You have 5 seconds to choose your future: Winning a 20 million lottery ticket or getting yourself paraplegic (not forever, you could get to walk again after some years of treatment).
While it sounds very stupid and obvious, your brain would not feel much difference. Of course, the first impression on getting rich would be far better than getting your legs useless for a while. But after like a year, the overall status of hapiness on you brain would get back to normal levels.
If we focus only on hapiness levels, the paraplegic chooser could have a little advantage when looking in a bigger time frame.
Hapiness almost never increases when we are static. The action, the movement (no pun with the crippled guy here), the changes, all of that impacts on our levels of hapiness. The rich of course would have the option to get new stuffs, know lots of place, use the money increase his fortune and see tons of action. As could the paraplegic gets into some state of deep depression and refuse to fight for himself, but the odds are that the lottery guy would focus all his emotion on the "I WIN" fact and the paraplegic in the process of getting to walk again. And as mind is always more sensitive to changes than absolute levels, the later process is a plate full of oportunity to increase his overall hapiness (of course, it is always linked to determination and willpower, as it can also be a sour cup of depression oportunities)
We can now wonder why capitalism always bombs out our minds into changing our stuffs and why it is like "meh, ok" a little after we get used to the new toy, car, dress, house and always excited when saving the pennies to get what we want.
It is all about how our mind works.
quarta-feira, 16 de fevereiro de 2011
sábado, 12 de fevereiro de 2011
quinta-feira, 10 de fevereiro de 2011
Too much information - pt 2
Hello guys, lets finish this little paradox.
I´ve got some comment asking about "having all future knowledge, there must be some book that explains how to use the library properly". And yes, it exists, and that is exactly what its residents are trying to find.
The librarian officers, seeing that people were getting very depressed and seeing all the existence as pointless, as they would be forever looking for the meaning of the library, reunited themselves to find some solution. This solution came in the form of a cult, they calling themselves "the Purifiers", where the main goal was to destroy books already known at random. And that give some kind of meaning to the depressed and borderline suicidals librarians.
So, everyone was kept busy in this task while the officers continued this eternal search. We do not know if they found it, but the odds probably would be:
1) The Purifiers somehow will find the book, but will keep with them as a mean to control people, making laws, rules and so on.
2) They never find it, and keep in this eternal "search and destroy" life, without knowing, the "low level" librarians from future generations probably would believe that the meaning of all that library is to learn and destroy stuff"
Now, this can easly find reflex on modern "real" life. After all, we are born and taught that we must get a good job, buy some nice car/house, marry a decent guy/girl, plant a tree and make some barbecue at sundays. Come on, we all see this as the normal way of life. Just saying.
OK, but now back to the original ideaWe sure find tons of information, manipuleted, raw, both, all the ways. It is very easy to get lost in there. I told in an older post that we are kinda waking up and spoting the obviously manipulated information(some of us at least). It is a good thing, but yet, there´s still a long way to go.
This paradox of abundance can be soften in some ways, that I will try to expose later. I personally think that there are levels and levels (yes, like a game) to go through, and the only weapon we got is our awareness. The most we are aware about the ways the information flux works, the best we know how to deal with it without getting lost. But this is a thing that will happen very slowly.
Well, I will try to bring this subject again sometime. Stay healthy!
I´ve got some comment asking about "having all future knowledge, there must be some book that explains how to use the library properly". And yes, it exists, and that is exactly what its residents are trying to find.
The librarian officers, seeing that people were getting very depressed and seeing all the existence as pointless, as they would be forever looking for the meaning of the library, reunited themselves to find some solution. This solution came in the form of a cult, they calling themselves "the Purifiers", where the main goal was to destroy books already known at random. And that give some kind of meaning to the depressed and borderline suicidals librarians.
So, everyone was kept busy in this task while the officers continued this eternal search. We do not know if they found it, but the odds probably would be:
1) The Purifiers somehow will find the book, but will keep with them as a mean to control people, making laws, rules and so on.
2) They never find it, and keep in this eternal "search and destroy" life, without knowing, the "low level" librarians from future generations probably would believe that the meaning of all that library is to learn and destroy stuff"
Now, this can easly find reflex on modern "real" life. After all, we are born and taught that we must get a good job, buy some nice car/house, marry a decent guy/girl, plant a tree and make some barbecue at sundays. Come on, we all see this as the normal way of life. Just saying.
OK, but now back to the original ideaWe sure find tons of information, manipuleted, raw, both, all the ways. It is very easy to get lost in there. I told in an older post that we are kinda waking up and spoting the obviously manipulated information(some of us at least). It is a good thing, but yet, there´s still a long way to go.
This paradox of abundance can be soften in some ways, that I will try to expose later. I personally think that there are levels and levels (yes, like a game) to go through, and the only weapon we got is our awareness. The most we are aware about the ways the information flux works, the best we know how to deal with it without getting lost. But this is a thing that will happen very slowly.
Well, I will try to bring this subject again sometime. Stay healthy!
quarta-feira, 9 de fevereiro de 2011
Too much information
I was trying to find a good example to show how complex the information bombing aimed at our brains are, and was kinda frustrated because I just find superficial (aka low level) stuff.
Then I suddenly find this book, and my task was done.
Lets imagine a scenario were we have an infinite library, with all knowledge (future and past) produced/to be produced by mankind into its infinite shelves. Somewhere there, there is a specific book, a small one, that explains to you how to use this library and how to find what you want.
But, what are the odds that we can find this one book (and therefore, all the ones you want) inside this endless piles of books? The answer is that you would probably spend an eternity looking for it, usually finding all kinds of nice and relevant stuff but at the same time tons of bullshit.
Lets now focus on our "real daily life". We suffer the same paradox of abundance of information. With internet, you can find really any stuff of any subject modified by any personal point of view. He have the tools but we still lack some means to discern in a more efficiently way. We lose too much time filtering stuff to get to the real meanings.
Back to the book´s library, the residents inside starts to grow a state of letargy and depression, because they can only find random useless stuff or learn that the truth was something different that what they belived.
Then the officers there needed to take some action to avoid a mass suicide, but that I will talk about on the next post, concluding this.
Stay healthy!
Then I suddenly find this book, and my task was done.
Lets imagine a scenario were we have an infinite library, with all knowledge (future and past) produced/to be produced by mankind into its infinite shelves. Somewhere there, there is a specific book, a small one, that explains to you how to use this library and how to find what you want.
But, what are the odds that we can find this one book (and therefore, all the ones you want) inside this endless piles of books? The answer is that you would probably spend an eternity looking for it, usually finding all kinds of nice and relevant stuff but at the same time tons of bullshit.
Lets now focus on our "real daily life". We suffer the same paradox of abundance of information. With internet, you can find really any stuff of any subject modified by any personal point of view. He have the tools but we still lack some means to discern in a more efficiently way. We lose too much time filtering stuff to get to the real meanings.
Back to the book´s library, the residents inside starts to grow a state of letargy and depression, because they can only find random useless stuff or learn that the truth was something different that what they belived.
Then the officers there needed to take some action to avoid a mass suicide, but that I will talk about on the next post, concluding this.
Stay healthy!
sábado, 5 de fevereiro de 2011
Intermission
Quick break here. Lets put our minds to work here.
Still trying to get pass average, but need people who knows what they are doing =(
Still trying to get pass average, but need people who knows what they are doing =(
sexta-feira, 4 de fevereiro de 2011
How Far is Lie (cont)
Sup people, lets (try to) continue the brainstorm!
So, we are bombed by tons of stimulations, messages and "to-be" behaviors since birth. In a subconcious level, all this information (the good and the junk) are finding some place. And, in this level of mind, we are mostly guided by emotions instead of logic. So a small link is created, it being superficial like "chocolate and cigarrets confort you" or "real men does not show their emotions" or really deep stuff that can be really problematic for future life, growing into lovely disorders such as paranoia, schizofrenia etc.
There is really nothing that we can do about it. Living in a cave, totally isolated perhaps would work, but that is mostly for eastern monks. Mankind is a social group, after all. Those stimulations WILL continue to happen, even more now that information is easier to find than food (fun fact, an average middle ages man would not be able to record in his mind the number of info find in a newspaper 1st page), but our greatest feature as human beings is to be able to adapt to neew situations.
The question is: are we really adapting to this almost endless flow of stimulations and information?
How far can we filter it? All this in a logical and plain level, I am not talking yet about subliminal stuffs or those aimed directly to your subconscious.
At least, I am happy that a major conscious and discernment about tendencial information is growing lately. It is easy (for most of us, humans), thanks mostly to the internet, to know when someone (or some broadcaster, news agency etc) is omitting things to favor a side, or adding/exaggerating to crucify another. This looks like small shit, but it is a great achieve. A small step indeed, but it shows that this moviment is already starting, the action is taking place.
Next post I will talk more about this filter, and how we usually are teach to do it wrong.
Stay Healthy people!!
So, we are bombed by tons of stimulations, messages and "to-be" behaviors since birth. In a subconcious level, all this information (the good and the junk) are finding some place. And, in this level of mind, we are mostly guided by emotions instead of logic. So a small link is created, it being superficial like "chocolate and cigarrets confort you" or "real men does not show their emotions" or really deep stuff that can be really problematic for future life, growing into lovely disorders such as paranoia, schizofrenia etc.
There is really nothing that we can do about it. Living in a cave, totally isolated perhaps would work, but that is mostly for eastern monks. Mankind is a social group, after all. Those stimulations WILL continue to happen, even more now that information is easier to find than food (fun fact, an average middle ages man would not be able to record in his mind the number of info find in a newspaper 1st page), but our greatest feature as human beings is to be able to adapt to neew situations.
The question is: are we really adapting to this almost endless flow of stimulations and information?
How far can we filter it? All this in a logical and plain level, I am not talking yet about subliminal stuffs or those aimed directly to your subconscious.
At least, I am happy that a major conscious and discernment about tendencial information is growing lately. It is easy (for most of us, humans), thanks mostly to the internet, to know when someone (or some broadcaster, news agency etc) is omitting things to favor a side, or adding/exaggerating to crucify another. This looks like small shit, but it is a great achieve. A small step indeed, but it shows that this moviment is already starting, the action is taking place.
Next post I will talk more about this filter, and how we usually are teach to do it wrong.
Stay Healthy people!!
quarta-feira, 2 de fevereiro de 2011
How far is a lie?
So, wondering about how chaos spread, i got to an awe conclusion: We are to vulnerable. It is so freaking easy to something simple as a compliment or some threat to penetrate deeply inside our minds and start moving shit arround.
This is more common to watch on children. Not talking about abusive parents that do all kind of sick stuffs, but how simple behaviors coming from dads and moms slowly writing the script of a life. The movie Inception shows us a good example of how can an idea slowly spread in someone´s mind like some cancer or virus.
Ok, that is nothing new. Marketing explores this for ages. But, the question that I will left here is: How much do we make this even easier for them? How deep can lies (and truths) penetrate (no pun here) on you? How can you discern your real values from what you think to belive your real values are?
Yes, dubious, plain and somewhat not confusing. Don´t worry, fell this like some freak intro. I will get to mess and explore this on diferent views on future posts.
stay healthy people!
This is more common to watch on children. Not talking about abusive parents that do all kind of sick stuffs, but how simple behaviors coming from dads and moms slowly writing the script of a life. The movie Inception shows us a good example of how can an idea slowly spread in someone´s mind like some cancer or virus.
Ok, that is nothing new. Marketing explores this for ages. But, the question that I will left here is: How much do we make this even easier for them? How deep can lies (and truths) penetrate (no pun here) on you? How can you discern your real values from what you think to belive your real values are?
Yes, dubious, plain and somewhat not confusing. Don´t worry, fell this like some freak intro. I will get to mess and explore this on diferent views on future posts.
stay healthy people!
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