Really interesting study on how we support our false beliefs

[Balta1701]

I don't have any cites to back this up but this seems like false nostalgia to me. We may be bombarded with more jingoism and polemics these days, but I don't know that we thought better in the past.

Andrew Jackson's wife is a pipe smoking woman of ill repute.

[bmags]

Andrew Jackson's wife is a pipe smoking woman of ill repute.

 

laughed heartily.

 

Today's birthers are about fake birth certificates, yesterdays was about being a illegitimate child. Just updatin with technology.

[kapkomet]

I don't have any cites to back this up but this seems like false nostalgia to me. We may be bombarded with more jingoism and polemics these days, but I don't know that we thought better in the past.

TV an internet(s) pretty much dumb us down. I'll post more on why I think that later. Gotta run.

 

[lostfan]

5 bucks says kap forgets he made that post and never follows up

[bmags]

TV an internet(s) pretty much dumb us down. I'll post more on why I think that later. Gotta run.

 

I'm pretty sure less access to information didn't exactly make people smarter.

[StrangeSox]

5 bucks says kap forgets he made that post and never follows up

 

I'm pretty sure less access to information didn't exactly make people smarter.

more access to inaccurate or disinformation makes them dumber. Also, you run the risk of getting into echo chambers full of confirmation bias where your ideas are only supported and never challenged. The Series of Tubes makes it easier to find like-minded idiots.

[lostfan]

 

more access to inaccurate or disinformation makes them dumber. Also, you run the risk of getting into echo chambers full of confirmation bias where your ideas are only supported and never challenged. The Series of Tubes makes it easier to find like-minded idiots.

This is both a blessing and a curse. Kind of like free speech itself.

[bmags]

 

more access to inaccurate or disinformation makes them dumber. Also, you run the risk of getting into echo chambers full of confirmation bias where your ideas are only supported and never challenged. The Series of Tubes makes it easier to find like-minded idiots.

 

disagree. The problem now is a bunch of old white men are center of the debate and they just learned email, and dag nabbit that email just said there'd be death squads.

[mr_genius]

disagree. The problem now is a bunch of old white men are center of the debate and they just learned email, and dag nabbit that email just said there'd be death squads.

 

lol, are you white?

[kapkomet]

My point is more to TV and not the internet, although it sort of does have the same effect.

 

(this interjected message is to lostfan. f*** you.)

 

Think about this for a second. You watch a show (NOT a movie, a tv show). Your brain is sort of trained to watch the show for about 6 minutes, and then there's a commercial. Your brain sort of just turns off - it's almost conditioning in its own right. Your attention span has been programmed pretty much all your life to be a MAXIMUM of 5-7 minutes, then you just sort of zone out during the commercials, then you pay attention again for 5-7 minutes, then you zone out, and so on.

 

Let's take that to a classroom. Is it any wonder that most high school and younger college kids today (and I'm not knocking you, I'm just trying to make a point) don't pay attention for a whole class setting? Is it any wonder that elementary and middle school kids don't listen? There's so much media (this is sort of where the gaming and internet comes in) that has saturated us that we don't stop and sit down to reason through or critically think through issues anymore. It's something that's been lost in our culture and has HUGELY changed in one generation that I can see. And, IMO, it's only going to get worse.

 

How does that effect this study? People pick up fragments, and they just really don't think about it, they sort of just accept that soundbyte because our minds are conditioned for short bits of information.

 

Thoughts? I just think it's an interesting notion.

 

[lostfan]

Good thing nobody took me up on my bet. Not like I would've paid anyway.

[StrangeSox]

Then force people to watch PBS and listen to NPR. Lot less commercials (as long as it isn't a pledge drive!)

[southsider2k5]

Then force people to watch PBS and listen to NPR. Lot less commercials (as long as it isn't a pledge drive!)

 

Could I just get my info straight from the Democratic committee instead?

[StrangeSox]

Could I just get my info straight from the Democratic committee instead?

 

They may not talk down to their audience enough.

 

Seriously though, NOVA blows away most anything Discovery or History does and its without commercials chopping it all up.

[kapkomet]

They may not talk down to their audience enough.

 

Seriously though, NOVA blows away most anything Discovery or History does and its without commercials chopping it all up.

Ok, but most people don't. And I don't like the idea of FORCING anyone to do anything. That's kind of the point of all my rants.

 

Back to the point, I really think this whole mentality has had a dramatic effect on our culture in the last 25 years and why some things are not what they used to be, and I mean that in a bad way.

 

[NorthSideSox72]

Could I just get my info straight from the Democratic committee instead?

PBS' stuff, including news shows and in depth features, are currently the smartest stuff out there on TV, by a longshot. Some is liberally biased, but some of it conservatively as well (heck watch any of the evening business report programs in the Chicago market). Point is, no matter where it stands, its just better quality, more in depth news, than anything you can get from the networks or the major TV news outlets currently. The only place it loses out to the majors is in speed to tube.

 

[ChiSox_Sonix]

They may not talk down to their audience enough.

 

Seriously though, NOVA blows away most anything Discovery or History does and its without commercials chopping it all up.

 

I actually think History and National Geographic do a great job. I really enjoy those channels

[NorthSideSox72]

I actually think History and National Geographic do a great job. I really enjoy those channels

We watch those and Discovery a lot at home. In fact I'd say those three, plus Sox games, make up about 90% of our TV time.

 

I also loved those Planet Earth DVD/BD's.

 

[Jack Parkman]

I actually think History and National Geographic do a great job. I really enjoy those channels

National Geographic is good, History has stupid ass shows like Monster Quest and the tin foil hat guys who look for things that aren't there, and people are supposed to be surprised when they find nothing. No s*** Sherlock.

 

[StrangeSox]

I actually think History and National Geographic do a great job. I really enjoy those channels

 

Unfortunately I don't get Nat. Geo.

 

We watch those and Discovery a lot at home. In fact I'd say those three, plus Sox games, make up about 90% of our TV time.

 

I also loved those Planet Earth DVD/BD's.

 

History and Discovery are usually pretty good, but more and more they're throwing on garbage like Ax Men,Ice Road Truckers, Ice road Loggers, Swords, Deadliest Catch, etc. etc. And the production on their new Clash of the God show is crap, though it'd probably be good otherwise.

 

edit: Yeah, and garbage like Monster Quest.

 

Planet Earth was phenomenal. I can still watch it over and over.

Edited August 26, 2009 by StrangeSox

[NorthSideSox72]

Unfortunately I don't get Nat. Geo.

 

 

 

History and Discovery are usually pretty good, but more and more they're throwing on garbage like Ax Men,Ice Road Truckers, Ice road Loggers, Swords, Deadliest Catch, etc. etc. And the production on their new Clash of the God show is crap, though it'd probably be good otherwise.

 

edit: Yeah, and garbage like Monster Quest.

 

Planet Earth was phenomenal. I can still watch it over and over.

We don't watch the serial stuff like deadliest truckers on ice or whatever. Just the actual history bits, and Discovery's nature or science related stuff, same on NatGeo. That's the good stuff.

 

[southsider2k5]

National Geographic is good, History has stupid ass shows like Monster Quest and the tin foil hat guys who look for things that aren't there, and people are supposed to be surprised when they find nothing. No s*** Sherlock.

 

That's why I love History International. Its the stuff that used to be on History, before they got into the reality series. BTW I am glad that someone else thinks those shows (add in Ice Road Truckers) are a waste of time.

[Texsox]

There has always been really stupid TV, we just seem to have taken it to new depths.

 

Last week, NatGeo had a program on the tiger escape from the SF Zoo. Great stuff. I love it when I learn something new.

[ChiSox_Sonix]

Unfortunately I don't get Nat. Geo.

 

 

 

History and Discovery are usually pretty good, but more and more they're throwing on garbage like Ax Men,Ice Road Truckers, Ice road Loggers, Swords, Deadliest Catch, etc. etc. And the production on their new Clash of the God show is crap, though it'd probably be good otherwise.

 

edit: Yeah, and garbage like Monster Quest.

 

Planet Earth was phenomenal. I can still watch it over and over.

 

Not all their series are crap though. Cities of the Underworld, Histories Mysteries and Decoding the Past are very interesting. Also Gangland can be very entertaining as well. And the new show Pawn Stars is awesome.

 

But my favorite "series" has got to be Locked Up Abroad. I just love that show. It's on Nat Geo but it's really very interesting to me.

[StrangeSox]

I hate the production on Cities of the Underworld. The guy thinks everything is the most amazing thing ever, the music is overly dramatic and some of the camera work is annoying.