Memory: The Cult of Remembrance
[Exploring Life] How many misleading or false beliefs and assumptions do we preserve in our memories? And how many of these false beliefs and assumptions have been assimilated as a result of cultural conditioning? It would be immensely difficult to conduct a statistical inventory of our memories in order to quantify the exact number of [...]
Mental Degradation: Multitasking
[Exploring Life] Multitasking is a Delusion: The extent to which we can sometimes become a victim of our own delusions can be quite surprising. A delusion is a false belief that has been accepted as fact, and is quite resistant to reason or common sense. In other words, delusions are remarkably resilient and durable. They [...]
Corporations: The “Health” Food Deception
[Exploring Life] One of the most basic principles of all corporations is that they are allowed to intentionally lie and deceive the public without being responsible for their actions. A great deal of this deception takes place in what we might call a gray zone, or a place in which there is some degree of [...]
Disaster: Toxic Breath
The end effect of the Gulf Oil Spill disaster will not be known for many years. Some of the effects will be immediate and obvious, while others are far more mercurial and illusive. As with all disasters, a large contingent of people will be employed to distract and counter both the breadth and depth of [...]
Effects of Media: The Children of Cyberspace
[Exploring Life] Brad Stone’s NY Times article The Children of Cyberspace raises a number of poignant issues regarding our relationship with technology. Heralding in a new type of “generation” by some individual claiming “visionary” status seems like an all too common occurrence in mainstream media now. Apparently the so-called “Net Generation” is now giving way [...]
Effects of Media: Writing – The Shifting Style of Elements
[Exploring Life] The Chronicle of Higher Education recently published 50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice in response to the release of the commemorative edition of Strunk and White’s famous The Elements of Style.[1] The article condemns Strunk and White’s advice as being detrimental to the correct use of language as well as the development of [...]
Effects of Media: The Technium
[Exploring Life] The word technology can be an illusive term. Technology originates in the Greek technologia which combines craft (techne) and saying (logia). A common understanding of technology refers to the physical tools and hardware hardware of an object that is designed to make work easier. In this sense, technology is a label that describes [...]