Posted by samizdis 2 days ago
In Homer's Odyssey (8th c. BC), while in the underworld Odysseus attempts to hug his mother Anticlea but is unable to do so.
Thrice I sprang towards her, and my heart bade me clasp her, and thrice she flitted from my arms like a shadow or a dream..... “‘My mother, why dost thou not stay for me, who am eager to clasp thee, that even in the house of Hades we two may cast our arms each about the other.... Is this but a phantom (ghost) that august Persephone has sent me, that I may lament and groan the more?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shade_(mythology)
Ancient Romans used "umbrae" (shadows) to refer to ghostly spirits, which for me invokes the figures on the wall of Plato's cave
Interesting regardless though.
One should not that Homers dialect is arcane from the start of the Greek golden age, so translation is always going to be interesting.
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traduzioni_dell%27Odissea
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_translations_of_Homer
See also the rise of https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantasmagoria in the 19th.
> HAMLET Pale or red?
> HORATIO Nay, very pale.
~1600
I've read of this idea, it's traditional in some cultures, I just don't remember the name of it. I think it's cognate with ideas of doppelgangers and so forth.
I also think there's often an implicit assumption that whatever it is that causes the "imprint" can only reach a certain necessary magnitude that is commensurate with death or dying.
I feel obliged to note this is not my own perspective on things at all, although I admit I like reading about and thinking about these things sometimes as a kind of psychosocial phenomenon, and think it's worthwhile to engage in metaphysical discussions sometimes just as a kind of check.
It's not a theory, just detailed, more self-consistent fiction. Like Tolkien's very detailed descriptions of elves.
From Wikipedia: In modern science, the term "theory" refers to scientific theories, a well-confirmed type of explanation of nature, made in a way consistent with the scientific method, and fulfilling the criteria required by modern science.
I don't see the harm in pondering such theories. After all, the fact we're here and living in the universe at all, means there's a whole bunch of things happening behind the scenes we have no idea about. Perhaps one day, "ghost imprints" will be something science can measure. Or other pseudo-science like telepathy or premonitions, may move into actual science with as yet unknown discoveries. I'm not saying will, but they may.
Just because someone can hide it or still do their job doesn’t make it “mild” either.
When a system has a lot of complexity, it needs a lot of computational resources to be simulated accurately.
When suddenly this complexity is not needed anymore, because the system got "simplified" suddenly. The pockets of available computation diffuse slowly into the environment.
The analog for the scientific person here is like your adaptive grid in the simulation was locally in high resolution because it was needed by the physical process, and suddenly the physical process doesn't need it anymore but the simulation grid stays in high resolution.
When some other high complexity process comes nearby (like another rich soul), it benefits from this increased resolution which usually allows him unconsciously to run his computational wetware in higher gear, like in a form of mildly induced schizophrenia, vivid dreams, or hallucinations.
Brains as general information analyzing devices can perceive the shape of this echo from the past, decoding from the faint ripples the stone that impacted the water.
The mythology of absorbing the essence from the passed is varied across time and places, ranging from soul capturing gems, the fighting to survive against the erosion of time like in Highlander accumulating the energy of your rivals by eating their brain.
Looking at it only as a physical process ("real") will make you miss it. It has to be seen through the lens of the ethereal plane. Information is conserved, but details can be compressed more or less. Degrees of freedom accumulated or used are different things.
That is, instead of "ghost-seers dress the ghost", it's the ghost that dresses itself. In fact, that whole paragraph even makes sense once flipped that way:
"[...] ghosts dress themselves, automatically, through unconscious processes. And so we see a ghost in its usual dress because that is the mental picture the ghost has of itself, and this choice of garment is most likely to inspire recognition."
If a ghost is meant to be associated with a spirit or soul, there's no particular reason for them to have any form or be visible at all. But as an exercise in worldbuilding, they can be, and their visual appearance can give all kinds of fascinating clues about their previous existence or the viewers'. I'd rather speculate about that.