","How one extra, curled-up dimension turns Einstein's gravity into gravity plus electromagnetism, and why we have not seen it.",[212,213,214,9,215,216],"extra dimensions","compactification","gravity","unification","charge quantization",{"path":218,"title":219,"description":220,"keywords":221,"field":73,"order":206},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fthe-weight-of-nothing","The Weight of Nothing","Why people shock themselves rather than sit alone with their thoughts, and why a mind given nothing starts producing something of its own.",[222,223,224,225,226,227,228,229,230,231,232,233,234],"boredom","disengaged mind","Just think","Timothy Wilson","electric shock","sensory deprivation","white torture","solitary confinement","hallucination","Ganzfeld","predictive processing","Amnesty International","Iran",{"path":236,"title":237,"description":238,"keywords":239,"field":17,"order":245},"\u002Fevidence\u002F13-dimensional-models","13-Dimensional Models","Where the number 13 comes from in theoretical physics, why a universe with two time dimensions is mathematically possible, and why none of it is confirmed.",[240,241,242,243,212,244,213],"string theory","M-theory","F-theory","S-theory","two-time physics",5,{"path":247,"title":248,"description":249,"keywords":250,"field":34,"order":245},"\u002Fevidence\u002F1984","1984","What Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four is about, why he wrote it, and why rival governments have banned or challenged it as propaganda for the other side.",[251,252,253,254,255,256,257,258],"George Orwell","Nineteen Eighty-Four","dystopia","totalitarianism","surveillance","Big Brother","Newspeak","censorship",{"path":260,"title":261,"description":262,"keywords":263,"field":47,"order":245},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fsentience","Sentience","What it means for a being to feel, how science tests it in animals from crabs to oysters, and why a simpler mind does not mean a smaller capacity to suffer.",[264,265,266,267,268,269,270,271,272,273,274,275,276,277,197],"sentience","consciousness","animal consciousness","animal pain","oyster","bivalves","hermit crabs","octopus","insects","hard problem","soul","moral status","Cambridge Declaration","New York Declaration",{"path":279,"title":280,"description":281,"keywords":282,"field":73,"order":245},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fsouffle-de-riche","Soufflé de Riche","Why suffering in 1789 stopped being something to endure and became evidence against the system, and where that pressure goes in societies today.",[283,284,285,286,287,288,289,290,291,292,293,294,295,296,297,298,299],"French Revolution","Marie Antoinette","let them eat cake","brioche","Rousseau","eat the rich","tax the rich","legitimacy","inequality","cahiers de doléances","Estates-General","Tennis Court Oath","Bastille","relative deprivation","collective action","preference falsification","political trust",{"path":301,"title":302,"description":303,"keywords":304,"field":73,"order":325},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fimpermanent-solution","Impermanent Solution","How the Phoebus cartel engineered lightbulbs to fail on schedule, and what happens when durability and revenue stop pointing the same way.",[305,306,307,308,309,310,311,312,313,314,315,316,317,318,319,320,321,322,323,324],"planned obsolescence","Phoebus cartel","lightbulb","1000 hours","Centennial Light","Livermore","Osram","Philips","General Electric","Tungsram","durability","repairability","right to repair","e-waste","spare parts","software support","ecodesign","survivorship bias","incentives","circular economy",6,{"path":327,"title":328,"description":329,"keywords":330,"field":34,"order":325},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fliving-hell","Living Hell","How an exiled Florentine built Hell from theology, Aristotle and politics, and why its punishments read like the loops people build while alive.",[331,332,333,334,335,336,337,338,339,340,341,342],"Dante Alighieri","Inferno","Divine Comedy","nine circles","contrapasso","exile","Florence","Lucifer","Cocytus","Aristotle","rumination","psychology",{"path":344,"title":345,"description":346,"keywords":347,"field":17,"order":325},"\u002Fevidence\u002Ftachyons","Tachyons","Hypothetical particles that always move faster than light, why they would carry messages into the past, and why modern physics reads them as a sign of instability instead.",[348,349,350,351,352,134],"faster than light","superluminal","causality","imaginary mass","instability",{"path":354,"title":355,"description":356,"keywords":357,"field":47,"order":325},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fthe-unity","The Unity","Why the line between one organism and many is blurrier than it looks, from ancient bacteria in our cells to viral genes in the placenta to the question of whether Earth is alive.",[358,359,360,361,362,363,364,365,366,367,368,369,370,371,372,373,374,203],"Gaia hypothesis","James Lovelock","Lynn Margulis","living Earth","symbiosis","endosymbiosis","mitochondria","microbiome","holobiont","hologenome","endogenous retroviruses","syncytin","placenta","biological individuality","biosphere","planetary boundaries","climate change",{"path":376,"title":377,"description":378,"keywords":379,"field":17,"order":384},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fclosed-timelike-curves","Closed Timelike Curves","How Einstein's equations permit paths through spacetime that return to their own past, and why no one has ever found one.",[380,135,350,381,382,383],"time travel","wormholes","Godel","chronology protection",7,{"path":386,"title":387,"description":388,"keywords":389,"field":47,"order":384},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fperfectly-deprecated","Perfectly Deprecated","How a trait can be almost perfectly adapted to one world and turn harmful in the next, without the organism changing at all.",[390,391,392,393,394,395,396,397,398,399,400,401,402,403,404,405,406],"evolutionary mismatch","maladaptation","adaptive lag","lag load","ecological trap","evolutionary trap","flightlessness","island birds","dodo","kakapo","sea turtle hatchlings","light pollution","seafinding","natural selection","rapid environmental change","aggression","human evolution",{"path":408,"title":409,"description":410,"keywords":411,"field":17,"order":416},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fnovikov-self-consistency-principle","Novikov Self-Consistency Principle","Why a journey into the past might never change it, and why that need not require any force preventing change.",[380,412,413,414,350,415],"grandfather paradox","causal loops","closed timelike curves","consistency",8,{"path":418,"title":419,"description":420,"keywords":421,"field":17,"order":426},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fbootstrap-paradox","Bootstrap Paradox","Causal loops in which an object or idea exists only because it was carried into its own past, and whether physics can tolerate them.",[380,422,423,350,424,425],"causal loop","information paradox","entropy","self-consistency",9,{"path":428,"title":429,"description":430,"keywords":431,"field":17,"order":438},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fblock-universe","Block Universe","The view, motivated by relativity, that past, present and future all exist and time does not flow.",[432,433,434,435,436,437],"eternalism","spacetime","relativity","simultaneity","presentism","arrow of time",10,{"path":440,"title":441,"description":442,"keywords":443,"field":17,"order":447},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fdeterminism","Determinism","Whether the present fixes the entire future, what physics says about it, and why free will may survive either way.",[180,350,444,185,445,446],"Laplace demon","chaos","quantum mechanics",11,{"path":449,"title":450,"description":451,"keywords":452,"field":17,"order":458},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fbig-bounce","Big Bounce","The idea that our universe began not from nothing but from the collapse of a previous one, and what physics can and cannot say about it.",[453,454,455,456,424,457],"cosmology","Big Bang","cyclic universe","loop quantum cosmology","eternal return",12,{"path":460,"title":461,"description":462,"keywords":463,"field":17,"order":470},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fgolden-ratio","Golden Ratio","Why one number, the golden ratio, keeps turning up in sunflowers, and why many famous claims about it are myths.",[464,465,466,467,468,469],"phi","Fibonacci","phyllotaxis","spirals","irrational numbers","geometry",13,{"path":472,"title":473,"description":474,"keywords":475,"field":17,"order":484},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fsha-256-encryption","SHA-256 Hashing","How the SHA-256 hash function works, why it cannot be run backwards, and what reversing it would actually require.",[476,477,478,479,480,481,482,483],"cryptography","hash function","SHA256","encryption","preimage resistance","collisions","Bitcoin","brute force",14,{"path":486,"title":487,"description":488,"keywords":489,"field":17,"order":495},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fgrovers-algorithm","Grover's Algorithm","How a quantum computer can search N possibilities in about √N steps, and why that is both remarkable and far less than popular accounts claim.",[490,491,492,493,494,476],"quantum computing","quantum search","qubits","amplitude amplification","oracle",15,{"path":497,"title":498,"description":499,"keywords":500,"field":17,"order":510},"\u002Fevidence\u002Fentropy","Entropy","Why heat flows one way, how a thought experiment about a tiny demon tied physics to information, and whether black holes destroy it.",[424,501,502,503,504,505,506,437,507,508,509],"second law of thermodynamics","Maxwell's demon","Szilard engine","Landauer's principle","information","Boltzmann","black hole information paradox","Hawking radiation","unitarity",16,{"id":512,"title":219,"body":513,"description":220,"extension":1328,"field":73,"keywords":1329,"meta":1330,"navigation":1331,"order":206,"path":218,"seo":1332,"stem":1333,"__hash__":1334},"evidence\u002Fevidence\u002Fthe-weight-of-nothing.md",{"type":514,"value":515,"toc":1315},"minimark",[516,520,524,527,530,551,556,559,562,569,572,639,664,668,677,685,699,702,706,714,722,735,753,757,760,778,788,796,819,822,836,840,843,846,907,910,915,928,931,943,953,957,960,963,969,973,976,1038,1042,1045,1048,1051,1055,1078,1099,1120,1140,1161,1175,1189,1210,1231,1252,1273,1294],[517,518,219],"h1",{"id":519},"the-weight-of-nothing",[521,522,523],"p",{},"A volunteer walks into a plain room. Phone, pen and bag have been left outside. The instructions are short: sit in the chair, stay awake, and spend the next fifteen minutes entertaining yourself with your own thoughts.",[521,525,526],{},"Nothing happens. That is the whole experiment.",[521,528,529],{},"Before being left alone, the volunteer was given a mild electric shock, roughly the sting of static from a carpet, and asked whether they would pay money to avoid feeling it again. They said yes. Now the same shock sits on a button within reach. Pressing it is optional.",[521,531,532,533,537,538,550],{},"In a 2014 study published in ",[534,535,536],"em",{},"Science",", 12 of 18 men and 6 of 24 women pressed it at least once. ",[539,540,543,544,549],"sup",{"className":541},[542],"c-cite","[",[545,546,548],"a",{"href":547},"#ref-1","1","]"," People who had just said they would pay to avoid pain chose pain over a quarter of an hour of nothing.",[552,553,555],"h2",{"id":554},"the-basic-idea","The Basic Idea",[521,557,558],{},"We usually think of suffering as a surplus: too much noise, too much pain, too much information, too much stress. Rest is imagined as subtraction. Take things away and the mind should settle.",[521,560,561],{},"The evidence in this article points somewhere less comfortable. Up to a point, taking things away does bring relief. Beyond that point the mind begins to push back. First it gets restless. Then it would rather be hurt than stay idle. When the emptiness is made total, it starts filling the space itself.",[521,563,564,565],{},"Put simply: ",[566,567,568],"strong",{},"give the mind nothing, and eventually it will make something.",[521,570,571],{},"The progression has four steps, and each has its own evidence.",[573,574,575,591],"table",{},[576,577,578],"thead",{},[579,580,581,585,588],"tr",{},[582,583,584],"th",{},"Stage",[582,586,587],{},"What is removed",[582,589,590],{},"What is observed",[592,593,594,606,617,628],"tbody",{},[579,595,596,600,603],{},[597,598,599],"td",{},"Nothing happens",[597,601,602],{},"Tasks and devices, for 6–15 minutes",[597,604,605],{},"Mild dislike, wandering attention",[579,607,608,611,614],{},[597,609,610],{},"Nothing becomes uncomfortable",[597,612,613],{},"The same, with a shock button",[597,615,616],{},"Many choose the shock",[579,618,619,622,625],{},[597,620,621],{},"Remove more",[597,623,624],{},"Sound, color, speech, time cues",[597,626,627],{},"Distress described as torture",[579,629,630,633,636],{},[597,631,632],{},"Nothing becomes something",[597,634,635],{},"Patterned input altogether",[597,637,638],{},"Perceptions with no outside source",[521,640,641,642],{},"The first two rows are established experimental findings. The third rests on human-rights documentation and older laboratory work. The fourth is established as an observation; its explanation is an accepted but still developing theory. ",[539,643,543,645,647,648,647,652,647,656,647,660,549],{"className":644},[542],[545,646,548],{"href":547},",",[545,649,651],{"href":650},"#ref-4","4",[545,653,655],{"href":654},"#ref-6","6",[545,657,659],{"href":658},"#ref-8","8",[545,661,663],{"href":662},"#ref-11","11",[552,665,667],{"id":666},"nothing-happens","Nothing Happens",[521,669,670,671,676],{},"The 2014 paper, \"Just think: The challenges of the disengaged mind,\" was written by Timothy Wilson and colleagues at the University of Virginia and Harvard. ",[539,672,543,674,549],{"className":673},[542],[545,675,548],{"href":547}," It reported eleven studies. In most of them, participants spent between 6 and 15 minutes alone with no task except to think. Some were asked to think about anything they liked; others were given a topic to plan out, such as an upcoming outing.",[521,678,679,680],{},"The results were consistent. Participants generally did not enjoy the experience. They reported that concentrating was hard and that their minds wandered, even though there was nothing competing for their attention. The finding held for college students and for community members up to the age of 77. It did not depend much on age, education, income or how often people used smartphones. ",[539,681,543,683,549],{"className":682},[542],[545,684,548],{"href":547},[521,686,687,688,693,694],{},"The researchers then sent people home to try the same exercise alone, without anyone watching. About a third admitted they had \"cheated\" by checking a phone, listening to music or getting out of the chair. ",[539,689,543,691,549],{"className":690},[542],[545,692,548],{"href":547}," When given the choice between thinking and a simple external activity, such as reading or listening to music, people preferred the activity, and they enjoyed it more. ",[539,695,543,697,549],{"className":696},[542],[545,698,548],{"href":547},[521,700,701],{},"Nothing about this is dramatic. That is the point. A quarter of an hour of undirected thought, with no pain, no threat and no deadline, was reliably experienced as mildly unpleasant.",[552,703,705],{"id":704},"nothing-becomes-uncomfortable","Nothing Becomes Uncomfortable",[521,707,708,709],{},"The shock study was designed to ask how unpleasant. Participants first rated a series of stimuli, including the shock, and said whether they would pay to avoid it. Only those who said they would pay were kept in the analysis. Each was then left alone for 15 minutes with the option to shock themselves. ",[539,710,543,712,549],{"className":711},[542],[545,713,548],{"href":547},[521,715,716,717],{},"Sixty-seven percent of the men and twenty-five percent of the women did. Most pressed the button once or a handful of times. One man pressed it 190 times; the authors treated him as an outlier. ",[539,718,543,720,549],{"className":719},[542],[545,721,548],{"href":547},[521,723,724,725,728,729,734],{},"The authors' conclusion was modest and pointed: ",[566,726,727],{},"most people would rather be doing something than nothing, even if that something is negative."," ",[539,730,543,732,549],{"className":731},[542],[545,733,548],{"href":547}," They did not claim people wanted pain. The shock was interesting in a way the empty room was not.",[521,736,737,738,745,746],{},"Later work supports the core effect. A Dutch study found that people watching a deliberately boring film gave themselves more electric shocks than people watching a neutral one, and ate more sweets. ",[539,739,543,741,549],{"className":740},[542],[545,742,744],{"href":743},"#ref-3","3"," A large follow-up led by Nicholas Buttrick, with Wilson among the authors, tested 2,557 people across eleven countries. In every country, people asked to do something solitary enjoyed it more than people asked to think for pleasure. How much people enjoyed thinking did vary by country, but that variation was explained by individual traits rather than culture itself. ",[539,747,543,749,549],{"className":748},[542],[545,750,752],{"href":751},"#ref-2","2",[552,754,756],{"id":755},"remove-more","Remove More",[521,758,759],{},"The laboratory room still contained a great deal. There was furniture, light and shadow, the hum of a building, the passage of time. Participants knew the session would end in fifteen minutes. The next question is what happens when those things go too.",[521,761,762,763,770,771],{},"The first systematic answer came from McGill University in the early 1950s. The work was prompted in part by Cold War concern about \"brainwashing\" of prisoners. ",[539,764,543,766,549],{"className":765},[542],[545,767,769],{"href":768},"#ref-5","5"," Donald Hebb's group paid male students to lie on a bed in a lit cubicle for as long as they could. They wore translucent goggles that let through diffuse light but no shapes, cotton gloves and cardboard cuffs that dulled touch, and a U-shaped pillow, with the steady hum of a fan masking sound. ",[539,772,543,774,647,776,549],{"className":773},[542],[545,775,651],{"href":650},[545,777,769],{"href":768},[521,779,780,781],{},"The pay was good for the time. Most students still could not be persuaded to stay beyond two or three days. They reported restlessness, difficulty thinking and, in many cases, vivid images they had not chosen to see. ",[539,782,543,784,647,786,549],{"className":783},[542],[545,785,651],{"href":650},[545,787,769],{"href":768},[521,789,790,791],{},"In January 2004, Amnesty International reported a case that looked like the same method turned into punishment. Amir Abbas Fakhravar, a 26-year-old journalist serving an eight-year sentence in Iran for a book critical of the country's leadership, was taken to a detention centre run by the Revolutionary Guards. According to Amnesty, his cell had no windows and was entirely colored creamy white, as were his clothes. He was given white rice on white disposable paper plates. To use the toilet, he slipped a white piece of paper under the door. The guards reportedly wore footwear designed to muffle sound. He was forbidden to speak to anyone. ",[539,792,543,794,549],{"className":793},[542],[545,795,655],{"href":654},[521,797,798,799,801,802,805,806,811,812],{},"Amnesty was told that \"the silence is deafening\" in the facility, and that the method was known as ",[566,800,228],{}," (",[534,803,804],{},"shekanjeh-e sefid","). It described the conditions as \"extreme sensory deprivation\" that appeared \"designed to weaken the prisoner by causing persistent and unjustified suffering which amounts to torture.\" ",[539,807,543,809,549],{"className":808},[542],[545,810,655],{"href":654}," A follow-up in March 2004 repeated the account: solitary confinement, near-silence, and only the color white to look at. ",[539,813,543,815,549],{"className":814},[542],[545,816,818],{"href":817},"#ref-7","7",[521,820,821],{},"The two situations differ in scale, but the design is the same. The Virginia room removed tasks. The white cell removed tasks, speech, sound, color, variation and any sign of time passing. The prisoner is not beaten. Nothing is done to him. The suffering comes from what has been taken away.",[521,823,824,825,830,831],{},"This matches what psychiatrists have documented about prolonged solitary confinement more generally: anxiety, difficulty concentrating, intrusive thoughts, perceptual distortions and, in some prisoners, hallucinations. ",[539,826,543,828,549],{"className":827},[542],[545,829,659],{"href":658}," Amnesty's own report noted that European human-rights bodies had already classified sensory deprivation used in interrogation as inhuman treatment or torture. ",[539,832,543,834,549],{"className":833},[542],[545,835,655],{"href":654},[552,837,839],{"id":838},"nothing-becomes-something","Nothing Becomes Something",[521,841,842],{},"Stripping away input does not leave the mind blank. It begins to produce perceptions of its own.",[521,844,845],{},"Several lines of evidence show this under controlled conditions.",[847,848,849,863,876,890],"ul",{},[850,851,852,855,856],"li",{},[566,853,854],{},"Short, total deprivation."," In a 2009 study, 19 volunteers spent 15 minutes alone in a dark, soundproof anechoic chamber. Many reported perceptual disturbances: seeing shapes, sensing a presence, feeling paranoid. The effect was stronger in people who scored as more prone to hallucinations, but it appeared in both groups. ",[539,857,543,859,549],{"className":858},[542],[545,860,862],{"href":861},"#ref-9","9",[850,864,865,868,869],{},[566,866,867],{},"Prolonged blindfolding."," Thirteen healthy sighted adults were blindfolded continuously for 96 hours. Ten reported visual hallucinations, ranging from simple flashes to faces and landscapes. ",[539,870,543,872,549],{"className":871},[542],[545,873,875],{"href":874},"#ref-10","10",[850,877,878,881,882,884,885],{},[566,879,880],{},"Uniform input."," In the ",[534,883,231],{}," (\"whole field\") procedure, a person sees only an even, featureless field of light, often through halved ping-pong balls, while hearing steady noise. Within minutes, many report shapes, colors and sometimes complex scenes. ",[539,886,543,888,549],{"className":887},[542],[545,889,663],{"href":662},[850,891,892,895,896,899,900],{},[566,893,894],{},"Lost input from damage."," People who lose much of their sight from eye disease sometimes see detailed, vivid images of people, animals or patterns while knowing they are not real. This is called ",[566,897,898],{},"Charles Bonnet syndrome",", and it occurs in people without any psychiatric illness. ",[539,901,543,903,549],{"className":902},[542],[545,904,906],{"href":905},"#ref-12","12",[521,908,909],{},"The Ganzfeld is the clearest case, because nothing is taken away except variation. There is plenty of light. There is sound. What is missing is difference: nothing to tell one moment from the next.",[911,912,914],"h3",{"id":913},"why-the-mind-fills-the-gap","Why the mind fills the gap",[521,916,917,918,920,921],{},"The leading explanation comes from a family of theories usually called ",[566,919,232],{},". On this view the brain does not simply wait for the senses to report. It continuously predicts what it is about to perceive, and uses incoming signals mainly to correct those predictions. ",[539,922,543,924,549],{"className":923},[542],[545,925,927],{"href":926},"#ref-13","13",[521,929,930],{},"A small scenario helps. Walk into a dark room you know well and you \"see\" the sofa before your eyes can make it out. Your expectation is doing most of the work, and your senses confirm it once enough light arrives.",[521,932,933,934,937,938],{},"Now remove the correction entirely. Predictions keep being generated, but nothing pushes back. When the incoming signal carries little information, the brain's expectations carry more weight in deciding what is perceived. Researchers describe hallucinations in these terms, as perception driven by strong ",[566,935,936],{},"priors"," (expectations) with too little evidence to check them. ",[539,939,543,941,549],{"className":940},[542],[545,942,927],{"href":926},[521,944,945,946],{},"This account is well supported as a general framework, and it explains why hallucinations appear in so many unrelated conditions of reduced input. It is not settled in detail. Researchers still disagree about exactly which brain mechanisms carry the predictions and why some people are far more susceptible than others. ",[539,947,543,949,647,951,549],{"className":948},[542],[545,950,862],{"href":861},[545,952,927],{"href":926},[552,954,956],{"id":955},"the-paradox","The Paradox",[521,958,959],{},"The findings in this article add up to an inversion of the usual picture.",[521,961,962],{},"Pain is information. Noise is information. Color is information. A mild electric shock, whatever else it is, is an event: something to notice, respond to and remember. Even discomfort gives the mind something to work on.",[521,964,965,966],{},"Remove enough of it and the result is not calm. For fifteen minutes it is mild boredom. With a button available, it is a willingness to be hurt. In a white cell for weeks, it is suffering that human-rights law treats as torture. And at the extreme, it is a mind that begins to supply its own sights and sounds because nothing else is supplying them. ",[566,967,968],{},"Emptiness does not stay empty for long.",[552,970,972],{"id":971},"limitations-and-open-questions","Limitations and Open Questions",[521,974,975],{},"These results connect, but they are not one experiment, and they should not be merged into a single claim.",[847,977,978,984,999,1011,1025],{},[850,979,980,983],{},[566,981,982],{},"Degree matters."," Fifteen minutes in a quiet room is not solitary confinement. The Virginia studies show a preference, not harm. Nothing in them suggests ordinary solitude is dangerous.",[850,985,986,989,990],{},[566,987,988],{},"The shock result is narrower than it sounds."," Participants had already felt the shock and knew it was mild, and the sample in that study was small. Some pressed out of curiosity rather than distress. Later studies support the general effect, but the percentages should not be treated as fixed facts about men and women. ",[539,991,543,993,647,995,647,997,549],{"className":992},[542],[545,994,548],{"href":547},[545,996,752],{"href":751},[545,998,744],{"href":743},[850,1000,1001,1004,1005,1010],{},[566,1002,1003],{},"Thinking is not always unpleasant."," In the eleven-country study, people enjoyed thinking more if they had meditation experience, scored high on curiosity and openness, or started in a good mood. ",[539,1006,543,1008,549],{"className":1007},[542],[545,1009,752],{"href":751}," Sitting with nothing to do appears to be a skill, not a fixed limit.",[850,1012,1013,1016,1017,1024],{},[566,1014,1015],{},"The white torture account is testimony."," Amnesty reported what it was told by a prisoner and others. It could not inspect the facility, and the Iranian authorities did not confirm the conditions. ",[539,1018,543,1020,647,1022,549],{"className":1019},[542],[545,1021,655],{"href":654},[545,1023,818],{"href":817}," The description is consistent with other reports of the practice but cannot be independently verified in the way a laboratory result can.",[850,1026,1027,1030,1031],{},[566,1028,1029],{},"Individual differences are large."," In every deprivation study, some participants report nothing unusual at all. Why the mind fills the silence in one person and not another remains unexplained. ",[539,1032,543,1034,647,1036,549],{"className":1033},[542],[545,1035,862],{"href":861},[545,1037,875],{"href":874},[552,1039,1041],{"id":1040},"a-mind-that-needs-something","A Mind That Needs Something",[521,1043,1044],{},"The simplest reading of all this is that the human mind is not built to idle. It evolved to track a world that changes, and it treats a world that stops changing as a problem to be solved: look for something, do something, and if nothing is there, produce something.",[521,1046,1047],{},"What is established is the behavior. People dislike short periods of doing nothing, often enough to choose pain instead, and severe, prolonged deprivation reliably causes suffering and false perceptions. What remains open is the precise mechanism, and why the line between restful quiet and unbearable emptiness falls where it does for each person.",[521,1049,1050],{},"The practical lesson runs against intuition. Silence is not automatically peace, and isolation is not automatically rest. The same absence that feels like relief for an evening can, when made complete, be designed into a punishment. The white cell leaves no marks, and it still causes harm.",[517,1052,1054],{"id":1053},"references","References",[521,1056,1058,1062,1063,1065,1066,1069,1070,1073],{"id":1057},"ref-1",[566,1059,1060,1061],{},"[1]"," Wilson, T. D., Reinhard, D. A., Westgate, E. C., Gilbert, D. T., Ellerbeck, N., Hahn, C., Brown, C. L., & Shaked, A. (2014)."," \"Just think: The challenges of the disengaged mind.\" ",[534,1064,536],{},", ",[566,1067,1068],{},"345","(6192), 75–77.",[1071,1072],"br",{},[545,1074,1075],{"href":1075,"rel":1076},"https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1126\u002Fscience.1250830",[1077],"nofollow",[521,1079,1081,1085,1086,1065,1089,1092,1093,1095],{"id":1080},"ref-2",[566,1082,1083,1084],{},"[2]"," Buttrick, N., Choi, H., Wilson, T. D., Oishi, S., Boker, S. M., Gilbert, D. T., et al. (2019)."," \"Cross-cultural consistency and relativity in the enjoyment of thinking versus doing.\" ",[534,1087,1088],{},"Journal of Personality and Social Psychology",[566,1090,1091],{},"117","(5), e71–e83.",[1071,1094],{},[545,1096,1097],{"href":1097,"rel":1098},"https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1037\u002Fpspp0000198",[1077],[521,1100,1102,1106,1107,1065,1110,1113,1114,1116],{"id":1101},"ref-3",[566,1103,1104,1105],{},"[3]"," Havermans, R. C., Vancleef, L., Kalamatianos, A., & Nederkoorn, C. (2015)."," \"Eating and inflicting pain out of boredom.\" ",[534,1108,1109],{},"Appetite",[566,1111,1112],{},"85",", 52–57.",[1071,1115],{},[545,1117,1118],{"href":1118,"rel":1119},"https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1016\u002Fj.appet.2014.11.007",[1077],[521,1121,1123,1127,1128,1065,1131,1133,1134,1136],{"id":1122},"ref-4",[566,1124,1125,1126],{},"[4]"," Bexton, W. H., Heron, W., & Scott, T. H. (1954)."," \"Effects of decreased variation in the sensory environment.\" ",[534,1129,1130],{},"Canadian Journal of Psychology",[566,1132,659],{},"(2), 70–76.",[1071,1135],{},[545,1137,1138],{"href":1138,"rel":1139},"https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1037\u002Fh0083596",[1077],[521,1141,1143,1147,1148,1065,1151,1154,1155,1157],{"id":1142},"ref-5",[566,1144,1145,1146],{},"[5]"," Heron, W. (1957)."," \"The Pathology of Boredom.\" ",[534,1149,1150],{},"Scientific American",[566,1152,1153],{},"196","(1), 52–56.",[1071,1156],{},[545,1158,1159],{"href":1159,"rel":1160},"https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1038\u002Fscientificamerican0157-52",[1077],[521,1162,1164,1168,1169,1171],{"id":1163},"ref-6",[566,1165,1166,1167],{},"[6]"," Amnesty International. (2004, 13 February)."," \"Iran: Further information on UA 88\u002F03 — Fear of torture\u002Fill-treatment\u002FPrisoner of conscience: Amir Abbas Fakhravar.\" AI Index MDE 13\u002F009\u002F2004.",[1071,1170],{},[545,1172,1173],{"href":1173,"rel":1174},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.amnesty.org\u002Fen\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2021\u002F06\u002Fmde130092004en.pdf",[1077],[521,1176,1178,1182,1183,1185],{"id":1177},"ref-7",[566,1179,1180,1181],{},"[7]"," Amnesty International. (2004, 25 March)."," \"Iran: Further information on UA 88\u002F03 — Fear of torture\u002Fill-treatment\u002FPrisoner of conscience: Amir Abbas Fakhravar.\" AI Index MDE 13\u002F021\u002F2004.",[1071,1184],{},[545,1186,1187],{"href":1187,"rel":1188},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.amnesty.org\u002Fen\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2021\u002F06\u002Fmde130212004en.pdf",[1077],[521,1190,1192,1196,1197,1065,1200,1203,1204,1206],{"id":1191},"ref-8",[566,1193,1194,1195],{},"[8]"," Grassian, S. (2006)."," \"Psychiatric Effects of Solitary Confinement.\" ",[534,1198,1199],{},"Washington University Journal of Law & Policy",[566,1201,1202],{},"22",", 325–383.",[1071,1205],{},[545,1207,1208],{"href":1208,"rel":1209},"https:\u002F\u002Fopenscholarship.wustl.edu\u002Flaw_journal_law_policy\u002Fvol22\u002Fiss1\u002F24\u002F",[1077],[521,1211,1213,1217,1218,1065,1221,1224,1225,1227],{"id":1212},"ref-9",[566,1214,1215,1216],{},"[9]"," Mason, O. J., & Brady, F. (2009)."," \"The Psychotomimetic Effects of Short-Term Sensory Deprivation.\" ",[534,1219,1220],{},"Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease",[566,1222,1223],{},"197","(10), 783–785.",[1071,1226],{},[545,1228,1229],{"href":1229,"rel":1230},"https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1097\u002FNMD.0b013e3181b9760b",[1077],[521,1232,1234,1238,1239,1065,1242,1245,1246,1248],{"id":1233},"ref-10",[566,1235,1236,1237],{},"[10]"," Merabet, L. B., Maguire, D., Warde, A., Alterescu, K., Stickgold, R., & Pascual-Leone, A. (2004)."," \"Visual Hallucinations During Prolonged Blindfolding in Sighted Subjects.\" ",[534,1240,1241],{},"Journal of Neuro-Ophthalmology",[566,1243,1244],{},"24","(2), 109–113.",[1071,1247],{},[545,1249,1250],{"href":1250,"rel":1251},"https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1097\u002F00041327-200406000-00003",[1077],[521,1253,1255,1259,1260,1065,1263,1266,1267,1269],{"id":1254},"ref-11",[566,1256,1257,1258],{},"[11]"," Wackermann, J., Pütz, P., & Allefeld, C. (2008)."," \"Ganzfeld-induced hallucinatory experience, its phenomenology and cerebral electrophysiology.\" ",[534,1261,1262],{},"Cortex",[566,1264,1265],{},"44","(10), 1364–1378.",[1071,1268],{},[545,1270,1271],{"href":1271,"rel":1272},"https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1016\u002Fj.cortex.2007.05.003",[1077],[521,1274,1276,1280,1281,1065,1284,1287,1288,1290],{"id":1275},"ref-12",[566,1277,1278,1279],{},"[12]"," Menon, G. J., Rahman, I., Menon, S. J., & Dutton, G. N. (2003)."," \"Complex Visual Hallucinations in the Visually Impaired: The Charles Bonnet Syndrome.\" ",[534,1282,1283],{},"Survey of Ophthalmology",[566,1285,1286],{},"48","(1), 58–72.",[1071,1289],{},[545,1291,1292],{"href":1292,"rel":1293},"https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1016\u002FS0039-6257(02)00414-9",[1077],[521,1295,1297,1301,1302,1065,1305,1308,1309,1311],{"id":1296},"ref-13",[566,1298,1299,1300],{},"[13]"," Corlett, P. R., Horga, G., Fletcher, P. C., Alderson-Day, B., Schmack, K., & Powers, A. R. (2019)."," \"Hallucinations and Strong Priors.\" ",[534,1303,1304],{},"Trends in Cognitive Sciences",[566,1306,1307],{},"23","(2), 114–127.",[1071,1310],{},[545,1312,1313],{"href":1313,"rel":1314},"https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1016\u002Fj.tics.2018.12.001",[1077],{"title":1316,"searchDepth":92,"depth":92,"links":1317},"",[1318,1319,1320,1321,1322,1325,1326,1327],{"id":554,"depth":92,"text":555},{"id":666,"depth":92,"text":667},{"id":704,"depth":92,"text":705},{"id":755,"depth":92,"text":756},{"id":838,"depth":92,"text":839,"children":1323},[1324],{"id":913,"depth":152,"text":914},{"id":955,"depth":92,"text":956},{"id":971,"depth":92,"text":972},{"id":1040,"depth":92,"text":1041},"md",[222,223,224,225,226,227,228,229,230,231,232,233,234],{},true,{"title":219,"description":220},"evidence\u002Fthe-weight-of-nothing","JIYSvXlDuYe4YzTSbh6qpuP6eK1o3Cz2Hcv2mzHXYV0",1790022709881]