Exploring mind’s ontology and its vulnerabilities

The author reflects on a five-year quest to understand how certain influential figures and groups—think Donald Trump, Elon Musk, MAGA supporters, and QAnon—hijack rational and moral frameworks. These diverse entities, while different in ideology, share common characteristics: they propagate authoritarian, illiberal beliefs predominantly through the internet. The author questions why individuals, including their own family, make self-destructive choices, emphasizing the need to explore how these influences manipulate the mind and alter perceptions.Their investigation has involved writing numerous articles that draw from history, psychology, and philosophy to analyze these phenomena. However, the author realizes that deeper questions remain, particularly concerning the nature of the mind and the process of changing someone’s viewpoint. To this end, they propose a theoretical ontology of the mind, a model indicating that human cognition operates on various levels—from subatomic physics to metaphysics. This multi-layered understanding reveals how our consciousness has evolved, illustrating vulnerabilities that can be exploited by those seeking control.

The author identifies nine knowledge domains that make up this ontological framework, emphasizing that each layer interacts with the others. The lack of a holistic understanding complicates discourse on political matters, as mainstream media often simplifies these complexities. For instance, recent cognitive science studies demonstrate that alterations to social media feeds can subconsciously sway political opinions, highlighting the interconnectedness of psychology and politics.

The author equates the manipulation of perceptions through language and symbolism—roots in linguistics and semiotics—to psychological warfare. They analyze instances where public figures use charged language to provoke emotional reactions or convey political messages covertly. Examples, including tweets from Elon Musk that exploit connotations of disgust and the use of historical symbols like the eleven-star flag associated with white nationalism, illustrate how language can be weaponized to achieve specific political ends.

Ultimately, the piece argues that the ongoing attacks on the mind undermine the collective understanding of consciousness and threaten democratic progress. By selectively focusing on political discourse, society neglects other layers pivotal to human nature, making it susceptible to manipulation. The author calls for an integrated approach to understanding these influences, advocating for a broader exploration of consciousness’s evolution to inform resistance against such undue control. The piece concludes with a warning against epistemological totalitarianism, describing efforts to dominate the discourse on human nature as fraudulent and morally reprehensible.