- Awareness of being a collection of traits and behaviors ➶
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From a fascinating question and answer session with software pioneer Alan Kay:
Neil’s idea was that all of us should become aware of the environments we live in and how our brain/minds are genetically disposed to accommodate to them without our being very aware of the process, and, most importantly, winding up almost completely unaware of what we’ve accommodated to by winding up at a “new normal”.
The start of a better way is similar to the entry point of science “The world is not as it seems”. Here, it’s “As a human being I’m a collection of traits and behaviors, many of which are atavistic and even detrimental to my progress”. Getting aware of how useful cravings for salt, fat, sugar, caffeine, etc., turn into a problem when these are abundant and consumer companies can load foods with them….
And, Neil points out — in books like “Amusing Ourselves To Death” and “The End Of Childhood” — we have cravings for “news” and “novelty” and “surprise” and even “blinking”, etc. which consumer companies have loaded communications channels with …
Many of these ideas trace back to McLuhan, Innis, Ong, etc.
Bottom line: children need to learn how to use the 21st century, or there’s a good chance they will lose the 21st century.
See also The Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore.
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Possibly Related:
- A Playful Path
- Ranking Powered by Gravity
- No BS Games
- On Game Length vs Fun Time
- Whole Earth Catalog 1968
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