Dissident Voice It’s no big deal that they strap people onto boards, then pour water onto their faces, drowning them, more or less, in our name, but we don’t make a big fuss until they nudge our nuts. It’s OK that they incinerate countless alien bodies, call it shock and awe (some), but we don’t go berserk until they palm our inner thighs. Go ahead and commit countless crimes, profit and murder with our tax money, destroy nations, including this one, be imperial, kick ass without mercy, kill into eternity with regular troops, part-timers or mercenaries, but don’t mess with our junks! Don’t tinker with our jewels. Big Brother must probe our crotches because Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had 80 grams of PETN explosive in his underwear. Umar lost his bloody trousers. Agence France Press quotes Dr. On the other hand, the successor to Chertoff, Janet Napolitano, reassures us, “IT machines are safe, efficient, and protect passenger privacy. But why this constant emphasis on airports?
Freakonomics Radio: Could a Lottery Be the Answer to America's Poor Savings Rate? - NYTimes.com Stephen J. DUBNER: There’s something Peter Tufano wants to know about you: If you had to, could you come up with $2,000 in 30 days? That’s the question he asked a whole bunch of people in 13 countries, including the U.S. Peter TUFANO: Why $2,000? Cause an auto transmission is about $1,500. DUBNER: Tufano is all about the motivation. ANNOUNCER: From American Public Media and WNYC, this is Freakonomics Radio. DUBNER: Americans are generally terrible at saving money. We are, however, excellent at spending money. The other day, I went to a store in Penn Station in New York called Carlton Cards. Kirit PRAJAPADI: It’s about $8 to $9 million a year. DUBNER: Holy crap! PRAJAPADI: Yes. DUBNER: OK, you see people buying tickets all day. PRAJAPADI: When they win, they forget about all their losses. DUBNER: They give you a hug? PRAJAPADI: Not really. DUBNER: You probably don’t want the hug or the kiss. PRAJAPADI: No, not really. DUBNER: This is Melissa Kearny. KEARNEY: Yes, by far. KEIP: Yes.
Unlearning and The Stockholm Effect The stories I’ve read have all given me much food for thought, so much so that I couldn’t possibly say it all in a few pages. The most striking thing about these seven stories, to me, is that these writers all did well in school, come from middle-class families, and yet discovered (or "unlearned"), on their own, that school has limited rather than expanded their learning abilities. Why, I wonder, aren’t more people questioning school as these writers have? Once one reaches compulsory school age in any country, the process of schooling is identical: our natural urge to learn and explore is controlled and measured on a daily basis, and universal compulsory school attendance laws make it hard for alternatives to school to emerge. In August, 1973, two ex-convicts held three women and a man hostage during a robbery in Stockholm, Sweden. We tell our children that their current and future success in life depends on pleasing their teachers and thereby doing well in school.
7 Lessons From 7 Great Minds Have you ever wished you could go back in time and have a conversation with one of the greatest minds in history? Well, you can’t sorry, they’re dead. Unless of course you’re clairaudient, be my guest. But for the rest of us, we can still refer to the words they left behind. Even though these great teachers have passed on, their words still live, and in them their wisdom. I’ve made a list of seven what I believe are some of the greatest teachings by the world’s greatest minds. 1. “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.” - Lawrence J. In order for us to achieve our dreams, we must have a vision of our goals. Action: Visualize a life of your wildest dreams. 2. “It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, “Always do what you are afraid to do.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson The best way to learn something is to dive right in to it. Action: You must define your fears in order to conquer them. 3. “All that we are is the result of what we have thought.
MAJOR PERSONALITY STUDY FINDS THAT TRAITS ARE MOSTLY INHERITED THE genetic makeup of a child is a stronger influence on personality than child rearing, according to the first study to examine identical twins reared in different families. The findings shatter a widespread belief among experts and laymen alike in the primacy of family influence and are sure to engender fierce debate. The findings are the first major results to emerge from a longterm project at the University of Minnesota in which, since 1979, more than 350 pairs of twins have gone through six days of extensive testing that has included analysis of blood, brain waves, intelligence and allergies. The results on personality are being reviewed for publication by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Although there has been wide press coverage of pairs of twins reared apart who met for the first time in the course of the study, the personality results are the first significant scientific data to be announced. The 350 pairs of twins studied included some who were raised apart.
What is Swaraj? What Is Swaraj? The concept of swaraj, or self-rule, was developed during the Indian freedom struggle. In his book Hind Swaraj (1909), Gandhi sought to clarify that the meaning behind swaraj was much more than simply "wanting [systems of] English rule without the Englishman; the tiger's nature but not the tiger." The crux of his argument centered on the belief that the socio-spiritual underpinnings of British political, economic, bureaucratic, legal, military, and educational institutions were inherently unjust, exploitative and alienating. As Pinto explicates, "The principal theme of Hind Swaraj is the moral inadequacy of western civilization, especially its industrialism, as the model for free India." On another level, the call for swaraj represents a genuine attempt to regain control of the 'self' - our self-respect, self-responsibility, and capacities for self-realization - from institutions of dehumanization. How is this relevant for us today?
Light switches on the brain | Moheb Costandi | Science Leading lights in optogenetics presented the latest developments in their field during a mini-symposium at the 40th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego at the weekend. Optogenetics has emerged in the past decade as a high-precision tool for monitoring and controlling the activity of nerve cells. It is based on light-sensitive proteins called rhodopsins, which are isolated from algae and bacteria and are related to the proteins found in the human retina. When rhodopsins in the human eye's photoreceptors are struck by light, they initiate a cascade of biochemical reactions, causing the cells to send signals to the brain via the optic nerve. When introduced into neurons, they insert themselves into the membrane, making the cells sensitive to light. From the beginning, this technique proved to be extremely powerful. More recently, the technique has been used to control increasingly complex behaviours in mammals. Mo Costandi writes the Neurophilosophy blog
Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of "Brainwashing" in China is a non-fiction book by psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton on the psychology of brainwashing and mind control. Lifton's research for the book began in 1953 with a series of interviews with American servicemen who had been held captive during the Korean War. In addition to interviews with 25 Americans, Lifton also interviewed 15 Chinese who had fled their homeland after having been subjected to indoctrination in Chinese universities. From these interviews, which in some cases occurred regularly for over a year, Lifton identified the tactics used by Chinese communists to cause drastic shifts in one's opinions and personality and "brainwash" American soldiers into making demonstrably false assertions. Main points[edit] In the book, Lifton outlines the "Eight Criteria for Thought Reform": Milieu Control. Thought-terminating cliché[edit] Lifton said:[4][5] Examples[edit] General examples “Think of the children”
dropping knowledge :: Table of Free Voices Think of the children "Think of the children" (also "What about the children?") is a phrase that evolved into a rhetorical tactic.[1][2][3] Used literally it to refers to children's rights, as in discussions of child labor.[4][5][6] In debate, this plea for pity is wielded as an appeal to emotion which can constitute a logical fallacy.[1][2][3] Art, Argument, and Advocacy (2002) argued the exhortation may supplant emotion for reason in debate.[1] Ethicist Jack Marshall wrote in 2005 that the phrase's popularity stemmed from its capacity to stunt rationality, particularly discourse on morals.[2] "Think of the children" was invoked by censorship proponents to shield children from perceived dangers.[7][8] Community, Space and Online Censorship (2009) noted that classifying children in an infantile way as innocents in need of protection was a form of obsession over the concept of purity.[7] A 2011 article in the Journal for Cultural Research observed the term grew out of a moral panic.[9] Background[edit]