themediamademecrazy.com

I found a great article in The Economist this week summarizing “augmented cognition” otherwise known as “aug cog.” It is a technology that is being used by the armed services to reduce cognitive overload. It allows the computer to judge the users cognitive status of the user and adjust the incoming stimuli to reduce overload. For example, fighter pilots helmets can be equipped with sensors to distinguish when the brain is becoming overloaded which will then dim the interface, or lower the volume of incoming messages. It can also be seen on your computer, the computer will judge incoming material and decide whether it is appropriate to interrupt your current activity for an alert. “Aug Cog” is also used in video games to ensure that the player’s difficult rating stays elevated (ensuring an enjoyable experience) but avoids becoming overwhelming or cognitively overloading.

With the capture of Warren Jeffs, head of the Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), the discussion was raised as to how polygamy can affect the population at large. Generally speaking, I feel that what consenting adults choose to do is there problem, however, the fact that he was arrange marriages between older men and 14-year-olds is pretty disturbing. However, the issue I want to raise is the abandonment of young men in order to eliminate the competition from the older members of the community. This behavior is common in elephant seals where the “bachelors” are ostracized from the herd and may never get the chance to mate. If this is prevalent in nature, what is the best solution to deal with it in human society? Once again, “the limiting factor is females” (Dawkins), and I feel that the community would serve as an excellent example for the mating habits of humans and the human demand to detach itself from primal urges.

For decades, millions of men and women in the region had been trapped in oppression and hopelessness. And these conditions left a generation disillusioned and made this region a breeding ground for extremism.

Imagine what it’s like to be a young person living in a country that is not moving toward reform. You’re 21 years old, and while your peers in other parts of the world are casting their ballots for the first time, you are powerless to change the course of your government.

While your peers in other parts of the world have received educations that prepare them for the opportunities of a global economy, you have been fed propaganda and conspiracy theories that blame others for your country’s shortcomings.

And everywhere you turn, you hear extremists who tell you that you can escape your misery and regain your dignity through violence and terror and martyrdom.

–President Bush Speaks to UN General Assembly [TRANSCRIPT]

The irony of Bush’s speeches amazes me every time. At some point, Bush will attack the “enemy” for behavior that can be found on his own soil. Millions of Americans have been “trapped in oppression and hopelessness” for decades; less than half of indivduals 18-25 turn out to vote; instead of properly improving our education system, we blame outsourcing and immigration for taking American jobs; and the last time I checked, the slogan for the American military switched from “Be All You Can Be” to “An Army of One.”

My attempt is not to bore you with some extended diatribe on “what is art?” you can get that kind of conversation in your local Starbucks. Instead my question is: When does art become media? When does media become art? And which is more valuable to a people?

Feminist studies, especially in critical studies, seek to discover how the community and the male authority figures within have conditioned women. One of the most disturbing observations that I learned in my studies is that women are conditioned to look down and away when they meet the eyes of man [insert proper reference]. I become frustrated whenever I catch myself doing it. Similarly, I despise when I respond to catcalls or the occasional “psst psst” on the street. I now make a concerted effort not to break eye contact when I see someone on the street, despite my discomfort. I’d like to break myself from that conditioned behavior.

(con·di·tion·ing) (kon-dish-un-ing) 1. learning in which a stimulus initially incapable of evoking a certain response acquires the ability to do so by repeated pairing with another stimulus that does elicit the response.

Living in downtown Los Angeles, I think that the conditioning occurring between individuals in the area to be particularly intriguing. It is a melting pot of young urban professionals and homeless; two groups that, under normal conditions, would remain separate and relatively ignorant of the other’s position. However, in the burgeoning community that is young, urban, professional Downtown Los Angeles, these two groups find themselves in a daily clash that should pit class against class, but instead it has become a very plain sort of interaction. For the most part, the upper classes in the area ignore the homeless, despite their attempts to draw their attention.

Both are “residents” of Downtown, attempting to live, work and play in Downtown LA (neighborhood slogan). Many of the paying residents have settled into a way of dealing with the regular interruptions into their relatively privileged life. I try to be as pleasant as possible, knowing fully well that the homeless begging me for change have a hard life, and I don’t want to add further stress. I usually respond with “I’m sorry” or “Not today.” However, I do know many individuals that will curse out the homeless, in an attempt to condition them into not asking for money. Alternatively, they are seeking to condition me to feel sorry for their situation in order to evoke an emotion that might cause me to donate. This seems to be the overarching goal of homeless (or any industry for that matter), and the only way I see to resolve it is to donate to the homeless shelters around town to ensure that I am doing my part without encouraging the negative habits of the homeless in my neighborhood.

i was watching a home improvement show on TLC* and the head of the project was wearing a shirt that read:

“F is for FOSHIZZLE”

i was appaled. nevermind the fact that he was a late-thirties white dude desperate to be hip wearing a shirt that was too tight but showed off the muscles that he tried to maintain as his body slowly faded. rather i was appaled at the strange bastardization of black american lexicon. by including the actual “for” in the line, the inherent poor grammar of the term is somehow corrected, te slang becomes proper and standardized.

i don’t care if S is fo’Shizzle… F is Foshizzle.

this morning i missed the bus because i was talking on the phone. i watched three F buses go by and i made a decision to take a cab. when i crossed the street and looked up, another F bus was coming down the road! i got to campus and i left my water bottle in my statistics classroom. i suppose i lucked out with the bus issue and i had to let the water go…