Chaos Program

An odd coincidence of things I saw in the news lead me to think about critical thinking. A recent study claimed that the rise of electronic has improved certain visual skills but has also reduced the prevalence of critical thinking, especially among the young. [See Is technology producing a decline in critical thinking and analysis?]. It’s hard to argue with that. People don’t read very much these days (if they ever did). Watching TV is passive and not very critical. I seem to recall that there was proof of this twice when TV writers went on strike and people just kept watching the repeats that were aired in place of new shows.

It’s hard to be much less critical than re-watching the same stuff that bored us on the idiot box (as my father has been known to call it) the first time. But does watching TV (or playing video games, or chatting via SMS or IM) really engage the brain that much less than other traditional human activities like gathering nuts and berries, or walking behind a plow? I’m not so sure. I’m also unsure that reading, alone, has much to do with critical thinking. It depends on both the quality of material being read and the quality of thinking the reader does about it. Experience shows that cramming for a test does not foster serious thought. Mostly, it just gives me a headache. (I hope that’s not just me!) read more »

A friend of mine and I have developed something of a tradition of drinking a shot in honor of famous people when they pass on. Not just any famous person will do. It has to be someone we, personally, consider interesting or significant. We did a shot for George Burns and one (or was it 2?) for Ronald Reagan.

On the other hand, we did not have a shot for Heath Ledger, despite his fantastic turn as the Joker because, a) We had not yet seen Dark Knight when he died and b) neither of us was very familiar with his previous work and so had no very strong reaction to his death. I’m not claiming it’s fair. There has to be some kind of system since the idea is just to show a token of esteem for someone, not to get massively drunk. If you want to get drunk, you can come up with much more frequent excuses to drink shots!

Anyway, after some consideration I think it’s unlikely we’ll do a shot for John Updike, despite his status as one of the most highly regarded American writers of all time. Or possibly, because of that status. read more »

I was going to do an update to the previous post about schizophrenia today. There have been several interesting findings just since I wrote that post (here). But instead, I found an interesting thread about something else schizophrenic: A story at Techcrunch that has the text of emails about why people left Google  (Why Google Employees Quit).

Google carefully cultivates a reputation for being the best and for hiring the best. On the other hand, they just had a layoff (story here) so, best or not, they still have to function in the same economy as the rest of the world. And apparently with the same lame practices. Full disclosure: I’ve been laid off several times and this has probably contributed to my general lack of respect for business “leaders.” read more »

There have been some interesting developments in the scientific study of schizophrenia recently. It seems that schizophrenia is an actual physical problem in the brain and scientists are getting closer to understanding it.Along with this comes a better understanding of brain functino as a whole. That makes it interesting. Some recent examples:

Brain Compound ‘Throws Gasoline Onto The Fire’: Schizophrenia isn’t just hearing voices. Schizophrenics have problems in what is known as executive function of the brain. Roughly speaking, this is the ability to judge the current situation and alter your behavior to deal with it. Executive function is several steps above instinctive behavior. It’s one of those things that makes a brain worth having. More information on executive function at wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_function. Not being an expert on schizophrenia, I did not know before reading this article that schizophrenics have great difficulty with executive function (also referred to as executive decision making or cognitive flexibility). They can make a plan but, if reality does not conform, they have a very hard time adapting. Their brains can’t process the new information and form new goals or new wrinkles in the plan to compensate. read more »

The subject of my last post, the serious problems faced by news media today, hasn’t gone away. If anything, maybe I was early commenting on it. The news came out today that my old employer, Gannett corp, is furloughing workers for one week without pay. See D&C employees to take one week unpaid leave. Once again I find that my decision to leave was the right one – but I’m still worried and unhappy for the good people I left behind. They work hard and try to put out the best product they can. They deserve better.

One of those good people posted an interesting link to a blog post entitled When newspapers are gone, what will you miss? It’s an interesting post. Here’s the money quote: “Newspapers took two cents of journalism and wrapped in ninety-eight cents of overhead and distraction.” read more »

On Twitter I follow a feed called THEMEDIAISDYING (http://twitter.com/themediaisdying). It posts numerous updates throughout the day about changes in newspapers, television and magazines. Not surprisingly, given the name, most of those changes are negative. There have been a lot of layoffs lately. Since I used to work for a newspaper and still have friends who do, I take a morbid interest in what is happening to the industry.

The picture ain’t pretty and I don’t believe the current recession is the whole reason. It’s just the last straw on the camel’s poor old back. When I was still at the paper, the signs of decrepitude were rampant. It was obvious for years that upper management regarded the internet with suspicion, at best. At less than the best, they showed outright hostility, even while they publicly claimed to be pleased at having new opportunities to serve the community and blah blah blah. In the editorial area blogs are still regarded with  suspicion, if not contempt, even when papers start their own sites that they call blogs.

That’s always funny. Seen the Wall Street Journal’s new tech blog? It’s at http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/. I have no idea why they refer to this slick, overstaffed exercise as a blog. read more »

Yesterday I ran across a hilarious article (If you love Windows XP, you’ll hate Windows 7) about some alleged objections to the next version of Windows, Windows 7. The article explained that disliking the new version is just a matter of an unwillingness to learn new, allegedly better, work habits. I used to hear the exact same kind of discussion about why MS Office 2007 was better and why people who didn’t like it (which seems to have been a majority of users, though I don’t have actual figures on that) were wrong. “Once you get used to it, it’s much better.”

One of the things they wanted me to get used to was that the options I wanted were hard to find, so that I kept clicking on things I didn’t want that were in completely irrational (but easy to find) places. I suppose with enough effort I really could get used to it. But I didn’t see the point. Putting things in different places does not, in my book, constitute an “upgrade.” At least not one worth spending money on.

Maybe I really am a childish throwback old-fashioned unadaptable idiot. Maybe I’m unworthy to use all those fine new MS products (That’s okay with me. I prefer Linux anyway). But I still think, “Your habits suck” is a poor marketing slogan.

It started out strange and got stranger. Then it got stupid.

Chapter 1: The first strangeness

A few months ago I noticed an odd charge on my cell phone bill. It was for about $10 and was for a service I didn’t recognize. I called the phone company and they said it was a subscription to a media service, so I could download ringtones and things to my phone. I explained that I never do that. I did download a ringtone a few years ago (Hell’s Bells by AC/DC) but since my phone is always on vibrate, getting another seems pointless. And I don’t download other media to my phone. I’m one of those weird old-fashioned guys who uses the phone for talking – and not a real lot of that.

The representative of the phone company was very understanding and helpful. When I told him I had no idea how this service got added to my bill and I did not want it, he removed the charge and canceled the subscription. After I verified on my next bill that he had done as he said, I thought the incident was over.

Not exactly. read more »