To put in context; pre-writing, humans were capable of storing entire stories in memory. The Torah was passed on orally, as were many other religious myths. People could recite thousands of words from memory without missing a verb. After books were invented, we lost this capacity. Humans adapt to the environment, and develop the skills needed to fit into that environment. The modern world is a different play-pen from Plato's and Aristotle's. We are required to look in our mirrors every 10 seconds or less, we need to be constantly scanning the scene for deals. We have a million lights coming at us from every angle. Our memories suck and we can't stay focused. We do it to ourselves, we do, and that's why it really hurts.
It's worth noting that the ability to stay focused on a singular task has diminished since the technological age. Kids today are incapable of staying focused on boring instructions. One researcher said, going from the technological jungle that constitutes most of their loves, to the barren waste-land of technology that is the traditional class-room, is a major challenge for kids. The average adult in our society has an intruding thought every 15 seconds. Kids, probably have them more frequently. ADD isn't a disorder, it's the new human.
I'm fascinated by children and spend a lot of time studying developmental psychology and looking at cute vids of kids on youtube. But my girlfriend and I (both 30) do not have any kids ourselves, and we continue to question whether or not we are even mature enough to be parents.
What children learn by the time they are adults, isn't necessarily true. As Albert Einstein famously said; "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age 18."
Everything kids say is "cute". There is a video circulating of a young girl self-affirming in-front of a mirror, saying things like "I am the best", "I am better than anyone". Well, this may be cute, but consider the underlying psychology. Is it really wise for the kid to grow up believing she is the best? She may achieve success in some areas of life, but no one can rightly be called "the best", only effecient at something in particular. Be careful not to reinforce behaviors simply because they are cute. Generally speaking, it should be about raising your kids, and not revelling in the humor of it. Too often I see parents laughing and joking about what their kids do, to have the kids repeat the behavior to get another laugh. The more the parents laugh at inappropriate behavior, the more confused the kid gets, and when mom turns around and scolds the kid for the same behavior, the kid feels even more confused. Precisely because they are not highly rational and experienced persons. A part of me thinks that the humor comes from being rational, and looking down upon something less rational which is trying to be rational. Like laughing at a mentally challenged person.
Anyway, just some thoughts. I haven't considered what it would be like to be a parent with all those stresses. I've more or less assumed that parents ought to be completely selfless individuals. Though I know that is unlikely in practice.
I grew up in British Columbia, Canada and moved to Ontario, Canada when I was 17. I immediately noticed differences in the pronunciation of words, the usage of slang and the general demeanor with which conversations took place. Living in B.C. I'd never heard someone say "wope" in reference to wiping-past-tense ("I wope it up") but I began hearing it a lot in Ontario. I took a job at Teletech, a Call-Centre handling calls for Nextel (an American company), and all of my calls were from Americans.
I learned that on occasion I do say "aboot", but being from B.C. I don't pronounce it that way quite as much. Eastern Canadians, from Newfoundland, P.E.I. and New Brunswick tend to pronounce it more like "aboot". All the distinctively Canadian pronunciations are found on the east side of Quebec.
However, during my time working for call-centres, I frequently heard statements like "Oh! Thank God! An American!" I had to inform them I was not in-fact an American, but it became clear to me that the pronunciation I picked up on the West-coast was more akin to Norther-American dialects. I always sounded nothing like Southerners.
So I think if you take the Western regions of Canada, B.C. and Alberta (especially) they tend to sound more like the bordering American states, but unlike the Easter-Canadian or Southern-American dialect. Which makes sense considering the geographical proximities. Never-the-less, we still spell neighbour with a U, and centre with the E on the end. Though this distinction has broken down for me since the internet.
I think a lot of what happens here is parents are taking their values, their dreams and attachments and projecting them onto the life of their child. They want to see their children succeed where they failed, and succeed where they succeeded.
But a lot of that is culturally defined as well. Getting good grades and landing a high-paying job is something new in the history of humanity and something fairly isolated to industrialized nations.
Different nations appear to suffer from a different range of psychological problems. For example, Japanese suffer from Taijin Kyofusho (TKS), which literally means the disorder (sho) of fear (kyofu) of interpersonal relations (taijin). The Encyclopedia of Multi-Cultural Psychology by Yo Jackson states: "The American diagnostic system for mental disorders lists TKS as a culture-bound syndrome that is similar to social phobia but unique to Japan." which symptoms include "an obsession with shame, manifested by intense fear of embarrassing or offending others by blushing, staring inappropriately, trembling, stuttering, emitting unpleasant odors, sweating, or displaying improper facial expression or physical deformity. Fear of blushing is one of the most common symptoms."
Much of the cultural neurosis affecting industrialized nations is the success paradigm. The idea that to be successful in life one must acquire financial wealth and popularity. Quite in contrast to the pre-industralized paradigms which held in higher regard someone who had attained a certain type of character. If we follow the life of Trappist Monk Thomas Merton and compared it with the success model of industrialized nations, we'd rate him a complete loser. But in the hierarchy of Christian mysticism, and of mystics generally, Merton was and is a potent figure.
However, to those infected by the success paradigm of the industrialized world, are trained at birth to view Merton and the pursuit of good character, understanding, compassion and so forth as secondary to financial and social successes. Yet, it would stand to reason that good character would make those other achievements easier, and more appreciable.
Well, here is one of my favorite analyses of American culture: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTINT2pAqAY
Just a note on pot-holes. One of my acquaintances is an ex-cop who responded to several motor vehicle accidents. Somewhere around a third of all his stories involve a pot-hole or cut-out section of pavement. At higher-than-normal speeds, the pot-holes rip the front axle off or split the frame and very often kills anyone in the vehicle as pieces of metal fly through the windshield. In one case, a surgeon racing between surgies at 200KMPH drove over a cut-out of pavement and disintigrated his car and himself. Not to mention normal wear and tear. Watch out for those pot-holes.
At my current rate of income I will have earned a million dollars in 32 years. To earn the magic amount 7.5M, it would take me 235 years. But I'm quite comfortable anyway, I have a roof over my head, food in the cupboards, a vehicle for transportation. I even have computers, video games, Rogers On-Demand television and Netflix. Can't complain.
Because marketting is the foremost influence on a child's development, and the "sexy" is the primary association with which marketters do their dasterdly deeds. DeWalt can sell more tools if it puts them in the hands of bikini clad supermodels than if it tells you what the specifications are. Girls naturally want to be seen as attractive and that is primarily physical, whereas men also want to be seen as attractive through their dominance (ability to control the environment).
In-fact, Pick-Up theory, like that of Neil Strauss hooks into these very same psychological undertones. The egotism. Like Lucifer, we all want to shine brightest, or at least be recognized for being the darkest. We want to stand out, be noticed, get attention. If a commercial says "Do this and you will get attention!" a lot of us will do it. I don't know who exactly, all I know is that when Maybeline says "Maybe she's born with it, maybe it's Maybeline" this was a major shift in marketting beauty products to women. The hook here is that a woman can look pretty, even if she isn't naturally pretty, and no one will know that underneath that whale fat and bile extract there is a natural woman with a natural face which by today's sensibilities would probably be called "hideous". Why? Because we are used to seeing a thick layer of plaster. We have adapted to the stimuli.
It's not really about Facebook guys. Facebook just provides a good platform for the study.
Despite the First, Second and Third waves of feminism, in which the problem was well-defined. It continues. It wasn't just feminism but the men's movement as well. They both recognized that the culture was being defined largely by marketters.
The documentary film The Century of the Self portrays what Public Relations are like in the modern world. Sigmund Freud's nephew Edward Bernays is considered the father of Public Relations.
On behalf of many Tobacco companies Bernays took insights from his uncle Sigmund and the behaviorists Ivan Pavlov, B.F. Skinner and psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich. Without completely outlining it all - you can look up the full history and psychology yourself. Bernays developed tactics for persuading the sub-conscious minds of women. Like Pavlov did with his Dog, he used associations to program women into feeling liberated while smoking. He made cigar-ettes the effeminate version of the Cigar. Now women could have all the fun men have, but in their own style. Tobacco giant Pall Mall derived its name from a study in which it was found that statistically women are attracted to slender, and so the name has mostly l's in it, and the package had vertical lines running down it. They went to all lengths to persuade the sub-conscious. This research and development has been going on ever since with profound effects. They stopped advertising the actual products and began reinforcing associations. A Tide commercial airing in Canada says "Canadians don't fear the cold"..."So why should our clothes? Wash in Tide Coldwater".
Rationally, none of us think we are going to buy Tide Coldwater just because they repeatedly beat us over the head with the association, but the effect is sub-conscious, not conscious. It is emotional, not intellectual. If it didn't work at all, they wouldn't do it and go back to telling us what the product actually does. They know that it is better to persuade us emotionally and sub-consciously than to tell us rationally what the product does. They know it better than we do.
So, despite the efforts of Feminism, and the Men's Movement, and all this kind of research. The incidence of Bolemia, Anarexia, Anxiety, Teen Suicide, and sense of self-worth derived from one's appearance is still on the rise. As adults we may learn better, but as kids we are highly susceptible, which is why marketters are primarily concerned with Brand Loyalty amongst children. They want kids to nag and nag parents to buy, and they do. The parents, naively plop their kids in-front of the tube. The problem is actually getting worse. As Twenge points out in The Narcissism Epidemic, television programming like "My Super Sweet 16" is iconic of the trend.
Maybe the spines were an anchoring device like the barbs on a fishing hook. Not to scope out rival sperm, but to prevent the mate from getting away. I'm joking!
After 16 rounds I gained on the "Veteran" computer.
Wins: 5 Ties: 7 Losses: 4
But I've also studied human and artificial intelligence on the cellular and programming level. I learned to predict what the computer would do, based on its rules for predicting what I would do. I'd throw rock a couple of times, then, anticipate the computer would choose paper, but also that the computer would anticipate me choosing scissors based on it's experience and so I'd choose paper assuming it would choose rock to try to beat my scissors. Seems to have worked somewhat.
What children learn by the time they are adults, isn't necessarily true. As Albert Einstein famously said; "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age 18."
Everything kids say is "cute". There is a video circulating of a young girl self-affirming in-front of a mirror, saying things like "I am the best", "I am better than anyone". Well, this may be cute, but consider the underlying psychology. Is it really wise for the kid to grow up believing she is the best? She may achieve success in some areas of life, but no one can rightly be called "the best", only effecient at something in particular. Be careful not to reinforce behaviors simply because they are cute. Generally speaking, it should be about raising your kids, and not revelling in the humor of it. Too often I see parents laughing and joking about what their kids do, to have the kids repeat the behavior to get another laugh. The more the parents laugh at inappropriate behavior, the more confused the kid gets, and when mom turns around and scolds the kid for the same behavior, the kid feels even more confused. Precisely because they are not highly rational and experienced persons. A part of me thinks that the humor comes from being rational, and looking down upon something less rational which is trying to be rational. Like laughing at a mentally challenged person.
Anyway, just some thoughts. I haven't considered what it would be like to be a parent with all those stresses. I've more or less assumed that parents ought to be completely selfless individuals. Though I know that is unlikely in practice.
I learned that on occasion I do say "aboot", but being from B.C. I don't pronounce it that way quite as much. Eastern Canadians, from Newfoundland, P.E.I. and New Brunswick tend to pronounce it more like "aboot". All the distinctively Canadian pronunciations are found on the east side of Quebec.
However, during my time working for call-centres, I frequently heard statements like "Oh! Thank God! An American!" I had to inform them I was not in-fact an American, but it became clear to me that the pronunciation I picked up on the West-coast was more akin to Norther-American dialects. I always sounded nothing like Southerners.
So I think if you take the Western regions of Canada, B.C. and Alberta (especially) they tend to sound more like the bordering American states, but unlike the Easter-Canadian or Southern-American dialect. Which makes sense considering the geographical proximities. Never-the-less, we still spell neighbour with a U, and centre with the E on the end. Though this distinction has broken down for me since the internet.
I think the idea that men don't think, or only think about sex is a new one. Used to be, women didn't think. Funny how the paradigms swing like that.
But a lot of that is culturally defined as well. Getting good grades and landing a high-paying job is something new in the history of humanity and something fairly isolated to industrialized nations.
Different nations appear to suffer from a different range of psychological problems. For example, Japanese suffer from Taijin Kyofusho (TKS), which literally means the disorder (sho) of fear (kyofu) of interpersonal relations (taijin). The Encyclopedia of Multi-Cultural Psychology by Yo Jackson states: "The American diagnostic system for mental disorders lists TKS as a culture-bound syndrome that is similar to social phobia but unique to Japan." which symptoms include "an obsession with shame, manifested by intense fear of embarrassing or offending others by blushing, staring inappropriately, trembling, stuttering, emitting unpleasant odors, sweating, or displaying improper facial expression or physical deformity. Fear of blushing is one of the most common symptoms."
Much of the cultural neurosis affecting industrialized nations is the success paradigm. The idea that to be successful in life one must acquire financial wealth and popularity. Quite in contrast to the pre-industralized paradigms which held in higher regard someone who had attained a certain type of character. If we follow the life of Trappist Monk Thomas Merton and compared it with the success model of industrialized nations, we'd rate him a complete loser. But in the hierarchy of Christian mysticism, and of mystics generally, Merton was and is a potent figure.
However, to those infected by the success paradigm of the industrialized world, are trained at birth to view Merton and the pursuit of good character, understanding, compassion and so forth as secondary to financial and social successes. Yet, it would stand to reason that good character would make those other achievements easier, and more appreciable.
Well, here is one of my favorite analyses of American culture: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTINT2pAqAY
Because marketting is the foremost influence on a child's development, and the "sexy" is the primary association with which marketters do their dasterdly deeds. DeWalt can sell more tools if it puts them in the hands of bikini clad supermodels than if it tells you what the specifications are. Girls naturally want to be seen as attractive and that is primarily physical, whereas men also want to be seen as attractive through their dominance (ability to control the environment).
In-fact, Pick-Up theory, like that of Neil Strauss hooks into these very same psychological undertones. The egotism. Like Lucifer, we all want to shine brightest, or at least be recognized for being the darkest. We want to stand out, be noticed, get attention. If a commercial says "Do this and you will get attention!" a lot of us will do it. I don't know who exactly, all I know is that when Maybeline says "Maybe she's born with it, maybe it's Maybeline" this was a major shift in marketting beauty products to women. The hook here is that a woman can look pretty, even if she isn't naturally pretty, and no one will know that underneath that whale fat and bile extract there is a natural woman with a natural face which by today's sensibilities would probably be called "hideous". Why? Because we are used to seeing a thick layer of plaster. We have adapted to the stimuli.
Pavlov's Bar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEDxRCa_wfc
Despite the First, Second and Third waves of feminism, in which the problem was well-defined. It continues. It wasn't just feminism but the men's movement as well. They both recognized that the culture was being defined largely by marketters.
The documentary film The Century of the Self portrays what Public Relations are like in the modern world. Sigmund Freud's nephew Edward Bernays is considered the father of Public Relations.
On behalf of many Tobacco companies Bernays took insights from his uncle Sigmund and the behaviorists Ivan Pavlov, B.F. Skinner and psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich. Without completely outlining it all - you can look up the full history and psychology yourself. Bernays developed tactics for persuading the sub-conscious minds of women. Like Pavlov did with his Dog, he used associations to program women into feeling liberated while smoking. He made cigar-ettes the effeminate version of the Cigar. Now women could have all the fun men have, but in their own style. Tobacco giant Pall Mall derived its name from a study in which it was found that statistically women are attracted to slender, and so the name has mostly l's in it, and the package had vertical lines running down it. They went to all lengths to persuade the sub-conscious. This research and development has been going on ever since with profound effects. They stopped advertising the actual products and began reinforcing associations. A Tide commercial airing in Canada says "Canadians don't fear the cold"..."So why should our clothes? Wash in Tide Coldwater".
Rationally, none of us think we are going to buy Tide Coldwater just because they repeatedly beat us over the head with the association, but the effect is sub-conscious, not conscious. It is emotional, not intellectual. If it didn't work at all, they wouldn't do it and go back to telling us what the product actually does. They know that it is better to persuade us emotionally and sub-consciously than to tell us rationally what the product does. They know it better than we do.
So, despite the efforts of Feminism, and the Men's Movement, and all this kind of research. The incidence of Bolemia, Anarexia, Anxiety, Teen Suicide, and sense of self-worth derived from one's appearance is still on the rise. As adults we may learn better, but as kids we are highly susceptible, which is why marketters are primarily concerned with Brand Loyalty amongst children. They want kids to nag and nag parents to buy, and they do. The parents, naively plop their kids in-front of the tube. The problem is actually getting worse. As Twenge points out in The Narcissism Epidemic, television programming like "My Super Sweet 16" is iconic of the trend.
Wins: 5
Ties: 7
Losses: 4
But I've also studied human and artificial intelligence on the cellular and programming level. I learned to predict what the computer would do, based on its rules for predicting what I would do. I'd throw rock a couple of times, then, anticipate the computer would choose paper, but also that the computer would anticipate me choosing scissors based on it's experience and so I'd choose paper assuming it would choose rock to try to beat my scissors. Seems to have worked somewhat.
I'm not schizophrenic, neither am I