attention span? what attention span?

From: spike66 (spike66@attbi.com)
Date: Tue Jul 30 2002 - 23:34:59 MDT


Damien Broderick wrote:

>[everything I know about US law I learned from John Grisham conspiracy
>movies and THE PRACTICE]
>
Likewise with the dazed and compliant juries.

Surely we must face the fact that TV, video games
and especially the internet have significantly shortened
our collective attention spans. Well, hasn't it? Have
you the patience with long slow novels that you had
even ten years ago? Me neither.

Look at old Perry Mason dramas, and compare with the
pace of any modern TV program. Do you think that a
jury could now be assembled from the proletariat that could
follow the intricate arguments, built slowly, gradually, with
intricately interwoven reasoning?

NOT! We want the PROOF and we want it NOW
served up in tiny digestible sound bites. QUICK!
FASTER FASTER! (Insert visions of jurors playing
Space Invaders on their Palm Pilots.)

Surely most court systems will eventually collapse under
the strain of needing every case to be closed within
an hour of commencement. As we approach the singularity,
this deadline will be minutes, then seconds.

spike



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