[ExI] "Feral" humans, NOT

[spike]

Subject: Re: [ExI] "Feral" humans, NOT

On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 8:58 PM, BillK <pharos at gmail.com> wrote:

> Yes, if someone acts weird (like not supporting the government) then 
> they should be treated for dangerous behaviour.  Millions of children 
> in the US already get fed psychiatric drugs to treat behavioural 
> problems...

Ja.  It concerns me that ADD in particular may be over-diagnosed, when really we are seeing decreasing attention spans as a result of video games.  Compare any Hollywood movie made before about 1950 with any one made after about 1990 in the following manner.  Start the movie, mute the sound, turn off all the lights and turn your chair away from the screen, so all you see is the reflected glow from the TV.  In the pre-1950 movie, one sees a steady glow reflection for about half a minute or more at a time.  The modern movie is constant flash flash flash, change every 5 seconds or so.

Now compare any modern court drama with the 1950s Perry Mason equivalent.  Discussions go on in the courtroom for ten minutes at a time, and one must concentrate for that entire time to follow the remarkably complex story lines.  We have mostly lost the ability or the desire to do that now.  We can take in information faster, but we expect to have more control over our information input.  Our attention spans have shortened.   I welcome Stathis' comments on this.

This takes me to something I am worrying a lot about recently: how education is reacting to shortened attention spans, not just in children but in all of us.  They still expect kids to sit still and listen to a teacher deliver a lecture.  Many are called ADD, when they might just be jumpy and bored.  

We have failed to adjust education as our computers have adjusted us.

spike