Poll on evolution

If you change something about your body there is a possibility that your son or daughter can inherit that change through genes
	I agree with the statement and I believe in evolution
	I agree with the statement but I do not believe in evolution
	I disagree with the statment but I believe in evolution
	I disagree with the statement because I do not believe in evolution
Powered by Quimble - Create and Share Polls

Utos ng Hari!

"Kamahalan, nandito na ang babaeng pinahanap ninyo"

the reinstigation comencifies

matatapos na ang This Year at parating na ang Next Year kaya bukas Last Year na itong post na ito. bumili na ng mga Next Year na calendaryo baka pagtingin nyo bukas eh Last Year pa ren ang nakalagay at malito kayo. Happy Next Year!

through souless streets and soaring depths the music has come back home. the following was born in the midst of the October 2006 Milenyo smackdown and its taken more than a year to learn to walk and soon it will learn to run, jump and kick. drumtrack is courtesy of FL Studio. i think of it as a chewy-chewy sound

chewy chewy sound (mp3, 3.2 mb)

Lecture Essay #2: The Real Reverse Psychology

"Life Imitates Art"
- Oscar Wilde

The idea that advertising tries to manipulate us is no longer so controversial to most people. Hence the question is no longer academically interesting and it has lost its shock value for the more sophisticated. Even the weight conscious person is aware that Cosmopolitan is trying to play with her sympathies and sell her stuff through supermodel subtlety.

More civic minded people have therefore been telling themselves “If television can tell people what to buy, television should be able to make people be better citizens and children better students, right?” To their credit these people haven’t been lazy in their mass-media preaching. Recall the “Just Say No” campaign of the 90’s, the Flying house bible-adventure theme and compare that with the recent Safeguard animation mini-series.

The really amazing thing about do-gooder ad campaigns like these is that in many cases they are spectacular failures, sometimes backfiring by actually leading to an increase in the behavior they are supposed to get rid of. There was plenty of embarrassment and head-scratching to go around, and the problem remains one of the more annoying facts about behavior that won’t fit neatly into the theories. To their credit, psychologists have not been idle and have even named the phenomenon. And so the concept of “psychological reactance” has entered into the vocabulary of psychology, but just because you’ve named something doesn’t mean you understand it.

What is known so far is that if you try to persuade people sometimes they get the idea that you are trying to control them or limit their freedom. When that happens the tendency is for the person to not just ignore you but for them to do the exact opposite of what you’re trying to make them do. This is psychological reactance. Think of all those government warnings on cigarette packs: Is it possible that by some strange logic they are actually promoting smoking? I’m sure the top bosses at Marlborough find this very amusing. It seems that by trying too hard you could actually turn your audience against you and defeat your purpose, making things worse than if you didn’t try at all.

And so the art of persuasion might not be as straightforward as it seems. A little slight of hand is in order; the problem of how to manipulate people without them knowing that you are doing so. This doesn’t have to sound so nasty and Machiavellian as I might be putting it if you think about the fact that you could use this to convince people to save the environment by driving around less or that condom use can prevent the spread of HIV. We try to persuade people to change their behaviors and attitudes all the time, when asking for more allowance or asking people to sin no more.

Part of the problem might lie in the person trying to persuade you. So far at least one experiment has shown (Chartrand, et al 2006) that if the person making a request (or issuing a command) is close to them and is seen as controlling (think nagging mother-type or annoying supervisor), reactance is more likely. And this can even happen nonconsciously, meaning we are likely not aware that we do it at all, and might especially be true for people who value personal control and freedom.

Which when you think about it means the more someone values their freedom and the more they resent authority the more manipulable through reactance they are. An uneasy thought...

So what’s the trick? Well, maybe if you keep reminding your friends that you are studying psychology and then when you want them to do something why not try telling them to do the opposite. Sneaky, if it works.

Isang araw sa Intramuros

Sabado at kakatapos ko lang ipasa ang entries namin para sa Mayo sa FPPF Fort Santiago. Naglalakad na ako sa Gen. Luna nang huminto ako sa isang gusaling basag ang mga bintana at halatang nasunog. Huminto ako para kumuha ng ilang litrato. Saka ko lang naisip na ito pala ang headquarters ng Comelec na nasunog nuong Pebrero (mayroon pang sunog na memo sa bintana). Inisip ko kung anong nangyari sa imbestigasyon pero hindi ako nag-isip ng matagal dahil tanghaling-tapat at mainit. Naglakad na ako uli. Ilang hakbang pa palapit na ako sa gusali ng NCAA. May mga batang nagiingay at humihiyaw. Mayroon atang palaro. Maya maya pa ay lumabas ang dalawang magkatunggali, parehong lalaking laseng (o mukhang laseng). Tulakan at suntukan hanggang umabot sa gitna ng kalye. Nakalamang ang isa sa suntok at tumba ang mamang walang pang-itaas. Naunang lumapag ang likod sinundan ng malakas na pagumpog ng bumbunan sa aspalto. Hindi nakuntento ang nagwagi at dinaganan pa ng isang paa sa dibdib parang pumapatay ng ipis. Sabay lakad palayo mula sa walang malay na kaaway "SAbi ko saYO huwag MO akOng Ngyar ngyar ngYAR..." Ang lahat ay naganap ng mabilis pa sa kalahating minuto. Nakalampas na ako sa lugar ng insidente, ang kawawang lalaki ay inaakay patayo. Buhay pa naman yata pero matamlay ang buong katawan, walang buto parang jellyace. May dalawang security guard na masayang sumaksi sa lahat. Sabi ko sa kanila "Mabilis ang laban" Sagot nila "Knock-out kaagad". Tumawa kami. Wala nang ibang nangyari sa pag uwi ko.

This is a poem.Walang biro, poem nga ito:

Appendix to Mein Kampf
or
How to Talk like you Know what you’re Talking about
Even when you Don’t

First, Enumerate
Enumerating makes people think several things
One, that you have more than one point
Two, that you know beforehand that you have
more than one point
Three, if you have many points, people can’t accuse you
of being pointless,
or can they?

Second, Cite Statistics
People who aren’t good at math can
be bullied into believing you through numbers
As a matter of fact, 89% (almost 90%!)
of those surveyed say
they are more likely to believe people who give percentages
Additionally, 89 is a prime number
and is the 11th term in the Fibonacci series
Isn’t that odd?
Yes, that too

Third, Quote from Impressive Sources
Like the Good Book says
“…And the Wiki shall inherit the Earth”

Fourth, Use Jargon
Make strategic use of exotic words in your talk
Coniferous
They will make you sound intelligence
Tessellated mendicant
Or even smart
Burrito

Lastly, Make Bold Claims
This, among all the techniques,
is the best and is guaranteed to work
It will make anything you say totally believable,
help you make new friends,
and will even get rid of tooth decay
Peksman.

Vote wisely!

lets try a poll

Which news source would you trust more?
	Broadcast media (TV, radio)
	Print media (newspaper, magazine)
	New media (internet, podcast)
	Friends and relatives
	I don’t care about the news at all

Powered by Quimble - Create and Share Polls

Why would I want a soul?

We usually think of the soul as the essence of being human, of existence itself. It's also a comfort to think that when your body dies your soul survives and so you somehow go on in kind of disembodied ghost-like way. Then come the questions:

1) Do souls have memories?
I believe memories are stored in the brain. If it weren't, people who suffer brain damage shouldn't experience any memory loss, but they do. But the brain rots away when we die, so if there is a soul would it be able to carry our memories with it? Assuming that it could, could it also make new memories? Does the soul remember even the things we forgot? Can the soul think? For reincarnation, is memory of past lives affected by brain damage? On the other hand if it doesn't carry any of our memories with it, is the soul that leaves your body still YOU when it contains nothing about you at all?

2) Do souls have emotions?
The way psychology sees it, emotions are experienced by the body. You wouldn't feel fear if you didn't have a gut to clench and palms to get clammy. A soul has none of these and so would it be able to laugh, cry, feel anything that we usually associate with being human? If it can't would you be still YOU, the person with a sense of humor, the person who can empathize with others, or did that person die with the body?

3) Do souls know everything?
Plato says that souls know everything, or at least a lot more than we as embodied humans can possibly know. They are able to see things as they Truly are. It is assumed that in that state we would be perfectly content. But again I ask, is that enlightened being still YOU or is it such an alien state that there is absolutely no connection with the flesh-n-blood person you were, who loved and hated and tried to live on uncertainty and half-truths?

The argument I advance is this: If in the process of becoming undying soul you discard everything that makes you YOU, in short anihilating your identity, what life do you continue in the afterlife if that life is no more? It seems to me that even if we have souls the persons we are still cease to be and will never be again.

What do you think?

Ars Galactica

February weather in Manila is the best. It seems you can walk anywhere without breaking a sweat. Other days its hot and going anyplace is a kind of personal time-dilation; getting there takes forever. But for now everyday feels like its made for untiring swiftness, clean wind-smells carrying you along. Days like these you should breathe long and deep, and remember.

nasarapan ba tayo sa hotdog ni sam?

September this year will mark 100 years since the execution of Makaryo Sakay and the beginning of the end for what the Americans called "the Philippine Insurrection" but is more properly remembered as the Filipino-American Bloody Date-Rape. An ugly example of bullying, it has been conveniently forgetten by both sides, which is seen in the relatively few books and fewer movies about this non-event. Even its eerie reproduction in today's Mesopotamia fails to jog what has been thoroughly repressed: they keep referring to Iraq as a second Vietnam and fail to note that Vietnam was a second Philippines. The Empire was born on our soil and in return we made them bleed for a decade. And so we were punished with forgetfulness so thorough that both the New Yorker and her caregiver don't even know the reasons why, once upon a time, their ancestors were shooting each other in the jungle. But why care for history, dead and dry, when our countries are such good buddies now. They take our smart young people and we get their coffee and trans-fat. Hating kapatid?

a prodigal story

chalice

i thought this story lost but now its found. written in 2001, it explores two hypotheses. one is: since jesus was a carpenter, what happened to all the stuff he made? it was supposed to be part of a larger piece. i was imitating Eco not Brown.

leavetaking

para sa aming kaklase na nasagot na ang lahat ng tanong


cha 2006 (right-click save as)

it made me sad
to know we'll never know
the thoughts behind the butterflies
the flowers hiding smiles
i hoped that we would talk someday
but now we're out of time
never even said goodbye

you remembered feyerabend
nobody remembers him
but you remembered feyerabend
you remembered me
and i'll remember you

we try our hand at making sense
we laugh when we don't quite
i'm just trying to say goodbye

you remembered feyerabend
nobody remembers him
but you remembered feyerabend
you remembered me
i remember everything
that will never be
you remembered feyerabend
you remembered me
and i'll remember you

healthy eating for sick creatures

i am a silly disgusting man. nothing new

An Aborted Universe

Exactly three years ago a role-playing campaign was begun and was left unfinished. Its really such a waste. I take playing God very seriously. When I design a world I want it to have enough culture to fool an anthropologist. Myths, rites of passage, hero stories, exotic food, beliefs about the afterlife, quaint swear words, bizarre sexual customs, the works. It is all excessive on a crazy baroque level since most of it will never be relevant in terms of actual gameplay. Gamers are not aesthetes and its hard to appreciate the ambiance if you have to keep track of hitpoints, gold pieces, the name of the whoreson who stole your bag of holding, etcetera.

Gamers have a Teleological philosophy in the Aristotelian sense. Things exist for a purpose. A +3 assassin's dagger is meant to stab human or humanlike creatures in the back (that is its Final Cause) and so it is a good gamers duty to fulfill the natural order and go find someone to stab in the back. It is hard to argue with such clear reasoning. It is my job to facilitate gamers self-actualizing tendencies and need for violence (DMing is a lot like therapy) while keeping the intricate social fabric responsive and noticable from time to time. Though it is a losing battle, I try to keep everying logical and believable, from the battles to the rubbish in the dungeon cells.

What's really so fascinating about role-playing is the illusion of freedom that is willingly assumed by the gamers. For it to work the players should have the feeling that they are actually in control of their destiny, or at least the destiny of their made up characters. It is the DM's job to make that happen, to make players believe in their self-efficacy, their ability to control (it so happens all of these are psychological constructs). If this is properly done the illusion will be successful, the game will be able to give gamers the feeling of Power. King Kong on speed. Novus Ordo Saeclorum.

"Though its only a clever game" lyrics from Sunny Day Real Estate's "One" and quite true in the case of role-playing. It was Rousseau who said that the illusion of freedom was sufficient in terms of educating the young, meaning real freedom for teenagers was preposterous. Liberty is always sacrificed to order. Role-playing is ultimately a story, and all actions and events should contribute to the grand scheme however obscure. Sudden plot twists, deus ex machina, the bait and switch, cunning yet very obvious clues, diabolical traps, recurrent meetings with a hooded stranger who turns out to be the king's sexy illegitimate daughter who is also a level 10 summoner, the disguised villains in scoobydoo, it all satisfies one thing: the dark humor of the Creator (in this case, Me). Makes you wonder whether its really that easy to make people believe that they are the masters of their fates in real life (actually there are very intriguing experiments on this theme).

In the end, just trying to make an almost believable microcosm is already half of the fun so its not all bad. Like it said in Foucault's Pendulum, its really lonely work being God but someones gotta do it

Game log from October 21, 2003 here
Game log from October 23, 2003 here
Game log from October 30, 2003 here
Game log from November 5, 2003 here
The Races here
The Pantheon here
The Wierd of House Middletower (unfinished) here
The Bright Prince (unfinished) here

Do It Yourself Metaphysics

What follows is a manifesto, a plagiarism, a parody

A Provisional Creed (091006)

1. I believe in an objective reality, one that is composed of the matter and forces of nature;
2. I believe in a subjective reality of the mind that arises from and is concommitant to the objective reality but not entirely commensurable with it;
3. I believe that all phenomena (both objective and subjective) are ultimately caused by matter and forces of nature;
4. I believe that all phenomena (both objective and subjective) can be reduced to simpler or more elementary forms;
5. I believe that all phenomena (both objective and subjective) follow from necessary causal relationships that limit and determine all events in time;
6. I believe that all significance derives from the subjective reality;
7. I believe that all statements about the objective reality, which necessarily arise from the subjective reality, contain the possibility of error because of the incommensurability of the objective and the subjective;
8. I believe that all beliefs have the possibility of being proved false in the future;
9. I believe that 8 applies to all statements before it, including itself.

I contradict

Avilon Zoo - September 2006

Greenberg and the Milgram experiments

one of those brain itches i get from time to time is the squeaky problem of ethics of the arts and sciences. and a very good question for that is whether ends can really justify means. we will take two cases for analysis: controversial photographer jill greenberg and controversial social psychologist stanley milgram

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/gallery/image/0,,-1010329538560,00.html

jill greenberg's claim to fame/infamy is her series of photographs that feature portraits of young children in obvious distress. the photos are visually arresting and effective. but more interesting was the method: snatch candies from the subjects and then capturing the moment of shock/anguish/anger. the kind of thing they the images have clear human interest and has great composition. in short, it is good art. greenberg assures us that the lollipops were returned to the children within 30 seconds and everything was with parental consent. but then again is all that a good enough excuse for something that might amount to exploitation?

Still on the subtly sinister genre we have Stanley Milgram's classic experiments on obedience to authority. Like any good psych experiment the concept is both simple and ingenious. Volunteers are instructed to "train" a "subject" (who is actually an accomplice of the experimenter). The "training" includes a mechanism whereby the volunteers must administer "electric shocks" to the "subject" as a "punishment" for "mistakes" (the annoying quotation marks are to show that most of what happens is scripted, and the accomplice only pretends to be shocked because there is no real electricity used). Eventually the volunteer (who remains clueless as to the real objective of the experiment) is asked by a man in a lab coat to increase the "voltage" steadily with each "mistake", the highest possible being 450V. It was discovered that most volunteers (about 70%) would obey and continue the experiment even if the "subject" they are "punishing" is showing clear distress. The implications of Milgram's research are far reaching but the question remains: given that the results were important and contributed to human knowledge, was it justified, was it ok to decieve the volunteers and expose them to the distress of going through an experiment that in a way manipulated their emotions to an extent? Did the ends justify the means?

Of course it is expected of both artists and scientists to push boundaries, but shouldn't the line be drawn somewhere? I admit that being a social scientist I know that the temptation of designing research insensitive to human dignity is very real. "The Truman Show" pretty much sums up a psychologist's wet dream (or repressed desire). And how about the arts, with Prophet Mohammed cartoons in an increasingly volatile world, should artists bow down to political correctness? So, how far can you go before you find yourself becoming a rapist?

balita galing sa pahayagang plaridel, agosto 25, 2006:













isang dibuho ukol sa pangyayari:

Now here's a song that comes straight from the heart. This is one that we guys can really relate to


Friends wit u (mp3, 2.6 mb)
by sonicmute

girl
stop playing with yourself
dont do that when youre driving
youre gonna get us hurt

i see
you really really want me
its ok i understand
if i were you i'd want me too

gotta hear me out babe
before you take off that dress
these jeans are button fly
so quit yankin' on my pants

just wanna be friends wit you
dont really wanna screw
just wanna be friends wit you
ooh ooh-ooh ooh-ooh

just wanna be friends wit you
dont really wanna screw
just wanna be friends wit you
ooh ooh-ooh ooh-ooh

sorry
i cant let you have my body
no i dont do it for money
but i have some friends who do

there's nothing wrong with you
so please dont be upset
its just that some girls
make me not want to have sex


Now you too can play along on your guitar!
Intro: hard to show here
Verse: B Asus2 Dbm F#m
Pre-chorus: E B
Chorus: D C G

2006 TOYCON Megatrade Hall