Part I (the hypothesis and an account of DZI)
The hypothesis is the following: some day in the future (maybe a century from now, maybe later; possibly not much sooner) a new mental illness appears. It cannot be accounted for with current models but - more importantly - it doesn't seem to be possible to account for it even by considerably reworking the models, and this is due to its specific traits:
The illness (let's call it the Day Zero illness) causes lack of ability to assign meaning to anything, however it isn't due to conscious decision or philosophical examination: the afflicted simply loses the mental ability to secure a stable basis for assigning meaning to things. For example, a professor afflicted with the DZI will no longer be able to keep in his/her mind what the subjects of the course are, or (progressively) any other mental construction they build and altered through the years. It is important to notice that DZI does NOT bring about a selective erasure of memories; memories may still be there, in theory, but you no longer have the ability to stabilize them and use them as a basis for thinking. So in effect you cannot make use of any memories or learning you may have had.
Part II (a scenario about drugs being unable to react and a hypothesized reason behind DZI)
Given this hypothetical illness causes rapid progression of inability to stabilize any thoughts or fossilize them in the form of specific examinations of things which occupy you (eg work, human relations, health etc), let us assume that drugs can not reverse it, and at best would stop for a while any further deterioration. Which wouldn't be a real help, given already the afflicted has lost their life.
At some point it is theorized that DZI is not an illness brought about by trauma or external stimulation, but by a built-in defense mechanism of the mind itself. Like the Fire of Heraclitus, human thoughts keep morphing into any shape their director (the individual thinker) can imagine, however it becomes apparent with DZI that the ability to think had always been not a gift to man (as was poetically presented in myths; Prometheus etc) but a defense mechanism by the mind itself so as to assure a hidden equilibrium in the mind-consciousness relation. Some obscure trigger, perhaps in pananthropic ways of thinking or relating information, perhaps something not even presentable in thoughts, now has caused a severe feedback to the loop of that defense mechanism, and everyone afflicted with DZI is experiencing the immediate, drastic and irreversible reaction. In effect, so as to prevent complete collapse, the mind brings about a state of aphasia, but one not identified as an individual condition given that now the patient population is a large part of all humans - and set to steadily grow.
Part III The question
Do you consider an illness like DZI as possible to appear in the near - or not so near - future? Or do you view such an illness as unlikely or even impossible?
The hypothesis is the following: some day in the future (maybe a century from now, maybe later; possibly not much sooner) a new mental illness appears. It cannot be accounted for with current models but - more importantly - it doesn't seem to be possible to account for it even by considerably reworking the models, and this is due to its specific traits:
The illness (let's call it the Day Zero illness) causes lack of ability to assign meaning to anything, however it isn't due to conscious decision or philosophical examination: the afflicted simply loses the mental ability to secure a stable basis for assigning meaning to things. For example, a professor afflicted with the DZI will no longer be able to keep in his/her mind what the subjects of the course are, or (progressively) any other mental construction they build and altered through the years. It is important to notice that DZI does NOT bring about a selective erasure of memories; memories may still be there, in theory, but you no longer have the ability to stabilize them and use them as a basis for thinking. So in effect you cannot make use of any memories or learning you may have had.
Part II (a scenario about drugs being unable to react and a hypothesized reason behind DZI)
Given this hypothetical illness causes rapid progression of inability to stabilize any thoughts or fossilize them in the form of specific examinations of things which occupy you (eg work, human relations, health etc), let us assume that drugs can not reverse it, and at best would stop for a while any further deterioration. Which wouldn't be a real help, given already the afflicted has lost their life.
At some point it is theorized that DZI is not an illness brought about by trauma or external stimulation, but by a built-in defense mechanism of the mind itself. Like the Fire of Heraclitus, human thoughts keep morphing into any shape their director (the individual thinker) can imagine, however it becomes apparent with DZI that the ability to think had always been not a gift to man (as was poetically presented in myths; Prometheus etc) but a defense mechanism by the mind itself so as to assure a hidden equilibrium in the mind-consciousness relation. Some obscure trigger, perhaps in pananthropic ways of thinking or relating information, perhaps something not even presentable in thoughts, now has caused a severe feedback to the loop of that defense mechanism, and everyone afflicted with DZI is experiencing the immediate, drastic and irreversible reaction. In effect, so as to prevent complete collapse, the mind brings about a state of aphasia, but one not identified as an individual condition given that now the patient population is a large part of all humans - and set to steadily grow.
Part III The question
Do you consider an illness like DZI as possible to appear in the near - or not so near - future? Or do you view such an illness as unlikely or even impossible?
