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The brain was not designed for this much bad news

sciencedaily.com

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Re: The brain was not designed for this much bad news

#21

Post by [deleted] »

landdate wrote: post #10
spking wrote: post #3

Neil Postman called this the “Peekaboo World”. “What steps do you plan to take to reduce the conflict in the Middle East? Or the rates of inflation, crime and unemployment? What are your plans for preserving the environment or reducing the risk of nuclear war? What do you plan to do about NATO, OPEC, the CIA, affirmative action, and the monstrous treatment of the Baha’is in Iran? I shall take the liberty of answering…

Practically, focusing on the things you can change (mostly small scale evils in your community) will have the highest degree of positive effect, rather than focusing on stuff you are bombarded with online that is out of your control (mostly large scale evils). However, don't think you get vindicated from duty just because the task is impossible. You are as just as much responsible for yourself, your family, your frie…

[deleted]

Re: The brain was not designed for this much bad news

#22

Post by appplication »

metabagel wrote: post #12
spking wrote: post #3

Neil Postman called this the “Peekaboo World”. “What steps do you plan to take to reduce the conflict in the Middle East? Or the rates of inflation, crime and unemployment? What are your plans for preserving the environment or reducing the risk of nuclear war? What do you plan to do about NATO, OPEC, the CIA, affirmative action, and the monstrous treatment of the Baha’is in Iran? I shall take the liberty of answering…

This is close to correct. We should be aware of current events but not become too emotionally involved with them. They are mostly outside of our control, and we need to reserve most of our focus and emotional energy on what is front of us and our loved ones. However, we should still act on behalf of greater causes with the means at our disposal. Some examples... world in crisis - I donate to World Central Kitchen the…

I was recently massively downvoted on Reddit because I mentioned I didn’t really care about candidates stances either way on Israel/Palestine as it regards to a city-level election. I certainly have opinions and understand why folks have principles either way, but we can’t make every issue the issue we spend our energy on, and this doesn’t meet the bar for me for a city official.

Sometimes online and election media discourse can feel like we’re supposed to be single issue voters on 1000 issues at once.

Re: The brain was not designed for this much bad news

#23

Post by ggm »

fragmede wrote: post #17

I was under the impression that science did not believe that the brain was intelligently designed in the first place though.

A wonderful comment. But, "not designed for" encompasses badly designed, and also not designed and inadequately designed.

I think we can say the process (designed or otherwise) was .. organic?

Re: The brain was not designed for this much bad news

#24

Post by uberex »

spking wrote: post #3

Neil Postman called this the “Peekaboo World”. “What steps do you plan to take to reduce the conflict in the Middle East? Or the rates of inflation, crime and unemployment? What are your plans for preserving the environment or reducing the risk of nuclear war? What do you plan to do about NATO, OPEC, the CIA, affirmative action, and the monstrous treatment of the Baha’is in Iran? I shall take the liberty of answering…

Er... I got an electric car does that count? Based on $ keeping the old car is cheaper. Also divestment, purchase choices, charity donations, solar install.

Re: The brain was not designed for this much bad news

#25

Post by uberex »

tetrisgm wrote: post #7

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. Back in 2010 I gave a TEDx talk about how the internet can be an extension of your mind. Nowadays I feel like it is contributing noise. The internet has become X, Reddit, AI, doomscrolling and group messaging. Very little room for positive messaging. I don’t mean to harp about the theft of attention: the message itself is just not even contributing anything.

Out of interest what is the path to talking at a TEDx?

Re: The brain was not designed for this much bad news

#27

Post by brador »

That fretting might be the key to human intelligence and evolution.

Relentless overthinking, all that blood flow to the developing brain. Nutrition and oxygen to those cells at incredible rates.

My focus is insane when adrenaline hits.

I’ve been known to argue with takeout cashiers over portion sizing for a full day hit before tournaments.

Re: The brain was not designed for this much bad news

#28

Post by Terr_ »

ggm wrote: post #23
fragmede wrote: post #17

I was under the impression that science did not believe that the brain was intelligently designed in the first place though.

A wonderful comment. But, "not designed for" encompasses badly designed, and also not designed and inadequately designed. I think we can say the process (designed or otherwise) was .. organic?

"Not well adapted to", perhaps.

Re: The brain was not designed for this much bad news

#30

Post by [deleted] »

SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #18
applfanboysbgon wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a weird quote. It reeks of pretentious pseudo-intellectualism. People vote for a government that does something very tangible about all of those things. The media influenced how Americans voted in the US election, and they voted for a guy that predictably started a major new war in the Middle East. That is a real thing that happened and has impacted billions of people globally with second-order economic effec…

People vote for such a government very rarely - in the US, about once every two years. I don't think anyone would object to you spending a week or even a month before the election learning a large amount about what's wrong in the world. But when you go into the voting booth on November 3 this year, do you expect your choices will be at all influenced by the details of the bad news you read on June 21?

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