Collective Attention

Less than a year ago, an alarmed and alarming 16-year-old captured the world’s attention when she declared “entire ecosystems are collapsing; how dare you look away.” Then came covid-19 – and people looked away. “Everybody’s got such a short attention span,” remarked American musician Bob Dylan.

The Mind’s Eye

The distinction between what the eye sees and what the mind perceives is a hoary philosophical debate. Do we infer a 3D world from the 2D snapshots our eyes take, as Enlightenment philosophers John Locke and David Hume posited, or is the 3D “objective” world before us, as more contemporary psychologists Hermann von Helmholtz and James J. Gibson presumed?

Control

From infancy we seek to control what we can to gratify our desires. This modus operandi – asserting control – commonly itself becomes a core desire.

2nd Look

To recognize objects, continuity is an essential aspect of sight. The mind massages imagery to show consistency.

Thrill Slaves

Many people are creatures of their minds. The mind seeks to feed off the energy of the soul that it has captivated. One way the mind does this is through thrills. Slot machines illustrate.

Structuring Memory

Memory is the mind’s personal library. Memories are sketches, not full portrayals of events. With so much to accumulate, the mind readily merges similar events over time, efficiently filing memories according to their structural characteristics.