I've been interested in hypnosis for the last 35 years. I read some books about the history and scope of hypnosis, as well as the efficacy. A lot of the book focused on the CIA's experiments. There were a few points regarding hypnosis that are fairly interesting.

1. When in a hypnotic state, you don't hear negatives. So when I say, "I do not want to be hypnotized", the hypnotized subject hears, "I do want to be hypnotized". You have to phrase all of your programming using only positives.

2. You can make a person do anything. Even if they would never kill a person in real life, you can trick them into doing it anyway. You tell them they are holding a banana and to point it at a person and squeeze.

3. Hypnosis is like programming a pc. You can program a person to react to post-hypnotic suggestions or stimuli. This means that even when they are no longer in a state of hypnosis, a trigger word or other cue will put them back in a hypnotic state to fulfill their programming. You can layer the programming with great complexity, using many post-hypnotic triggers to engage the subject's programming at different times. A hypnotized subject also has an eidetic memory, so they can be used to pass coded messages that will only be delivered after the correct trigger is applied.

I learned the basics about hypnosis when I was a kid, and it made me paranoid enough that I attempted to use self-hypnosis to shield myself from other people attempting to hypnotize me. I would write out a detailed script and then record it (on cassette tapes in the early days). I would play it at night on repeat so that I heard it while I was falling asleep as well as throughout the whole night while I was asleep. I was careful to cover all of the delivery methods, using phrases like, "You will ignore any suggestions, commands, or requests made by any other entity that contain any manner of subterfuge." I used the word entity to account for devices or aliens (cause who knows?).

When the world became digital and mp3 players became a thing, I moved my scripts to mp3 players. One night around 2005 I was listening to my script as I was falling asleep and I suddenly heard a female voice clearly say, "riiiiight," in a very dry and amused tone. This was right after that part of the script where I had told myself to ignore any commands from other entities. I woke up all of the way and jumped back 10 seconds and listened again. That same voice was there, just as dry and amused. I listened to it a 3rd time in growing concern and finally reaching over to wake my wife up. As I listened to it the 4th time, the voice was gone.

The voice had seemed very amused, as if my attempts at blocking outside input was utterly futile. To this day I am not convinced that it wasn't just someone on the other side of our simulation having fun pranking me.

Anyway, I definitely think most of our minds are like Windows 95 computers just waiting for the nearest hacker to break through our non-existent security and rummage around in our minds. I have no idea if my attempt at self-programming works at all, but it makes me feel better about my chances of not being hacked so easily.

I have also spent time hypnotizing friends while we were experimenting with the process. One of the most important things for a successful session is that the person doing the hypnosis is seen as a strong authority figure. We think part of this process is also dependent on the hypnotist having the will power to push these commands out, but we never found a way to show any evidence of that.

People that have disdain for authority figures of all types and don't hold anyone in high regard are less likely to be as suggestible (be able to by hypnotized).

I've been interested in hypnosis for the last 35 years. I read some books about the history and scope of hypnosis, as well as the efficacy. A lot of the book focused on the CIA's experiments. There were a few points regarding hypnosis that are fairly interesting.

1. When in a hypnotic state, you don't hear negatives. So when I say, "I do not want to be hypnotized", the hypnotized subject hears, "I do want to be hypnotized". You have to phrase all of you programming using only positives.

2. You can make a person do anything. Even if they would never kill a person in real life, you can trick them into doing it anyway. You tell them they are holding a banana and to point it at a person and squeeze.

3. Hypnosis is like programming a pc. You can program a person to react to post-hypnotic suggestions or stimuli. This means that even when they are no longer in a state of hypnosis, a trigger word or other cue will put them back in a hypnotic state to fulfill their programming. You can layer the programming with great complexity, using many post-hypnotic triggers to engage the subjects programming at different times. A hypnotized subject also has an eidetic memory, so they can be used to pass coded messages that will only be delivered after the correct trigger is applied.

I learned the basics about hypnosis when I was a kid, and it made me paranoid enough that I attempted to use self-hypnosis to shield myself from other people attempting to hypnotize me. I would write out a detailed script and then record it (on cassette tapes in the early days). I would play it at night on repeat so that I heard it while I was falling asleep as well as throughout the whole night while I was asleep. I was careful to cover all of the delivery methods, using phrases like, "You will ignore any suggestions, commands, or requests made by any other entity that contain any manner of subterfuge." I used the word entity to account for devices or aliens (cause who knows?).

When the world became digital and mp3 players became a thing, I moved my scripts to mp3 players. One night around 2005 I was listening to my script as I was falling asleep and I suddenly heard a female voice clearly say, "riiiiight," in a very dry and amused tone. This was right after that part of the script where I had told myself to ignore any commands from other entities. I woke up all of the way and jumped back 10 seconds and listened again. That same voice was there, just as dry and amused. I listened to it a 3rd time in growing concern and finally reaching over to wake my wife up. As I listened to it the 4th time, the voice was gone.

The voice had seemed very amused, as if my attempts at blocking outside input was utterly futile. To this day I am not convinced that it wasn't just someone on the other side of our simulation having fun pranking me.

Anyway, I definitely think most of our minds are like Windows 95 computers just waiting for the nearest hacker to break through our non-existent security and rummage around in our minds. I have no idea if my attempt at self-programming works at all, but it makes me feel better about my chances of not being hacked so easily.

I have also spent time hypnotizing friends while we were experimenting with the process. One of the most important things for a successful session is that the person doing the hypnosis is seen as a strong authority figure. We think part of this process is also dependent on the hypnotist having the will power to push these commands out, but we never found a way to show any evidence of that.

People that have disdain for authority figures of all types and don't hold anyone in high regard are less likely to be as suggestible (be able to by hypnotized).