#religion is a part of social science over here and it includes “the big five” and some old mythology and so on

[fwoosheye]

I had a dream last night that I was in a zoom meeting with some Hollywood people to go over some contract because I had finished my satire-project and it was to be turned into a movie, and on my request representatives from each union was present. But when I realized a couple of sections didn't have any representative I asked why and the project leader (who was like one step away from being what my MC in that project is like which is not a positive thing) was like "oh they don'thave a union we haven't let them form one", and because Dream Me had a spine I said "Everybody deserves a union. I'm a Swede, do you have any idea how important unions are to us? Being in a union for us is almost like being a christian for you, except unions are working for their workers rights, while some christian movements are only interested in profit and control. Fuck, I'm a better christian than you and I'm not even religious, but I remember from our religion class that Jesus threw tables in a temple so he would fucking love unions!"

Anyway Dream Me was right and Jesus would so fucking love unions

[hopetofantasy]

‘HUMO’s big youth survey - Politics, society and religion’ - With Nora Dari (part 1)

- TW: corona pandemic, mental health, sickness, religion, islamophobia, racism, cancel culture -

Who better to test out the results of HUMO’s brand new ‘youth survey’ than a trio of three young gods? Bouba Kalala (23) made the switch between ‘Studio Brussel’ and the social media-team of the ‘SP.A’ - sorry, ‘Vooruit’. Céleste Cockmartin (21), daughter of sexologist and politician Goedele Liekens, just started her third year of neuropsychology in Maastricht. Nora Dari (19) portrays the beautiful Yasmina in the wildly popular ‘wtFOCK’. ‘If we don’t rise up to the streets, a lot of things will remain the same.’

- Note from hopetofantasy: ‘SP.A’, soon to be rebranded as ‘Vooruit’, is a social democratic political party -

For the past quarter of the century, HUMO surveyed every new batch of youngsters, but never before did we had to include a pandemic in our questionnaire. It’s a first! And even though the youth isn’t the most popular target of the virus, they’ll emerge from the corona crisis with scars on them too.

Half of young people thinks life will never return to what it was before. The girls are even more pessimistic than the boys. Nora Dari: “I wouldn’t call us pessimistic: we weren’t on the right track at all. This is one big wake-up call. I’ve never felt as alone yet together as during lockdown. On social media, we were already used to our own bubble. Then suddenly, all these bubbles began to look the same and everyone kept talking about the same thing.”

Bouba Kalala: “For one moment, the crisis showed us how good the world could be. I even started to cry at the drone images of VTM. I think we’ll bring that unity with us to the post-corona era.” Nora Dari: “When my mom stepped on the bus with her hijab before this, she would have gotten the side-eye. Now people scowl at those without mouth-masks. Weird how fast everything can change.” Bouba Kalala: “My grandpa experienced the war, we lived through a pandemic. Shit happens. When the Germans threw bombs on England, everyone re-emerged after the bombardments, re-opened their shops and even made jokes about it - ‘Everything at explosive prices!’. That’s what we should do now: we have to take corona seriously and follow the measures, but being scared won’t help us more forward.”

Do young people have to give up too much, because of the corona crisis? Almost one out of three think they do. Céleste Cockmartin: “I don’t have the feeling I’m giving up on a lot. But young people really do try and avoid infecting the elderly. When I’m in Maastricht and only see my peers for weeks at a time, then I’ll be less restrained. But when visiting my parents, I’m very careful. It’s just a matter of not being selfish. What’s so difficult about wearing a mask and disinfecting your hands?” Nora Dari: “Quite a lot of people don’t believe in masks.” Bouba Kalala: “Really? I don’t know anyone who dismisses the rules and says: ‘I’m going to go anywhere and do what I want.’ But those that do, get a story in the news. As if every young person doesn’t give a fuck.” You do? Bouba Kalala: “I have to: my grandpa who’s 84, is staying with us. I did sin once, though. Going to a friend’s house for some drinks, other friends come over and suddenly you’re with ten people.” Nora Dari: “I’ve had corona and I was scared to death that I’d infect my parents. So I locked myself up in my bedroom for two weeks.” Céleste Cockmartin: “Seriously? I wouldn't be able to handle it mentally if I couldn't go out.” Nora Dari: “But I was incredibly sick, so the solitary confinement didn’t bother me. I’ve binged all there was to binge on Netflix.” Bouba Kalala: “And your sense of smell and taste?” Nora Dari: “Still gone! I can’t taste anything. Us, Moroccans, drink mint tea every day. Now, a month later, it still tastes like water.” Did the virus change you? Nora Dari: “I’m pretty religious. Corona has given me even more the understanding that everything is in God’s hands.” Faith is on the rise again: the number of young people claiming they’re atheist or non-religious declined from 50 to 41 percent. Céleste Cockmartin: “Everyone is looking for meaning and answers. I search these answers in science.” Bouba Kalala: “For me, science and God have the same worth. Believers can’t prove there is something, but science can’t disprove it either.” You believe there’s something? Bouba Kalala: “Yes, but what? I believe in the universe, the force of attraction, the power of positive thinking... I don’t want to sound too much like a hippie, but I also believe in the paranormal and UFOs. (*Céleste and Nora laugh out loud*) What? UFOs are my hobby. Even the American army admits there is something, so there must be something (*laughs*).” Nora Dari: “I often hear it: young people believe in something, but they don’t know (yet) in what they believe.” It’s all clear to you. Nora Dari: “Yes. I’m lucky to be born in a muslim family, but even then, there’s a moment where you think: is this the religion that really defines me? I’ve done research and began reading books, but my heart truly connected with the Islam. It feels like true love.” Céleste Cockmartin: “I can be jealous about that. I think it’s a shame sometimes, that I don’t have that faith. It seems to be a good solace during the hard times. For a lot of people, faith isn’t much more than a form of meditation.” Bouba Kalala: “The grandma from a friend of mine passed away recently. I found it hard to comfort her. I don’t have that issue with my Moroccan or Turkish friends, because we know she’s with God. The idea that she isn’t gone, brings peace.” In 2015, when we were still discussing the imminent terror attacks, 9 percent called themselves muslim. Now it’s 17 percent. Nora Dari: “I think it’s related to the terrorists. Because of them, muslims and non-muslims started asking questions about Islam. People studied the religion and concluded that it’s actually really beautiful.” When you were 13, you wore a hijab for a while. Nora Dari: “As a young girl, I often visited the community center in Winterslag. It closed down by the time I went to high school. From a tiny school with only two Belgians without an immigration background, to a school with a handful of muslims. Suddenly the world seemed bigger. I needed something familiar, something I could join and where I felt included. That was the Islam. After two years, I realized that my choice to wear the hijab, was too hasty. I wore it so I wouldn’t feel alone, but when I got older, I understood: I’m not alone. With or without hijab, God’s always with me.” Will you wear it again some day? Nora Dari: “I hope so. If someone asks me why I don’t wear it, I don’t have an excuse. It’s something so beautiful. Yet, right now, it doesn’t feel as if it’s something I need to do.”  Do you feel, as a muslim, that you’re less of a target than a few years ago? Nora Dari: “Yes. That’s connected with the trend of being woke, being aware of everything and refusing to think anything is bad. Due to this, a lot of youngsters are becoming less critical. Which is a shame.” And here I thought, young people were only positive about being woke? Nora Dari: “But what is the meaning of ‘being woke’?” I was hoping you could tell me. Nora Dari: “No one knows. Everyone pretends to know (*laughs*).” Bouba Kalala: “That’s being woke, I think: not knowing everything, stop pretending like you have all the answers.” Nora Dari: “You know what bothers me? That we live in such a cancel culture. One bad tweet and you’re cancelled for life. There’s nothing woke about that?” Bouba Kalala: “Without social media, we wouldn’t have cancel culture: every brain fart continues to exist on the internet. Years later, someone will dig up a wrong statement and use it to take you down.” Nora Dari: “Young people would do well, if they followed the people they don’t agree with on social media.” Bouba Kalala: “Yes!” Nora Dari: “If I'd follow Dries Van Langenhove (= extreme right politician / activist) tomorrow, my followers would throw a fit: ‘Do you agree with him?’ No, the exact opposite! But how can I understand how he thinks, if I don’t follow him? If I only followed people whom I agree with, I’ll get tangled up into my own truths. The world doesn’t stop with my own Insta page.” Céleste Cockmartin: “That’s being woke: talking with your opponents. I once started a conversation with Dries Van Langenhove. I ran into him in Ghent, at the time of the ‘Schild & Vrienden’ TV report. I had to know: what’s the deal with that group? Unfortunately the conversation wasn’t very clear - it was the nightlife neighborhood. But I’ll stick with my statement: start a conversation with dissendents.” And the youth of today doesn’t do that? Nora Dari: “Not at all. We rather cancel each other.” Bouba Kalala: “I already know that I’ll get racist bullshit hurled at me after this interview. I've learned not to care. Hate posts are good for my algorithm.” You don’t reply to them? Bouba Kalala: “I do, every time. One time, I argued for hours with someone who sent a racist tweet. I kept going: ‘Why do you say that, Arno? Do you realize this hurts?’. In the end, he even thanked me. I went to my mom, showed her the conversation and we’ve high-fived each other. I know that Arno will vote for Vlaams Belang (= extreme right political party) again, but he did say ‘thank you’, while he started with that sick tweet.”

[sanchoyoscribbles]

Tm2 Queen and her pieces redesigns 👽💫 it was long overdue! I love her catci squad, all of them are named after cactus types except Queen and Arilla 😌

Tm2 directory including the protagonists references and more story info can be found here!

And these character's bios under the cut! Who's your favorite? 🌙

They all have greenish hair (except Arilla) bc green hair is super common in this lore, like brown or black hair on Earth I guess? None of them are blood related!

🌙Erdisia 22. She/her lesbian. mint green hair that gradients into sherbet orange. Grayish purple eyes. 

outfits: Enjoys wearing cute, puffy clothes! Ribbons, bows, chiffon, silk. Short dresses and shorts. 'Cute' hairstyles like ponytails n braids. 

Personality/backstory: Cheerful and highly aggressive! She will 100% stab anyone with a smile. She really hates humans and thinks they're all below her. She loves cute things, and but she has a really nasty personality that doesn't match at all. She's super good at sucking up to people and flattering them if she wants something, though. Anything nasty or unpleasant, like torturing? Killing? She is absolutely there for that. She does ALL the dirty work dealing with prisoners of the rebellion. Persi would very much like to have Words with her about that...Sapote doesn't actually like this girl, but Erdisia? Is like, lowkey obsessed with Sapote. Like 100% thinks she should be working with Sapote instead of Cara. Obviously since she's a human, Cara doesn't care for an alien speciesist against humans, and Erdisia goes out of her way to say nasty things to Cara in return. Cara is super good at ignoring people tho, which only makes Erdisia more mad.  

🌙Tunillo 17. He/him straight Male. light olive green hair. light grey eyes. 

outfits: slouchy, comfy clothes. Literally cannot be bothered to dress like a real person.

Personality/backstory: Entitled and sarcastic. Always thinks he's the smartest person in the room when he's hardly in the top ten in a room of five people. He's every dudebro you've ever met who's mansplained at every woman he's ever met and simultaneously expects them to fall in love with him while he has nothing to really offer and refuses to do any work around the house. That guy. He hates talking to the others and is pretty anti-social, but he's competent with tech. His job is to monitor everything. Like, he's the guy who watches the cameras to make sure no one is up to no good business. The visor over his face can switch to any part of the alien ship, and he can even hack into cameras on Earth. He's a SNITCH. He also dabbles in robotics and hacking. Neither Sapote or Cara like him very much :^)

Funfact: No one has seen him sleep. Seriously, you think Queen'd assign more than one person to watch cameras for this reason. Hm..

🌙Saguaro 25. They/them aroace. Pine green hair that gradients into jade green. (???) colored eyes.

outfits: they like robes...comfy. flowy clothes. like. Snuggies. probably wearing slippers. 

Personality/backstory:   They are pretty mysterious! Despite always having bindings over their eyes, they happen to be the best with a sword. Like literally undefeated. They have a very peaceful personality though, inviting anyone to meditate and drink tea with them. They're always happy to talk about their religion, which is the now banned church of Deep Blue. (Queen is very About Science and very anti Guy Who Tried to Kill Their Own and stuff. She also doesn't like the idea of anyone following a dead leaders beliefs instead of following Her. So.) A firm believer in destiny, they're actually against Queen to an extent, but believes being close to her will lead them to the path that Deep Blue will cross. Because destiny. because Saguaro totally believes the Revival Is Coming. Most people think they're super weird for it, and Queen has, in her very polite way, banned them from being Too Vocal about it. Sapote is super weirded out by it. Cara is like. Kind of amused and kind of enjoys hanging out with Saguaro because they're like, even with all their quirks, the most chill of the group. Also, cool sword collection. Saguaro is happy to hang out with the human! But at the same time, they'll make remarks that sound full of pity towards the humans. 

Funfact:  Queen doesn't like them wearing blue because that's Deep Blue's color whereas she likes yellow and white. They wear a good bit of blue anyway! A quiet way to rebel, maybe? 

🌙Queen 24. She/her bi. Sacramento green hair. gold/orange gradient eyes. 

Outfits: She's always in a dress/gown in public, bun on the same side or hair down, and usually wearing red lipstick. Always dressed in gold, yellow, white (or a combo of them) ANY kind of crown or circlette headdress or gown is ok! When not in public? comfy. hair tied out of the way so she can work! 

Personality/backstory: Elegant! Leaderly! Graceful! Poised! At least when people are watching her. Yes, her name is really Queen! Eccentric parents that wanted her to be the best. She's..probably disappointing them with this career path. She's the top general of the alien army and revels in the irony of her name. She's really charming to talk to and acts like a Real Lady...but most the people listed here have seen her when she's not in front of people. Which is. Her in a lab coat, messy bun, up until the morning after an all-nighter, taking notes faster than she can speak them. She LOVES science and is more passionate about it than being a leader. But she must have her own reasons for taking on such a big role and running operations against Earth so aggressively, right? (;

🌙Arilla he/they pan 25. periwinkle grey hair with dark mauve grey bangs. ice green eyes.

outfits: Enjoys wearing comfy clothes. However, he NEVER shows his arms, legs or neck for personal reasons, so if dressing him in alternate clothing, keep that in mind! Keep him Covered Up.

Personality/backstory: Tired. Seriously needs a nap. Sleepy and grumpy at any given moment. Borderline snarky when he can be. Queen's righthand who's actually left handed too, probably. He doesn't do actual like, fighting stuff, he mostly just follows her around, making sure she doesn't miss meetings or trip in her heels. Makes sure she eats. I don't want to call him a babysitter, but. He also checks on Cara and Sapote in the same way as a part of his job. Sapote LOVES picking on this dude. Drives him up the wall. Cara is pretty ready to boss him around too because she thinks he's a pushover (he is). He kinda doesn't even like Queen on a personal level or agree with what she's doing, but he's in debt to her for something she did for him in the past, so he feels obligated to work for her. The emotion he feels towards her is something like pity.

🌙Pereskia. 28. She/her bi aro. crocodile green hair. fern green eyes.

outfits:  Despite her very serious personality, she really likes dressing up a little. Loves heels to tower over people, won't wear em while fighting tho. Also, she's super all about showing off her muscles because she's proud of them. Suns out guns out. 

Personality/backstory:  Serious and hardworking. She's the one most likely to do good on a group project but also the most likely to nag you into the ground about making it PERFECT. She has a lot of honor, and will work tirelessly to get her job done. She seriously takes a lot of pride in it, but she will never be overly sadistic about it; she's all about being efficient. She doesn't get along with Sapote like, at all, because she thinks she doesn't take her job seriously and is mad she got so far with her kind of attitude. She actually does get along with Cara tho and has nothing personal against humans. She just thinks the humans at the top are consumed with greed, and feels bad for all the other ones that will 'have to die for that'. She's really protective over kids.

[butterfly-winx]

Melody

- People know all about Domino and Solaria, the two oldest planets in existence, but quietly Melody is actually also one of the oldest civilisations in the magical dimension.

 - Which is an interesting fact, considering that Melody was a colony planet, filled with exiles from a culture that didn’t value arts and entertainment. With time a new culture boomed on Melody based on harmony and the joy of creation, but the mystery of the people’s origin is still not cleared. There are no nearby planets with remnants of an extinct civilisation, so their ancestors must have travelled from far away, but even then the Melody genetic code is very different to that of most planets that are known colonisers. 

 - There is a rumour going around the dimension though that people find fun to believe, which is that the original colonisers were people from Zenith and they pushed all their fun people off, which lead to Zenith and Melody developing as they did: one of boring logicals and one of fun art creators. 

- Melody (the planet) houses six distinct countries. The synonymous Melody, Ohm, Oppositus, Tengalu, Napir and the tiny Weilan. Melody is the largest and so produces the most immigrants to other parts of the universe, which is why its culture is most well known. Other countries like Ohm and Weilan are popular tourist spots, but on the other hand Tengalu and Oppositus are more closed off and need special visas to grant travellers entry.

- Each country has its own government systems and dominant religions that they once fought bitter wars over. One thing that anthropologists consider proof of the ancient root of Melody is that the oldest of religions in the Magic Universe, Tao qi, is still present and practised there, showing that Melodians have well kept cultural memory and their history is untarnished by cultural erasure. They directly worship the Flow of the Universe itself and use the philosophy of balanced energies and their flow in many areas of life, from interior design to healing. The difference between Tao qi and magic sciences is that Melodians believe that the Flow touches all living beings, and regardless of whether they are magic users or not the qi resides in al of them. Their religious celebrations are dependent on energy equinoxes of the Universe and are sparse compared to other belief systems. The few they do celebrate are not just shared with immediate family, but with the larger community as well.

- There are six events a year Tao qi believers observe. Each of them is associated with different aspects of life such as health, internal balance, family, intentional actions, unintentional actions (letting go of the sense of control) and frugality for the sake of others. Only the equinox that favours the bonds between families is celebrated in private, the others are commemorated with festivities and shared meditation. 

 - Melody may be full of life, but looking at the climate it becomes very apparent that it wasn’t a very desirable place to live at first and was a colonial dump. The weather is extremely arid, the rocky terrain making it hard to build and grow foodstuff on. Any and all agricultural activity is maintained by the yearly two monsoon seasons that magic users conjure. The situation is slightly less sever in Tengalu that has remnants of a tropical forest, but even there the terrain is marred by dried out riverbeds.

 - For this reason Melody highly covets magic users with powers linked to weather, climate and water. If your child presents with magic like this? Melody officials knocking down your door and promising your kid scholarships galore. Off planet people? Come to Melody, sign our fifteen year commitment contract and live here for free. They are very serious about this, as a lack of weather controlling magicals means an immediate wave of famine for the planet. 

 - Melody cuisine is known to be something of a proto-carnivorous thing, and famous for having perfected the art of cooking the same thing a hundred different ways. Due to the restrictions in what they can grow, they have focused on finding a way to prepare almost all animals that are found on planet, including amphibians and insects, as a food source. Gastroexploration continues to this day as new methods are found how to turn previously poisonous and indigestible sources into food . Melody doesn’t really grow fruit, but they have a selection of wheats, rice, quinoa, and plenty of spices to prepare the high variety of dishes that they are known for. Is it really a Melodian dish if the meat hasn’t been broiled, cooked and smoked before you steam it in a wheat bun? It both preserves food for the long and hot workday and travels and adds some flair and creativity to an otherwise drab diet.

 - Melody popcorn is fried and spiced bugs. In texture they are exactly like fried corn, so Musa has gotten away far too many times with pranking her friends with them. 

 - The royal family isn’t rich, as opposed to other planet’s customs. On Melody it is tradition for them to have the same, or less than the average of their people. Should resources be scarce it is paramount to them to prioritise the many over their few. This custom is to blame for Princess Galatea’s frailness, who was born on a summer of spoiled harvest that left her an her mother undernourished. She is technically an insufficient conduit for magic, which she didn’t know when her powers manifested and her wings have stuck around ever since then. She looks more thin than she is unhealthy, thanks to the constant flow of magic through her that the wings facilitate.

- The huge seat of power at the centre of the capital is therefore not a palace, but the seat of the government. The Emperor of Melody is required to surround himself with ten voices of his most trusted, hundred voices of his enemies, and a thousand voices of his people- or so the culture dictates. In current days this translates to stratified councils with heavy community involvement from common folk as well as an elected high government closest to the Emperor who is an unelected constitutional monarch. Each of these councils feature magic beings other than humans, but mainly elves who are the largest non-human minority on the planet.

- Human and non-human society on Melody is very integrated, allowing free intermixing between them, which used to spark controversies way back before the sociopolitical regulations that promise non-humans equal rights were born. Now the second largest minority of the country is actually human-elf mixed people, that Musa too belongs to, who carry traits of both folk to varying degrees. Matlin was full elf and Ho boe is human giving Musa her characteristic pointed ears and sturdy bones while still being able to use magic as a human magic user. As elves age slightly slower reaching median life expectancies of 120-130 years as opposed to human 90, Musa is expected to have a slightly extended life span between the two values.

- Melody joined the Company of Light as an alliance of the size was able to promise them a steady stream of magic users for their climate control and is in general a good fall back plan in case of emergencies. The other countries of the planet followed suit with the exception of Ohm.

Extra:

- A little bit about Tengalu, Riven’s home. 

- Tengalu is dwarfed in size by Melody and Ohm, its neighbours, but holds political power and interest due to its strategical position at the delta of the most powerful river of the planet. The region had been fought over along the centuries with empires rising and falling on the same mountains and gorges over and over again. The cultures of Ohm, Oppositus and Melody shaped Tengaluki as they were forced to change religions and ideologies depending on which empire’s master was holding the reigns at the given time, their last own city state having fallen two thousand years ago. Tengaluki have only known relative peace since the Secular Revolution.

- The Secular Revolution “liberated” Tengalu of the oppressive forces of Oppositus and their rigid religious systems that enforced class separation and the idea that people of higher standing were born into their seats of power based on divine right, preventing any upward social mobility. People were stripped of their wealth and a level ground of equal opportunities was created. However change this big is impossible to enforce without crushing force and the military that chased the oppressors away has retained iron-fisted leadership over the country enforcing its ideals for over fifty years. The even playing ground soon morphed into a land barren of opportunities and liberal expression. Religious communities are though not persecuted anymore, but oppressed all the same and upwards social mobility seems as impossible as it did before the Revolution when all of them were equal, yet some more equal than others.

- Riven left his home country the only way that was ever imaginable: on a military scholarship. He pledged five years of service, servable any time before he turns 40, for the chance to study at a school abroad. His original intention was to return to Tengalu and work some change from the inside, but as graduation encroaches, he finds himself searching for any excuse to extend his visa.

[solacefruit]

Hi Grey, I struggle a lot with world building and I think it's easiest for me to learn by example. I was wondering if you had any books or series you'd recommend that you thought did particularly well in the world building department or that you found inspiring. I'm trying to start building a list of things to read, could be any genre

Hello there and thank you for your patience! I’ll be honest, this one’s a challenge to answer, but I’ll do my best. I’ll put it all under a read-more, because I’m going to talk a lot about why I feel these books are good places for thinking about world-building. 

Northern Lights, by Philip Pullman. (fantasy)

This one comes up a lot when I’m making recommendations and that’s because I love it. For me, it was deeply formative in many ways, and especially when it came to world-building, because Pullman uses a style of world-building which really clicks for me--which is basically throwing your reader into a world and not explaining much at all, leaving many things gestured at but never explicitly said. Things just happen, things just are, and the reader has to keep up. There’s a lot that goes unsaid in this book, and it means you as a reader have to start thinking and “solving” the gaps in the world yourself. There’s room for speculation and I thrive in that environment, and lean on it heavily in my own work. 

A great example of that comes in the first chapter of the novel, on the fifth page and then again on the seventh: 

“As Lyra held her breath she saw the servant’s daemon (a dog, like almost all servants’ daemons) trot in and sit quietly at his feet...” - page five. “... and said something to his daemon. He was a servant, so she was a dog; but a superior servant, so a superior dog. In fact, she had the form of a red setter.” - page seven.

That’s good oblique storytelling, because you are told so much and simultaneously so little. From these two tiny pieces, you now know that:

servants usually have dog-shaped daemons

some daemons, even within a family, are “better” than others

daemons mean something about their person

But these pieces tell you enough that you can now speculate and question the world as you read on. Things like:

why do servants have dog daemons?

what makes a red setter daemon better than another dog daemon?

what does a dog daemon mean?

what is the hierarchical system of daemons, who is better than whom?

are people sorted because of their daemons, or do the daemons reflect where the person is sorted to after the fact? 

what do other daemons mean?

are these meanings innate or cultural? 

The book itself will directly answer maybe one or two questions, hint at a few others, and leave many completely unresolved. But that’s not bad world-building. For me, that’s the kind of world-building I love best. The book can now say, “this person’s daemon is a butterfly,” and you will be primed to read symbolism and significance into that, even in moments where the book itself doesn’t give you any. You’re a participant in creating the world as you read. A little goes a long way. 

The Discworld novels, by Terry Pratchett. (fantasy, comedy) If you’re trying to pick a first book, start here. 

And now for something completely different. Pratchett’s Discworld is an absurdist world, created to satirise fantasy tropes and play as the stage for social and political commentary. What makes Discworld so interesting as a place to learn about world-building is that it is a world that doesn’t take chronology or “consistency”  or “authenticity” seriously. Where a lot of fantasy writers will stress over making sure every detail lines up, and their fans will often get very upset if they find anything “inconsistent” or “incorrect”, Pratchett’s world entirely rejects that way of doing things. Pratchett commented: 

 “[S]ometimes I even forget [...] where things are ... I don’t think [...] even the most rabid fan expects complete consistency within Discworld, because in Ankh-Morpork you have what is apparently a Renaissance city, but with elements of early Victorian England, and the medieval world is still hanging on. It’s in a permanent state of turmoil, which is very interesting for the author.” (quoted in Hills, Guilty of Literature).

There’s something very liberated and fluid in how Discworld forms, because it’s such a committed pastiche, but it doesn’t at all (at least, for me) undercut believing in the characters or story. I adore Discworld and its characters. I think it’s very valuable to read if you’re in fantasy writing (or speculative fiction in general), because it’s easy to fall into thinking that unless you make everything Perfect and Realistic and Consistent, your world-building isn’t good. 

Something else about Discworld worth noting is that, despite being absurd and fluid, it is also grounded in the real. Pratchett’s world is in turmoil, but it includes sewer systems, passages of trade and commerce, and a pervasive sense of the civic life happening and living outside of the plot-line: it’s not just a diorama to be walked through, but a place where people exist and do mundane things and have everyday needs. I personally find it fascinating that the story manages to exist sort of balancing at oppositional ends of the “realism” spectrum at all times, but I think that’s also the key to why it is so successful at what it does. 

(Side note: Matt Hills’ chapter in Guilty of Literature is a great read if you want to know more!) 

Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie (science fiction)

I’m not a big reader of science fiction, because my heart is with fantasy, always. But this series was super interesting and I can recommend it, especially if science fiction is more your flavour! It’s been a while since I’ve read it, so I can’t give the same amount of detail as I’ve done above, but it was thoughtful and intriguing and I loved the ways this trilogy defamiliarised and refamiliarised ideas through the world and characters. 

“The Ones who Walk Away from Omelas,” by Ursula K. Le Guin. (short story)

It’s only four pages long, but it’s haunting. I’ve put this story on the list because I feel like Ursula K. Le Guin belongs in many conversations about world-building; her work, in her time, was often radical--and remains so, in many cases. She didn’t flinch away from making her worlds alien, not in the sense of writing about space and people out among the stars (which admittedly she did also do!), but truly questioning and challenging cultural and societal norms and creating new ones, even (and especially) when they were uncomfortable to the status quo. 

To me, that’s a core part of good world-building. You can just recreate the world we live in, with all the biases we’re raised to have, with the beliefs and expectations of conduct we have, with all the same bigotry--or you can push yourself to pull it all apart and pick from it the pieces you want to play with. You can push things to their extreme limits, or erase them entirely, or just... slide things a little to the left and make the whole world slightly off. Being able to be flexible in your thinking is vital for making vivid, interesting worlds, and Ursula K. Le Guin's work is a place you can start exploring that kind of thing if you’re unfamiliar with it. 

For instance, in her novel Left Hand of Darkness, there is only one pronoun (a theme you’ll notice in Ancillary Justice) and the people of the planet Gethin change sex regularly. In her collection of short stories, “The Birthday of the World and Other Stories,” she writes about sedoretu, a four-way marriage she invents, as well as exploring gender, religion, culture, and society. Any of these are worth taking a look at, if you’re feeling a little boxed in. 

However, despite saying all this: I don’t really enjoy her writing! I don’t have fun reading Le Guin’s work in practice; it doesn’t mesh with me beyond my delight at the conceptual elements she discusses. I often feel about reading her work like how kids think about medicine: tastes kind of awful, but it’s good for you. I’m grateful to her for paving the way, but I don’t read her work for fun. 

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making, by Catherynne M. Valente. 

I’m throwing this one in the ring for a few reasons. One is that I am heavily indebted to nonsense; I grew up on Dr Seuss, Roald Dahl, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland + Alice Through the Looking-glass, Edward Gorey, A. A. Milne, H. R. Pufnstuf, and a little later, A Series of Unfortunate Events and Discworld. This book feels representative of that big love, and taps into what I love about nonsense. 

Another reason is that it’s a good example of what I think of as delightful lawlessness in storytelling. It feels--as respectfully and lovingly as I can say this--like a game of mad libs turned into a book, because of how free and wild it is with what is allowed to happen. I think it’s very difficult to do something like this well, but I also think it’s a great place to play around when you’re first beginning to get to grips on world-building. Spin a wheel of options and go, “okay, so there’s a manticore in the basement, what now?” Make up reasons for things on the spot as a game for yourself. Ask and answer questions, just for fun! “Why is there a manticore there?”  “It got in through the magic portal.”  “Where’s the magic portal?”  “It’s an old picture of the protagonist’s grandmother.”  “Why is it a portal?” “The grandmother is secretly a witch and the ex-queen of a fantasy land.” “Why is the manticore here?” “Come to retrieve the queen, but accidentally takes the protagonist by mistake.” “Why does the manticore want the queen?” “Extreme Trivia Night at the Castle has really sucked lately. Also she misses her.” And just like that, you’ve got the start of a wacky but not impossible-to-tell story.  

My final suggestion isn’t a book, but a podcast!

Be The Serpent (a podcast of extremely deep literary merit). 

A fortnightly podcast by three charming writers who discuss a different theme or topic each episode (using a couple of texts as reference material), and will also make media recommendations. I love listening to it and it’s a great place to think about writing, both as a reader and as a writer. I don’t have a lot of writing friends myself, unfortunately, so it’s honestly so valuable to me to be able to hear them discuss their process and ideas on topics I care about. 

I hope this helps! Best of luck to you, and please feel free to write in if you have any other questions. 

[talltalestogo]

Why isn’t Mickey Mouse a god?

This is a serious question for researchers studying the evolution of religion, and it offers some insight into the question of why some religions have persisted while others haven’t.

The so-called Mickey Mouse problem is an oft-cited, catchy critique of the idea that religion is merely a by-product of the way our brains evolved. According to this view, natural selection favored human ancestors with certain mental capacities, including our tendencies to seek patterns and think about other peoples’ thoughts (theory of mind). These cognitive adaptations, which helped our ancestors survive and reproduce, also made people prone to supernatural beliefs.

Scientists criticizing the cognitive by-products explanation don’t deny it. Rather, they say it’s just the start of the story. “It’s a really important element, part of the picture of what we need to know,” says Ara Norenzayan, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of British Columbia, Canada.

But there’s more to explain when it comes to the state of religion today, like why Mickey Mouse or Santa Claus are not worshiped, why Christians don’t believe in Zeus, and why particular religions have spread prolifically.

We can conceive of a talking mouse or ancestor spirits, but only some of these stories became beliefs. And of the myriad beliefs, even fewer became worldwide religions. Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism are followed by roughly 75 percent of the global population. What made these religions, with billions of believers, so successful while others fizzled?

From By-Products to Believers

To address these shortcomings, Norenzayan and others have added to the by-products hypothesis. They say, yes, evolved cognitive abilities predisposed people to develop supernatural beliefs. But to stick around, there needs to be something more.

For example, some beliefs are easier to remember and pass on than others. Memory experiments (here, here) have shown that people recall stories or concepts that slightly deviate from expectations — one or two supernatural elements — better than mundane or wildly fantastical tales. Moderately counter-intuitive content captures your attention and sticks in your head.

This finding explains why certain folktales persist through the ages. But it doesn’t explain how supernatural stories become religious beliefs, with deeply committed devotees — why Christians are willing to die for Jesus, but not characters (Mickey) or other culture’s gods (Zeus).

One idea is that deeply-held beliefs require some sort of buy-in. Evolutionary anthropologist Joseph Henrich of Harvard University has proposed that religious commitment emerges from costly rituals like fasting, donation, celibacy and martyrdom. When people see other members of their own community, especially prestigious ones, make these sacrifices, they’re more likely to accept the underlying beliefs. This stems from our inherent tendency to learn by imitation and follow tradition, even when the reasons are unknown.

Scaling Up Society and Religion

The natural and social processes described above have spawned a multitude of religious beliefs across time and space. But only some have stuck around for centuries or millennia, with billions of believers today. Researchers including Henrich and Norenzayan have studied what gives some religions “sticking power,” while most remain marginal or disappear.

Their work suggests successful religions have had deities and rituals promoting cooperation among practitioners. This quality became increasingly important after about 10,000 years ago, when small forager tribes began to settle together in massive agricultural civilizations. For the first time in human evolution, communities comprised strangers who had to routinely interact and trust one another. Some groups developed beliefs, like gods who punish wrongdoers. They say this promotes prosocial behaviors, or acts that benefit others at a personal cost. Societies with prosocial beliefs were more successful than other groups; hence, those religions spread and persisted through what anthropologists call cultural evolution.

This idea explains the prevalence of certain religious beliefs. As Norenzayan put it, why “the distribution of religions [is] so uneven and skewed towards moralizing gods and moralizing religions.” At the same time, it offers one solution to another problem, which is large-scale cooperation. Psychologists and anthropologists have long puzzled over the fact that civilizations work, that thousands of strangers will cooperate and even sacrifice personal welfare for the “greater good” of society.

Many world religions solve the cooperation conundrum (at least among their followers) by believing in Big Gods — powerful, all-knowing deities, concerned with morality — and supernatural punishments, like hell and karma. With such beliefs, people abide by social rules and norms, even when no human eyes are watching. Fear of supernatural surveillance keeps them in check.

So the claim here is: Big societies developed big gods and/or supernatural punishment because these beliefs promoted cooperative behavior among followers. Because this is science and not speculation, though, the hypothesis should bear predictions, which can be confirmed or denied through observations, experiments and theoretical simulations.

And it does. For instance, if the theory is correct, bigger societies should have punitive, knowledgeable gods. This prediction is confirmed by observations: A study reviewing 186 societies found that large societies more commonly have deities that punish moral transgressors, whereas the deities of small societies are generally unconcerned with mortal affairs.

Another prediction is individuals who believe in religions with big gods and supernatural punishment will behave more prosocially. This prediction is supported by experimental economic games, which measure people’s willingness to share with strangers. Based on nearly 600 participants from 8 diverse societies, people who believe in punishing, moralizing gods are more generous towards geographically distant strangers that share their religion.

Numerous studies have also shown that being implicitly reminded of religion increases prosocial behavior. For instance, in one experiment participants were told to unscramble five words into a four-word sentence, making a list such as “dessert divine was fork the” into “the dessert was divine.” Some lists contained religious primers — the words spirit, divine, God, sacred, or prophet — while others had neutral words. After the word game, participants were given ten $1 coins, and instructed to keep as many as they would like, knowing the remainder would be given to a stranger. Subjects given religious primers gave away an average of $4.56, whereas those who saw neutral words gave less, an average of $2.56.

However, a third group of subjects saw words related to secular institutions enforcing good behavior: civic, jury, court, police, and contract. This group gave an average of $4.44, suggesting secular monitoring words have the same effect as religious primers.

Which brings us to an important point: Religion, with Big Gods and supernatural punishment, is just one solution to the problem of cooperation.

“There could be other institutions, other mechanisms. Societies figure out other ways to get people to cooperate at large scale,” explains Norenzayan.

Secular institutions can also encourage and enforce prosocial behavior. Looking across cultures in the past and present, there are certainly large societies that “work” without religion policing their rules. Over 1 billion people today do not belong to a religion. Most of them follow the rules just fine.

[alertreadingquotes]

The Psychology of Human Misjudgment

“ I was aware that man was a "social animal," greatly and automatically influenced by behavior he observed in men around him. I also knew that man lived, like barnyard animals and monkeys, in limited size dominance hierarchies, wherein he tended to respect authority and to like and cooperate with his own hierarchy members while displaying considerable distrust and dislike for competing men nor in his own hierarchy.“

“ First, I had long looked for insight by inversion in the intense manner counseled by the great algebraist, Jacobi: "Invert, always invert." I sought good judgment mostly by collecting instances of bad judgment, then pondering ways to avoid such outcomes“

“ And I was dubious of any approach that, when two things were inextricably intertwined and interconnected, would try and think about one thing but not the other. I was afraid, if I tried any such restricted approach, that I would end up, in the immortal words of John L. Lewis, "with no brain at all, just a neck that had haired over.“

“ Psychological tendencies tend to be both numerous and inseparably intertwined, now and forever, as they interplay in life“

“ And Harvard's great E.O. Wilson performed one of the best psychology experiments ever done when he painted dead-ant pheromone on a live ant. Quite naturally, the other ants dragged this useful live ant out of the hive even though it kicked and otherwise protested throughout the entire process. Such is the brain of the ant. It has a simple program of responses that generally work out all right, but which are imprudently used by rote in many cases. Another type of ant demonstrates that the limited brain of ants can be misled by circumstances as well as by clever manipulation from other creatures. The brain of this ant contains a simple behavioral program that directs the ant, when walking, to follow the ant ahead. And when these ants stumble into walking in a big circle, they sometimes walk round and round until they perish. It seems obvious. to me at least. that the human brain must often operate counterproductively just like the ant's, from unavoidable oversimplicity in its mental process, albeit usually in trying to solve problems more difficult than those faced by ants that don't have to design airplanes. The perception system of man clearly demonstrates just such an unfortunate outcome. Man is easily fooled, either by the cleverly thought out manipulation of man, by circumstances occurring by accident, or by very effective manipulation practices that man has stumbled into during "practice evolution" and kept in place because they work so well. One such outcome is caused by a quantum effect in human perception. If stimulus is kept below a certain level, it does not get through.“

“And even when perception does get through to man's brain, it is often misweighted, because what is registered in perception is in shockingness of apparent contrast, not the standard scientific units that make possible science and good engineering.” “Some psychology professors like to demonstrate the inadequacy of contrast-based perception by having students put one hand in a bucker of hot water and one hand in a bucket of cold warer. They are then suddenly asked to remove both hands and place them in a single bucket of room temperature water. Now, with both hands in the same water, one hand feels as if it has just been put in cold water and the other hand feels as if it has just been placed in hot water. When one thus sees perception so easily fooled by mere contrast, where a simple temperature gauge would make no error, and realizes that cognition mimics perception in being misled by mere contrast, he is well on the way toward understanding, not only how magicians fool one, but also how life will fool one.“

“The natural consequence of this profusion of tendencies is the grand general principle of social psychology: cognition is ordinarily situation-dependent so that different situations often cause different conclusions, even when the same person is thinking in the same general subject area.“

---

One: Reward and Punishment Superresponse Tendency

“Never, ever, think about something else when you should be thinking about the power of incentives.“

“ He demonstrated again and again a great recurring, generalized behavioral algorithm in nature: "Repeat behavior that works." He also demonstrated that prompt rewards worked much better than delayed rewards in changing and maintaining behavior. And, once his rats and pigeons had conditioned reflexes, caused by food rewards, he found what withdrawal pattern of rewards kept the reflexive behavior longest in place: random distribution“

“One of the most important consequences of incentive superpower is what I call "incentive caused bias." A man has an acculturated nature making him a pretty decent fellow, and yet, driven both consciously and subconsciously by incentives, he drifts into immoral behavior in order to get what he wants, a result he facilitates by rationalizing his bad behavior, like the salesmen at Xerox who harmed customers in order to maximize their sales commissions. “

“Widespread incentive-caused bias requires that one should often distrust, or take with a grain of salt, the advice of one's professional advisor, even if he is an engineer. The general antidotes here are: (1) especially fear professional advice when it is especially good for the advisor; (2)learn and use the basic elements of your advisor's trade as you deal with your advisor; and (3) double check, disbelieve, or replace much of what you're told, to the degree that seems appropriate after objective thought.“

“ One implication is that people who create things like cash registers, which make dishonest behavior hard to accomplish, are some of the effective saints of our civilization because, as Skinner so well knew, bad behavior is intensely habit-forming when it is rewarded“

“'The strong tendency of employees to rationalize bad conduct in order to get rewards requires many antidotes in addition to the good cash control promoted by Patterson. Perhaps the most important of these antidotes is use of sound accounting theory and practice“

“ For instance, economists, speaking from the employer's point of view, have long had a name for the natural results of incentive-caused bias: "agency cost." As the name implies, the economists have typically known that, just as grain is always lost to rats, employers always lose to employees who improperly think of themselves first. Employer installed antidotes include tough internal audit systems and severe public punishment for identified miscreants, as well as misbehavior-preventing routines and such machines as cash registers“

“The inevitable ubiquity of incentive-caused bias has vast, generalized consequences. For instance, a sales force living only on commissions will be much harder to keep moral than one under less pressure from the compensation arrangement. On the other hand, a purely commissioned salesforce may well be more efficient per dollar spent. Therefore, difficult decisions involving trade-offs are common in creating compensation arrangements in the sales function.“

“Another generalized consequence of incentive caused bias is that man tends to "game" all human systems, often displaying great ingenuity in wrongly serving himself at the expense of others. Anti gaming features, therefore, constitute a huge and necessary part of almost all system design. Also needed in system design is an admonition: Dread, and avoid as much you can, rewarding people for what can be easily faked“

“Of course, money is now the main reward that drives habits. A monkey can be trained to seek and work for an intrinsically worthless token, as if it were a banana, if the token is routinely exchangeable for a banana“

---

Two: Liking/Loving Tendency

“One very practical consequence of Liking/ Loving Tendency is that it acts as a conditioning device that makes the liker or lover tend (1) to ignore faults of and comply with wishes of, the object of his affection, (2) to favor people, products, and actions merely associated with the object of his affection (as we shall see when we get to "Influence-from-Mere Association Tendency," and (3) to distort other facts to facilitate love. The phenomenon of liking and loving causing admiration also works in reverse. Admiration also causes or intensifies liking or love. With this "feedback mode" in place, the consequences are often extreme, sometimes even causing deliberate self-destruction to help what is loved.“

“There are large social policy implications in the amazingly good consequences that ordinarily come from people likely to trigger extremes of love and admiration boosting each other in a feedback mode. F or instance, it is obviously desirable ro attracr a lot of lovable, admirable people into the reaching profession. “

---

Three: Disliking/HatingTendency

“In a pattern obverse to Liking/Loving Tendency, the newly arrived human is also "born to dislike and hate" as triggered by normal and abnormal triggering forces in its life“ “Disliking/Hating Tendency also acts as a conditioning device that makes the dislike /hater tend to (1) ignore virtues in the object of dislike, (2) dislike people, products, and actions merely associated with the object of his dislike, and (3) distort other facts to facilitate hatred.““Such factual distortions often make mediation between opponents locked in hatred either difficult or impossible“ ---

Four: Doubt-Avoidance Tendency “The brain of man is programmed with a tendency to quickly remove doubt by reaching some decision“

“ what usually triggers Doubt-Avoidance Tendency is some combination of (1) puzzlement and (2) stress. And both of these factors naturally occur in facing religious issues. Thus, the natural state of most men is in some form of religion. And this is what we observe.“

---

Five: Inconsistency-Avoidance Tendency

“The brain of man conserves programming space by being reluctant to change, which is a form of inconsistency avoidance. We see this in all human habits, constructive and destructive”

“Also tending to be maintained in place by the anti-change tendency of the brain are one's previous conclusions, human loyalties, reputational identity, commitments, accepted role in a civilization, etc. It is not entirely clear why evolution would program into man's brain an anti-change mode alongside his tendency to quickly remove doubt“

“ Similarly, other modern decision makers will often force groups to consider skillful counterarguments before making decisions. And proper education is one long exercise in augmentation of high cognition so that our wisdom becomes strong enough to destroy wrong thinking maintained by resistance to change“

“One of the most successful users of an antidote to first conclusion bias was Charles Darwin. He trained himself, early, to intensively consider any evidence tending to disconfirm any hypothesis of his, more so if he thought his hypothesis was a particularly good one. The opposite of what Darwin did is now called confirmation bias, a term of opprobrium“

“Inconsistency-Avoidance Tendency has many good effects in civilization. For instance, rather than act inconsistently with public commitments, new or old public identities, etc., most people are more loyal in their roles in life as priests, physicians, citizens, soldiers, spouses, teachers, employees, etc. 

One corollary of Inconsistency-Avoidance Tendency is that a person making big sacrifices in the course of assuming a new identity will intensify his devotion to the new identity. After all, it would be quite inconsistent behavior to make a large sacrifice for something that was no good“

“Moreover, the tendency will often make man a "patsy" of manipulative "compliance-practitioners," who gain advantage from triggering his subconscious Inconsistency-Avoidance Tendency“

For example, Ben Franklin raised subconscious regard of himself in the ranks of great men by first getting them to lend him a book. Triggering inconsistency in action with disregarding him.

“ When one is maneuvered into deliberately hurting some other person, one will tend to disapprove or even hate that person. This effect, from Inconsistency-Avoidance Tendency, accounts for the insight implicit in the saying: "A man never forgets where he has buried the hatchet.”

“While Inconsistency-Avoidance Tendency, with its "status quo bias," immensely harms sound education. it also causes much benefit. For instance, a near-ultimate inconsistency would be to teach something to others that one did not believe true....  Of course, the power of teaching to influence the cognition of the teacher is not always a benefit to society. When such power flows into political and cult evangelism, there are often bad consequences.“

--- Six: Curiosity Tendency

Man’s innate curiosity greatly enhances the ability to advance knowledge.

---

Seven: Kantian Fairness Tendency 

“Kant was famous for his "categorical imperative," a sort of a "golden rule" that required humans to follow those behavior patterns that, if followed by all others, would make the surrounding human system work best for everybody. And it is not too much to say that modern acculturated man displays, and expects from others, a lot of fairness as thus defined by Kant.”

“Also, strangers often voluntarily share equally in unexpected, unearned good and bad fortune. And, as an obverse consequence of such "fair-sharing" conduct, much reactive hostility occurs when fair sharing is expected yet not provided.“

--- Eight: Envy/Jealousy Tendency 

“Envy/jealousy is extreme in myth, religion, and literature wherein, in account after account, it triggers hatred and injury. It was regarded as so pernicious by the Jews of the civilization that preceded Christ that it was forbidden, by phrase after phrase, in the laws of Moses“

“Non discussion of envy/jealousy is not a phenomenon confined to psychology texts. When did any of you last engage in any large group discussion of some issue wherein adult envy/jealousy was identified as the cause of someone's argument? There seems to be a general taboo against any such claim. If so, what accounts for the taboo? My guess is that people widely and generally sense that labeling some position as driven by envy/ jealousy will be regarded as extremely insulting to the position taker, possibly more so when the diagnosis is correct than when it is wrong.”

--- Nine: Reciprocation Tendency 

“The automatic tendency of humans to reciprocate both favors and disfavors has long been noticed as extreme, as it is in apes, monkeys, dogs, and many less cognitively gifted animals. The tendency clearly facilitates group cooperation for the benefit of members. In this respect, it mimics much genetic programming of the social insects.“

“The standard antidote to one's overactive hostility is to train oneself to defer reaction. As my smart friend Tom Murphy so frequently says, "You can always tell the man off tomorrow if it is such a good idea.“

“ reciprocate-favor tendency operates to a very considerable degree at a subconscious level. This helps make the tendency a strong force that can sometimes be used by some men to mislead others, which happens all the time“

“Wise employers, therefore, try to oppose reciprocate-favor tendencies of employees engaged in purchasing. The simplest antidote works best: Don't let them accept any favors from vendors“

“And the very best part of human life probably lies in relationships of affection wherein parties are more interested in pleasing than being pleased-a not uncommon outcome in display of reciprocate favor tendency. 

… Before we leave reciprocate-favor tendency, the final phenomenon we will consider is widespread human misery from feelings of guilt. To the extent the feeling of guilt has an evolutionary base, I believe the most plausible cause is the mental conflict triggered in one direction by reciprocate favor tendency and in the opposite direction by reward superresponse tendency pushing one to enjoy one hundred percent of some good thing“

---

Ten: Influence-from-Mere-Association Tendency 

“Some of the most important miscalculations come from what is accidentally associated with one's past success, or one's liking and loving, or one's disliking and hating, which includes a natural hatred for bad news.”

“The proper antidotes to being made such a patsy by past success are (1) to carefully examine each past success, looking for accidental, non causative factors associated with such success that will tend to mislead as one appraises odds implicit in a proposed new undertaking and (2) to look for dangerous aspects of the new undertaking that were not present when past success occurred.“

“People disagree about how much blindness should accompany the association called love. In Poor Richard's Almanack Franklin counseled: "Keep your eyes wide open before marriage and half shut thereafter." Perhaps this "eyes-half-shut" solution is about right, but I favor a tougher prescription: "See it like it is and love anyway.“

“Hating and disliking also cause miscalculation triggered by mere association. In business, I commonly see people underappraise both the competency and morals of competitors they dislike. This is a dangerous practice, usually disguised because it occurs on a subconscious basis. Another common bad effect from the mere association of a person and a hated outcome is displayed in "Persian Messenger Syndrome.“

“It is actually dangerous in many careers to be a carrier of unwelcome news“

“The proper antidote to creating Persian Messenger Syndrome and its bad effects, like those at CBS, is to develop, through exercise of will, a habit of welcoming bad news. At Berkshire, there is a common injunction: "Always tell us the bad news promptly. It is only the good news that can wait." It also helps to be so wise and informed that people fear not telling you bad news because you are so likely to get it elsewhere.“

“Influence-from-Mere-Association Tendency often has a shocking effect that helps swamp the normal tendency to return favor for favor. Sometimes, when one receives a favor, his condition is unpleasant, due to poverty, sickness, subjugation, or something else. In addition, the favor may trigger an envy-driven dislike for the person who was in so favorable a state that he could easily be a favor giver. Under such circumstances, the favor receiver, prompted partly by mere association of the favor giver with past pain, will not only dislike the man who helped him but also try to injure him.“

“A final serious clump of bad thinking caused by mere association lies in the common use of classification stereotypes“

“ Pete's antidote is not to believe that, on average, ninety-year-olds think as well as forty year-olds or that there are as many females as males among Ph. D.'s in math. Instead, just as he must learn that trend does not always correctly predict“

“destiny, he must learn that the average dimension in some group will not reliably guide him to the dimension of some specific item . Otherwise Pete will make many errors, like that of the fellow who drowned in a river that averaged out only eighteen inches deep.”

---

Eleven: Simple, Pain-Avoiding Psychological Denial 

“That's Simple, Pain-Avoiding Psychological Denial. The reality is too painful to bear, so one distorts the facts until they become bearable. We all do that to some extent, often causing terrible problems. The tendency's most extreme outcomes are usually mixed up with love, death, and chemical dependency.“

“ some people hope to leave life hewing to the iron prescription, "It is not necessary to hope in order to persevere." And there is something admirable in anyone able to do this.“

“.One should stay far away from any conduct at all likely to drift into chemical dependency. Even a small chance of suffering so great a damage should be avoided.”

--- Twelve: Excessive Self-Regard Tendency

“There is a name in psychology for this overappraise-your-own-possessions phenomenon: the "endowment effect." And all man's decisions are suddenly regarded by him as better than would have been the case just before he made them. Man's excess of self-regard typically makes him strongly prefer people like himself“

“Given this quality in psychological nature, cliquish groups of similar persons will always be a very influential part of human culture, even after we wisely try to dampen the worst effects. ”

“Intensify man's love of his own conclusions by adding the possessory wallop from the "endowment effect," and you will find that a man who has already bought a pork-belly future on a commodity exchange now foolishly believes, even more strongly than before, in the merits of his speculative bet.“

“More counterproductive yet are man's appraisals, typically excessive, of the quality of the future service he is to provide to his business. His overappraisal of these prospective contributions will frequently cause disaster. Excesses of self-regard often cause bad hiring decisions because employers grossly overappraise the worth of their own conclusions that rely on impressions in face-to-face contact. The correct antidote to this sort of folly is to underweigh face to-face impressions and overweigh the applicant's past record.“

“On the personal level a man should try to face the two simple facts: (1) fixable but unfixed bad performance is bad character and tends to create more of itself, causing more damage to the excuse giver with each tolerated instance, and (2) in demanding places, like athletic teams and General Electric, you are almost sure to be discarded in due course if you keep giving excuses instead of behaving as you should. The main institutional antidotes to this part of the "Tolstoy effect" are (1) a fair, meritocratic, demanding culture plus personnel handling methods that build up morale and (2) severance of the worst offenders. “

“The best antidote to folly from an excess of self-regard is to force yourself to be more objective when you are thinking about yourself, your family and friends, your property, and the value of your past and future activity. This  sn't easy to do well and won't work perfectly, but it will work much better than simply letting psychological nature take its normal course.“

“Of all forms of useful pride, perhaps the most desirable is a justified pride in being trustworthy. Moreover, the trustworthy man, even after allowing for the inconveniences of his chosen course, ordinarily has a life that averages our better than he would have if he provided less reliability.“

--- Thirteen: Overoptimism Tendency

“Demosthenes, the most famous Greek orator, said. "What a man wishes, that also will he believe.“

“One standard antidote to foolish optimism is trained, habitual use of the simple probability rnath of Fermat and Pascal, taught in my youth to high school sophomores“

---

Fourteen: Deprival-Superreaction Tendency

“That is, the loss seems to hurt much more than the gain seems to help. Moreover, if a man almost gets something he greatly wants and has it jerked away from him at the last moment, he will react much as if he had long owned the reward and had it jerked away. I include the natural human reactions to both kinds of loss experience-the loss of the possessed reward and the loss of the almost-possessed reward-under one description, Deprival-Superreaction Tendency. In displaying Deprival-Superreaction Tendency, man frequently incurs disadvantage by misframing his problems. He will often compare what is near instead of what really matters“

“It is almost everywhere the case that extremes of ideology are maintained with great intensity and with great antipathy to non-believers, causing extremes of cognitive dysfunction. This happens, I believe, because two psychological tendencies are usually acting concurrently toward this same sad result: ( 1 ) Inconsistency-Avoidance Tendency, plus (2) Deprival-Superreaction Tendency. 

One antidote to intense, deliberate maintenance of groupthink is an extreme culture of courtesy, kept in place despite ideological differences, like the behavior of the justices now serving on the U.S. Supreme Court. Another antidote is to deliberately bring in able and articulate disbelievers of incumbent groupthink“

“Deprival-Superreaction Tendency and Inconsistency-Avoidance Tendency often join to cause one form of business failure. In this form of ruin, a man gradually uses up all his good assets in a fruitless attempt to rescue a big venture going bad. One of the best antidotes to this folly is good poker skill learned young. The teaching value of poker demonstrates that not all effective teaching occurs on a standard academic path.“

“Some people may question my defining Deprival-Superreaction Tendency to include reaction to profit barely missed, as in the well documented responses of slot machine players. However, I believe that I haven't defined the tendency as broadly as I should. My reason for suggesting an even broader definition is that many Berkshire Hathaway shareholders I know never sell or give away a single share after immense gains in market value have occurred. Some of this reaction is caused by rational calculation, and some is, no doubt, attributable to some combination of (1) reward super response, (2) "status quo bias" from Inconsistency-Avoidance Tendency, and (3) "the endowment effect" from Excessive Self-Regard Tendency. But I believe the single strongest irrational explanation is a form of Deprival-Superreaction Tendency. “

---

Fifteen: Social-Proof Tendency

“For some such reason, man's evolution left him with Social-Proof Tendency, an automatic tendency to think and act as he sees others around him thinking and acting.“

“When will Social-Proof Tendency be most easily triggered? Here the answer is clear from many experiments: Triggering most readily occurs in the presence of puzzlement or stress, and particularly when both exist.“

“Because both bad and good behavior are made contagious by Social-Proof Tendency, it is highly important that human societies (1) stop any bad behavior before it spreads and (2) foster and display all good behavior.“

“In social proof, it is not only action by others that misleads but also their inaction. In the presence of doubt, inaction by others becomes social proof that inaction is the right course“

“Social-Proof Tendency often interacts in a perverse way with Envy/Jealousy and Deprival Superreaction Tendency“

“If only one lesson is to be chosen from a package of lessons involving Social-Proof Tendency, and used in self improvement, my favorite would be: Learn how to ignore the examples from others when they are wrong, because few skills are more worth having.“

--- Sixteen: Contrast-Misreaction Tendency

“the contrast in what is seen is registered. And as in sight, so does it go, largely, in the other senses. Moreover, as perception goes, so goes cognition. The result is man's Contrast Misreaction Tendency“

“" Large- scale damages often ruin lives, as when a wonderful woman having terrible parents marries a man who would be judged satisfactory only in comparison to her parents. Or as when a man takes wife number two who would be appraised as all right only in comparison to wife number one."

“Contrast-Misreaction Tendency is routinely used to cause disadvantage for customers buying merchandise and services. To make an ordinary price seem low, the vendor will very frequently create a highly artificial price that is much higher than the price always sought, then advertise his standard price as a big reduction from his phony price. Even when people know that this sort of customer manipulation is being attempted, it will often work to trigger buying“

“Cognition, misled by tiny changes involving low contrast, will often miss a trend that is destiny. One of Ben Franklin's best-remembered and most useful aphorisms is "A small leak will sink a great ship."

--- Seventeen: Stress-Influence Tendency

“ For instance, most people know that an "acute stress depression" makes thinking dysfunctional because it causes an extreme of pessimism, often extended in length and usually accompanied by activity stopping fatigue. Fortunately, as most people also know, such a depression is one of mankind's more reversible ailments. Even before modern drugs were available, many people afflicted by depression, such as Winston Churchill and Samuel Johnson, gained great achievement in life.“

“ But not many scientists would have done what Pavlov next did. And that was to spend the rest of his long life giving stress-induced nervous breakdowns to dogs, after which he would try to reverse the breakdowns, all the while keeping careful experimental records. He found (1) that he could classify dogs so as to predict how easily a particular dog would breakdown (2) that the dogs hardest to break down were also the hardest to return to their pre breakdown state; (3) that any dog could be broken down; and (4) that he couldn't reverse a breakdown except by reimposing stress.“

---

Eighteen: Availability-Misweighing Tendency

“One consequence of this tendency is that extra vivid evidence, being so memorable and thus more available in cognition, should often consciously be underweighed while less vivid evidence should be overweighed. Still, the special strength of extra-vivid images in influencing the mind can be constructively used (1) in persuading someone else to reach a correct conclusion or (2) as a device for improving one's own memory by attaching vivid images, one after the other, to many items one doesn't want to forget“

“The great algorithm to remember in dealing with this tendency is simple: An idea or a fact is nor worth more merely because it is easily available to you.“

--- Nineteen: Use-It-or-Lose-It Tendency

“All skills attenuate with disuse“

“Throughout his life, a wise man engages in practice of all his useful, rarely used skills, many of them outside his discipline, as a sort of duty to his better self. If he reduces the number of skills he practices and, therefore, the number of skills he retains, he will naturally drift into error from man with a hammer tendency. His learning capacity will also shrink as he creates gaps in the latticework of theory he needs as a framework for understanding new experience. It is also essential for a thinking man to assemble his skills into a checklist that he routinely uses. Any other mode of operation will cause him to miss much that is important. Skills of a very high order can be maintained only with daily practice.“

“The hard rule of Use-It-or-Lose-It Tendency tempers its harshness for the diligent. If a skill is raised to fluency, instead of merely being crammed in briefly to enable one to pass some test, then the skill (1) will be lost more slowly and (2) will come back faster when refreshed with new learning. These are not minor advantages, and a wise man engaged in learning some important skill will not stop until he is really fluent in it.“

--- Twenty: Drug-Misinfluence Tendency

--- Twenty-One: Senescence-Misinfluence Tendency

“With advanced age, there comes a natural cognitive decay, differing among individuals in the earliness of its arrival and the speed of its progression“

“Continuous thinking and learning, done with joy can somewhat help delay what is inevitable.“

---

Twenty-Two: Authority-Misinfluence Tendency

“Living in dominance hierarchies as he does, like all his ancestors before him, man was born mostly to follow leaders, with only a few people doing the leading. And so, human society is formally organized into dominance hierarchies, with their culture augmenting the natural follow-the-leader tendency of man. 

But automatic as most human reactions are, with the tendency to follow leaders being no exception, man is often destined to suffer greatly when the leader is wrong or when his leader's ideas don't get through properly in the bustle of life and are misunderstood. “

“So strong is undue respect for authority that this CEO, and many even worse examples, have actually been allowed to remain in control of important business institutions for long periods after it was clear they should be removed. The obvious implication: Be careful whom you appoint to power because a dominant authority figure will often be hard to remove, aided as he will be by Authority Misinfluence Tendency.“

---

Twenty-Three: Twaddle Tendency

“And it's a very important part of wise administration to keep prattling people, pouring our twaddle, far away from the serious work. A rightly famous Caltech engineering professor, exhibiting more insight than tact, once expressed his version of this idea as follows: "The principal job of an academic administration is to keep the people who don't matter from interfering with the work of the people that do.“

---

Twenty-Four: Reason-Respecting Tendency

“. It makes man especially prone to learn well when a would-be teacher gives correct reasons for what is taught, instead of simply laying out the desired belief ex cathedra with no reasons given. Few practices, therefore, are wiser than not only thinking through reasons before giving orders but also communicating these reasons to the recipient of the order.“

“In general, learning is most easily assimilated and used when, life long, people consistently hang their experience, actual and vicarious, on a lattice work of theory answering the question: Why? Indeed, the question "Why?" is a sort of Rosetta stone opening up the major potentiality of mental life. Unfortunately, Reason-Respecting Tendency is so strong that even a person's giving of meaningless or incorrect reasons will increase compliance with his orders and requests“

---

Twenty-Five: Lollapalooza Tendency-The Tendency to Get Extreme consequences from confluences of psychological Tendencies Acting in Favor of a Particular outcome

---

“Tendency is not always destiny, and knowing the tendencies and their antidotes can often help prevent trouble that would otherwise occur.“

[orbemnews]

China’s Plan to Win in a Post-Pandemic World: What You Need to Know China unveiled a road map for cementing its rise in a post-Covid world as it opened one of its biggest political events of the year on Friday, casting its success against the coronavirus as evidence of the superiority of its top-down leadership while warning of threats at home and abroad. The tightly scripted political pageant that is the annual meeting of China’s rubber-stamp legislature, the National People’s Congress, is largely ceremonial. But the gathering offers a glimpse into the priorities of China’s leaders and their vision for the future. The message on Friday was one of optimism about the strength of its economy and the solidarity of its people, and of struggle against an array of challenges: a hostile global environment, demographic crises at home and resistance to its rule of Hong Kong. Here’s what you need to know. A Strengthened Grip on Hong Kong Last year, the annual legislative gathering took a surprising turn as the top leaders announced sweeping new security laws in Hong Kong aimed at quashing months of pro-democracy protests. On Friday, Beijing moved to choke off any vestiges of that movement by unveiling an overhaul of the territory’s election laws to ensure a system of “patriots governing Hong Kong.” The changes would make it exceedingly difficult for democracy advocates to even run for office. According to the plan, the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-Constitution, will be amended to change the process of selecting the territory’s chief executive and the legislature. A revamped Election Committee will be given the task of helping to choose the candidates for the legislature. The changes will amount to a new electoral process with “Hong Kong characteristics,” Wang Chen, a Politburo member who specializes in legal matters, said in a speech. The process will also be more firmly than ever under Beijing’s control. Hong Kong, a former British colony, was returned to Chinese rule in 1997 on the promise that it would be accorded a high degree of autonomy for 50 years. But “Beijing’s full grip on power in Hong Kong may happen well before 2047,” said Diana Fu, an associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto. Xi’s Vision for China After the Pandemic The government promised economic growth of “over 6 percent,” a relatively modest target by the standards of China’s pre-pandemic expansion but a big turnabout from last year and a signal of its commitment to keeping the world’s second-largest economy humming. The forecast indicates that China expects a strong rebound after the pandemic brought the country’s economy to a standstill for several months last year. China ultimately recorded growth of 2.3 percent in 2020, its lowest rate in years, but its stringent measures against the coronavirus allowed it to reopen its economy while competitors like the United States and the European Union remained hobbled. “Our people worked hard and fought adversity in close solidarity and with the unyielding spirit of the Chinese nation, thus proving themselves true heroes,” Li Keqiang, China’s premier, said in announcing the target. “This is the well of strength that enables us to rise to every challenge and overcome every difficulty. The emphasis on triumph in the face of difficulty reflects a recent effort by Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, to strike a balance as he seeks to steer the country through what the ruling Communist Party sees as a time of great risk and opportunity. Updated  March 5, 2021, 6:19 a.m. ET As countries continue to grapple with the pandemic, the party has drilled down on the message that China’s political model of strong, centralized leadership is superior to the chaos of liberal democracies. Strengthening that message will be a major focus for Mr. Xi as he looks ahead to two important political events. In July, the party will celebrate the centenary of its founding. Then, in 2023, Mr. Xi is widely expected to take up a third presidential term, following his push in 2018 to scrap constitutional term limits. “This is all part of the slow progression toward raising up his own personal profile as the person who is going to lead the Chinese Communist Party into its second century,” said Carl Minzner, a professor of Chinese law and politics at Fordham University in New York. “It’s about raising him up to a position close to that of Mao.” Defenses Against External Threats As China’s rivalry over science and technology with the United States and other countries remains at a boil, Beijing is digging deep into its pockets in a bid for victory. To achieve “innovation-driven development” and “high quality” growth, the government announced that its spending on research and development would increase by more than 7 percent every year over the next five years. Spending on basic research will also increase by 10.6 percent in 2021, it said. Just over a year after the coronavirus first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, Beijing also pledged to increase resources to guard against emerging infectious diseases and biosafety risks. To reduce the country’s dependence on the outside world, the government said it would focus on a number of cutting-edge technologies, including next-generation artificial intelligence, quantum information, neuroscience, semiconductors, genetic research and biotechnology, advanced clinical medicine and health care, and deep-space, deep-sea and polar exploration. The Communist Party’s latest five-year plan specifically calls for the construction of a “Polar Silk Road,” presumably aimed at helping China better capitalize on new energy sources and faster shipping routes in the Arctic. Beijing also affirmed its strong support for more traditional areas of defense, a priority under Mr. Xi. China’s military budget is set to rise by around 6.9 percent this year, a slight increase from last year. As overall government spending is projected to decline slightly, the People’s Liberation Army is still being funded robustly. The spending increases over the past two decades, which have given China the world’s second-largest military budget today, have paid for a modernization and expansion program aimed at challenging American military dominance in the Pacific, especially in the South China Sea and around Taiwan. Under Mr. Xi, China has vastly expanded its missile capabilities and embarked on a modernization of its strategic nuclear forces. The Chinese navy has grown rapidly, as well, and is now larger, numerically, than the American fleet. Managing Society The government addressed concerns about China’s aging population and shrinking labor force by announcing pension reforms and gradual changes to the official retirement age, which for four decades has mostly remained at around 60 for men and 55 for women. Declining birth and marriage rates and rising divorce rates have stirred fears among policymakers about the decline of the traditional family unit, which is seen as crucial for promoting social stability and economic growth. On Friday, the government announced plans to build a system to support “family development” and strengthen marriage and family counseling services. It also pledged to deepen implementation of a 2016 anti-domestic violence law, improve child care services and eliminate gender discrimination in employment. Beijing also made clear its intention to push ahead with efforts to assimilate, or “sinicize,” the country’s many ethnic and religious minorities, despite growing global pushback against its crackdown on Uighurs and other Muslim peoples in the western region of Xinjiang. “Fully implement the party’s basic policy on religious work,” read a draft of the five-year plan. “Continue to pursue the sinicization of China’s religions and actively guide religions so that they can be compatible with socialist society.” Steven Lee Myers contributed reporting. Source link Orbem News #Chinas #Plan #PostPandemic #win #World

[digitalmarketing-2020]

Don't try to lose out these 5 best Marketing Campaign Ideas for your Women's Day 2020!

Howdy readers! the month of March is going to celebrate Women's Day 2020 very soon and it may opportune many organizations to do something helpful for their branding. The day like Women's day is a big opportunity for the foundations whose image has been harmed for some days, as they can recreate their image by promoting women's empowerment and gender equality through some suitable channels of marketing. (Learn creating Marketing Campaigns for your brand with Delhi Institute Of Digital Marketing)

However, Women's day is always beneficial for any kind of organization; whether it is a small scale or large scale. The N number of sectors and domains are preparing strategies to gear up for a social cause. Thus being a marketer, here are some useful takeaways for your marketing campaigns on this women's day.

1. Take part in IWD's popular campaign

The first women's day was celebrated in 1911 that has been carrying out to celebrate womanhood in every country. Since it is celebrating by IWD over the years by running a gender equality campaign. People from all over the country enthusiastically take part in this campaign via participating in the events or posting photographs with gender equality pose on their social media. The IWD's 2020 theme is #EachforEqual which sends a message of 'An equal world is an enabled world.'

What would be your takeaway point is here, that, being an organization you can participate in their campaign by attending IWD events, Organising IWD events, and Collaborating with IWD on health, sports, and various fronts.

Nurture your strategy a little bit more by submitting a statement on how your company is building gender equality in their organization. For reference check out IWD's link Which leaders promote a gender-equal world?

2. Promote Diversity By Hiring People Of All Backgrounds

The next way to stand out on this Women's day is promoting diversity which means hiring people of diverse backgrounds including races, religion, gender, and country. The report of McKinsey's found out that the firms having a diverse group of employees is more productive as they deliver better output than the organizations out of this category. How can one utilize this method? Well inspired by a real instance of Louise Pentland, the Cheif Business Affairs and Legal Officer at PayPal who promoted their organization by inviting five female CEOs to share their experience on the gender-balanced workforce.

Morever the company also collaborated with the initiative which promotes an equal employment opportunity in the film industry.

3. Encourage Women for STEM fields

There are a large number of females who're struggling to pursue their careers in science, technology, engineering, and medial (STEM) studies, studies reported. The Data of Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) stated that only 35% of students studying in higher education are women, also the fields in STEM are comparatively low for the females.

To counter this major issue, Microsoft took its footsteps forward in 2017 and launched the #MakeWhatsNext campaign. This campaign is purposely driven for encouraging girls to initiate the study in STEM fields. Microsofts's last campaign was organized in 2019, Sri Lanka which was a coaching session for over 500 girls.

Similarly, you can promote Women's day by organizing the events on 'education for women' and sponsoring women's career fees who're aspiring to pursue their career.

4. Raise your voice against Violence

Violence against women is one of the major crimes committed all over the country, which realizes many companies to take an initiative to protect females from any kind of crime. Thus a London based domestic abuse charity is ready to launch a mobile app called Bright Sky.

The app will be helpful for females to contact the nearest domestic abuse center. Here they can show evidence of the crime in the form of text, audio, video and image formats.

5. Discounts and Offers

Since we are talking about Women's Day thus we can't leave the long hanging fruits of Marketing, ie Offers, and Discounts. The best example in this category is Lyft who brilliantly leveraged this strategy and promoted its brand. As a part of their campaign, they introduced an offer of giving a discount of $10 to passengers who made a visit to monuments, memorials, statues and museums which are associated with women or celebrated the glory of women. The offer was valid in 37 cities in America and Canada.

Similarly, if you want to carry out something like this then be very specific otherwise the plan sometimes backfires also.

Read More: HOW CAN SEO HELP YOUR BUSINESS TO GROW?

[julstudies]

(PART ONE) Your wish is my command. So basically over the course of 6th grade I would get sent down to ISC a lot for dumb things and this would have fine if it weren't for the teacher person in charge of us ISC kids. Quite literally there would be six kids (me included) and those five would be in there for stuff like yelling at teachers or slapping people, so I was fairly innocent compared to them (for some reason the kids would be shocked that I was there). (to be continued)

So to the kids that got thrown in there for fighting and other things I was weird. To the teacher lady though, I was a monster. She would say things like, “I can’t believe you would do such a thing, I thought I taught you better, it seems like your time here is being wasted, you still make the same mistakes!!” (with what was quite literally the fakest “motherly” tone ever!!) and to my Mexican butt that was a big no-no, like, you do not come up to my face acting like you are my parent! (tbc)

The first time I found her teacher speech funny, but after DAYS of hearing it being said to just me(She practically IGNORED the children with ACTUAL problems- which would piss me off because while she was trying to play the role of caring guardian for me the chuldren who actually needed that type of attention were just there, looking at our interaction like it was a movie) so after I try to tell her to stop because her whole act isn’t working on me SHE HAS THE NERVE TO ASK ABOUT MY HOME LIFE

I know what you’re thinking, “It’s a teacher’s job to make sure you’re safe.” yes, I know, you don’t get labeled a troubled kid before you have a few teachers asking if you’re okay. But the way she asked was so condescending!! And it bothered me because while I may be a pain I will not tolerate any disrespect to my parents!! So I ignore her and this folks, is when the horror begins. She later asks if I go to church, in the same tone! And I respond with a “Every sunday we go to Catholic church.”

And her face instantly freezes. And then you know what she says? This: Well, it seems that it hasn’t been doing you any good, maybe you should consider other paths, like becoming a Christian! Me: My church is just fine. And just because I don’t like you doesn’t mean I have no social filter outside this building. Her: I was like you once, sarcastic- even nore than you, but then I found God in my Christian church and I changed for the better, you can have that too, honey! Me: Again, I already(tbc)

Me: I already go to church so that proves your whole point wrong, and besides if we were anything alike i would cry for the rest of my life. Her: honey, you have no idea who you’re mesing with, your sarcasm is no match for mine. (literally said this.) Me: Never said it was, you just offended yourself. Then a lot of other things were said, mostly me trying to be as sarcastic as possible and her insulting my parents for doing a terrible job with me. (to be continued)

(IT’S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!!-1) Keep in mind that this was when the movie Lucy came out so yeah(

(IT’S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!!!-2) Me:*done with her shit.* Actually, the whole 10% part is completely false, and while we do use all our brain we don’t use all of our brain at once-because science. And while I have told you many times that I don’t like you pushing my religion you continue to push- which may I remind you is against school and state laws AND the constitution, but I wouldn’t expect you to know that, after all you believe and pull science fiction INTO an argument against a child.

(IT’S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!!!-actual end) Her: do you think I care? There are no cameras here, you can’t prove anything. and you’re a child, the bible say to respect those wiser than you and the older you are are the wiser so you are going to shut up and listen to me or I will add more days to your record-and you only need a few more before you get GC! At this point it’s clear she finally snapped so I’m just trolling her rn Me: respect is earned not given, amd I have read the bible in Spanish(tbc

Me: Spanish, English, and picture book form, I think I would remember if it said that. Her: how can you say you go to church and still be so far from God. And the picture book doesn’t count!! Anyways, that’s about it. It probably seems a bit jumbled up but I think the whole thing was summarized pretty well.. If you have questions or stuff I am nore than willing to answer anything, and I have another teacher to talk about for next Saturday. (This is to clarify that I am the person from Sat)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

omg that teacher lady sounds horrendous!! who even is she what the heck

[yasbxxgie]

Octavia Butler’s tenth novel, “Parable of the Sower,” which was published in 1993, opens in Los Angeles in 2024. Global warming has brought drought and rising seawater. The middle class and working poor live in gated neighborhoods, where they fend off the homeless with guns and walls. Fresh water is scarce, as valuable as money. Pharmaceutical companies have created “smart drugs,” which boost mental performance, and “pyro,” a pill that gives those who take it sexual pleasure from arson. Fires are common. Police services are expensive, though few people trust the police. Public schools are being privatized, as are whole towns. In this atmosphere, a Presidential candidate named Christopher Donner is elected based on his promises to dismantle government programs and bring back jobs.

“Parable of the Sower” unfolds through the journal entries of its protagonist, a fifteen-year-old black girl named Lauren Oya Olamina, who lives with her family in one of the walled neighborhoods. “People have changed the climate of the world,” she observes. “Now they’re waiting for the old days to come back.” She places no hope in Donner, whom she views as “a symbol of the past to hold onto as we’re pushed into the future.” Instead, she equips herself to survive in that future. She practices her aim with BB guns. She collects maps and books on how Native Americans used plants. She develops a belief system of her own, a Darwinian religion she names Earthseed. When the day comes for her to leave her walled enclave, Lauren walks west to the 101 freeway, joining a river of the poor that is flooding north. It’s a dangerous crossing, made more so by a taboo affliction that Lauren was born with, “hyperempathy,” which causes her to feel the pain of others.

By writing black female protagonists into science fiction, and bringing her acute appraisal of real-world power structures to bear on the imaginary worlds she created, Butler became an early pillar of the subgenre and aesthetic known as Afrofuturism. (Kara Walker cites her as an inspiration; and, as Hilton Als has pointed out, Butler is the “dominant artistic force” in Beyoncé’s visual album “Lemonade.”) In the ongoing contest over which dystopian classic is most applicable to our time, Kellyanne Conway made a strong case for George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four” when she used the phrase “alternative facts” and sent the novel to the top of Amazon’s best-seller list. Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” also experienced a resurgence in sales, and its TV adaptation on Hulu inspired protest costumes. But for sheer peculiar prescience, Butler’s novel and its sequel may be unmatched.

Butler was born in 1947, in Pasadena, California, and raised by her grandmother and mother, who worked as a maid. Her father, a shoe shiner, died when she was seven. As a child, she often accompanied her mother to work at a wealthy Pasadena household, where the help entered through back doors. In one of Butler’s first stories, “Flash—Silver Star,” which she wrote at the age of eleven, a young girl is picked up by a U.F.O. from Mars and taken on a tour of the solar system.

Butler ignored the received idea that black people belonged in science fiction only if their blackness was crucial to the plot. (In 1979, a fellow-science-fiction writer advised Butler that points about race might better be made with extraterrestrials.) As she wrote in a 1980 essay for the magazine Transmission, titled “Lost Races of Science Fiction”: "No writer who regards blacks as people, human beings, with the usual variety of human concerns, flaws, skills, hopes, etc., would have trouble creating interesting backgrounds and goals for black characters.” She later made a habit of explaining, as here to the Times, “I wrote myself in, since I’m me and I’m here and I’m writing. I can write my own stories and I can write myself in.”

In “Octavia E. Butler: Telling My Stories,” an exhibition of Butler’s papers at the Huntington Library, in San Marino, California, which runs through August 7th, there is tangible evidence of her outsize resolve. Over the decades, as she was writing her most popular novel, “Kindred,” and two highly regarded series—her five-part Patternist books and her Xenogenesis trilogy—Butler was filling personal journals with affirming mantras. “I am a bestselling writer,” one entry, dated 1975, reads. “I write bestselling books.” She closes: “So be it! See to it!” She was still talking to herself in this manner in 1988, even though by then she had won both a Hugo and a Nebula award, science fiction’s highest honors. “I shall be a bestselling writer,” she writes in a notebook that year. “So be it! See to it!”

By the time she began working on the Parable books, in 1989, Butler was in her forties and had written nine novels. The series, she decided, would be her “If this goes on…” story. In colorful diagrams, Butler extrapolated her vision of a near-future dystopia from what she read in the news, forecasting what kind of collapse might result if the forces of late-stage capitalism, climate change, mass incarceration, big pharma, gun violence, and the tech industry continued unhampered. (“More Hispanics,” she writes in one notebook. “More High Tech.”) Butler took a cyclical view of history. She also thought social progress was reversible. As the public sphere became hollowed out, a fear of change would create an opening for retrograde politics. With collapse, racism would become more overt.

The sequel, “Parable of the Talents,” published in 1998, begins in 2032. By then, various forms of indentured servitude and slavery are common, facilitated by high-tech slave collars. The oppression of women has become extreme; those who express their opinion, “nags,” might have their tongues cut out. People are addicted not only to designer drugs but also to “dream masks,” which generate virtual fantasies as guided dreams, allowing wearers to submerge themselves in simpler, happier lives. News comes in the form of disks or “news bullets,” which “purport to tell us all we need to know in flashy pictures and quick, witty, verbal one-two punches. Twenty-five or thirty words are supposed to be enough in a news bullet to explain either a war or an unusual set of Christmas lights.” The Donner Administration has written off science, but a more immediate threat lurks: a violent movement is being whipped up by a new Presidential candidate, Andrew Steele Jarret, a Texas senator and religious zealot who is running on a platform to “make American great again.”

In Butler’s prognosis, humans survive through an intricate logic of interdependence. Soon after leaving her family’s walled neighborhood, Lauren discerns that her natural allies are other people of color, including mixed-race couples, since they are likely to become targets of white violence. Several of the migrants who join Lauren’s pack and the community she later establishes, Acorn, turn out to also be “sharers,” the term for people with hyperempathy. But Butler is not making a sentimental case for the value of empathy. In the day to day of the Parable books, hyperempathy is a liability that makes moving through the world more complicated and, for tactical reasons, requires those who have it to behave more ruthlessly. When defending herself against attackers, Lauren often must shoot or stab to kill, or else risk being immobilized by the pain she inflicts. In one particularly dark manifestation of the syndrome, she is raped and experiences both her own pain and the pleasure of her rapist.

In 1995, Butler became the first science-fiction writer to be awarded a MacArthur fellowship. The grant, she hoped, would enable her to finish four more books she had planned for the Parable series. But the story, she found, was “too depressing.” She changed course and wrote a vampire novel, her last book, “Fledgling,” which came out in 2005. The following year, Butler died unexpectedly, at the age of fifty-eight, when she fell and hit her head outside her home, north of Seattle. In her lifetime, Butler insisted that the Parable series was not intended as an augur. “This was not a book about prophecy,” she said, of “Talents,” in remarks she delivered at M.I.T. “This was a cautionary tale, although people have told me it was prophecy. All I have to say to that is: I certainly hope not.” [x]

Images:

A page from a working draft of Octavia Butler’s novel “Kindred,” with handwritten notes and the novel’s original title, circa 1977.

The back cover of one of Butler’s personal journals, from 1988.

A sample of Butler’s notes on writing, circa 1970-95.

A motivational entry in one of Butler’s personal journals, from 1988.

An outline and notes from Butler’s novel “Parable of the Sower,” circa 1989.

[genkidesurun]

I’m bored and have no story (or curhatan) to share... so it’s time to duel answer some questionnaire! Actually, the original post [here] got more than ninety questions, but I’ll just pick the ones I’m interested in and alter some of them a bit. 

1. If you had to be gay for a day, what celebrity would you most like to take on a date? 

It’s arduous to project the kind of girl that’ll draw my attention. But since I have the hots for nerdy guys (with fast-paced speech, silly gesticulations, and, of course, glasses!) like John and Hank Green, I’ll probably go for girls with such similitudes. Hmmm... Emily Graslie, perhaps? 

6. What are the top five most contrasting songs on your playlist? 

When you have both metals and nasyeeds in your playlist... It’s like what Wali called ‘tomat’ (red--tobat maksiat). All those fucking and shitting and hell, to praising The Lord and acknowledging your penitence and baper-ing; repeating over and over and over and over... 

8. If you could make just ONE change to this world, what would it be and why? 

Erase the notion of witches (wow, I’m feeling like Madoka; ups, spoiler alert). Can I wish for immortality? 

9. If you could wake up tomorrow and be fluent in three additional languages, which would you choose? 

Quenya, Parseltongue, aaaaannddd SIMLISH, YEAH! Have you listened to Katy Perry’s Last Friday Night sung in gibberish--I mean--Simlish? You really should! 

11. What are the top five movies to make you cry? 

Hello Ghost 

The Green Mile 

Hachi: A Dog’s Tale 

You’re the Apple of My Eye 

Miracles in Cell No. 7 

Yes, I’m such a crybaby. Hello Ghost and The Green Mile made me ugly the most. 

12. What’s the scariest nightmare you’ve ever had? Describe it in detail. 

Uh... overslept and missed exams. Good thing they were just dreams! 

13. Would you rather raise 25 children or have the chance of ever having children taken away? Why? 

WHY SHOULD I OPT FOR RAISING 25 CHILDREN?! AIN’T NOBODY HAD TIME (AND MONEY) FOR THAT. 

17. If you had to lose one of the five senses, which would you choose and why? 

Rather than senses, it’s probably better to discard emotions. 

21. If your life was about to become like Cheaper by the Dozen and you were going to be saddled with twelve children, what would you name six girls and six boys? 

Let’s say those children were orphans taken care by me. I’d happily give them the names of fictional characters! Before I familiarize you with my kids, let me introduce myself first: Karlisha “Kirun” Runa Niephaus, the caretaker and the custodian, along with Raine Virginia Sage and Damuron ‘Raven’ Schwann Oltorain. 

(Boy) Vandesdelca ‘Van’ Musto Fende The big brother of Tear. As the result of his upbringing as an orphan at early age, as well as being the oldest in the orphanage, he became precocious, looking after his sister in their parents’ absence and willing to help the caretakers attending the other children while also struggling on his study. He was an amiable fellow and well-respected throughout the orphanage. Currently in the last year of senior-high and busy preparing himself for a law school. 

(Girl) Mystearica ‘Tear’ Aura Fende  Van’s baby sister who adored him dearly. She had grown into somewhat a wallflower; a shrinking violet. Although shy around people, Tear was a girl with a strong moral compass, never quivered to defend her friends from bullies. Like her brother, she had a beautiful, melodious voice that had brought her to become a choir member in both the town’s church, alongside Van, and her school. Currently a seventh-grader. 

(Boy) Ffamran ‘Balthier’ mied Bunansa Both dashing and quick-witted, Balthier was the conspicious of all. His charm and eloquence could easily impress anyone he met, thus making him the most popular kid around. Albeit a bit self-centered at times, Balthier could show his altruitic side, especially when it came to his bestfriend’s affairs, Ramza. Currently a ninth-grader and a valuable player of his school’s basketball team. 

(Boy) Ramza Lugria Beoulve A boy who survived from a wildfire that burned an entire village, including his parents, his beloved sister Alma, and his bestfriend Delita Heiral. His meek and tender disposition clicked perfectly with Balthier’s smug and jaunty manner, therefore creating a bridge of trust between them. Ramza had an eye for world history, spending most of his time in the library to read books and write essays. Currently a ninth-grader and established a close relationship with the history teacher Goffard Gaffgarion. 

(Boy) Edgar Roni Figaro Sabin’s older twin brother who was an electronics hobbyist and a gamer. He was the technician around the house, repairing the appliances and, sometimes, modifying them. Knowing very well that he had insufficient funds to begin with, he befriended Cid Del Norte Marquez and worked at the latter’s workshop as a part-timer. Though a geek at heart, Edgar didn’t constrain himself as a mere geek; he was surprisingly flirtatious, but to no avail. Currently an eleventh-grader. 

(Boy) Sabin Rene Figaro   Edgar’s younger twin brother. Unlike his prudent and erudite twin, Sabin was quick-tempered and straightforward, and excelled at physical activities, particularly martial arts. Under the tutelage of his karate master Cyan Garamonde, Sabin achieved black-belt in a no-time and had won many tournaments. Of all their differences, he and his brother shared the same unflappable determination and ambitions. Currently an eleventh-grader.

(Girl) Estellise “Estelle” Sidos Heurassein Cute, courteous, and bright; Estelle clearly caught everyone’s attention, but still being humble as she looked up to Philia. She was one of those bibliophiles who could even recite various passages from heart. After the incident involving her two bestfriends, Yuri Lowell and Flynn Scifo, Estelle promised herself to become a splendid doctor, thus leading her to be studious, hoping to obtain a scholarship. Currently a tenth-grader, a model student, and a member of the science club. 

(Girl) Margarita “Rita” Blastia Mordio A curious prodigy with an IQ of 160; however, lacked of social competence. She liked to correct people whose perceptivity was wrong, which inadvertently annoyed them unbeknownst to her. Rita was close to Raine’s little brother Genis due to their similar level of intelligence and close age, and to Estelle who always welcomed her presence. Currently a fifth-grader. 

(Boy) Genis Kloitz Sage The genius younger brother of caretaker Raine whose brain power could disparage the grown-ups’. Even as a child, he could solve his sister’s undergraduate math problems and sometimes engaged in Edgar’s projects. Due to his superior intellect, he demonstrated repellent disposition and was cynical towards others, but would greatly respect everyone with the same intelligence as him. Currently a sixth-grader and had a crush on his P.E. teacher Presea Combatir. 

(Girl) Rutee Atwight Katrea An upbeat, tomboyish lass with misunderstandable attitude. Having a firm moral sense yet being irascible at the same time, Rutee could easily pick a fight with anyone she deemed erroneous. Despite this shrewish demeanor, she was in fact solicitous and attentive towards her close relations. Due to the hapless circumstances, Rutee became eager to earn money, working as anything as her employer wanted her to be. Currently an eighth-grader. 

(Girl) Philia Clemente Felice Like your everyday bespectacled girl, Philia was smart, genteel, and naive; pretty much a foil to Rutee. A devout Christian, she highly regarded her belief and attended the church every week. Through her science teacher Batista Diego, nature and chemical experiments had greatly interested her as she aimed to be a chemist in the future. Currently an eleventh-grader, a model student, and the chairwoman of the science club.

(Girl) Rydia Asura Mist The youngest and newest in the orphanage, being five years in age. She was rescued by the sailors Cecil Harvey and Kain Highwind from ship drowning, a disaster that killed her mother and developed her fear of waterbody. She loved animals dearly as she often visited the town’s farm and pet house with the company of one of the caretakers. 

25. What’s the most frightening thing you’ve ever seen in your life? 

Failures. 

26. Name five books you think everyone should read and give a brief synopsis for each. 

Too lazy for the synopsis. Just check them out on GoodReads: 

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (by Agatha Christie)  Lemme proudly present one of Christie’s masterpieces. I personally found this more exquisite than And Then There Were None. 

A Short History of Nearly Everything (by Bill Bryson)  I know Sagan’s Cosmos and Hawking’s The Brief History of Time are popular as hell, but hell... they were published in the 80′s (but still gold though, you really should check them out). We need newer ones and Bryson’s is certainly the best--for me, at least, at this time--in elaborating big history and the development of science. 

Why Evolution Is True (by Jerry A. Coyne)  A nifty allusion for Darwin’s The Origin of Species. No. Don’t protest. Dawkins probably produces more of this kind of books than Coyne does and, of course, is far more popular than any evolutionary biologists alive. Dawkins is a brilliant writer and all, but Coyne has the apt for making the theory easier to comprehend. 

Little Women (by Louisa M. Alcott)  Still the best bildungsroman. Ever. 

Speaker for the Dead (by Orson S. Card)  Sci-fi, philosopy, anthropology, politics, religion; all in one. Yes. I’m such a weirdo to enjoy the second book far more than the first one. 

27. Do you believe one can fall out of love? 

It’s a fact. Why bother asking anyway. 

28. What are your three favourite sounding words? 

Peculiar  Don’t you think the word ‘peculiar’ has such a peculiar pronunciation? 

Halcyon  Archaic one, yes. So old-fashioned that Kirun--who fancies classics--is indulged by its subliminal beauty. Moreover, it was used as the title of a Bleach’s chapter: ‘Goodbye, Halcyon Days’. Aren’t ya romantic, Orihime? 

Preposterous I like to shout out this word--in my solitude, of course--whenever expressing my disbelief. 

31. List the seven deadly sins in order of the one you feel you commit the most to the one you feel you commit the least. 

Pride, greed, wrath, envy, gluttony, sloth, then lust. 

32. What’s your current desktop picture? 

46. What’s your favourite ever television commercial? 

49. What’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to you? 

“Kirun kan pacarnya aku.” -- by some girl 

51. Name five facts that the vast majority of people won’t know about you. 

I’m a girl (see? I knew you’d be surprised). 

Clearly not a fujoshi. What? You guys don’t believe me? Fine then. 

Though having [too] many guy friends, all of my bestfriends are girls; which are, of course, very few in numbers. 

Yes, I’m very aware that I love Gaara so dearly, but I’m still normal too, you know, since I had crushes in real life. And they were boys. I know, I know, I’m so gay, right? Wait, what am I exacly; male of female? 

Contrary to popular belief, I’m actually a piiiipp who wishes to openly express my opinions and matters without worrying any prejudice nor distressing the ones I love. 

54. Share five goals you want to complete in the next 30 days.

Sing Asterisk (of Orange Range’s) fluently. This one’s freaking hard. 

Read more than ten books. 

Write at least a short story. My imagination has been dormant these days. Inspirations, I summon thee! 

Survive without snacks and confectionaries. Kirun, you can do this! 

Yes. For one more time. Survive. 

58. State eight facts about your body.

I have all the necessities of human being. 

Oh, except my appendix had been removed. 

Thank goodness the tail remains vestigial. 

I’m getting fatter (don’t kill me, people). 

A bit taller than average. 

Pale as Suzanna-on-action. 

My nails aren’t neatly trimmed. 

I hate to admit this, but... my nose is... flat--annoyingly flat that even my cute, golden-hearted but veracious little sister pointed, “Sis, is your nose always that tabular?” WHY LIL SIS WHY?! 

60. Are you allergic to anything? If so, what? 

Romantic love. Sure I do not resist to read or watch romance, but if it happens directly to me... NO. PLEASE. STAY OUT OF THE LINE, MISTER/MISS. 

61. Describe yourself in one word/sentence? 

“Tetapi sesederhana-sederhana cerita yang ditulis, dia mewakili pribadi individu (...)“ -- Jejak Langkah (by Pramoedya A. Toer) 

63. Share five facts about your childhood. 

Can I write it in quotes?

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” 

“If you don’t imagine, nothing ever happens at all.” 

“We need never be ashamed of our tears.”

“And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.” 

“It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.” 

71. Name five people who are famous who you find attractive.

John and Hank Green (I really can’t choose between those two), 

Matthew Macfadyen (best Mr. Darcy ever!),  

Mark Ruffalo (husky voice and wistful countenance, how I love those combination), 

Kim Rae-won (probably the only Korean actor that I find cute), and 

Eddie Redmayne (HOW CAN YOU PLAY NEWT WITH SO MUCH CUTENESS?! HOW CAN YOUUUU!!!). 

81. Share five facts about your best friend(s). 

Most of them are humans. 

One is the embodiment of integrated-circuits. 

Some are ailurophile. 

Few are bibliophile. 

None is pedophile, gladly. 

82. What’s the most superficial characteristic you look for in a partner?

Has to be the opposite sex. Duh. 

83. Share five ways to instantly win your heart. 

Are you Gaara? If not, well... screw you.  

88. Give a description of the person you dislike the most. 

We share the same room. We share the same clothes. We share the same food. We share the same body. We share the same mind. 

91. If food was people, who would be your best friend, your life partner, your enemy, and your ex? 

Best friend: okonomiyaki and curry ramen. 

Life partner: mom’s seared, chilli scallops. 

Enemy: pare. 

Ex: instant noodles. 

[jsnorcross]

A little about me

So I originally posted something yesterday, but as I re-read it, I realized that I was not effectively getting my thoughts across so I got rid of it - it was more like a rant anyways... So a little on me (more than my first post anyways): I'm 44, staring at 45 later in March and I've been thinking about how much I have evolved through my life. Yes, I did say evolve because I feel that's what I've experienced moreso than just mere change. I don't find that word near as offensive as some of my heavy bible thumping friends do, but I believe to each their own. I have my religious beliefs like everyone else (including those that have an absence of religion) and I don't feel it is my place to impress upon anyone my religion. If you ask, I'll gladly share with you and speak to you indepthly about it and how it can positively affect your life. If you don't ask, I'm not going to chase after you and beat you over the head with it. So I graduated high school at 19; mostly because my mother didn't know how to enroll me into kindergarten when I was five, so I started when I was six. No big deal, I got my education and moved on. I was a nerd to some extent; big glasses, allergies, shitty at the only two sports offered at my school (basketball and baseball). I did take Karate as a kid and eventually did get black belts in Tae Kwon Do and Kenpo. It helped to give me confidence when I had to deal with bullies in school. Not the people who teased me or said things to me to "hurt my feelings" - because I essentially didn't care; I was there to endure the process to graduate to get on with my life, nothing more. I left home two weeks after I graduated and went to the Marine Corps. I tested in the 90-percentile and they were chomping at the bit for me to go Intelligence or some other high-speed occupation. I joined the Marine Corps for a simple reason; I was a wuss and I needed to toughen up, grow up and figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Also, I'm a patriot and believed it was my duty as a citizen to serve, so I did - in the infantry. I did my time, made Sergeant and got out; grew my hair long, grew a beard and eventually shaved it all off again to sign up with the National Guard as a medic. I figured I had contributed to the death of enough people in my time, it was time to save some lives. While nothing can ever really erase that stain and the nightmares, I felt it was something better. Also, I was working on an ambulance at the time, so it fit. Overall, 15 years of military service and I just didn't want to deal with it anymore. There were a lot of factors, but needless to say it was time to move on. I worked as an EMT-Intermediate for a while, I did Ultrasound and later did a complete switch-aroo and found myself working as a cop in a small town. It wasn't bad for awhile; until policing starting going backwards in time, away from community policing and back to an "us vs. them" mentality. During this time, I went to school and got both my BA and MPA degrees. I eventually made it to being considered for Chief, but lost to someone who knew how to blow smoke and here I was just being honest. Needless to say, the new guy decided to get rid of all his competition, so me and the Asst. Chief were forced to retire. I went back to working on an ambulance again for a while and went to tech school at night for computer networking. During that, I also taught Political Science and Government for the same college district that I attended as a student. So yes, sometimes my techie classmates were my students, so it made for some interesting, surprised looks sometimes, but it was all good. I taught government quite a bit differently than most profesors at my school. My goal was to get you to understand how it was supposed to work, how it actually worked, and what parts you played in the whole matrix. During all this, I brought up issues for classroom discussion. Sometimes I did it gently and fun, other times I would purposeful start with something "offensive" to wake the class up for a good discussion. See my goal was to make you think, not be a robot or someone who regurgitated information. Why did I think this was important? Because of how I evolved through my life. All growing up, I was clueless - I was a regurgitator of educational information and I was good at it. I registered to vote at 18 as an Independent and later switched to Republican because I felt myself drawn to very conservative values; both socially and politically. I maintained this through my time in the Marines and when I got out, I was a narrow-minded, LGBTQ-hating, anti-feminist jackass. I got my first ambulance job. I worked with this guy named Robert and we were a great team. We got into a lot of rough calls together and back each other up, etc... We were an ace team. I was at home one day talking with one of my other friends and I remarked about something regarding Robert. My friend told me that Robert was gay. I had no clue; but I wondered why he never mentioned it to me. Trust me, me and Robert talked during shift and I ran my ignorant mouth all sorts of wrong ways. My friend told me that Robert was scared to tell me because he thought I wouldn't work with him anymore and might even beat him up. I had to think about that for a while. I eventually had the heart-to-heart with Robert and he began to help me square away my ignorance. Needless to say, now, love is love and it's your business and I don't care. Like I mentioned in previous posts about supporting it; I've recently changed my thoughts on that too. Needless to say, I'm a work in progress, but I'm growing and I'm open to listen and talk and most importantly, learn where I might be thinking like an idiot. IN fact, I recently learned (from reading her Tumblr blog) that one of my dearest friends has acknowledged she is Bisexual. She hasn't officially told me yet, so I won't say anything. I think she might wonder how I would react to this (which tells me I still need work, but I'm trying)... I so want to tell her that I love her no matter what (friend love - I'm married). I want to let her know I support and will be there for her - I'm thinking that I should take the initiative, but I know this can be a scary and delicate subject for some. If you're reading this and have thoughts, I invite your comments and suggestions as to how I should approach this or even do anything to let her know, I'm her biggest fan. Anyways to continue; my attitude on women. I got "stuck" working with a woman on the ambulance after Robert left for a different job. She was stigmatized as someone who cries wolf with regards to sexual harassment. First day together, I put our unit out of service to clear the air and to make sure we could work together. She told me the actual story about her past and needless to say she was getting screwed by the rumor-mill. We worked together for 2 years and was the best partner I ever had. Chrissy changed my thoughts, opinions, and feelings and I truly believe that women are men's equals. In fact, my preference is I would rather work with a woman, as an EMT, Cop, professor, and even in I.T. because I feel women are more reliable and professional in many cases that I have personally experienced. There is no battle of egos, it's just teamwork all the way. My good friend now (who I mentioned just above), we'll call her Jay. She is one of the biggest hotshots in public safety I know (in a very good way). A fighting single-mom and altogether good person. She also states that she is a very Liberal Democrat (and I a conservative - fun mix, eh?)... My own examination of politics, sociology and life experience had me leaning more moderate for time. I think she's working on me; I'm finding myself to be more progressive on many issues. As a political thinker, I'm very Constitutional - I don't accept the extreme interpretations of either the left or the right in this regard. I think both extreme sides are wrong in their interpretation, largely influenced by their own agendas of their respective political parties. I won't talk more on this simply because I'm working on a book in which I discuss this extensively and I don't want to give anything. All in all, I've come a long way, but I acknowledge that I have still more to go. I think we all do in different areas in different respects. That is the thing with life, you should never stop learning and improving. Always strive to be a better person in all aspects of what you do, think and feel.

[mrhotmaster]

Best Amazon Prime Video Movies In India (February 2020)

Best Movies Of Amazon Prime Video In India (February 2020)

Terminator 2: Judgment Day From Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro.

Amazon Prime Video's motion picture acquisitions probably won't have a similar global profundity as Netflix, yet it's without a doubt more grounded and more extravagant in its nearby assortment, with its titles spreading over the Tamil, Telugu, and the Malayalam universe of filmmaking notwithstanding Bollywood. Furthermore, that is coordinated with an incredible assortment of American imports, to convey an assortment that can more than hold fast against the world's greatest spilling administration. It needs with its unique endeavors — a couple are available underneath, for what it's worth — but at the same time it's significantly increasingly moderate at Rs. 999 every year, versus Netflix's Rs. 650 per month. To pick the best motion pictures on Amazon Prime Video, we depended on Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, and IMDb appraisals to make a waitlist. The remainder of them was favored for Indian movies given the setbacks of surveys aggregators in that office. Furthermore, we utilized our own article judgment to include or expel a couple. This rundown will be refreshed once at regular intervals if there are any commendable augmentations or if a few motion pictures are expelled from the administration, so bookmark this page and continue checking in. Here are the best movies right now accessible on Amazon Prime Video in India, arranged one after another in order.

12 Years a Slave (2013)

Hoodwinked into servitude on the record of work, Steve McQueen's adjustment of a free New York dark man's (Chiwetel Ejiofor) nineteenth century journal is a staggering genuine story, and a significant watch.

3 Idiots (2009)

Right now the Indian training framework's social weights, two companions relate their school days and how their third tragically deceased musketeer (Aamir Khan) propelled them to think imaginatively and freely in a vigorously conventionalist world. Co-composed and coordinated by Rajkumar Hirani, who stands denounced in the #MeToo development.

Agantuk [The Stranger] (1991)

In Satyajit Ray's last film, a secretive and world-tired pioneer comes back to India following 35 years to see his lone enduring family member, his niece, however experiences difficulty persuading the family who he professes to be.

Aladdin (1992)

Disney puts its activity season onto the well known society story of a road urchin who camouflages himself as an affluent ruler in the wake of finding a genie in an enchantment light, trying to dazzle the Sultan's little girl.

Amal (2007)

After just a few days before his arrival a poor Delhi rickshaw driver (Rupinder Nagra) was named sole inheritor by a very rich near by person (Naseeruddin Shah).

American Beauty (1999)

A discouraged promoting official (Kevin Spacey) amidst an emotional meltdown succumbs to his high school little girl's closest companion, in Sam Mendes' parody of American white collar class that at last won five Oscars including Best Picture.

Anand (1971)

Rajesh Khanna stars as the eponymous giddy man, who doesn't let his conclusion of an uncommon type of malignant growth impede making the most of what's before him. Told from the perspective of his PCP companion (Amitabh Bachchan). Hrishikesh Mukherjee coordinates.

Anbe Sivam (2003)

Kamal Haasan and right now R. Madhavan star in this tamil cult film, in which both flights are spread over a thousand kilometers from home after a substantial flight drops all the flights. The material was also written by Haasan.

Andaz Apna (1994)

Two bums (Aamir Khan and Salman Khan) who have a place with white collar class families compete for the expressions of love of a beneficiary, and unintentionally become her defenders from a nearby hoodlum in Rajkumar Santoshi's religion parody top pick.

Ankhon Dekhi (2014)

After an enlightening encounter including his little girl's marriage, a man in his late 50s (Sanjay Mishra) settle that he will have a hard time believing anything he can't see, which normally prompts some emotional intricacies.

Aruvi (2016)

A social parody from a debutante essayist chief, which follows an eponymous young lady (Aditi Balan), who experiencing an episode of existential emergency, chooses to sparkle a light on the consumerist and misanthropic practices in her general public.

Back to the Future (1985)

Relatively few movies approach the overall intrigue and inheritance left by this science fiction passage including the notorious DeLorean that Michael J. Fox's character uses to (incidentally) time travel to when his folks were his age. Unusual then that it didn't get the green light for a considerable length of time.

Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015)

The intensely dubious Salman Khan stars as a sincere Hindu Brahmin and an enthusiastic lover of Hanuman, who sets out on an excursion to rejoin a quiet six-year-old Muslim young lady, lost in India, with her folks in Pakistan. Kareena Kapoor co-stars. Salman is an indicted poacher, out on bail, and blamed for chargeable manslaughter, pending intrigue.

A Beautiful Mind (2001)

The life of John Nash, a splendid however asocial mathematician, from his winding into neurotic schizophrenia and taking a shot at a mystery venture he made up, to recovering authority over his life and turning into a Nobel Laureate.

The Big Sick (2017)

Kumail Nanjiani stars as himself right now approximately dependent on his sentiment with his significant other, in which a hopeful entertainer interfaces with his sweetheart's folks after she falls into a strange trance state.

Blood Diamond (2006)

Set during the Sierra Leone Civil War when the new century rolled over, an arms dealer (Leonardo DiCaprio) vows to support an angler (Djimon Hounsou) discover his family in return for an extremely valuable precious stone the last found in a stream.

Bombay (1995)

Set during the 1992–93 Bombay riots, author chief Mani Ratnam offers a gander at the public pressures that cause a strain on the connection between a Muslim lady (Manisha Koirala) and a Hindu man (Arvind Swamy).

The Bourne set of three (2002–07)

Actually not a set of three, yet the initial three parts — Identity, Supremacy, and Ultimatum — featuring Matt Damon in the number one spot as the main CIA professional killer experiencing amnesia were acceptable to such an extent that they changed the longest-running covert agent establishment ever: James Bond.

Brazil (1985)

Terry Gilliam mixes social parody with his mark visual imaginativeness right now fi set in a retro-future world, which follows a modest agent who turns into a foe of the state in the wake of attempting to address a managerial blunder.

Commander Fantastic (2016)

After his bipolar spouse out of nowhere bites the dust, a single parent (Viggo Mortensen), who raised his six kids living off the matrix and detached from society, must acquaint them with this present reality just because.

Ditty (2015)

Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara star right now, and exquisite show around two lesbians living in perfect inverse universes in 1950s New York, as they explore cultural traditions and their own needs. In light of Patricia Highsmith's tale, The Price of Salt.

Cast Away (2000)

After his plane accident arrives in the Pacific, a FedEx worker (Tom Hanks) awakens on a betrayed island and must utilize everything available to him and change himself genuinely to endure living alone.

Catch Me If You Can (2002)

Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks appear in Frank Abagnale's (DiCaprio) biopic by Steven Spielberg, who, while being checked out by FBI director, created large numbers of dollars of check as a young person.

Chak De! India (2007)

Excluded and denounced by the press and open, a previous Muslim men's hockey chief (Shah Rukh Khan) plans to vindicate himself by training the unpolished Indian ladies' hockey group to brilliance.

Act (1963)

After her important fellow has been killed while trying to leave Paris, three men who need a fortune he has taken and are looking for the help of the outsider (Cary Grant) are looking for a young lady (Audrey Hepburn)." The greatest film ever made by Hitchcock" is known as "Hitchcock."

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

Visit colleagues Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are behind this 'redo' of the 1971 unique dependent on Roald Dahl's 1964 book, where the title character — a little fellow (Freddie Highmore) — wins a voyage through an inventive chocolatier's chocolate industrial facility with four different children.

Chhoti Si Baat (1976)

This transformation of the 1960 British Film School for Scoundrels is the story of a smooth and striking man for love's expressions, Bombay, where a gentle young man (Amol Palekar) went to Colonel (Ashok Kumar) for life mentorship. It appears as Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra and Hema Malini. The co-ordinatesof Basu Chatterjee.

Chupke (1975)

Hrishikesh Mukherjee's change of the Bengali film Chhadmabeshi, in which a recently married spouse (Dharmendra) chooses to pull tricks on his significant other's (Sharmila Tagore) as far as anyone knows brilliant brother by marriage, discharged in a similar year as Sholay. Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan additionally star.

Guarantee (2004)

Tom Cruise plays a contract killer who takes a cab driver, played by Jamie Foxx, prisoner in Michael Mann's neo-noir wrongdoing spine chiller, in which the last should make sense of how to stop the previous.

The Conjuring (2013)

A couple of paranormal examiners (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) are procured by a family who have been encountering progressively upsetting occasions at their farmhouse, right now from James Wan.

Insane Rich Asians (2018)

In light of the novel of a similar name, a Chinese-American educator ventures most of the way around the globe to Singapore to meet her sweetheart's incredibly rich family, where she should battle with abnormal family members, envious socialites, and the beau's opposing mother (Michelle Yeoh).

A Death in the Gunj (2016)

In Konkona Sen Sharma's full length directorial debut, a timid and touchy Indian understudy (Vikrant Massey) addresses a substantial cost for his delicacy, while on an excursion with his vain family members and family companions. Ranvir Shorey, Kalki Koechlin star close by.

The Death of Stalin (2017)

Veep maker Armando Iannucci approaches this earth shattering event throughout the entire existence of Russia through the perspective of dark parody and political parody, portraying the force battles that resulted following the main tyrant's demise in 1953. Jeffrey Tambor, who stars, stands denounced in the #MeToo development.

Dil Chahta Hai (2001)

Farhan Akhtar's directorial debut around three indistinguishable cherished companions whose uncontrollably extraordinary way to deal with connections makes a strain on their fellowship stays a faction top choice. Saif Ali Khan, Preity Zinta & Amir Khan star.

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995)

Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol's characters experience passionate feelings for during an excursion to Europe with their companions right now film — which is as yet playing more than two decades later in a solitary screen Mumbai theater — however face jumps as the lady's preservationist father has guaranteed her deliver union with another person.

Dum Laga Ke Haisha (2015)

After a court request orders a video tape storekeeper and a RSS volunteer (Ayushmann Khurrana) and a larger measured instructor in-preparing (Bhumi Pednekar) to rescue their bombing marriage, the two start to imagine each other's perspective, before choosing to participate in a piggyback race. Won a National Award.

Ee. Mama. Yau [R.I.P.] (2018)

A child battles to arrange the terrific entombment he guaranteed his father right now dark satire that is to a great extent shot in characteristic light. Lijo Jose Pellissery coordinates.

The Exorcist (1973)

One of the best blood and gore movies ever, that has left an enduring impact on the class and past, is about the satanic ownership of a 12-year-old young lady and her mom's endeavors to spare her with the assistance of two clerics who perform expulsion.

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Roald Dahl's kids' novel about a fox who takes nourishment from three mean and well off ranchers gets the prevent movement treatment from Wes Anderson, including the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, and Michael Gambon.

Fight Club (1999)

Brad Pitt and Edward Norton star right now from David Fincher, about a white-nabbed sleep deprived person disillusioned with his free enterprise way of life, who frames an underground battle club with a flippant soapmaker, which advances into something considerably more.

Forrest Gump (1994)

A moderate witted however kind-hearted man (Tom Hanks) participates in a progression of characterizing occasions of the second 50% of the twentieth century in the US, while pining for his youth love.

Forushande [The Salesman] (2016)

Oscar-victor Asghar Farhadi utilizes Arthur Miller's play "Passing of a Salesman" as his story inside a story, to portray topical equals with the crumbling relationship of an Iranian couple after an ambush on the spouse. The spouse needs to discover who the aggressor is against her desires, while she manages post-injury stress.

Gangs of Wasseypur (2012)

Roused by the 2008 Tamil-language film Subramaniapuram, Anurag Kashyap comes up with a hoodlum epic that mixes legislative issues, retribution, and sentiment as it takes a gander at the force battles between three wrongdoing families in and around the Jharkhand city of Dhanbad, the focal point of the coal mafia.

Ghare Baire (1984)

In light of Rabindranath Tagore's epic of a similar name, and set in the disorderly repercussions of the segment of Bengal, author executive Satyajit Ray recounts to the narrative of a lady wedded to a ground breaking man whose lives are overturned by the presence of the spouse's extreme companion.

Ghostbusters (1984)

A lot of capricious paranormal lovers start a phantom getting business in New York, and afterward unearth a plot to unleash ruin by bringing apparitions. Brought forth one of the most notable tune verses ever.

Gladiator (2000)

Victor of five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Russell Crowe, this Ridley Scott-coordinated film recounts to a moving story of a Roman general (Crowe) who loses everything — his family and rank — to wind up as a slave and afterward looks for retaliation on the culprit (Joaquin Phoenix).

The Godfather (1972)

In what is viewed as probably the best film ever, a maturing pioneer (Marlon Brando) of a New York mafia moves control of his domain to his most youthful child (Al Pacino), who goes from a hesitant untouchable to a heartless chief.

The Godfather Part II (1974)

Francis Ford Coppola's follow-up to his unique, fixating on Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) at the highest point of the hierarchy while offering a glance back at his dad's (Robert De Niro) past, is considered by some to be superior to its ancestor.

Gol Maal (1979)

A sanctioned bookkeeper (Amol Palekar), with a skill for singing and acting, falls where it counts the bunny opening in the wake of misleading his supervisor that he has a twin, right now parody.

Gone Girl (2014)

In light of Gillian Flynn's top of the line novel and coordinated by David Fincher, a puzzled spouse (Ben Affleck) turns into the essential suspect in the unexpected riddle vanishing of his better half (Rosamund Pike).

Gravity (2013)

Two US space explorers, an amateur (Sandra Bullock) and another on his last strategic (Clooney), are stranded in space after their van is annihilated, and afterward should fight flotsam and jetsam and moving conditions to get back.

Gully Boy (2019)

A hopeful, youthful road rapper (Ranveer Singh) from the ghettos of Mumbai decides to understand his fantasy, while managing the intricacies that emerge out of his own life and the financial strata to which he has a place. Zoya Akhtar coordinates, and Alia Bhatt stars nearby.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

Alfonso Cuarón ventured behind the camera for what many consider to be the best Harry Potter film, as the kid who lived enters his third year at Hogwarts, and is informed that Sirus Black, an escapee from the wizarding scene jail Azkaban, is after his life.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

Working off the tone set by Alfonso Cuarón, the fourth section in the arrangement finds the main picked one maneuvered into a between school supernatural competition, while doing combating the upsetting dreams and the hurting torment that originate from his brow scar.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)

Right now section, the renowned trio — Harry, Ron, and Hermione — face a test of skill and endurance to discover and pulverize Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes, while the understudies and educators of Hogwarts join to protect the school.

Heat (1995)

Al Pacino and Robert De Niro star on inverse sides of the law — the previous a criminologist, the last a cheat — in Michael Mann's expressive wrongdoing show, with a gathering of burglars arranging a heist ignorant the police are onto them.

Hera Pheri (2000)

Jobless and battling with cash, a proprietor and his two occupants (Paresh Rawal, Akshay Kumar, and Sunil Shetty) chance on a payment call and plan to gather the payoff for themselves right now the 1989 Malayalam film Ramji Rao Speaking.

How To Train Your Dragon (2010)

Raised in reality as we know it where Vikings have a custom of being mythical serpent slayers, a youthful adolescent turns into an unexpected companion with a youthful winged serpent and realizes there might be more to the animals than everybody might suspect.

The Hurt Locker (2008)

Best picture champ at the Oscars, another pioneer (Jeremy Renner) of a bomb removal squad astounds his subordinates with his perspectives and careless way to deal with the activity in the Iraqi capital. Kathryn Bigelow turned out to be first lady to win best chief.

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Coordinated by Steven Spielberg off a story by George Lucas, an eponymous classicist (Harrison Ford) ventures to the far corners of the planet and fights a gathering of Nazis while searching for a secretive antique, in what is currently frequently considered as perhaps the best film ever.

Into The Wild (2007)

In light of Jon Krakauer's genuine book, Sean Penn goes behind the camera to coordinate the tale of a top understudy and competitor who surrenders all belongings and investment funds to good cause, and catches a ride across America to live in the Alaskan wild.

Iruvar (1997)

Aishwarya Rai made her acting introduction with a double supporting job in Mani Ratnam's personal film, which is motivated by the genuine contention of 1980s Tamil Nadu political symbols M. Karunanidhi (Prakash Raj) & M.G. Ramachandran (Mohanlal).

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983)

Right now legislative issues, administration, and the media, two picture takers (Naseeruddin Shah and Ravi Baswani) incidentally catch a homicide while attempting to uncover the rich. A Mahabharata performance in the third demonstration is a prestigious feature.

JFK (1991)

At the point when a New Orleans lead prosecutor (Kevin Costner) attempts to uncover the secret and potentially connivance behind the death of previous US President John Kennedy, he's confronted with impressive weight from the legislature. Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Oldman co-star. Oliver Stone coordinates.

Jurassic Park (1993)

It may be more than 25 years of age now yet viewing the absolute first Jurassic film from Steven Spielberg — in light of Michael Crichton's tale, which he co-adjusted — is an extraordinary method to remind yourself why the new arrangement, Jurassic World, has no clue why it's doing.

Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959)

Master Dutt coordinated and featured in what is viewed as probably the best movie ever, about an acclaimed chief (Dutt) who throws an obscure lady (Waheeda Rehman) in his next film, and the contradicting directions of their professions subsequently.

Kannathil Muthamittal (2002)

After discovering that she is embraced, a little youngster sets out on an excursion across common war-assaulted Sri Lanka to locate her organic mother who is a piece of the progressives. Mani Ratnam coordinates.

The King of Comedy (1982)

In Martin Scorsese's disregarded parody of big name love and media culture, a trying comic (Robert De Niro) stalks his late-night syndicated program symbol to win a major break, and afterward abducts him when things don't work out.

Kumbalangi Nights (2019)

Four siblings who share an affection despise relationship remain behind one of their own in issues of the heart right now family dramatization that investigates manliness with subtlety and in detail. Directorial introduction of Madhu C. Narayanan.

Kung Fu Panda (2008)

After a hefty kung fu fan panda is apparently erroneously picked as the Dragon Warrior to battle an approaching risk, he is reluctantly educated by an older ace and his understudies who have been preparing for a considerable length of time.

L.A. Confidential (1997)

As debasement blends in post-war Los Angeles, three cops — one corrupt (Kevin Spacey), one severe (Russell Crowe) and one moralistic (Guy Pearce) — research a progression of murders in their own specific manner, and structure an uncomfortable coalition. Spacey stands charged in the #MeToo development.

Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006)

Right now the 2003 unique (likewise on the rundown), the Mumbai black market wear (Sanjay Dutt) begins to live by the lessons of Mahatma Gandhi to dazzle a radio racer (Vidya Balan) he's stricken with. Some felt it impaired Gandhism. Co-composed and coordinated by Rajkumar Hirani, who stands denounced in the #MeToo development.

The Legend of Bhagat Singh (2002)

Ajay Devgn plays the main communist progressive and political dissident in essayist executive Rajkumar Santoshi's biopic, which follows Singh — and later his partners, Shivaram Rajguru, Sukhdev Thapar, and Chandra Shekhar Azad — from the Jallianwala Bagh slaughter to the besieging of Parliament House. Some didn't care for its treatment of Gandhi.

The Lego Movie (2014)

A conventional, rules-following Lego minifigure (Chris Pratt) is erroneously distinguished as the most uncommon individual and the way to sparing the world from a malevolent dictator, for which he is entertainingly underprepared. It brought forth the hit single, "Everything Is Awesome".

Lipstick Under My Burkha (2016)

Denied for a discharge for a half year, this dark satire fixates on four ladies in community India who set out on an excursion to find opportunity and satisfaction in a traditionalist society.

The Lord of the Rings set of three (2001-2003)

Subside Jackson brought J.R.R. Tolkien's far reaching Middle-Earth to life in these three-hour sagas, which diagrams the excursion of a tame hobbit (Elijah Wood) and his different sidekicks, as they attempt to stop the Dark Lord Sauron by crushing the wellspring of his capacity, the One Ring.

Maanagaram (2017)

Emergencies happen to a couple of adolescents — a taxi driver, a BPO interviewee, and a hot-headed sweetheart — whose lives are interlinked after they show up in a major city right now spine chiller. Full length debut for author executive Lokesh Kanagaraj.

Manichitrathazhu (1993)

Right now suspenseful thrill ride exemplary, a youthful spouse (Shobana) is controlled by the soul of a vindictive artist after she opens a secured room their new spooky chateau. To help dispose of it, the spouse's therapist companion (Mohanlal) recommends an unordinary fix.

Mean Girls (2004)

Tina Fey's faction hit youngster satire follows a self-taught 16-year-old (Lindsay Lohan) who's a moment hit with A-rundown young lady coterie at her new school, until she tragically falls for the ex of the club's alpha.

Men in Black (1997)

Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones star as two operators of an eponymous mystery association, whose activity is to screen extraterrestrial life on Earth and conceal their quality from people, utilizing neuralysers to delete recollections whether need be.

Mera Naam Joker (1970)

By a wide margin the longest movie on this rundown with a four-hour runtime, this semi-self-portraying take on executive, maker, and lead star Raj Kapoor's own life is about a carnival comedian (Kapoor) who must make his crowd giggle regardless of how troubled he is inside. Told in three parts, it highlights three ladies — Simi Garewal, Kseniya Ryabinkina, and Padmini — who formed his reality. Contrarily got upon discharge, it later experienced a basic revaluation.

Minority Report (2002)

Steven Spielberg freely adjusts Philip K. Dick's short story of a future where an uncommon police unit can get hoodlums before a wrongdoing is submitted because of an innovation, and what happens when an official from that unit (Tom Cruise) is himself blamed for a homicide.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)

After the organization he works for is wrongly ensnared in the shelling of the Kremlin, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and another group are compelled to denounce any and all authority and away from manager's name right now of the establishment.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)

With the association he works for disbanded and his nation after him, Hunt (Cruise) attempts to beat the clock to demonstrate the presence of the rogues calling the shots right now. Acquainted Rebecca Ferguson with the establishment.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

In what is ostensibly the best section in the establishment yet — 6th, in case you're tallying — insight operator Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and Co. set off on a globe-running experience from Europe to Kashmir, to recover three plutonium centers from the hands of fear mongers. Henry Cavill joins the good times.

Moneyball (2011)

In light of the genuine story of Oakland Athletics and supervisor Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), it follows the last's endeavors to assemble a serious group by depending exclusively on measurable examination, with assistance from a Yale graduate (Jonah Hill).

Munich (2005)

After a Palestinian psychological oppressor bunch murders 11 Israeli competitors at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, the last's administration dispatches a mystery counter, entrusting five men to chase and execute those liable for the slaughter. Steven Spielberg coordinates, in light of a genuine story.

Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003)

After his folks discover he has been professing to be a specialist, a genial Mumbai black market wear (Sanjay Dutt) attempts to vindicate himself by selecting a clinical school, where his sympathy catches up on against the tyrant senior member (Boman Irani). Co-composed and coordinated by Rajkumar Hirani, who stands charged in the #MeToo development.

Mustang (2015)

Set in a remote Turkish town, this presentation include by a Turkish-French chief portrays the lives of five youthful stranded sisters and the difficulties they face experiencing childhood in a moderate society.

Nayakan (1987)

Propelled by The Godfather — however good karma getting author executive Mani Ratnam to let it be known — and the life of Bombay (presently Mumbai) wrongdoing supervisor Varadarajan Mudaliar, it delineates and the life and passing of Velu (Kamal Haasan) who turns into a criminal and assembles a domain.

Newton (2017)

Champ of the National Award for best Hindi film, in which Rajkummar Rao stars as an administration agent who attempts to run a free and reasonable political decision in the Naxal-controlled clash ridden wildernesses of India.

Once Upon A Time in America (1984)

Spreading over four decades, Sergio Leone's last rambling film about a child in a Jewish ghetto (Robert De Niro) who ascends to unmistakable quality in New York's universe of sorted out wrongdoing stays one of the best hoodlum movies ever.

Once Upon A Time… in Hollywood (2019)

Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio Leads outfit cast of Quentin Tarantino's "fantasy tribute" to the winding down days of Hollywood's brilliant age, which follows a maturing entertainer (DiCaprio) and his long-lasting companion and trick twofold (Pitt) as they explore an evolving industry.

Padosan (1968)

Sunil Dutt, Saira Banu, Mehmood, and Kishore Kumar star right now the 1952 Bengali film Pasher Bari, about a youngster (Dutt) who begins to look all starry eyed at his new neighbor (Banu) and afterward enrolls the assistance of his artist on-screen character companion (Kumar) to charm her away from her music instructor (Mehmood).

Pariyerum Perumal (2018)

A hopeful youngster from a poor, abused station family hits a fellowship with an a lot wealthier female cohort at graduate school right now film, procuring him the fierceness of her family members and the general public on the loose. Introduction for author chief Mari Selvaraj.

Peranbu (2019)

After his better half forsakes him and their cerebral paralysis little girl for another man, a single parent (Mammooty) filling in as a taxi driver in Dubai must get back and bring up his solitary child, while on the precarious edge of vagrancy.

Pinjar (2003)

In light of Amrita Pritam's Punjabi tale of a similar name and set in the years when the Partition, a Hindu lady (Urmila Matondkar) comes back to her Muslim ruffian (Manoj Bajpayee) after she's repudiated by her family after getting away. Won a National Award.

The Prestige (2006)

After a heartbreaking mishap, two individual entertainers (Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale) turn unpleasant adversaries right now Christopher Nolan, and participate in a fight to make a definitive hallucination, while giving up all that they have.

Prisoners (2013)

After his girl and her companion are hijacked, a dad (Hugh Jackman) assumes control over issues while the police deliberately track down different leads, pushing himself into difficulty. Jake Gyllenhaal co-stars.

Pyaasa (1957)

Master Dutt coordinated and featured right now in then-Calcutta which follows a battling, anguished writer named Vijay (Dutt) who can't get acknowledgment for his work until he meets Gulab (Waheeda Rehman), a whore with a kind nature.

Raazi (2018)

In view of the genuine occasions portrayed in Harinder Sikka's 2008 novel "Calling Sehmat", Alia Bhatt stars as a covert Kashmiri RAW operator who weds into a Pakistani military family to keep an eye on the adversary before and during the 1971 Indo-Pak War. A few pundits thought that it was unlikely.

The Report (2019)

An optimistic government examiner (Adam Driver) reveals stunning privileged insights as he plunges into the CIA's post-9/11 utilization of "improved cross examination procedures" — in more straightforward words, torment — and faces extreme pushback from those aware of everything.

Roja (1992)

Before Dil Se.. what's more, Bombay, Mani Ratnam's investigation of human connections against the setting of legislative issues started with this Tamil-language film, about a recently marry lady who moves to Kashmir and battles to discover her significant other after he is seized by Kashmiri separatists.

Rosemary's Baby (1968)

Right now dependent on Ira Levin's top rated novel, a youthful pregnant lady (Mia Farrow) suspects a detestable clique — including her neighbors — needs to take her child for use in their customs.

Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962)

In view of Bimal Mitra's correspondingly titled 1953 Bengali tale and set throughout the fall of British Raj feudalism, low maintenance hireling (Guru Dutt) builds up a nearby, dispassionate bond with the disregarded, desolate spouse (Meena Kumari) of a privileged person (Rehman). Waheeda Rehman likewise stars.

Sankarabharanam (1980)

Victor of four National Awards, an old style music legend faces ruin right now dramatization attributable to changing music patterns and the sudden bond he shapes with a whore's little girl, who is crashed into outstanding conditions.

Sparing Private Ryan (1998)

In Steven Spielberg's World War II show, while war seethes on in Normandy, a military commander (Tom Hanks) is given the errand of looking for a specific private (Matt Damon), whose three siblings have just been executed.

Looking (2018)

Told completely through screens — PCs and cell phones — a dad (John Cho) breaks into his young little girl's PC after she disappears and criminologists can't locate a solitary lead.

A Separation (2011)

Asghar Farhadi's Oscar-winning show follows an Iranian white collar class couple, whose 14-year-old marriage starts to break down after they arrive at an intersection over the spouse's desires to leave the nation and the husband's interests for his old Alzheimer's dad.

Sholay (1975)

Relatively few movies have a degree of noticeable quality in well known Indian culture that is appreciated by this fine case of "Curry Western", which mixes genuine components with crafted by Akira Kurosawa and Sergio Leone. Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Sanjeev Kumar, and Jaya Bhaduri (presently Bachchan) star.

Screen Island (2010)

Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese work together for this adjustment of Dennis Lehane's 2003 novel, around two US Marshals (DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo) researching the vanishing of a criminally-crazy patient, who was detained for suffocating her three youngsters.

Siddharth (2013)

After a poor Delhi man's (Rajesh Tailang) 12-year-old child disappears while away on work many kilometers away in Punjab, he sets out the nation over to discover him, dreading he's been dealt.

Insect Man 2 (2004)

In what many consider the best Spider-Man film ever, Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) can't get a break. He loses his employment, his forces, and the adoration for his life Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst). What's more, his closest companion (James Franco) is out for Spider-Man's blood to vindicate the passing of his dad.

Creepy crawly Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

Drawn with a blend of PC produced and hand-drawn craftsmanship, Miles Morales is brought into a between dimensional clash not long after he's bit by an insect and additions superpowers, pushing him to collaborate to spare the multiverse. Set for a 2022 spin-off.

A Star Is Born (2018)

Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga star right now fourth, in case you're checking — change of the 1937 exemplary story, of a heavy drinker blurring star (Cooper) meeting and finding a future star (Gaga). Cooper denotes his directorial debut.

Star Trek (2009)

J.J. Abrams reboots the Trek film establishment by bringing it into an other reality, where the youthful Kirk and Spock on board USS Enterprise must battle a decided foe from what's to come, who's making dark gaps to obliterate planets individually.

Sully (2016)

The genuine story of the 2009 crisis plane arriving on New York's Hudson River gets the regular saint treatment from Clint Eastwood, concentrating on the pilot's (Tom Hanks) heroics and the ensuing examination that attempted to paint him in any case.

Eliminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Arnold Schwarzenegger returns as the android, presently reconstructed and sent back in time (once more) to ensure a more youthful rendition of an opposition chief, in James Cameron's spin-off of the first that is viewed as probably the best film ever.

Thalapathi (1991)

Mani Ratnam coordinates this Tamil-language wrongdoing show inexactly dependent on Karna and Duryodhana's kinship from Mahabharata, where everything changes for a ghetto abiding vagrant (Rajinikanth) who's taken under the wing of a nearby pack master (Mammooty) with the appearance of another region judge.

Tumbbad (2018)

While searching for a mystery treasure in a town in twentieth century Maharashtra, a man and his child face the outcomes of building a sanctuary for an incredible devil who shouldn't be loved right now film.

Unda (2019)

In light of a genuine story, a nine-man Kerala police unit (Mammootty among them) must guarantee serene decisions in the Maoist-inclined territories of Chhattisgarh with a lacking number of shots — unda is Malayalam for "projectile".

Vaastav: The Reality (1999)

Approximately dependent on the life of Mumbai hoodlum Chhota Rajan, a youngster (Sanjay Dutt) from the ghettos incidentally kills somebody, which drives him into an existence of wrongdoing where he quickly moves up the stepping stool — before propelling into a winding.

Virus (2019)

Set against the setting of the 2018 Nipah Virus episode in the Indian province of Kerala, people from different backgrounds meet up to contain its spread right now language spine chiller. Parvathy, Revathi star &  Tovino Thomas.

Whiplash (2014)

A driven youthful drummer (Miles Teller) is pushed as far as possible and past by a damaging teacher (J.K. Simmons) in what became author executive Damien Chazelle's leap forward.

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as a genuine stockbroker who cheated over $100 million from purchasers and misled his way to the top, before he was gotten and accused of extortion, defilement, and tax evasion. Martin Scorsese coordinates, in manners that were blamed for celebrating its hero's unpardonable activities.

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[bookedsuccess]

DAY FORTY SEVEN

The Book “The Tell-Tale Brain” in Three Sentences

Summary by James Clear

Humans are unique among the animal kingdom because of their brain. The human brain evolved through two methods: biological evolution, which takes a long time and cultural evolution, which is incredibly fast by comparison. These evolutionary processes have resulted in the development of mirror neurons, which contribute to our remarkable levels of creativity, ambition, communication.

The Tell-Tale Brain summary

This is my book summary of The Tell-Tale Brain by V.S. Ramachandran. My notes are informal and often contain quotes from the book as well as my own thoughts. This summary also includes key lessons and important passages from the book.

The author has unearthed many of his discoveries by working with people who have interesting or strange brain injuries and disabilities.

The Heinsenberg Principle reveals that at the subatomic level even our most basic sense of cause and effect breaks down.

The deciphering of the genetic code in the 1950s marked the birth of modern biology.

Humans are different, plain and simple. We are not “just another ape.”

It is impossible to understand the human brain without understanding how it evolved.

“Nothing in biology makes sense, except in light of evolution.” -Theodosius Dobzhansky

Fascinating: many traits evolved from previous traits with very different functions. For example, wings evolved from scales. The original purpose was insulation not flight.

Evolution found ways to radically repurpose functions in the ape brain into remarkably more powerful functions in the human brain.

“All good science emerges from an imaginative conception of what might be true.” -Peter Medawar

Ramachandran loves “small science” which doesn't require big teams or lots of technology and can be repeated by almost anyone.

Homogeneity breeds weakness. Science (and life) needs many different styles and viewpoints.

Application for mental models: Many scientists let the most expensive equipment drive their research and not the most interesting questions. If your lab spends $1 million on a state of the art brain imaging machine, then you tend to get pressured to use it at all times. Every scientific problem gets forced through the lens of one machine. Consider how often we do this with our thinking and our decision making. How often do we let one identity (politics, religion, capitalism, etc.) dictate all of our thinking? (See Paul Graham's “Keep your identity small.”) How often does the highest paid person's mental model win out? (See: HiPPOs.) Be careful to not let investments overpower mental models.

Humans are part of the animal kingdom, descendants of apes, but also transcendent and unique among the animal kingdom. We are both.

Incremental changes do not always lead to incremental results. Sometimes there is a “phase transition” like heating a block of ice from 31 degrees to 32 degrees.

Phase transitions can occur in society as well. The rise of the Internet, new political orders, etc.

Sometime around 150,000 years ago, this phase transition happened within the human brain.

We can view evolution as going through two avenues: biological, which takes a very long time and cultural, which is shockingly fast by comparison. Ideas evolve much faster than bodies do.

The cortex of most other mammal brains is mostly smooth and flat whereas the human cortex has grown so much that it has developed many folds and valleys to increase surface area (the walnut-like appearance).

The cortex is especially well developed in dolphins and primates.

An intention tremor is an example of an oscillating feedback loop in the human body. (Thinking in Systems makes the point that delays in feedback loops lead to oscillations in systems.)

Biology so clearly drives behavior. Damage to the basal ganglia, for example, can lead to Parkinson's and a shuffling gate. This new behavior (a shuffling walk) is not a choice on the patient's part. It is simply a consequence of changes in the neurological structure of the brain. We are quick to admit the influence of biological factors on behavior in cases like these, but we too often overlook them otherwise.

Wernicke's area in the brain plays a critical role in language and deciphering meaning. It is 7x larger in human than in other primates and is one of the key biological differences between our brain and other animals.

Some of the complex traits that embody human nature: ambition, empathy, and foresight.

At least three areas have developed extraordinarily rapidly in human brains relative to other primates: Wernicke’s area, the prefrontal cortex, and the IPL region in each parietal lobe. These three areas structurally evolved in small steps, but functionally they led to massive leaps forward compared to other primates.

Within some of these regions there is a special class of nerve cells called mirror neurons. These fire not only when you perform an action, but also when you watch someone else perform an action.

Mirror neurons are incredibly important and are an area of huge research focus right now. They may be central to social learning, imitation, and the cultural transmission of skills and attitudes.

Mirror neurons are hyper developed in humans compared to animals. This allowed humans to learn new skills within just one or two generations as opposed to the hundreds or thousands of generations required for genetic evolution. Cultural evolution operates at light speed compared to genetic evolution.

Look up servo loop.

Experience modifies the brain by strengthening or weakening the synapses that link neurons together.

The regions of the brain are not cleanly divided in their roles and functions, but rather work together in a remarkable fashion. They are strongly linked and some regions can even take over functions for damaged areas. There is much redundancy among the brain areas.

Humans are the only species to use neural plasticity to such an extreme degree. You've probably noticed how reliant humans are on their parents compared to say, how a baby giraffe can walk within hours of being born. This is not a weakness, but rather a strength because it allows humans to maintain remarkable brain plasticity during the first ten years of life.

Vision is so incredibly powerful for living creatures that it evolved separately in different species.

When you see something the light rays seen by your eye are converted into nerve impulses. There is no image in your head. Just impulses that describe it to your brain – like writing could describe how a chair looks even though the words on the paper look nothing like the chair itself.

Wieskrantz’s studies on blindsight offer an interesting look at nonconscious sight. The patient was able to point at a spot on the wall correctly time after time despite saying that he could not see the spot at all.

The Coolidge Effect: the phenomenon where males are sexually excited by new partners over and over again. Proven by a seldom known rat study where a sex deprived rat has sex with a female until exhausted. Then a new female is introduced and it happens again. And then again even though the rat was seemingly exhausted before.

Synesthesia occurs when someone experiences the combining of senses. For example, the number 7 might seem red or chicken might taste “pointy.”

In the fetus there is a massive over connection of neurons and then they are gradually pruned down to strengthen and prioritize certain connections.

One fascinating explanation of synesthesia is that two adjacent areas of the brain are crosswired which leads to increased crosstalk between, say, colors and numbers.

Interesting theory: a high percentage of artists and creators have been reported to have synesthesia. It's quite possible that the cross linkage between neurons that leads to synesthesia also enables artists to create metaphors and connections between ideas in an easier fashion than most people.

It is very possible that the crosswiring of adjacent areas of the brain was selected for by evolution because it enabled those people to be more creative (and thus increase the odds of survival) with the unharmful side effect that some people would experience synesthesia.

This is how science works: begin with simple, tractable questions that can be answered and will pave the way to the big questions.

Humans mature at a glacial pace compared to most animals. What do we gain from this vulnerable period that would seem to decrease our odds of survival? The answer is culture.

Culture is transferred from person to person through language and imitation. Accurate imitation depends on our unique human ability to see the world from someone else’s vantage point.

Humans can develop a mental model of what others think of them. This is known as a “theory of mind” and our ability to construct these scenarios in our head is unique to humans.

There are still many important questions about the evolution of the human mind that remain unanswered. Here are Ramachandran’s five big unanswered questions about the evolution of the human brain:

Wallace’s Problem: The human brain reached its present size about 300,000 years ago, yet many of our modern attributes like tool making, fire, and perhaps even language appeared only about 75,000 years ago. Why did it take so long for all of this latent potential to blossom? And why did it blossom so suddenly?

2) Homo habilis likely created the first tools 2.4 million years ago. What was the role of tool use in shaping human cognition?

3) Why was there a sudden explosion in human cognition around 60,000 years ago? Widespread clothing and shelters show up around this time. (Jared Diamond refers to this as “the great leap.”)

4) Why are humans so good at reading one another’s intentions? Why can we develop theories of others minds? Why do humans have better neural circuits for this than any other animal?

5) How did language evolve?

Natural selection can only select for expressed abilities, not latent ones.

Giacomo Rizzolatti's study showed that monkeys had some ability to read another monkey’s mind, which means they had some mirror neurons.

Mirror neurons are like “nature’s own virtual reality simulations of the intentions of other beings.” They allow you to envision what someone else is doing and to predict what will happen next. This is how we interpret other people’s complex intentions.

Mirror neurons also allow you to imitate the skills of others, which makes it possible for us to inherit the skills and culture of others.

Anytime you watch someone doing something, the neurons your brain would use to do the same thing become active as if you yourself were doing it.

The brain and free will: Your brain has to inhibit yourself from imitating everything you see, so there are some inhibitory circuits that cut off those actions. This might be how free will occurs. You are presented with many options and your brain ignores all but one of them.

The brain has multiple layers of communication between neurons. If you see someone experiencing pain but your skin receptors do not experience pain, then your body knows it is not happening to you and so you empathize with that person rather than actually feel their pain.

Mirror neurons appear to be wired from birth to some degree. A newborn baby, just a few hours old, will often echo its mother by sucking its tongue out when watching its mother do it.

Mirror neurons have multiple functions. They allow you to predict another person's intentions. They allow you to adopt someone else's point of view and to see yourself as others see you (self-awareness). They allow you to transform a map in one dimension into a map in another dimension (ex. visual to auditory).

Imitation was one of the key steps in the evolution of humans. Imitation allows us to learn by example, which means we made the massive shift from Darwinian evolution (which takes millions of years) to cultural evolution (which can spread ideas and skills rapidly).

IQ as a measure of intelligence sort of misses the point because intelligence is a collection of complex, multifaceted abilities not one general ability.

Interesting: two doctors discovered autism independently and, incredibly, they both named the condition “autism.”

Ramachandran ran an experiment where subjects bit a pencil horizontally, so it shaped their mouth somewhat like a smile. While in this position, their brains would register someone’s frown, but would not imitate someone else’s smile. The hypothesis was that the mirror neurons which would fire while looking at and imitating someone else’s smile were already busy with the own person’s smile (or similar shape), thus they did not fire. In some ways, this link between imitation and action reminds me of Brene Brown’s idea that it is much harder to be closed off emotionally if you are active physically. It’s like if the body is moving, the activity in your neurons makes it harder to “close off” emotional pathways.

Humans have an incredible capacity for language. It is one of the traits that separates us most clearly from the rest of the animal kingdom.

Interesting definition of natural selection: the progressive series of chance variations that enhance the organism's ability to pass on its genes to the next generation.

Alfred Russell Wallace independently discovered natural selection. He deserves more credit than he gets.

You can't get very far in science by trying to explain one mystery with another mystery.

Trying to ascribe a numerical value to how much genes or environment impact the outcome misses the point. Both impact it and the percentage to which it impacts it can vary widely. The key is to realize they are connected and not to worry about some single numerical value. Psychologists often make this mistake – especially when discussing IQ as a single trait.

The PKU example showcases how the same problem can appear completely genetic or completely environmental under different conditions.

How it is possible for neural circuitry to embody meaning is one of the great unsolved mysteries of neuroscience.

The three bones in the inner ear of mammals – the malleus, incus, and stapes – actually evolved from the jaws of reptiles, which have three bones in their jaw rather than the one bone (mandible) in mammals. It's fascinating how many functions in the body would never have been designed that way from scratch, but just resulted from “works for now” evolutionary adaptations.

There seem to be some universal factors in the recognition of beauty. For example, tropical male birds developed remarkably beautiful feathers to attract females of their own species, but humans find them beautiful as well and use them in headdresses. Perhaps there is a fundamental “truth” of aesthetics that speaks to all creatures.

Bowerbirds create very detailed nests in an effort to court a mate. They are even original artists with different birds (within the same species) having different aesthetic tastes and styles. Another interesting example of how beauty might have some fundamental principles that extend outside the human concept of art.

Three questions to ask when analyzing any human trait. 1) What is the internal logical structure of the trait you are looking at? 2) Why does the particular trait have the structure it does? What did it evolve for? 3) How is this trait mediated by the neural machinery in the brain?

Knowing the small details doesn't mean you comprehend the whole picture.

Vision evolved to discover and respond to objects: recognize them, eat them, catch them, or mate with them quickly and reliably.

Ramachandran refers to a phenomenon known as The Peak Shift Effect, which is also called supernormal stimuli by other experts. It seems like a very powerful concept to me. It essentially says that the brain learns certain rules for discriminating between things and that if you present the brain with an exaggerated version of that rule, it strongly prefers it. Tinbergen’s famous studies on herrings provide a good example. Baby herrings will peck at a red spot on their mother’s beak when they want food. If a research presents a fake beak with three red spots, then the baby herring goes berserk. This supernormal stimuli is preferred by the brain as if the baby bird is saying, “Wow! What a beak.”

Caricatures are an example of supernormal stimuli in human art. Caricatures amplifying the features of a given face. Also, many female sculptures have exaggerated breasts and hips, which seems to be preferred by our brains.

Most theories are stated in a way that doesn’t even allow them to be tested or proven wrong. This isn’t really science. It’s just conjecture. Science requires you to state a hypothesis (or theory) and then develop an experimental way of testing to see if it is confirmed or refuted.

There are three ways to test ideas about peak shift (and other supernormal stimuli). 1) Galvanic skin response (GSR) tests, 2) recording nerve impulses from single nerve cells in the visual area in the brain, 3) utilizing your “laws” or hypotheses to create more reliable, consistent, or successful results.

Your brain has 100 billion nerve cells, but only a small subset can be active in any given instant. (How many, exactly?)

Ramachandran conducts an interesting exercise in class where people must rank three drawings of a horse. One drawn by an autistic seven year old is often preferred to one down by Leonardo DaVinci. (The three pictures.)

The Isolation Principle. There appears to be some aspect of isolation in the brain that can lead to enhanced creativity. For example, when autistic children have damaged or poorly functioning areas of the brain it often opens up the ability for one area (like the right parietal lobe) to receive more attention and results in remarkable creativity (like drawing).

Idea: I also wonder how much other areas of the brain dampen signals to a given area and when they are damaged (like in autistic children) reduced dampening leads to greater creativity.

It's possible regular folks have latent creative talent waiting to be unleashed but it is being held back by inhibition from other brain areas (which is normal) and only arises when those inhibitors are damaged.

There were some remarkable brain studies conducted in Australia, which used TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) to deactivate parts of normal people's brains for a few moments. Almost instantly they could draw better or perform mathematical feats. This supports The Isolation Principle.

The process of vision is carried out through a series of processes and feedback loops in the brain. This occurs in such a way that multiple visual options are presented, but only one wins out – the final image you see. In this sense, vision and hallucination are closely related. We are always “hallucinating” and our brain selects the one hallucination that seems to most closely match reality based on the external stimuli we receive.

Our minds prefer symmetrical faces. Even minor deviations in symmetry are seen as undesirable. There is an evolutionary explanation for this. Parasitic infestations During infancy can cause small variations in symmetry. So, biological health is somewhat tied to symmetry.

Interestingly, the male brain may prefer blondes over brunettes because it is easier to identify certain ailments like jaundice in a fair blonde complexion than in brunettes. In other words, it's easier to judge if a blonde is a healthy mate.

The self consists of many components and the notion of one, unitary self may be an illusion.

Qualia is the word for your unique sense and perception of the world. It refers to how things seem to you. Examples: the pain of breaking your leg or the color of a sunset. Qualia refers to your subjective experience of the world.

Qualia (your subjective experience) and the self are different things, but you can’t get qualia without a self.

Freud, despite his faults, was correct that the modern brain is largely unconscious and that the conscious self is but a small slice of our whole world.

The self seems to emerge from a relatively small cluster of brain areas.

Blindsight is an example of how your conscious mind is tied to your visual cortex, yet a lot of other information you are taking in can be processed nonconsciously.

The human brain and body seem to have a default tendency for harmony. We feel tension that needs to be resolved if there is a mismatch between our conscious mind and nonconcious body. (Extreme examples: transsexual man trapped in female body or phantom limb.)

Neuroscience is currently at the stage chemistry was at in the 19th century. Grouping together the basic elements of the field and not yet attempting any grand, all-encompassing theories.

Science tells us that humans are animals, another type of beast. But, importantly, we don't feel that way. We feel like angels who aspire to become something more than a mere animal. So, perhaps we are both an animal and an angel.

Reading Suggestions

This is a list of authors, books, and concepts mentioned in The Tell-Tale Brain, which might be useful for future reading.

Stephen Jay Gould's essays on natural history.

Eye and Brain by Richard Gregory

Pat Churchland’s writings on philosophy and neuroscience

Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5 is an awesome description of life and death

Niko Tinbergen’s studies on animal behavior, which won the Nobel Prize

Alan Snider's writing and theories on creativity

Arthur (Bud) Craig's work on neuroanatomy and consciousness

Richard Francis Burton and his expeditions

Additional Thoughts

This is a list of interesting notes, side stories, or additional thoughts that were sparked as as I read the book.

How do primates learn to use tools? Does each one learn it anew? Is it passed down through their “culture”? If so, do they have mirror neurons, but just less of them than humans?

Can we apply the Coolidge Effect and the brain's thirst for novelty to other areas of life outside of sexual interest? For example, are we wired to naturally seek new stimulation with our goals rather than mastery?

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The Cambridge Analytica Data Apocalypse Was Predicted in 2007

In the early 2000s, Alex Pentland was running the wearable computing group at the MIT Media Lab—the place where the ideas behind augmented reality and Fitbit-style fitness trackers got their start. Back then, it was still mostly folks wearing computers in satchels and cameras on their heads. “They were basically cell phones, except we had to solder it together ourselves,” Pentland says. But the hardware wasn't the important part. The ways the devices interacted was. “You scale that up and you realize, holy crap, we’ll be able to see everybody on Earth all the time,” he says—where they went, who they knew, what they bought.

And so by the middle of the decade, when massive social networks like Facebook were taking off, Pentland and his fellow social scientists were beginning to look at network and cell phone data to see how epidemics spread, how friends relate to each other, and how political alliances form. “We’d accidentally invented a particle accelerator for understanding human behavior,” says David Lazer, a data-oriented political scientist then at Harvard. “It became apparent to me that everything was changing in terms of understanding human behavior.” In late 2007 Lazer put together a conference entitled “Computational Social Science,” along with Pentland and other leaders in analyzing what people today call big data.

In early 2009 the attendees of that conference published a statement of principles in the prestigious journal Science. In light of the role of social scientists in the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica debacle—slurping up data on online behavior from millions of users, figuring out the personalities and predilections of those users, and nominally using that knowledge to influence elections—that article turns out to be prescient.

“These vast, emerging data sets on how people interact surely offer qualitatively new perspectives on collective human behavior,” the researchers wrote. But, they added, this emerging understanding came with risks. "Perhaps the thorniest challenges exist on the data side, with respect to access and privacy,” the paper said. “Because a single dramatic incident involving a breach of privacy could produce rules and statutes that stifle the nascent field of computational social science, a self-regulatory regime of procedures, technologies, and rules is needed that reduces this risk but preserves research potential.”

Oh. You don’t say?

Possibly even more disturbing than the idea that Cambridge Analytica tried to steal an election—something lots of people say probably isn’t possible—is the role of scientists in facilitating the ethical breakdowns behind it. When Zeynep Tufekci argues that what Facebook does with people’s personal data is so pervasive and arcane that people can’t possibly give informed consent to it, she’s employing the language of science and medicine. Scientists are supposed to have acquired, through painful experience, the knowledge of how to treat human subjects in their research. Because it can go terribly wrong.

Here’s what’s worse: The scientists warned us about big data and corporate surveillance. They tried to warn themselves.

In big data and computation, the social sciences saw a chance to grow up. “Most of the things we think we know about humanity are based on pitifully little data, and as a consequence they’re not strong science,” says Pentland, an author of the 2009 paper. “It’s all stories and heuristics.” But data and computational social science promised to change that. It’s what science always hopes for—not merely to quantify the now but to calculate what’s to come. Scientists can do it for stars and DNA and electrons; people have been more elusive.

Then they’d take the next quantum leap. Observation and prediction, if you get really good at them, lead to the ability to act upon the system and bring it to heel. It’s the same progress that leads from understanding heritability to sequencing DNA to genome editing, or from Newton to Einstein to GPS. That was the promise of Cambridge Analytica: to use computational social science to influence behavior. Cambridge Analytica said it could do it. It apparently cheated to get the data. And the catastrophe that the authors of that 2009 paper warned of has come to pass.

Pentland puts it more pithily: “We called it.”

The 2009 paper recommends that researchers be better trained—in both big-data methods and in the ethics of handling such data. It suggests that the infrastructure of science, like granting agencies and institutional review boards, should get stronger at handling new demands, because data spills and difficulties in anonymizing bulk data were already starting to slow progress.

Historically, when some group recommends self-regulation and new standards, it’s because that group is worried someone else is about to do it for them—usually a government. In this case, though, the scientists were worried, they wrote, about Google, Yahoo, and the National Security Agency. “Computational social science could become the exclusive domain of private companies and government agencies. Alternatively, there might emerge a privileged set of academic researchers presiding over private data from which they produce papers that cannot be critiqued or replicated,” they wrote. Only strong rules for collaborations between industry and academia would allow access to the numbers the scientists wanted but also protect consumers and users.

“Even when we were working on that paper we recognized that with great power comes great responsibility, and any technology is a dual-use technology,” says Nicholas Christakis, head of the Human Nature Lab at Yale, one of the participants in the conference, and a co-author of the paper. “Nuclear power is a dual-use technology. It can be weaponized.”

Welp. “It is sort of what we anticipated, that there would be a Three Mile Island moment around data sharing that would rock the research community,” Lazer says. “The reality is, academia did not build an infrastructure. Our call for getting our house in order? I’d say it has been inadequately addressed.”

Cambridge Analytica’s scientific foundation—as reporting from The Guardian has shown—seems to mostly derive from the work of Michal Kosinski, a psychologist now at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and David Stillwell, deputy director of the Psychometrics Centre at Cambridge Judge Business School (though neither worked for Cambridge Analytica or affiliated companies). In 2013, when they were both working at Cambridge, Kosinski and Stillwell were co-authors on a big study that attempted to connect the language people used in their Facebook status updates with the so-called Big Five personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism). They’d gotten permission from Facebook users to ingest status updates via a personality quiz app.

Along with another researcher, Kosinski and Stillwell also used a related dataset to, they said, determine personal traits like sexual orientation, religion, politics, and other personal stuff using nothing but Facebook Likes.

Supposedly it was this idea—that you could derive highly detailed personality information from social media interactions and personality tests—that led another social science researcher, Aleksandr Kogan, to develop a similar approach via an app, get access to even more Facebook user data, and then hand it all to Cambridge Analytica. (Kogan denies any wrongdoing and has said in interviews that he is just a scapegoat.)

But take a beat here for a second. That initial Kosinski paper is worth a look. It asserts that Likes enable a machine learning algorithm to predict attributes like intelligence. The best predictors of intelligence, according to the paper? They include thunderstorms, the Colbert Report, science, and … curly fries. Low intelligence: Sephora, ‘I love being a mom,’ Harley Davidson, and Lady Antebellum. The paper looked at sexuality, too, finding that male homosexuality was well-predicted by liking the No H8 campaign, Mac cosmetics, and the musical Wicked. Strong predictors of male heterosexuality? Wu-Tang Clan, Shaq, and ‘being confused after waking up from naps.’

Ahem. If that feels like you might have been able to guess any of those things without a fancy algorithm, well, the authors acknowledge the possibility. “Although some of the Likes clearly relate to their predicted attribute, as in the case of No H8 Campaign and homosexuality,” the paper concludes, “other pairs are more elusive; there is no obvious connection between Curly Fries and high intelligence.”

Kosinski and his colleagues went on, in 2017, to make more explicit the leap from prediction to control. In a paper titled “Psychological Targeting as an Effective Approach to Digital Mass Persuasion,” they exposed people with specific personality traits—extraverted or introverted, high openness or low openness—to advertisements for cosmetics and a crossword puzzle game tailored to those traits. (An aside for my nerds: Likes for “Stargate” and “computers” predicted introversion, but Kosinski and colleagues acknowledged that a potential weakness is that Likes could change in significance over time. “Liking the fantasy show Game of Thrones might have been highly predictive of introversion in 2011,” they wrote, “but its growing popularity might have made it less predictive over time as its audience became more mainstream.”)

Now, clicking on an ad doesn’t necessarily show that you can change someone’s political choices. But Kosinski says political ads would be even more potent. “In the context of academic research, we cannot use any political messages, because it would not be ethical,” says Kosinski. “The assumption is that the same effects can be observed in political messages.” But it’s true that his team saw more responses to tailored ads than mistargeted ads. (To be clear, this is what Cambridge Analytica said it could do, but Kosinski wasn’t working with the company.)

Reasonable people could disagree. As for the 2013 paper, “all it shows is that algorithmic predictions of Big 5 traits are about as accurate as human predictions, which is to say only about 50 percent accurate,” says Duncan Watts, a sociologist at Microsoft Research and one of the inventors of computational social science. “If all you had to do to change someone’s opinion was guess their openness or political attitude, then even really noisy predictions might be worrying at scale. But predicting attributes is much easier than persuading people.”

Watts says that the 2017 paper didn’t convince him the technique could work, either. The results barely improve click-through rates, he says—a far cry from predicting political behavior. And more than that, Kosinski’s mistargeted openness ads—that is, the ads tailored for the opposite personality characteristic—far outperformed the targeted extraversion ads. Watts says that suggests other, uncontrolled factors are having unknown effects. “So again,” he says, “I would question how meaningful these effects are in practice."

To the extent a company like Cambridge Analytica says it can use similar techniques for political advantage, Watts says that seems "shady," and he’s not the only one who thinks so. “On the psychographic stuff, I haven’t see any science that really aligns with their claims,” Lazer says. “There’s just enough there to make it plausible and point to a citation here or there.”

Kosinski disagrees. “They’re going against an entire industry,” he says. “There are billions of dollars spent every year on marketing. Of course a lot of it is wasted, but those people are not morons. They don’t spend money on Facebook ads and Google ads just to throw it away.”

Even if trait-based persuasion doesn’t work as Kosinski and his colleagues hypothesize and Cambridge Analytica claimed, the troubling part is that another trained researcher—Kogan—allegedly delivered data and similar research ideas to the company. In a press release posted on the Cambridge Analytica website on Friday, the acting CEO and former chief data officer of the company denied wrongdoing and insisted that the company deleted all the data they were supposed to according to Facebook’s changing rules. And as for the data that Kogan allegedly brought in via his company GSR, he wrote, Cambridge Analytica “did not use any GSR data in the work we did in the 2016 US presidential election.”

Either way, the overall idea of using human behavioral science to sell ads and products without oversight is still the core of Facebook's business model. “Clearly these methods are being used currently. But those aren’t examples of the methods being used to understand human behavior,” Lazer says. “They’re not trying to create insights but to use methods out of the academy to optimize corporate objectives.”

Lazer is being circumspect; let me put that a different way: They are trying to use science to manipulate you into buying things.

So maybe Cambridge Analytica wasn’t the Three Mile Island of computational social science. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a signal, a ping on the Geiger counter. It shows people are trying.

Facebook knows that the social scientists have tools the company can use. Late in 2017, a Facebook blog post admitted that maybe people were getting a little messed up by all the time they spend on social media. “We also worry about spending too much time on our phones when we should be paying attention to our families,” wrote David Ginsberg, Facebook’s director of research, and Moira Burke, a Facebook research scientist. “One of the ways we combat our inner struggles is with research.” And with that they laid out a short summary of existing work, and name-checked a bunch of social scientists with whom the company is collaborating. This, it strikes me, is a little bit like a member of congress caught in a bribery sting insisting he was conducting his own investigation. It’s also, of course, exactly what the social scientists warned of a decade ago.

But those social scientists, it turns out, worry a lot less about Facebook Likes than they do about phone calls and overnight deliverys. “Everybody talks about Google and Facebook, but the things that people say online are not nearly as predictive as, say, what your telephone company knows about you. Or your credit card company,” Pentland says. “Fortunately telephone companies, banks, things like that are very highly regulated companies. So we have a fair amount of time. It may never happen that the data gets loose.”

Here, Kosinski agrees. “If you use data more intrusive than Facebook Likes, like credit card records, if you use methods better than just posting an ad on someone’s Facebook wall, if you spend more money and resources, if you do a lot of A-B testing,” he says, “of course you would boost the efficiency.” Using Facebook Likes is the kind of thing an academic does, Kosinski says. If you really want to nudge a network of humans, he recommends buying credit card records.

Kosinski also suggests hiring someone slicker than Cambridge Analytica. “If people say Cambridge Analytica won the election for Trump, it probably helped, but if he had hired a better company, the efficiency would be even higher,” he says.

That's why social scientists are still worried. They worry about someone taking that quantum leap to persuasion and succeeding. “I spent quite some time and quite some effort reporting what Dr. Kogan was doing, to the head of the department and legal teams at the university, and later to press like the Guardian, so I’m probably more offended than average by the methods,” Kosinski says. “But the bottom line is, essentially they could have achieved the same goal without breaking any rules. It probably would have taken more time and cost more money.”

Pentland says the next frontier is microtargetting, when political campaigns and extremist groups sock-puppet social media accounts to make it seem like an entire community is spontaneously espousing similar beliefs. “That sort of persuasion, from people you think are like you having what appears to be a free opinion, is enormously effective,” Pentland says. “Advertising, you can ignore. Having people you think are like you have the same opinion is how fads, bubbles, and panics start.” For now it’s only working on edge cases, if at all. But next time? Or the time after that? Well, they did try to warn us.

Facing Controversy

After days of silence about the Cambridge Analytica controversy, Mark Zuckerberg authored a Facebook post.

Facebook has struggled to respond to the revelations about Cambridge Analytica.

Read the WIRED story about the past two years of struggles inside Facebook.

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