Red or Green are two sides of the same apple

Haven't had much time lately to think about anything other than differential equations or electric circuits and nobody really wants to see or discuss that. But I just saw this talk on TED and it hit home so much that I couldn't stop myself from taking the time from circuits to pick it apart. The talk is on jealousy and envy and though it doesn't bring any answers to the question or relief to the problem (other than misery loves company), it is still a very interesting listen.

 

 So here it is. Envy is an integral part of our lives. Though it is frowned upon, at the same time society creates all the necessary conditions for it to flourish. For one thing, we are in constant competition with one another. And the hippie psycho-babble is that we are all special snowflakes and we are not in competition but we actually complete one another. Sure thing. So maybe I'm not competing with every single one of the 7 billion humans on Earth. But I am competing with the other guy interviewing for the same job as me. I'm competing with the other girl who is interested in the same man I am. I'm competing with the other smart-asses in my class for grades because of course we live in an academic system ruled by the bell-curve. And the most insidious competition of all, the one on social status that has been exacerbated and blown out of proportion through the powers of social media. We are more connected than ever, but at the same time, we never felt more alone and Facebook is just another way to ask, no rather, BEG for attention. And this makes us deeply unhappy. I don't know about you, but personally every single time I log on to Facebook I feel just a little bit worse. Because there's always someone who just went to Greece on vacation and posted their pictures or somebody who got invited to a party that you were left out of and now is describing what an amazing time they had. Facebook has become an endless competition to show off. Because as Tyler Durden so eloquently put it, "You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else. " Sure there are differences but there is a limit on the number of unique attributes you could have and we are all just a combination of the same ingredients with different concentrations. BECAUSE we are not so unique as our high school professors might have liked to make us believe, because our world is made up of limited resources for an ever-growing population and because we live in a market economy that only rewards the best of the best, because marketing is mostly based on exploiting unfulfilled desires, we are in competition with one another. Ultimately, we have to learn to ignore our natural impulses and the messages society sends us on a daily basis or else live in misery with only Proust and Shakespeare as company.

We are happiest at our weakest

So I have a bit abandoned my Flirting with Red Balloons project, but I find this talk applies so well, that I wanted to include it in the collection. It is not a recipe for happiness. It is simply a philosophy of how happy people think and act.

Decisions, decisions

School and procrastination have been keeping me quite busy these past few weeks, but last night I got inspired and started watching some TED videos. This is an old one by Dan Gilbert (I really love this guy! Funny AND smart! Now if only he was younger and had some hair... oh well!)

We thank you for your application, but unfortunately we do not accept Shreks within our midst

In a long series of things that don't make sense in this world, I recently discovered this dating website called Beautiful People (thank you MIS class!) where the basic concept is simple. You sign up, fill in all sorts of information about yourself and you are required to put up a picture (actually this is the first step after entering your name and e-mail). And in the following 48 hours, members of the site vote if they should keep you or not. And if they decide not, then you're out. As simple as that.

So if I get this right, you can be able to see my picture once, see what my height and weight is (luckily they don't ask for bra size), and decide if you never want to see me again?? Of course, the site is called "Beautiful People" so we don't want to be bothered with fat or, God forbid, UGLY people!! Actually, this past June, the website was attacked by the "Shrek" virus that allowed applicants to bypass the voting system and therefore be granted access directly. Once this was found out, from the 35,000 members that were concerned by this breach, the company ended up throwing out 30,000 because they didn't fit the bill (see article for more details).

Granted, from a business and marketing perspective, this site is genius! It offers its users a built-in filter which saves its members time since they don't have to bother with unattractive people. What's more, it confers exclusivity and prestige to those who actually get in (and who doesn't like to be part of a private party?). However, from a social point of view, what does this site teach us? Be shallow, focus on looks and as for those who don't fit your standards of physical beauty, push them to the back of your mind where you don't see them, you don't have to deal with them and as far as you're concerned, they pretty much don't exist. What does this promote? Segregation, discrimination and an overall excessive focus on looks.

But people are making money out of this so all is good. And actually, following this business model, I propose that the creators of this site take the next step in diversifying their product. Similarly to car companies that provide the luxury class and the economy class of their vehicles (Infiniti and Nissan, Lexus and Toyota, Acura and Honda), well I think that they should start working on UglyPeople.com. Think about it! This could be huge! Their selling pitch could be "you didn't make it to the top, but don't despair, because you still have a shot at the bottom!" They could even put some barriers to entry in order to make it seem more appealing. They could only accept people with a missing limb (or part of a limb... like a finger or a toe... or a nail) or those with visible scars on their faces. And then they could make a website for average people who didn't get into either of the two previous ones. And another one for single parents. And people over 40. And people under a certain level of income. And immigrants. And then we can all be happily isolated in our own little social bubbles where no one will ever come to disturb us or challenge us or make us think that life could be somehow different.

Somewhat on the same topic, here is a TED talk about how search engines' algorithms can lead us to a similar bubble where certain topics and websites will never ever reach us.

Psychobable

Not necessarily the most interesting or captivating ideas and it's a bit too optimistic and esoteric for a cynic like me (not to mention that she sounds like an actor giving a monologue and her voice really starts getting on my nerves at one point), but I love the way she describes reality and how our brain functions to interpret it. It kind of pulls you out of your conscious mind for a while and gives you a glimpse of how the world could be seen differently. We already know that we are limited by our senses (we can only see or hear a small portion of the stimuli available in the universe), but this video also makes you aware for those 18 minutes of how your brain limits your view of reality and just how trapped you are by those neurons and those synapses. Then again, I don't know if always seeing the world as Jill Bolte Taylor describes it in this video is better than the way we usually see it. Probably not, since you can't read nor speak. But it's a good way of expanding your understanding of reality, not to live like this, but to at least experience it once in your life. I guess the general purpose of this video (as far as I see it) is to show us that the realm of possibilities is not as narrow as we might think and that the mysterious and bizarre world we see in particle physics IS real and it's all around us. And this has to be the longest introduction for a video ever, so I'll just shut up now.

On your mind, on my mind, on everyone's mind

In response to my earlier post on the human brain, here are a couple of videos that, although they don't answer my question, they do vaguely touch on the subject (not to mention that they're highly interesting and the speaker is quite charismatic). And I think that they have brought the answer to one of my existential questions: what to do with my life. The answer: from now on, I shall study the phenomenon of phantom PMS! Or maybe not...



Hmm synesthesia...well I always thought every number had a personality. Does that count?



So to summarize:
- art and creativity are genetic malformations of the brain
- the only thing that separates us from another human being is our skin...literally.

The Paradox of Choice

So people, don't have any expectations in life and you'll be happy!