From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@www.aeiveos.com)
Date: Mon Sep 06 1999 - 08:32:55 MDT
On Sun, 5 Sep 1999, Spike Jones wrote:
> Furthermore, I would suggest that
> those internal censors, which have been exercised every day since
> kindergarten *cannot* be turned off in person. We dont know how
> to turn them off! We cant! But online we can. Why please? spike
Fear of disapproval I think has a much higher visual component
than we acknowledge. I suspect it has to do with learning to
watch the faces of people as children to discover if we are
doing something that is disapproved of. Very few people have
the ability to completely mask their emotions, so it is the
fastest way to discover whether we are about to be critisized.
There may even be some weak internal mental wiring to "stop" actions
when we see visual disapproval. I could argue that there would
be survival advantages for this.
The censors can be turned off in person, I did it once or twice
at the Extro4 conference and once last year at the Foresight
Nanotech conference. You have to be willing to risk violating
social protocols and incurring an immense amount of dislike or
disapproval. I can probably do it since I've pretty much given
up wanting to be a member of those clubs that would have me.
Of course something I strongly object to such as the distribution
of incorrect memes is required to generate the willingness to
take the risks. This is why, I'm not a good person to distribute
Extropian ideas outside a Baptist church on Sunday mornings... :-)
The discussion does point out however the degree to which most
of us are highly socially "boxed in". I would observe that
it seems each generation of young people, have to punch
one or two holes in the box. Goth style, body piercings and
tatoos come to mind in the youth of today.
Robert
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