Some Thoughts On Thinking

 

This may sound like a strange question, but do you think about thinking?

Believe it or not, it's a real thing.  It's called cognitive science, and it employs a lot of people covered in sheep skins sitting around thinking about thinking.  They ask the really tough questions, like how do we think?  Why do we think?  What do we think about?  And most importantly, why do we think what we think?

Philosophers since ancient times have killed a lot of goats and pulverized a lot of trees pondering these questions.  They have proposed reams of hypotheses, outlined scads of analyses, and probably smoked a lot of opium trying to figure out how and why people think.

Personally, I think the answer for the most part is, "They don't."

In any event, to get my degree as a professional communicator, I had to take a full year of cognitive science classes and write a bunch of papers about the use of role-playing, gate-keeping, linking, and remembering.

While this may all seem a bit tedious, even pointless, it plays a major part in your life.  Thought modelling is the basis for algorithms, which more or less control every aspect of our lives these days.  Behavioral responses are linked to cognitive processes that determine your suseptibility to advertising, marketing and other forms of mass stimuli.  Like it or not, folks who think about thinking can predict almost without fail how you will react to certain input by collecting your online data.

Now I could go on for hours about this topic, but I want to focus on a model I made that offers insight into personal opinions.

The illustration at the top is a visualization tool for how I think about opinions.  While much of the world is told to think of opinions in two dimensions - left/right, red/blue, etc. - I think of opinions in three dimensions with six aspects.  I have found that every opinion I've ever had or encountered falls somewhere within this matrix.  It doesn't matter what the topic is, and doesn't care what your political or ideological beliefs are.  In fact, the belief structure is the box in which the matrix is contained.

Take something as mundane as pork bacon.  The box would be your religious ideology.  Those with religious strictures against eating pork would fall somewhere in the -X/+Y range, and may actively try to keep others from eating pork bacon (+Z) or not care what you do (-Z).  I personally think pork bacon is God's gift to Mankind (+X), but I won't force anyone else to eat it (-Y), but I will actively seek sources to purchase it despite living in a predominantly Muslim country (+Z).

Now take something as contentious as abortion rights.  You might feel strongly that it is an individual choice (+X/+Y), but you would not participate in rallys or take political action (-Z).  On the other hand, you might believe it is murder and an offence against humanity (-X), you are very passionate about that belief (+Y) and you would join in a protest to block a clinic (+Z).  The box is most likely a religious belief system.

If we assign a set of values to the aspect, say 1 through 5 moving out from the intersection, we can plot a whole range of opinions and even begin to see which ones are contradictory.

More importantly, at least from a commercial point of view, we can find a pattern that can be matched with your behavioral pattern, and suddenly we have a predictive model of you, and we can use it to target your weak spots.

The box can be any set of overarching beliefs that affect our opinions.  It could be as large as a weltanschauung, or as small as a personal taste.  It could be an Aristotelian Materialist box that colors everything you think, or a salty foods box that affects your opinion on various cuisines.  It really gets fun when you place a whole lot of small boxes inside a weltanschauung box, and start producing a set of sets model for any given individual.

The latter is essentially what is happening this very moment as you and I post on social media and make purchases with credit cards and search for items on Amazon.  Each collecting organization sells its data on us to other organizations, then they overlap the data by name, location and demographic information, and POOF!  They've made a little digital you inside a supercomputer somewhere in Silly-Con Valley.

Your thought and behavior matrix is as unique as a fingerprint, but it is also predictive.  For instance, if you are +X/+Y/+Z about bacon, I can predict some of your shopping habits.  Additionally, based on other data in your personal matrix, I can create a table of probabilities that predict how you will react to certain stimuli.  If your box is Materialist, then you are receptive to ads for luxury items, entertainment and day spas.  If your box shows a strong interest in self-sufficiency and practicality, you are receptive to ads for DIY products and urban real estate.

And that's just the beginning.

This type of model is used by social media giants to decide who gets cancelled.  It's not just what you say or believe, but the effect you have on others.  The giants are strongly -X/-Y/+Z, and they are hunting folks who are +X/+Y/+Z.  As the list shrinks, their quantitative criteria will move closer and closer to the null point, or intersection of the axes.  Even better, they can influence you to edit your thoughts and behaviors to move yourself closer to the null point, a process known as herding.

Think you can't be herded?  How many cash transactions have you made in the past month?  There was a time when people got really upset at the idea of a cashless society.  Now, most folks hardly use cash at all, not because of some rule or law, but because we have been herded there with online shopping, cards of every conceivable type, and the use of online credits to buy services, like ride-hailing and game tokens.

Your online behavior has allowed a group of corporations to create a set of carrots to lead you in directions that make them happy, so they don't have to pull out the stick and spook the rest of the herd.  Even more thought-provoking, they have convinced you that it makes you happy, as well.

This behavior modifiaction stuff is fun and profitable!

The moral of this story is that we should all spend a bit more time thinking about thinking.  How do you think?  Why do you think what you think?  What do you think?  How does your thinking affect your behavior?

Try making your own opinion matrix.  Think of random opinions you have, plot them out in the matrix.  After a short time, you'll start seeing patterns in your thinking.  When you find the pattern, think about what belief system (box) is skewing your thinking.  Become cognitive of your own cognition.

The benefit, other than self-awareness, is that you can use this tool to create artificial creatures that are absoltely consistent in what they say and how they behave online.  This might be a useful skill in the near future.

Think about it.

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Medium As Message

Bird Flu Virus

It is a frequent topic here on the Far Side about the use of media to instill 'behavioral templates' in the mass mind, so that when certain situations arise, we automatically drop into role and follow the pre-installed program.  Given that there are a number of scenarios about at the moment, it might be instructive to examine how this process works, and how you are programmed to react in a certain fashion.

That media work is not at issue.  It has been proven repeatedly that mass groups of people can be easily controlled and cajoled by what they see and hear in the media.  All advertising operates by creating a need or impression in you mind, and then supplying that need with some product.  Even media moguls are susceptible to it.

When Euro Disney opened back in the early 90s, Michael Eisner, then CEO, went to inspect the damage, I mean...new park.  Upon arriving, he began the tour with an inspection of the park's hotels.  If you're not familiar with Disney parks, they have on-site hotels for every budget, from discount family style to adult over-spender style.  Eisner went to the low-budget family box and found all these people arriving in Mercedes.  Well, he had a fit.

"Why are all these Mercedes staying at the cheap hotel," he demanded.  He was then made aware that the Mercedes C-class was nothing more than the Oldsmobile of Europe.  The brand had nothing to do with wealth, only the class of design.

Eisner, like many Americans, had succumbed to the marketing that had convinced everyone that the Mercedes brand meant high-priced luxury.  It didn't occur to him that they operate just like Disney, pimping low-rent and high-rent products for every budget.  Heck, just south of him in north Africa, every beat-up, run-down taxi is a Mercedes.

It works for just about every product.  Body odor was not an issue until the end of WWII, when a product called MUMM came out and they shamed everyone into 'needing' this product, so they didn't smell.  Feminine hygiene products, toothpaste, sodas, electronic gee-gaws...they all use your desire to project an image to sell you useless crap.  Everytime you look at a product and think, "Rich guy, lucky guy, wish I had one," you have been programmed.

A little reading on the subject of mind control and how this process works will give you at least some defense against the Dark Arts.

But, back to our topic at hand...behavioral templates.

What sparked this discussion was the CNN article pimping the latest designer virus called, ominously enough, Mutal Bird Flu.  Not only does the word 'mutant' engender fear, which we spoke of previously, but it is caused by something unseen, a virus, and it is vectored through something cute and cuddly, a bird.  All perfect plot points for mass mind control through fear.

For our discussion, we're going to choose the 1995 Hoffman flick called Outbreak.  We could choose any of dozens of flicks on this subject, including the brilliant Andromeda Strain, but this one is fairly blatant and easy to follow.

The primary message of the film is that the authorities have all the answers.  Don't be afraid, just follow orders and you'll be saved.  That there is a back story of a battle of wits between the Good Authorities and the Bad Authorities is secondary.  It serves to re-inforce the idea that at some level, there are people in power who have your best interests at heart, so just pile in the cattle cars and go to the detention centers and we'll get all this sorted out right away.

Among the many messages contained in the flick are: bad viri are manufactured to kill bad guys, cute and cuddly animals are scary, people who don't follow import/export laws are bad, the Good Authorities always win, and you're quarantined for your own good...if you try to escape you'll be blow to bits to save the world.  But the most important thing to learn is, the Authorities have all the answers; you're just a little, stupid civilian; just do as you're told and we'll figure this all out at levels much higher than you.  Oh, and take any medicine we tell you to take, for your own good...but more importantly for the safety of the world.

Basically, it comes down to a message you will hear repeated in all media all the time: You Can't Handle The Truth.

Even Batman tells you that.  In The Dark Knight, which you might think celebrates the empowered individual, we are told that we are incapable even of being a vigilante.  Only men with power and money, who work closely with the Authorities, are allowed to perform freelance law enforcement.  After all, you're only wearing hockey pads.  The same message is everywhere.

Back to Outbreak.

So, even though the Authorities created the viral menace, and a cute and cuddly vector (monkey) carries it, don't worry because they've also got the antidote.  That's right, even though they took your tax money at gun point and created a devastating and horrible disease while playing God with it, it's OK because they have the cure and if you just submit and follow orders, you'll be fine.

Don't worry that the Good Authority (Hoffman) is really only motivated to save his mean ex-wife (Russo) by fighting off the Bad Authority (Sutherland), the grandfatherly Shadow Authority (Freeman) will come to our rescue and give the hero the answer.

To tie all this together, any of the manufactured diseases that are currently in the wild or will be have already been 'cured'.  Our job as sheep is to follow directions and be penned up so that we can either be exterminated (to save the world) or innoculated (to save Big Pharma).  Those who don't follow the orders will be gunned down like rabid dogs and no one will question it out of fear and because that's what our 'behavioral template' tells us will happen.

No matter what happens, whether it's alien invasions, plagues, severe weather, or terrorism, we are to follow Authority at all times, because they always have the answers and will always come to our rescue.  We must allow them to do anything, be it torture, killing or round-ups, no matter what violations of liberty and freedom it requires, because it's for our own good.  The Authority always knows more and better than we do.

Whether it's 24, or Beverley Hills Cop, or Law and Order, the message is always the same: do not hinder the Authorities.  Their badge and gun means they can do anything in the name of saving us.  Our job, as stupid goy, is to stay out of their way and follow orders, for our own good.  In other words, we are all 3-year-olds, and Mommy and Daddy Authority are child-proofing the world for us.

Oh, and the 'behavioral templates' work both ways.  They teach us that being an Authority is fun because you have power over the goy and can do anything you want.  You can grope children's genitals and steal people's things and beat folks to a pulp if they don't show proper respect for your Authority.

The media teach us how to act if we are goy, glorify Authority to make us want to become Authority, and then show us all the cool things we can do with impunity once we pass the Mystical Test and become a member of Authority.  That's why cops strut like preening roosters and TSA agents violate every boundary of prudence and FBI agents all look like they stepped out of Men In Black.  They've been implanted, too.

Sigmund Freud

If you really want to feel the hair on the back of your neck stand up, read some of the theory and practice of media, especially from the turn of the 20th century.  It was a little more open and honest back then.  Read up on the history of media, and how it followed a parallel track with phychology, as both professions learned how to manipulate and control minds.  They truly worked hand-and-glove to bring you to submission.

Read up on how they telegraph events through dramas, how they subtly change your behaviors and beliefs through comedies.

In physiology, they have studied how persistence of vision creates the illusion of motion with as little as 12 frames/second, and how the flickering of the frames cause a sort of trance state that allows messages to by-pass your normal defenses.

It's bone-chilling and it's far worse than is possible to cover in a single column.  Suffice it to say that if your are consuming media, then it is consuming you.  And yes, even markerting geniuses like Michael Eisner are prone to its control.  Educating yourself on something so ubiquitous as media is the first step towards freeing yourself from its control.

The Big Question is, what will you do with the knowledge?

Let's start off today with a little thought.  I know, I'm asking a lot, but work with me here.

Have you ever been doing something and thought to yourself, "Hey, this sure is like [TeeVee show/movie/commercial]."

Do you ever find yourself talking like someone you've seen in the media?  For instance, you're talking about sports and you use words like trample, vanquish, topped, et cetera?  Do you ever notice the things you say to other people sounds a lot like what you heard on the news or in a program somewhere?

The reason I ask this, is because I've gotten two email now asking me to explain how the media influences us.  The both pointed to my constant berating of the media.  They're thoughts run along the lines of, "If I know they're trying to program me, doesn't that cancel it?"

Short answer: No.

Being a creature of the media, I am quite guilty of using movie quotes and advertising tag lines.  I've written quite a few of them myself.  I try to sprinkle some real literature in for good measure, and whenever possible, I plug really high-quality movies, but I rarely resort to TeeVee programs, unless it's Star Trek.

The point is, even though I am trained in media, am fully aware of how it is used and why it works, and am fully cognizant of the mind control that comes out of the TeeVee and movie screens, I'm still susceptible.  I just got cable installed in my home office so i can watch the other-than-US news, though that's increasingly hard to find.

Last night, my wife and I were watching Ang Lee's Hulk, which I consider to be high art, and I noticed that my wife was gripping my arm and actually buying into the movie.  She was sucked into the suspense and action.  I laughed, which nearly scared the life out of her, because I haven't been able to watch a movie like that in decades.  About the only thing that can actually get to me is Apollo 13.  Makes me cry when I see the parachutes...every damn time.

Anyway, back to my point.  The media use a tool that Madison Ave. figured out years ago, and which most media rats know about.  It's something called 'template implanting.'  What the media does is bury behavioral 'templates' deep in our minds.  Even if you think you are blocking it, you're not.  What happens is that when you are confronted by a situation, you will tend to react using one of the implanted templates.

When I was in grade school, I actually ran track...after a fashion.  As part of my psych-up, I would envision the 6-million dollar man so that I could run at 60mph.  The result was I ran just like Col. Steve Austin...in slow motion.  The thing is, I was using media-implanted templates to guide my real-life actions.

Maybe you've used lines like, "Where's the beef," or "I'm lovin' it," or "Just do it!"  You used those lines to imply something you learned from the media.  A template was implanted in your sub-conscious, so that when you wanted to express a certain idea, the only way you could come with to express it was an ad tag line.

Why do you think the young folk in America all sound like they are from the middle of Harlem?  Why do so many boys think it's fashionable to wear their pants half around their knees like prison whores?  Why do kids all go crazy about certain toys right around October (just in time for Christmas)?  They've all been implanted with templates.

Watch movies really closely, and by that i mean turn off the sound.  Focus on the pictures.  How many brand-names can you identify in the average 10-minute reel time?  How many are being touched or used by the stars?

Have you ever purchased a product because someone famous that you looked up to or admired promoted it?  Why do you give someone you've never met any credibility at all?  You really have no idea who they are or what their motivations are.

The upshot of all this is, your behavior, at least in groups of 100 or more, is completely predictable.  Why?  Because you've been imprinted with templates that control how you will react in just about any given situation.  It's part of the supposed 'mind-reading' machines that security agencies are deploying.  Your behavior can be predicted by your body language and the general context in which you find yourself.  It's just a few algorithms to calculate your most likely future actions in any given situation, based on how you move and react.

The thing is, cave-dwelling 'terrorists' who never watch TeeVee or movies are less predictable than you are.  So who do think all those surveillance toys are really intended for?

Is there any hope?

Yes.  You can deprogram yourself.  Be very careful what you allow to enter your eyeballs and eardrums.  Surround yourself with art and fine music and good movies.  Avoid violent content and seek things with high language, not the ghetto trash that passes for dialogue in most 'entertainment' now.  When you're wondering what to do for entertainment, consider the museum or a live play, rather than recorded media.  It's much easier to program 'templates' when someone can edit the visuals and audio for just the right effect.

I hear many people wondering how so many folks could willingly give up their rights and liberty just to get on a plane.  It's because nearly everyone in the world now has a template implanted.  The constant barrage of images of planes flying into buildings has implanted a sub-conscious fear of being one of the people on a plane like that.  Even if you hate the TSA, you are willing to submit because the behavioral template in your mind tells you that if you don't, you will die when your plane crashes into a building.  The actual chances of that happening are nearly zero, but fear is not rational.

Want another example?  Why do you think of government employees as 'authorities'?  They have no more clue about the world than you do, but you are more prone to believe someone you are told is an 'authority,' than any old person on the street.  Obama is using a fake SS#, has a house that he has not paid taxes on, gave the people an obiviously fake birth certificate, has violated just about every clause of the US Constitution, and yet I still read where he's an authority, since he (let me finish laughing here) Constitutional law.

There are thousands of examples of behavioral templates.  I guarantee if you think about it, you will catch yourself reacting with a template at least a couple of times a day.  Hell, when you want to come off as romantic to your squeeze, what do you think of?  Flowers?  FTD.  Cards?  Hallmark.  A drive in your hot wheels?  Chevy.  Candy?  Hershey.  You've been programmed.

If you find it almost impossible to cut yourself loose from the TeeVee, try this: don't watch the news or any of the lame cop/lawyer/federal agent shows, or especially comedy (one of the most dangerous).  Instead, choose classic movies and entertainment with classic themes.  Better yet, watch Mel Gibson flicks back-to-back.  That'll clear your head.

Another good way to deprogram is try not to buy anything in a package with a logo.  Buy fresh veggies and get meat at a proper butcher shop wrapped in white paper.  Why?  Because when you buy Ragu sauce and enjoy it, you are re-enforcing the programming by associating good experiences with a brand.  If you can break that cycle, you can start defeating the templates.

One more thing.  If there are extension classes near your house, think about taking a course or two in media and advertising, or film and art history.  Learn where our cultural symbols come from.  Learn about the thing that invades your mind 24-hours a day.  Take the mystery out of it and learn how it works.  There are some great books, too.  Check out Marshall McLuhan.   It might interest you to know that much of modern theory about advertising originated with Nazi propaganda and freaks like Sigmund Freud.

Know your enemy.