Monday's presentation day

i really enjoyed the presentations on Monday. The things I learned about Google Wave were interesting. I liked the Lyrical application that Rachel displayed. Alex had some up-coming technology for video games which mimicked virtual reality.

I think it'll be great to see what the other students bring on Friday. a great site I visit for upcoming designs for tech products is

MIT has great stuff too.

envision center

we went to the envision center this week in lab. it was interesting to see the 3-D room and the motion resistant ping pong game. They also had cameras set-up to do motion capture.

this technology seemed very complex and expensive. I think I'll stick to my Wii for now because anything more "real" than that might as well be the real thing.

biotechnology

The "60 minutes" video clip we watched in class titled "Brain Power" was very interesting and fascinating. The technology enabling the paralyzed to communicate through the computer using only their thoughts has potential but, like anything will take time for the scientists and the users to get better with it.

In the interview the journalist reasons that perhaps if this technology progresses, maybe one day people could control the temperature of their homes, the dimming or brightening of the lights in their homes or turning on and off other appliances that we use daily around our homes or businesses.

My only concern is, Why? why would i want an implant for myself to enhance my abilities to use certain appliances or even enhance my memory or sensory perceptions? It's one thing if I'm 70+ years of age and couldn't remember how to make breakfast, it's quite another when I'm 23 and perfectly able to use my memory and enhance it on my own.

if the technology ever was marketable to the masses, what would entice all of us to actually believe we could have much more memory capacity than we natually have if we're normal, healthy human beings? I wonder what an advertisement would say? "forgot your keys, your grocery list, or just someone's name from a party? the new memory implant will guarentee your ability to remember it. yada yada yada."

I wouldn't want such a technology implanted in my brain to enable me to be "enhanced." I'd feel less dependent on me (however you wish to define that, because believe it or not, a neurologist or psychologist would probably define it differently than most people) and more dependent on my implant.

this arguement of controlling home appliances with your thoughts--Some people enjoy the experience of using their tools and appliances, just like they enjoy cooking or working in the yard. Why would I want to take away that experience of pushing the lawnmower, turning the sprinkler system on, tugging the hose across the yard to water my plants or pushing lots of buttons as I multi-task to make dinner for the family? you may respond, "because it's easier, joe--that's a simple no brainer."

my reply: Did it ever occur to you that 'easy, or easier' is a perception, a concept built in one's mind due to their already existing precepts/ideas or expectations or environmental conditions or surroundings that have made them come to the conclusion due to their inability to be satisfied with their interaction with alll the outside stimuli they encounter daily?

if someone told you running a mile would be easy but after you ran it, you said it wasn't easy at all, then you two have a different expectation and perception of what exactly 'easy' actually means. So you've been fooled due to your own inability to specifically question and define what running a mile will entail and how it might affect you. It'd be important to pose the same question for a technology that enables you to use your thoughts to 'control' things.

Similarly, this argument has come up numerous times with the deaf families who argue with their deaf child as to whether or not to get a cochlear implant because it could make it "easier" to listen. But some deaf enjoy using Sign Language and prefer not getting the cochlear implant due to their concept of what "easier" actually is. Some deaf believe Sign Language IS easier than trying to learn how to listen and speak. being a student in American Sign Language, i can attest that Sign Language can be argued as either easier or harder depending on one's attitude toward what they perceive as 'easier' and why.

Modern Warfare Video game

sitting with one of my good friends, K, he pops in this game on his xbox 360 and says it's one of the most graphic and controversial games yet released.  he continues saying, "yeah, because of scenes like this one it almost didn't get published."  I didn't know what he was talking about momentarily...then I simply saw something that left my jaw literally dropped for the next 60 seconds.

six men. Kevlar jackets. AK-47s in hand.  elevator opens.  silence comes over the atmosphere as innocent by-standers standing in the airport security line slowly turn to see the men surround them.  Mind you, you are one of these six men holding an AK-47.  My friend begins to jab at his controller and the next 3 minutes is full of dead bodies, yells, screams, blood splatting on your screen, and all over the walls, stairs and anything in site.  The screams and yells were what I'd imagine Hell to sound like as people scream in terror as they helplessly try to flee from torture.

My friend's face was emotionless and  had no expression of compassion.  He shot these digital innocent people in the game with the same emotionless effort of shrugging your shoulders carelessly deciding whether to go to Taco Bell or Qdoba for lunch, as if neither held any weight of concern over the other.  I couldn't believe it.  I was kind of saddened, honestly.  I sat there wondering, "What did these INNOCENT people do to you that you felt so COMPELLED to shoot them as if cans lined up in a row?"

My friend, K, told me the scenario is such, "I'm a deep undercover CIA agent who has to pose as a Soviet terrorist in order to find the head Soviet terrorist and kill him."

"Really?  So that justifies your killing innocent people?"  this was a reply I had but kept it to myself for lack of argument or care because i was ready to leave the room anyway and didn't want to see anymore horror or graphic violence, for my Spirit doesn't want to see that or absorb that...besides, you have to ask yourself, who's Spirit would?  Wouldn't that tell you something about one's character and values?

Here's a fun question, What if these digital images of innocent people were actually real people and you had to actually do this?  How or by what morals, beliefs or principles would you stand in order to DEFINE these people as innocent?  Or better yet, define your means of killing them and justifying your means to do so.  This brings me back to the video game we played in recitation.  We as snipers had the option of shooting any of the "terrorists" but when doing so, more would appear therefore posing the question, "Who's the terrorist, honestly?  Is it those we see or everyone we see, (since the by-standers turned into terrorists)?  

The game in recitation posed an actual moral and lesson to the story whereas MODERN WARFARE, as far as I could see, had none.  But I guess, that's what defines one's ability to pull the trigger on innocent people (or representations thereof) is their individual understanding and definition of morality, innocence, and their belief of whether or not the end does justify the means or not.

What is your reaction and personal response to this essay?

The Great Awakening: silence in a loud world

Ever wonder what silence sounds like?  Have you ever been so tired and exhausted of radio, tv, advertisements and products, that you've turned-off, and unplugged everything in your house?  Ever been so bored with being stimulated by tv and radio that you feel saturated? I have.  

There's much to be said about the one who seeks silence on a daily basis, either to meditate, to hear his breathing, to focus his mind on nothing or to journal about one's feelings, etc.  When's the last time you did this for yourself?  Ever think it would be a treat that would taste better than dessert? Ever had a massage? If so, then you know what relaxation feels like--so why not strive for that feeling daily--doing yoga or simply breathing slowly, deeply and allowing your mind to fall away from your body.

I remember early in the semester we watched that interview on the Conan O' Brian show, "Everything's amazing and nobody's happy."  If you remember it, great, if not, it was all about the fact that our generation is less patient, less excited, less understanding, only looking for pleasant gratification rather than critique or satifaction.  Our generation is dulled by this novelty of new technology and yet no one is truly satisfied or in a consistent state of happiness bc they're always looking for the newest, latest and greatest product or "toy" to upgrade to next or buy soon and it makes one's patience and expectations dwindle.

If you think you have patience, you're wrong.  If you want patience, you've only just begun.  Patience begins when you wish to be silent and silence has much to say to you if you're willing to listen.  

Here's something to try.  Catholics have Lent, a 40 day fast from something, something which they desire and wish to do without.  Many other religions have such trials of self-discipline, like Muslims have Ramadahn--fasting alllll day and eating only after the sun goes down.  they do this for 30 days.  Again, self-discipline.  Anyway, Lent is a fast.  So last semester, I was so tired of TV and radio, that I decided to turn it alllll off and not watch nor listen to radio for 40 days.  A fast from TV and entertainment.  

I wanted to see if I could gain wisdom through silence as well as forcing myself to read or write as a means to get in better touch with my emotions and thoughts rather than clouding them with the daily none-sense of tv and radio.  I asked myself, "Would my dreams become more adventurous? Would my conversations become more meaningful?  Would I listen better and more fully since I didn't have as much clutter in the background of my mind?  Could I become more fully aware of myself and truly think before I spoke or acted?  Would my Spirit be quieter? My mind be quieter?  Would I speak with better clarity?  How would I change?"

All these questions I had and wished to seek.  Resisting TV and radio was no sweat for me, honestly.  I found my mind was becoming more clear, my Spirit was calming and my reading soared.  I found myself in deep thought much much more and I really enjoyed it.  On my way to class, no iPod, just sight and senses of everything around me and my thoughts.  I was better able to be in-touch with just what exactly was circling around my head and what was on my heart.

Everyone thinks silence is something external, a physical quieting of one's environment and surroundings, but actually, silence is internal.  Silence is the result of a quiet mind, and calm Spirit, nothing else.  

Brain Plasticity

Ever wonder what happens when you engage in a new activity and repetitively practice it?  No matter if it's a physical or mental activity, your brain, that big organ, is physically changing like your heart, lungs and cardiovascular system do when you exercise.

A new book I'm reading, titled, "Brain Plasticity and Behavior," by Bryan Kolb, elaborates on the adaptability of humans and animals given their brain's ability to physically change due to activity or environment (pages 3-14).

Well, so what? What does this have to do with an argument of technology?  Well how bout the fact that when one is partially deaf and needs a cochlear implant, how does the brain adapt to this?  This is an elctronic device that has to communicate with the victim's brain in order to work.

Another Neuroscience book I read earlier this fall, titled, "Big Brain" spoke about the fact that one who gets such a device in their ear may experience some transition time--why? because their brain is physically re-wiring aka adapting and changing its structure to be able to properly communicate the electrical signals it's receiving.  The book goes on to say that to those wearing them there is a week or two when the transition occurs.  

In this reading, the author (who I forget the name of), used a simile saying, it's similar to when you try to find the juuussst the right radio signal when you're flipping through allll the channels.  The fuzz is something you avoid.  Well the beauty of the brain is that when given this fuzz repeatedly, it physically changes its own structure to be able to use this one signal its given.  But it takes a week or two for the brain to do so.  Another example the authors give was comparing it to when we, humans, hear someone with a thick accent or one we've yet ever heard.  The first time we hear it, it's very difficult to understand for us, but if we're around that person or that culture for a few weeks, we are able to learn and adjust and understand better and better and better, hence the physical structural change aka plasticity in our brains.

If you have any experiences that you'd like to share whether it was a new activity or mental challenge, feel free to tell your experience. 

Form over function

Form over function, this is a recurring phrase one hears when in any design school learning the basics of designing a space, a product or a palette which they choose to draw or create.  Steve Jobs of Apple has been quoted many times for being a strict man when discussing this topic to his design team and his engineers.  I've read articles about him that, if it were up to him, he'd have no buttons or visible seems on his button-up shirts or polos etc.  He was stating his claim of just how much he cares for form when discussing any one of his Apple computers or anything else.  

Form is something that should not dominate, but rather, work in harmony with the function of the object or space which you're creating.  This can be seen in oragomy, Tai Chi (or any martial art), yoga, cars, anything really.  

When reading, "The Brain has a Mind of Its Own" Dr. Restak states this discussion of form and function in terms of the brain and body.  Form, proportion, perfection, harmony--these are the elements that lead to something more---they lead to beauty, the one untouchable, yet tangible feeling we all seek; whether a garden, a good looking watch, car, house, etc.

In his book he states that given one's activities, and as the brain ages, the body is affected; "a person's walk, speech, and posture change."  I've seen this true in my yoga practice, just as Restak saw from his Tai chi practice.  Restak was furthering his argument that the mind, not the brain, but the mind and the body are one.  When you begin to use both in conjunction with the other given a certain exercise you become more in touch with yourself and your movements and see first hand just how intimate the mind and body can become.

I will give an example of this from another book i've recently read, titled, "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall, a journalist for Men's Health magazine, wrote this book which describes many different findings about the science and art of running.  In chapter 28, McDougall talks about the Kalahari Bushman, a small tribe in Africa who still hunt kudu (a cousin of the antelope).  In the book, McDougall interviews, Louis Liebenberg, a math and physics junkie who wanted to find his own way of doing things.  So he went to hunt with the Bushman.  "I had a vague gut feeling that the art of animal tracking could represent the origin of science (233)."

"When tracking an animal, one attempts to think like an animal in order to predict where it is going.  Looking at its tracks, one visualizes the motion of the animal and feels the motion in one's own body.  You go into a trancelike state, the concentration is so intense.  It's actually quite dangerous, because you become numb to your own body and can keep pushing yourself until you collapse, Louis said (235)."

McDougall, in response, says, "Visualization...empathy...abstract thinking and forward projection: aside from the keeling-over part, isn't that exactly the mental engineering we now use for science, medicine, the creative arts? 'When you track, you're creating causal connections in your mind, because you didn't actually see what the animal did,' Louis said (235)."

Restak, who practices Tai chi, gave this quote from his instructor, "After you do the form often enough, something marvelous happens: You and the form become one.  Finally it begins to do you (70)."

So, what activities are transforming you?  or making you either more in harmony or less in harmony with yourself?  Do you believe that your activities could benefit or deny your relationships with those you have and those you've yet created?

the difference of passion

The difference of passion.

This is a means to clarify two types of passion.  In our society today we have things, material things.  The products that either drive our thoughts, conversations or hobbies.  The other "thing" we possess is passion, or more clearly, the eros, the desire for feeling close to another. 

Us humans have many passions and desires for unity and harmony with one another.  We want acceptance, closeness with others, authentic relationships, the feeling of recognition--Hegel, a philosopher of the 1800s defined it as saying, "I am for you, as you are for me."--this, in his mind, was true recognition.

Now, these passions--the desire for products/things, or the desire for the untouchable yet very tangible feelings of harmony and unity with those around you--friends, family and your bf or gf.  

Here's my main question: Ever wonder if two people who are in love--fully devoted to one another, engaged and can't wait to get married, caught in that moment in their life when all they desire/want is each other--ever wonder if these two people have an increased or decreased desire to buy products or seek after new technologies or games etc.?  

Say, for instance, they're not yet looking at wedding expenses and all that stuff to buy for their wedding day, and all they have is each other.  Do they spend their money on time-valued investments or Material-valued investments?  Time-valued investments are activities that the couple can do together such as dates, renting movies, exercise classes together, cooking together, running together, etc.  material-valued investments are buying products or accessories that can rust and get old such as new TVs, new computers, new clothes, new furniture, new stuff of any kind.

It's been said that love makes you do crazy things...so in a society that continues to buy products and seek pleasure through them rather than one another, perhaps the craziest and most fun part about being in love is having that unity and desire for the other, to be for them as they are for you as Hegel would say, and to enjoy the pursuit of being with your lover rather than pursuing material products as a means to fill your inner most desires (being in love).  

In a society that esteems one's stuff, wouldn't the craziest feeling of all be that of being only concerned for your lover rather than how many or how big all your products?

"I am for you, as you are for me." ---Hegel

Junk food metaphor

The junk food metaphor is one taken from one of my favorite authors....you guessed it, Dr. Restak.

 from his book, "the brain has a mind of its own," He devotes a few pages to the problem of this information overload and how it IS a serious problem for some.  He compares junk food to the information overload our society has inevitably found itself in the midst.

"Junk foods provide a good metaphor for this concept.  Much of the information bombarding us from our televisions and radios lacks redeeming nutritional value, dulls our sensibilities, and leaves us idea-wise, bloated with trivia yet at the same time intellectually deprived.  In short, too much nonessential news about nonevents may be hazardous to our mental health (60)."

Restak asks this question, "Just how much more info can the brain possibly deal with? (59)."  His answer is that the brain's processing power regulates how much info one can take in over an alloted amount of time.  The principles of information processing are based on the organization of the brain (59)."

Restak, describes a husband and wife who were his friends who suffered from information overload.  They routinely keep three tvs running in the morning so they can know all that's going on and "not miss anything important."  The husband rapidly scans three newspapers as the TV channels blare stuff and stuff about nothing and "everything."

After 3-4 weeks these info junkies just. flat. out. stop.  They unplug everything, cancel subscriptions and their conversations are nothing more than quips of the most minimal bits of words as possible to get their point across for responding to someone.

Information is trivial, wisdom is scarce.  Yet, perhaps we're all looking for one rather than the other, but which one are YOU searching for currently in your life?

Identity; the mirror which reflects one's consciousness

goal: 

assess and analyze through many ideas the common theme that one's identity is what they choose it to be, what they focus it to be about, and yet how it never quite resembles how others ID you.

Through ea. course I'm taking, Rhetoric, technology or health policy, i'm beginning to find a new and interesting theme emerge--Identity--the essence of who we choose to either consciously or unconsciously are to ourselves and others.

In health policy, identity is discussed by the gays trying to stand-out and identify themselves as a certain choice of sexuality.  The deaf, trying to either stand-out or cure themselves, seek to distinguish themselves by focusing on one main facet of their lives that dominates and differentiates them from all others.  The pro-anorexic do the same thing--through their actions they are identified by others and identify themselves.  

in this health policy course, it's apparent that the body is an underlying and yet, very noticeable means of identifying one's self.  Athletes try to do this as well, so too our culture--women are identified by their beauty and men by their strength--has anything really changed through-out the course of time? (no).

In my Rhetoric course, we discuss identity as a means of the conscience and unconscious as well as the means of it being either internal or external.  one scholar believes it's internal and another external.  A mirror does not identify us, it merely gives us a mimicry of flesh at that moment in space.  But if one sees themselves on video they say to themselves, "I don't look or sound like that!" But actually, one does.

In my technology class we discuss identity online and how that portrays us on the net and how it does carry over to who we are in the real world.  The mind cannot separate its self or its many personas with true divorce--Ever see Fight Club, or hear the story about Sybil having many personalities?

Aside from psychological disorders, the last point I will make is about how we choose to act and which friends we choose also identifies and labels us.  Many factors come into play when identifying ourselves. some just choose to focus on a particular one or another in order to broadcast.

reasonable men and the limbic system

From "The Brain Has a Mind of Its Own" by Richard Restak M.D. (Neurologist).

Chapter 5 had the interesting argument of what defines a "reasonable, everyday man."  In 1986 Bernhard Goetz was tried for murdering 5 men on the subway who witnesses said tried to attack him.  The issue of "reasonable" behavior is one of great concern in the court room in order to figure out if the alleged victim's behavior was rational with every bullet or stap used (in this case bullets) or if one's behavior was unreasonable therefore making the man guilty of murder.

The arguement of reasonable and rational behavior comes up because Restak, the author states his beleif and arguement that the limbic system, that part of the brain which creates intense emotions of aggression when combined with many other parts of the brain near it, can over power anyone when they feel so very threatened for their lives from something or someone.  

Bernhard Goetz, the alleged didn't remember his actions or committing the shooting.  This was no surprise to Restak bc when the limbic system takes over, given such an extreme and drastic situation, it takes over with full force and it's not uncommon for those in such a predicament as Goetz, a life or death situation, to forget or more specifically, have no recall of his actions due to his fight or flight situation and the immense power of the limbic system within our minds.

machines and the mind

most people assume that machines are what we interact with and our minds are what we use. but I believe it to be the other way around; machines are what we use and our minds are what we interact with.

machines, at the early stages, were used to help man with calculating bits of information we gave it.  now again, it seems this has been reversed.  given the rise of avatars and live global gaming, we have become the machines that are taking from the minds of these interactive games and social media.

we were created by God to interact with one another and our own minds.  To take time daily to reflect about ourselves, our relationships and situations, etc.  We were not meant to take time daily to interact with this digital environment and atmosphere which we have created, i.e. sims, World of Warcraft and the like.  

Machines are that which do something routine and predictable because that's all they can do.  Any human being can be considered a machine if their very lives, their everyday living falls into this definition.  The mind gets stronger just as a muscle if it is shown change and challenge.  That's how God created us so as to be able to survive, learn, and grow, just as the trees in which He created.  When man negates his nature, he'll either become something else or become something nature unintended.  

Ever wonder why those who live in villages or those who camp and hike or seek to be with nature find value in the small things and the beauty that lies in the smallest of details in nature?  my guess is bc they've found just how beautiful reality is rather than the digital world---alot can be said about the hobbies one expierences.  In the same way, so too does one's posture.

When you finally start thinking and reflecting for yourself, you'll start to undue the machine-like-thinking i.e. rountineness of your life and you may start to enjoy thinking.

the fallacies of new-age communications

after hearing of a few relationships that have been developed from students of different universities, i've realized a few new communication facets that only exist to my generation now.

1.  Texting as a means to converse RATHER THAN vocally conversing.

the issue/ problem with this:  the fact that, as we've learned in class, that texting, just like internet dating, can be too deceptive due to its ability to mask who we really are.  take for instance this example of a conversation i had with a girl friend of mine,

girl: ya, he's funny (odd) bc he always says the sweetest things in his texts to me when we converse everynight via texting, but i don't like it nor trust it anymore bc he never says those genuine, sweet things when we're together, face-to-face.  So it makes me feel like he's just able to say it through text and is actually afraid to be that genuine with me.

This type of conversing seperates the men from the boys, bc any boy can be sweet through a text because it acts as a masking mechanism, but a man will tell the girl how he feels to her face, let alone open the door for her (if he has any manners at all).

2.  Internet dating as a means to converse RATHER THAN actually go on a date

issue/problem:  as we see in the reading, that to compensate for lack of non-verbal communication, tone, pitch, laughter, gaze, gesturing, etc--all the things that make going on a date or out to coffee fun---these things are all lost when online with another, unless ofcourse, you've interacted with this person face-to-face.  But, due to this loss of "intimacy" with the other person, our reading states that people have to be more warm and inviting through their words than would otherwise need be.  This too, creates a type of masking, or misrepresentation of the truth of whom the sender and receiver.

3.  Avatars--simple problem = dumb. simple solution = get a life and go be with REAL PEOPLE IN REAL LIFE.

cell phones

what is your cell phone etiquette? have you given yourself one, or even thought about it?  have you given yourself social rules as to when to answer a call or not when you're with your friends or on a date?

how annoying when in conversation with a friend and they answer a call in the middle of listening to a story or opinion you have about something and they cut you off.  how many people can actually recall where they were in the midst of that story?!! i cant.  i feel it's rude to cut someone off.  

we have answering machines for a reason and eye-contact for a reason.  it's just a matter of knowing when to use them and not getting them flip-flopped.  

the brain and your mind

This is an argument taken from the book titled, "The Brain has a mind of its own," by Richard Restak, M.D. copyright 1991.

Richard Restak has written many best-selling books on neuroscience and he himself is a Neurologist.

on page 12, he states this insight, "Because the brain is a physical structure, it exists in space; but the mind operates in time alone."

reflecting on this, I marvelled at this understanding--that who we are is not defined by the physical matter of our brain, but by the operation and changes it undergoes within our lifetime which gives us our personality.  Then i thought, isn't this understanding the same as that of a computer or the network we call the Internet?  The computer is the physical matter and the Web is that always changing and connected network which works in time rather than physical space.  

another book I'm reading, "The Big Brain" goes into depth about the key similarities and differences between the brain and the computer--how they both evolved and how the brain easily trumps the computer in many ways given the brains structure, architecture and means of communicating within itself between compartments which enable us to hear, see, feel, taste, smell, think, react, and remember all while making dinner or going grocery shopping or driving and how complex these tasks are inside our brain while we don't think a second thing about the means of communication it takes.  

our bodies are the space with which our nervous system communicates, just as the Web is the space to which many computers and people can talk to one another.

the chains beneath our feet

alarm clock. yawn. barrage of to-do's for the day. songs from the bars last night continuing to repeat in your head.  laying aside your Xbox 360, PSP and your Wii. it used to be you'd give a kid a swiss army knife to go widdle things in the backyard when he was 10 yrs old.  now its a cell phone or his own blogspot or video games or a TV for his room.

(sigh) when's the last time a kid actually cut his own hand playing with his new knife rather than cut up some zombie in some horror fest videogame or a thug in GTA??  when's the last time a kid went running in the grass to feel the grass beneath his feet and the wind wipping against his face?  when's the last time a college kid did it?  i think the answers would be very similar given our highly tech'd out new generation of kids and college students.  

Socrates and Plato argued that writing was the decay of society because it dumbed the mind's ability to remember and therefore be able to recreate a scene for another orally.  The oral tradition of handing down heritage and eloquance were once well valued in the Roman society and in many societies for that matter.  But now, we see writing as eloquant in relation to those who play videogames or watch TV.  We see the latter as the decay of our society and its ability to think for itself.

so what are these chains that lay beneath our feet?  it's our addiction to technology--Xbox live, avatars, second-life, etc.  but again, it's not the technology that's at fault, it's our addiction to it--our overuse of it, like the overuse of an illegal drug.  

what's the summery of this arguement? just go out for a walk or run whenever you get the feeling of wanting to play videogames.

Wired.com_Placebo Effect

First: the Link to the WIRED.COM article

http://www.wired.com/medtech/drugs/magazine/17-09/ff_placebo_effect?currentPage=1

What is the Placebo effect?

Simply put, it's having a condition given us and we get better or worse due to THEE EXPECTATION of the what we believe to be the outcome that WILL occur.

Here's an example:

Joe: hey, Grant did you know that if you eat oatmeal everyday for 30 days you'll lower your cholesterol by 20 points? i didn't believe it at first but i tried it and sure enough, two months later when i went to the doctor my cholesterol was down 20 points, just like the article i read in Men's Health said!

Grant: Wow! that's amazing! I'll have to try that.

Result: 

Grant eats the oatmeal (condition) for 30 days and due to his belief of what Joe said, he expects that his cholesterol will be at least 20 points lower the next time he sees his doctor in 3 months.  Grant goes to Dr. and Dr. says his cholesterol is down 20 points.

My Point:  

The Placebo Effect is usually talked about in conjunction with someone taking a pill, but what these scientists are finding out is that it's not just a simple sugar pill that creates an effect of getting better--it's simply thee expectation and belief that one willll get better or worse that enables them to do so.

This article points out that Neuroscientists are finding proof of this in certain areas of the brain that are activated when one has an expectation about the future--whether good or bad.  Ever hear of those people who self-prophecy--you know, speak what they believe out loud to themselves over and over and over--then finally it comes to pass because they believed?  

Well this article brings light to this self-prophecy/ placebo effect being something of scientific merit.  It also brings up the idea that due to this new neuro scientific evidence that maybe all this money in the pharmacy industry (whether for creating or buying your drugs) is a sham after all due to the many trials every new drug has to continually pass IN ORDER TO BEAT the placebo effect well enough so as to claim that your Advil or Aleve have any more quantifiable merit than a piece of chocolate or a sugar pill.  If someone actually persuaded you that eating a little dove chocolate square would heal you just as much as an Advil or Aleve, guess what, IT WOULD!

BFT link

BFT

link to my TA

this is Zeynep

less IS more

less IS more b/c complexity confuses everyone