These are new terms coined to describe 'addiction to internet and computers'. But as expected, there are controversies about these terms and the concepts. Please read the article at the url below for a discussion
http://apt.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/13/1/31
There are also reports from China confirming that they have already recognized this as a disorder. They have even started to treat! Read on.....
http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2005/07/68081
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=081110072129.dnm63sjd&show_article=1
The risk factors for developing internet addiction have been studued, The following are some of the important variable
1) Persons who have poor self esteem, especially as children.
2) Anxious, shy individuals
3) Depressed persons.
4) Persons with high degree of impulsivity.
Looks like it is affects people prone to develop other types of addictions as well.
Learning theorists think that the development of addiction is related to reward pathways of the brain.
ഇന്ത്യ
2 weeks ago
30 comments:
Dear friends,
I think we got a break, something to laugh and relax. Here it goes…
Impulsive – compulsive prescription disorders and the pathogenesis of a new social disorder.
Declaration of interest: I am addicted to high speed internet, tasty food, music, science books, poetry, classic movies etc… And also I am some what dependent on tooth pastes, clothes, shoes, toilets, motor transportation, mobile phone, computers etc…
We will not get an accurate result if we measure something with a distorted or imaginary scale. We have to assess the validity of psychology or psychiatry before we use psychological classifications of addiction and dependency to label some one as addict or dependent. I will focus my attention on psychiatry alone because I am not interested to spend my time on the highly biased psychological practices of our current times.
There are some serious issues regarding current form of psychiatry.
1. Lack of clinically significant biological definitions for mental disorders (better termed brain disorders).
2. In majority of the cases, causes are unknown or not clear.
3. Difficulty to explain underlying mechanisms.
4. Behavioral side effects of drugs that is currently underestimated.
5. The most important issue, lack of an objective or concrete model of diagnosis.
We can not forget these limitations when we discuss about mental/brain disorders. Mental/brain disorders are unexplainable biological or neurological problems and the mind brain dichotomy or nature vs. nurture dichotomy is an unnecessary trouble in intellectual discussions. We should take extreme care in classifying mental/brain disorders because we lack any objective evidence to support our diagnosis. It entirely depends upon the knowledge of a psychiatrist, his attitude and his moral concepts. Psychiatrists must show self constraint in diagnosis and pharmacological management, a patient must be identified only when there is a severe dysfunction in life as a successful social human being. The already existing symptoms of brain disorders may manifest in different forms, either in the use of mobile phone or computers. Is there any justification for the current trend in classifying people into mobile phone addicts, computer addicts, internet addicts, blog addicts, social activism addicts, nature addicts etc…? We should also consider discussing the psychopathology of impulsive-compulsive prescription disorders, egosyntonic nature of classification disorders, governmentophobia, paranoid delusional disorders of overwhelming political corruptions etc… Psychiatry will become a social disorder itself soon if they don’t show self constraint.
The willingness to discuss computer, internet, blog, bike, car, mobile phone, clothes or processed food addictions show the pathogenesis of a new syndrome. It is said that the best cure for hypochondria is to forget about your own body and get interested in someone else’s.
Many psychiatrists are anxious about the developments in neurology and their desperate attempt for trend reversal is originating from insecurity regarding the future of their profession, needy individuals should get proper professional help. It doesn’t matter, whether it is internet addiction or prescription disorders but the rule is same as it is beautifully explained in one of Friedrich Nietzsche quotes “In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.”
Thank you.
One prominent example of a psychiatric diagnosis being used to reinforce cultural bias and oppress dissidence is the diagnosis of drapetomania. In the United States of America, prior to the American Civil War, psychiatrists, such as Samuel A. Cartwright, diagnosed some slaves with drapetomania, a mental illness in which the slave possessed an irrational desire for freedom and a tendency to try to escape slavery. By classifying such a dissident mental trait as abnormal and a disease, psychiatry promoted cultural bias about normality, abnormality, health, and unhealth. This example indicates the probability for not only cultural bias but also confirmation bias and bias blind spot in psychiatric diagnosis and psychiatric beliefs.
Furthermore, continuing medical education opportunities sponsored by pharmaceutical companies are often biased toward one product or another, and they are more akin to marketing than CME. APA has strict guidelines for the industry-sponsored symposia presented at our annual meetings; sanctions are applied when our rules are broken. Our guidelines have been held up as a standard for medical meetings in other specialties throughout the country. But there are many grand rounds, evening dinners, and lectures where such standards do not prevail.
Direct marketing to consumers also leads to increased demand for medications and inflates expectations about the benefits of medications. As a profession, we need to be concerned about advertising and the impact it has on the over-medicalization of our field. Of course, what is marketed to consumers are the highest-cost, on-patent products, and the cost of medications is something rarely considered by prescribing clinicians. When doctors don't prescribe cheaper but equally effective drugs, it consumes money that could have been used to provide other psychiatric or medical services.
There are examples of the "ugly" practices that undermine the credibility of our profession. Drug company representatives will be the first to say that it is the doctors who request the fancy dinners, cruises, tickets to athletic events, and so on. But can we really be surprised that several states have passed laws to force disclosure of these gifts? So-called "preceptorships" are another example of the "ugly"; that is, drug companies who pay physicians to allow company reps to sit in on patient sessions allegedly to learn more about care for patients and then advise the doctor on appropriate prescribing.
Drug company representatives bearing gifts are frequent visitors to psychiatrists' offices and consulting rooms. We should have the wisdom and distance to call these gifts what they are—kickbacks and bribes. (For more thoughts on this topic, see Viewpoints on page 33.) If we are seen as mere pill pushers and employees of the pharmaceutical industry, our credibility as a profession is compromised.
Steven S. Sharfstein, M.D.
Dear friends,
Dilemma of a Psychiatrist:
Most of the psychiatrists are believers of god and religion. The act of seeing or talking to a god is considered a blessing in Religion. The religious psychiatrists give drugs to those most gifted individuals on the earth according to their own religious views. They don’t have any disagreements over a person who have seen god or talked to god. They try to stop the divine intervention, an act against god’s own decision.
A religious person gives medicines to a much more highly religious person!!!
The pharmaceutical industry was afraid of the more powerful religious industry so they made some adjustments in the DSM to avoid religious beliefs.
Either psychiatrists should quit their own beliefs or they must keep their hands away from those individuals who sincerely believe that they can talk to god or god visits them.
Thank you.
Integration of Medicine.
In Our Country most of the doctors/patients believe in Astrology.!
So why dont we integrate astrology with medicine? Anyway now Homeo /unani/siddha and Ayurvedic medicines are distributed through Health centres(ASHA workers)..
why dont Govt.officially appoint at least one astrologer in an hospital ,so that we can avoid wasting of our precious money and time in investigating/treating patients who are not going to improve?
Why cant private hospitals try this?
We can show the improved cost effectiveness of 'our MEDICINE' to the whole world or WHO who is after alternative medicine..!
Medical tourists should know this beforehand!
...That the Indian doctors may not do the surgery (though medically indicated without astrologer's clearence), though the surgery is emergency!
Wish to know your responses!!
Thank you
Dear Dr.Vijayan,
Astrology is an inferior option. I think I have a better idea. Every new born baby will be handed over a Rudhraksha that will protect them from every problem. There is no need for a health care system at all. It is indigenous too. Least expensive and the most convenient method. The only specialty able to provide any competition to our indigenous system will be Homeopathy.
Medical tourists can avoid traveling greater distances because we can send our solution by courier.
Any comments?
Thank you.
Dear Dr.Harish and others.
The third factor of social conditioning
There are instances where both of our demands are met. Legislative steps and public awareness. Small NGO based protests will not work also.
There is an ugly black board hanging in our public offices stating rules and regulations, a vigilance office address and a contact number for immediate needs. But the man sitting under the board is still asking for money! Nobody questions him.
Here we have all rules and regulations, necessary government initiative and pure public awareness. It did not work. It is not going to work in the near future. Why?
I think there is a social conditioning in favor of corruption. Society is willing to give money to corrupted people. People will again start giving money to doctors to please them or to get more importance to them, even if we start a residence based free medical service later reimbursed by government. We have to recondition the society. But how? It is a big question we need to discuss.
There are a growing number of doctors in Kerala so it is safe to ban private practice of government doctors and it will provide self employment for many MBBS holders. They can setup their own small clinics in rural areas. Government doctors should work in 3 shifts to provide 24hrs health care to the needy. Now most of them leave hospital early to attend PP at home.
A multi dimensional problem specific approach may work better. Some problems are easy to handle with legislative steps but others need public awareness and social conditioning. So we need to identify, isolate, analyze and treat each problem differently. We have a ministry and a department to do that. They are not doing it. We need a literate minister first. He/she is supposed to act for the public.
Thank you.
Finally, why must the APA pretend to know more than it does? DSM IV is the fabrication upon which psychiatry seeks acceptance by medicine in general. Insiders know it is more a political than scientific document. To its credit it says so -- although its brief apologia is rarely noted. DSM IV has become a bible and a money making best seller -- its major failings notwithstanding. It confines and defines practice, some take it seriously, others more realistically. It is the way to get paid. Diagnostic reliability is easy to attain for research projects. The issue is what do the categories tell us? Do they in fact accurately represent the person with a problem? They don't, and can't, because there are no external validating criteria for psychiatric diagnoses. There is neither a blood test nor specific anatomic lesions for any major psychiatric disorder. So, where are we? APA as an organization has implicitly (sometimes explicitly as well) bought into a theoretical hoax. Is psychiatry a hoax -- as practiced today? Unfortunately, the answer is mostly yes.
4 December 1998
Loren R. Mosher, M.D. to Rodrigo Munoz, M.D., President of the American Psychiatric Association (APA)
Dear Ajeesh,
Rudraksham is not a bad idea..but everybody wont be impressed as the technique is too simple....people wanted litle more complicated idea/technique to convince themself....Astrology has all these components.!
Multiple deliveries happening at the same time are not unusual in our Medical college labour rooms, ...out of this some may be normal and the another one may die /develop serious complications immediately after birth!
What is the astrological basis of this phenomen? The stars of the sky will be in the same position! Why dont the astrology believing doctors take serious note of these things!
Thank you
To add more to the suggestion of integrating astrology to medicine, I know of a Physician in Thrissur who has developed something whivch he calls Medical Astrology. I have heard him speak in a conference conducted at Kottakkal Governemt Ayurvedic mental Hospital a few years ago. It was organized by them with support of the Arya ayurveda college. I had to peak thre from the point of view of Modern psychiatry. This particular physician says he uses the astrological chart (or whatever is usually used) to study his patients' likelihood of having a serious disease. He says with this he is able to reduce the need for more costly investigations. Dear Vijayan, can your Science Trust intervene and study this? Thank you.
Ajeesh has done excellent job with hsi comments. I am glad to invite him to write a full post for the blog on anythig of his choice. Bye
i have to comment on certain points raised by mr ajeesh .i think correption or to get correpted is purely human .it is part of our brain developement .is a higher function of the brain .
i agree that you should not corrupt , should not tell lies , should be always helpful to other fellow men .
but practically speaking, implementation of all these are relative .
in every human mind ,conflict occurs between the social ethics and selfishness .both are interconnected and necessary for the survival of the individual.
it is like discussing the goods and bads about socialism and capitalism .world is yet to prove which is better among this .
basic survival gives way to higher levels of quality of life with development of the individual and nation.indices of happiness also vary from individual to indivdual , even in a uniform society .
we wont be able to totally wipe out correption from the mankind, because of abovesaid reasons.
what worreis me most is the fact that , in many societies , they lose the freedom to discuss about and react about this issues.
Dear friends,
Mr.Kokoori is giving the biological basis of what I explained as Social Conditioning of corruption. He is absolutely right but he forgot something very basic. Man is a social animal. We are trying to act against the biological programmer inside us. And it also absurd to think of a biological and sociological dichotomy, essentially they are the same. In a true a sense, the perception of sociological and biological difference is an illusion. The social man is an extended effect of the biological man, a property may not be shared by other organisms.
Kids and children try to lie and manipulate but we scold and try to correct them. The parents, or the more social animals always have an unfair advantage, they are more powerful and advanced in time. Kids have no way but to obey parents and the mutant kids have never been successful. So the game is always won by social animals. Most of the mutations will be rejected by the system itself, a corrupted officer is not a social animal and the survival of him in a social system should be difficult. I think these kinds of ideological problems arise because we think of individuals or group as the basic units of evolution. It is better to think of genetic codes or evolutionary stable strategies are the basic units of evolution. The evolutionary strategy based on complete corruption may not sustain.
I think it is beautiful to stop at the level of social conditioning rather than delving deep into find that we are trapped in a semantic problem and return again to social conditioning for practical purposes of communication.
Thank you all.
The discussion on corruption is not relevant to this post. But we will continue as it is being talked about now. Corrupt men are not villians. I remember an artcile written by the famous O V Vijayan long ago. He sows the smiling photos of the large scale manufacturers of arms in the world. The photographs show them with beaming smile on face with their families. Vijayan goe on to say The good father shown in this photo is responsible for manufacturing deadly weapons used to kill several people. Similarly corrupt men are not villains. they are not outcasts or antisocials. They will have a tale like the clerk in the telephone office narrated by Dr vijayan A P in an earleir letter. His observation is correct. We can parphrase Tolstoy. Tolsstoy wrote 'All happy families are alike, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way'. Similarly all non corrupt persons are alike. But each corrupt person is correct for his own reasons. It may be plain simple greed or the helplessness of a man overburdened with financial responsibilities. BUT NONE OF THIS IS SUFFICIENT JUSTIFICATION FOR BEING CORRUPT.
Bye
on Corruption
very true Harish....
Again it reminds me the
the wisdom of "Socratic Paradoxes"..who was critical of the popular concepts on goodness.According to him
(OV Vijayan also echoes the same)
"...No one desires evil.
No one errs or does wrong willingly/knowingly.
Virtue - all virtue - is knowledge.
Virtue is sufficient for happiness".
**********************************
Dear Ajeesh, I am not conviced by your discription of social man/biological evolution.
I always felt,the evolution of ideas or concepts is independent of biological evolution.
How?
Many of the tribes are geneticaly identical to the most civilized man ,
at the same time
sociologically different ! ..!
Society can evolve into different extremes depending on many many external factors independent of their genetic endowment.!
So you will see people with same intelligence living with different believes,customs,ceremonies etc in different geographical areas...with their on 'scientific explanations'!
(as they carry their belives with them during human migration ,you may see people with differnt believes in the same geographical area,..or by transfer of idea by other modes)
There is no scientific evidence to show that remarkable genetic evolution has taken place in human race during the last 500 years( it is too short a time period as far as evolutionary scale is concerned).!
But as a social animal ,the evolution of human being was very fast during the last few centuries ..!
The development of 'human languages' have contributed/helped man very much for this remarkable deviation/human achievements .
Wished to hear your views.!
on Corruption
very true Harish....
Again it remind me the
the wisdom of "Socratic Paradoxes"..who was critical of the popular concepts on goodness.According to him
(OV Vijayan also echoes the same)
"...No one desires evil.
No one errs or does wrong willingly/knowingly.
Virtue - all virtue - is knowledge.
Virtue is sufficient for happiness".
**********************************
Dear Ajeesh, I am not conviced by your discription of social man/biological evolution.
I always felt,the evolution of ideas or concepts is independent of biological evolution.
How?
Many of the tribes are geneticaly identical to the most civilized man ,
at the same time
sociologicaly different ! ..!
Society can evolve into different extremes depending on many many external factors independent of their genetic endowment.!
So you will see people with same intelligence living with different believes,customs,ceremonies etc in different geographical areas...with their on 'scientific explanations'!
(as they carry their belives with them during human migration ,you may see people with differnt believes in the same geographical area,..or by transfer of idea by other modes)
There is no scientific evidence to show that remarkable genetic evolution has taken place in human race during the last 500 years( it is a too short time period as far as evolutionary scale is concerned).!
But as a social animal ,the evolution of human being was very fast during the last few centuries ..!
The development of 'human languages' have contributed/helped man very much for this remarkable deviation/human achievements .
Wished to hear your views.!
Dear Dr.Vijayan,
There is no scientific evidence to show that remarkable genetic evolution has taken place in human race during the last 500 years
Genetic evolution in 5 X 1 years = nil
Genetic evolution in 5 X 2 years = nil
……………………………………….
So genetic evolution in 5 X 100000000000000000000000000000 = nil
Is this you mean?
Lack of observable change does not mean that evolution is not happening. I hope you refer to the all damn debates raised by Gould’s view that evolution is not happening in a constant rate. It may be also useful to note some evolutionist’s view of neutral change at molecular level. Evolution may look like paused at some times but that doesn’t mean that evolution is not gradual. It is a big theoretical issue that is difficult to explain here by me.
Cultural evolution may be felt rapid but does that mean it is independent of biological evolution?
Life is evolved out of non living things and strictly speaking we are not independent of non living things. Evolution of life is rapid compared to the development of universe. Rate of speed is not enough evidence for an independent evolution, I think so.
Thank you.
Dear Ajeesh
Evolution is a continous process ,and 500 years is a very short period for us to recognise the biological evolution in human beings..
TOday We have different human societies with varying degrees of social developments in diametrically opposite directions..and they coexists.... I was trying to convey that this is independent of the biological evolution...
How is it possible?
The development of language and the discovery of technology to keep "ideas and concepts" out side human brain makes it possible for human society to evolve independent of biological evolution.!
What is the significance?
The people with same intelligence living different places or in the same place can have totally different concepts and survival advantage..! other words, Survival can be independent of the biological evolution..!
Can you agree,Ajeesh..?
ajeesh seems to be looking for a 'one size fits all' theory. It does not seem necessary to link biological evolution with social evolution. Simply because an apparent social evolution can be imposed on a biological specimen by situations and circumstances, while a biological evolution can't be imposed. It is true that there is no social evolution without the biological entity. The use of tools maybe accepted as a function of biological development, but whether a knife is used to cut vegetables or a cow has nothing to do with biology. What is the direction of the discussion, i am not able to comprehend.
Dear Dr.Vijayan
Will cultural evolution continue if human beings go extinct?
I think it is safe to guess that cultural evolution can not continue without human species at the current level. It may be possible in future but that I do not want to guess right now.
Could you please give me an example for societies coexist with social developments in diametrically opposite directions? I am afraid I didn’t get you right.
Ideas and concepts outside human brain? Well, that needs a discussion of its own. Once you said in a comment that you read Chris Frith, right?
I think ideas and concepts can be coded in to media and can be retrieved by another person. But there is a high degree of mutation because of our external reality is a model in our brain that is again dependent of our genetic make up. In short, culture is an extension of human brain. It doesn’t exist outside human mind but there is a better method of communication, may be compared to other species. Darwin talks to us through his books even after his death. But his ideas do not mean anything to rocks or amoeba, only a human brain can remodel it. Different persons interpret Darwin differently and there is a high degree of modeling error or we can say that the copying fidelity is bad. Copying fidelity is one of the most important aspects of evolution. Genetic code has a very high degree of copying fidelity and sustainable mutations are very rare. Cultural evolution has to acquire a critical level of qualities for self replication and copying fidelity to qualify as an independent evolutionary entity. A text book can be copied or replicated with good copying fidelity but it still requires a human brain behind it.
And whose survival are you discussing? What do you mean by survival can be independent of evolution?
Survival of individual organisms, groups or species do not have anything related to evolution. It is the genetic code or evolutionary stable strategies that are surviving or competing. Individual organism is not the product of natural selection but it is a bad compromise and organisms evolve as part of evolving genetic text or strategies.
Sashi is wrong in saying that a knife has nothing to do with biology. Knife is a relatively simple object. A watch or a computer can not be simply there in the universe. It can’t be accidently formed like a monkey can not accidently type a Shakespeare sonnet. The chances required to do such a thing will not fit into our universe however big it may. There should be some creator and do not jump into conclude that I am going to come up with a divine intervention. Natural selection is the creator behind complex life forms and natural selection has no foresight. It is those complex life forms only can create complex things like computers, aero planes or knives. Nothing in this universe is so complex as life and its products.
Thank you.
Prescription disorders:
Symptoms:
At least 3 of the symptoms should be observed for a week. A persistent problem with symptom-5 alone is enough to diagnose the problem in some circumstances.
1. Unable to control the urge to write more than 7 – 9 drugs without any justification.
2. Feel depressed on Non PP days.
3. Writing brand names in newspapers, toilet wall, sand etc…
4. Frequent awakenings in night, opens the door and looks for a medical rep.
5. Wet dreams of going to Thailand.
6. Tightness in chest or loss of breath when trying to cancel a written prescription.
7. Always switching to newer drugs.
8. Early morning private practice.
9. Nightmares of vigilance raids.
10. Obsessive thoughts of gifts and petro cards.
Dear ALL,
An interesting study..
published in the recent issue of Science
'on the psychology of superstition, urban legends and conspiracy theories'.
.If people feel that they lost control they become desperate to make sense of the situation. They perceive patterns that don’t exist and rather grab for any fast and simple explanation - however absurd - than considering that there could be none.
Jennifer Whitson (University of Texas, Austin) and social psychologist Adam Galinsky present six experiments involving more than 200 students.
Test persons of one group were conditioned into feeling out of control (let's call them o.o.c.) by recalling helpless situations and by doing frustrating exercises with nonsensical rewards and punishments. Those of a second group were conditioned into feeling in full control of the situation (i.f.c.). During the experiments, o.o.c. test persons showed an increased illusionary pattern perception – that means they identified coherent and meaningful interrelationship among a set of unrelated stimuli. They saw for example non-existing objects and faces in 43% of randomly generated images shown to them (scatterings of dots, snowy flurries etc.), which were not seen by the i.f.c. group. An experiment in the 70ies found a similar change of visual perception in parachute jumpers just before they jump.
O.o.c. test persons also showed a tendency to imagine non-existing causal relationships between various actions and following events, suspecting conspiracies behind ambiguous stories they were given to read and believing in superstition. In one of the experiments, the test persons were asked to imagine themselves as successful marketers who suffered a failure after skipping the performance of their customary ritual (stomping three times on the ground before crucial meetings). Those in the o.o.c. group were more likely to believe in superstition, while the others would rather be convinced that this was a mere coincidence.
Previous research already established an increase in superstitious belief during times of economic uncertainty, noted Whitson. In the momentary situation, for example, individual investors may turn more to astrology for guidance than before, she expected. - In situations where people feel only moderately out of control, commented Galinsky, they might turn to quirky but harmless beliefs - wearing lucky socks or knocking on wood. But in times of immense crisis, individuals and societies can turn to behaviour with ruinous consequences: blaming Jews or Arabs for global ills, for example, or declaring ill-conceived wars.
Interestingly, o.o.c. test persons lost the feeling to be out of control as well as the increased illusionary pattern perception after a phase of self-affirmation, during which they were asked to reflect on aspects of their lives they considered important. This immunized them against irrational tendencies and neutralized the differences to those feeling in full control of the situation.
Thank you
Beautiful girl Ariane Sherine had the idea . . .
Come January, and London buses will carry a comforting message all across the city:
“There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”
British Humanists have decided to counter Christian slogans with reassuring atheist adverts. The idea came up in June, proposed by TV comedy writer Ariane Sherine in her blog. After a slow start, the atheist ad campaign caught enormous wind, when Prof. Richard Dawkins, Britain’s most prominent rationalist, announced his personal financial support. He pledged to match incoming donations up to £5,500 – that is the charge for running the ad for one whole month on 30 of London’s extra long “bendy buses”. Since then, the funding Web site http://www.justgiving.com/atheistbus is swamped with donors. Donations pouring in have long crossed £140,000. The British Humanists, who are organizing the ad campaign, are overwhelmed about its unexpected success and plan to extend it to other cities like Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh.
Any takers here,Harish!!
Dear Ajeesh..
Will cultural evolution continue if human beings go extinct?...
A; NO.
To our knowledge it requires a brain that recognise language..
Could you please give me an example for societies coexist with social developments in diametrically opposite directions?
Being a Hindu ,I had tried to learn vedas...
But had to stop my persuit as I understood that it will take my whole life to learn what thosands of minds assimilated and contributed..!
Similarly my neighbour has Islamic theology..!..........
Bhudha philosophy..Christian Theology....Marxist interpretatons.......
All of them still have millions of human minds as followers,true believers..have millions of works in their credits....So we have different societies in front of our eyes who live with different world views...
Ideas and concepts outside human brain?
A; An idea inscribed on a stone,leaf,paper,CD...etc.
which facilitate the integration of multiple ideas,sophistication or multiplications of ideas...which gives an opportunity to overcome the limitation by the genetic endowment of a single individual...
I agree your assertion that it requires human brain as a denominator without which they become useless.!
And whose survival are you discussing? What do you mean by survival can be independent of evolution?
A; We see existence/survival of different cultures through centuries....by the contribution from people of different period and geography..!
The obervation that the growth and evolution of a particular idea is not strictly dependent on the biological evolution of human beings,is based on the facts that ;
1.We have multiple cultures
2.Their history is too short to be explained by the biological evolution of human species.
To me Genetic codes fail to explain fully the evolution of human ideas....
I attribute it to the development of language which is actually an expression of the human mind or genetic codes..
I imagine a similar phenomen when artificial brain,(which is the product of human mind) attain something which is beyond the comprehension or imagination of an ordinary human mind....
Thank you
Dear friends,
Different religions are not developing in diametrically opposing directions. The desperate attempt to explain difficult things gave birth to religion and it later became an industry. Now it is surviving as an industry. Marxism also showed its religious qualities wherever it ruled.
Ideas and concepts do not exist outside human mind. Crude forms of communication evolved into more complex forms. Books, songs, painting, language or CDs are the result of it.
Hands are not evolved to write poetry. Hands are evolved to climb trees, grip branches or to use tools. Human brain is not evolved to discuss Marxism or Mathematics but to survive in wild forests. Cultural evolution should be understood in this context.
A knife or scissors is an extended human hand. A computer is an extended human brain. Languages, music or paintings are extended communication skills of an organism, may be evolved from some crude forms of animal communication like bee dance (I do not know if it is an accurate example).
At one point in time, artificial intelligence may take over us as an independent evolutionary entity but I think it didn’t happen yet.
One interesting thing I noted is that ideas included in a novel can directly influence the survival of that novel. The ideas are acting through us to reprint the book for ever? Or our genetic text is acting to sustain some particular ideas through a novel that in return improves the chances of its own (genetic code’s) survival?
It is a nice subject for mental gymnastics.
Thank you.
Dear friends,
Computer and Internet addiction
People tend to spend a lot of time when they get acquainted with a new technology. Some persons chat for more than 12 to 14 hrs at a stretch in the beginning but the interest gradually fades away and most of them stop it completely. It is same with bikes, cars or girl friends! The rate of intercourse among newly married couples is very high and we do not call them coitus addicts. I do not know if China has a clinic for that. It is a human nature, kids lose interest in new toys after some days or when they get newer ones. I used to spend a lot of time in Gym when I started the weight training. I wish I could spend the whole day there trying out every item I can imagine of. Like all others, I also lost interest after some days and now I don’t even remember when I completely stopped it.
People vary in their ability to keep interest in things. Some stay longer and some quit fast. It is also very important to note that existing brain disorders may express through this newly found interests. It is important to identify that existing illness and to target the treatment for it. It is useless to make newer classifications and it will only help the industry, to market and push the drugs to healthy people. We already know the issues related with DTC ads in the USA. FDA is unable to screen every ad and some of them are creating unnecessary demand for drugs and unrealistic expectations of treatment outcomes.
Anyone with sufficient knowledge and time can bring up all kinds of classifications and it is absurd like our bean’s prescription disorders.
The study shown by Dr.Vijayan is very important regarding this blog post.
Sometimes, even countries and organizations find non existing patterns when they feel lost control. Explosive internet and communication revolution has taken aback all of us. Governments all around the world are confused about what to do with all those bizarre emerging problems. Cyber threats, hacking, internet piracy, anonymous communities, school children escaping school ours to spend time on gaming, chatting or pornography, adults finding newer ways of extra marital relationships, anonymous cyber sex, wonderful marketing strategies etc… are haunting authorities every where. They do not know what to do. In their desperate attempts, many countries already tried blocking or filtering internet but failed miserably. Now they are treating Internet addicts! Will they use ECT and pharmacological management? Who will treat communist addicts? They are more harmful than the internet addicts. Is China finding a new non existent pattern? Who is sick, the government or the people living there? We should be careful because we may also get treatment for blog addiction but at least we are not living in China. The guys who burnt the idiot box have started a cable channel. Cable TV channels and fantasy parks are the way to go. Revolution is coming in the Rupert Murdoch way, not in the Marxian way. The lesson I learnt is that only rational beings should quit religion other wise they will give birth to a new religion.
Current classifications in DSM or ICD are intended to help a psychiatrist to find appropriate ways to help the suffering individual. A patient is a person (except in some rare cases of egosyntonic brain disorders) who is seeking professional help to reduce his suffering. Pharmaceutical companies, doctors or governments should not chase people to label them as new targets of drugs.
China’s attempts to treat web addicts should be taken seriously and considered a threat to human freedom. They are also going to treat people who question their totalitarian government.
Thank you.
Hello....
It is observed that
Spending lot of time or too little time watching TV were found to be not beneficial/harmful to the children....both medically and academically ....
in US the black children were found to be spending average more than 5 hours watching Tv ..resulting in causing increased incidence of obesity,and poor scholastic performance.
So scientific observations can help the society /parents in guiding the young generations....and predicting long term and short term benefits and complications ...
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Ideas can not survive/evolve without brain........is vice versa true?
Dear friends,
Persons with existing brain disorders (mental disorders) may exhibit unusual behavior patterns. Most of them do not like to work, stay at home, sleeping or watching television all time. Fatigue and lack of interest haunt these persons. It is not correct to assume that television or internet cause depression, anxiety or psychosis. They will engage in other useless activities if we force them to stay away from internet or television. We should try to find the underlying disorder and proper treatment may restore healthy behavior patterns in these individuals. Underlying disorders are causing poor school performance or obesity but not television and internet.
Healthy children or adults do not spend unusual time on television or internet. They usually lose the high initial interest after some weeks or months. Some technological advances are extremely stimulating so people may stay longer than usual. But I think the internet honey moon should be over without much damage. Do you think that we will keep this blog writing interest forever?
Is there a proportionate increase in the quality of life compared to technological advances?
Give me your opinion.
Thank you.
Dear friends,
Man can get addicted to many thinhgs. Newer addictions come up as neweer things (it can be ideas, ideology, Religion, chemicals, behaviors, pain or pleasure) which have the potential to be addictive emerge. There was no alcohol or ganja or tea addiction before these substances were in use. Hence there is nothing wrong in coining newer terms. An adddiction is only diagnosed if the pattern of behavior leads to 'clinically significant distress or impairment'. Children with computer or internet addiction neglected studies and even food and engaged in these activities for prolonged period. It was not with the intention of acquiring knowledge or skill. As is is detrimental to their well being, it is ok to get them treated. But i am not sure whether there is any evidence based treatment. Addiction to TV is also a reality But why nobody speaks of addiction to money, fame or sex?
Thnak you
Hello,
Addiction..new definitions?
On categorising something as an addiction,the society/a group seem to accomplishing some'hidden agenda'!
If the society percieve excessive use of a substance or procedure in question as a potential threat or not beneficial to the society(not in the interest of the society),it tends to brand it as 'addiction' to discourage the practice.....the perception of some individuals are immeterial here!
It is a trick to fulfill some selfishness of the society/or the group who wanted to dicourage something in the society..!...
Dear blog lovers/addicts,
A person who is immersed in music, singing and composing is not considered a music addict but he often gets a much more respected label of music lover. Most of these guys have clinically significant distress or impairment.
Why isn’t there a game lover, computer lover or internet lover?
Development of tolerance is one of the most significant problem with addiction. The ever increasing need for higher doses and the gradual loss of derived pleasure leads to an explosion. It shows the impossibility of a sustainable entertainment. This doesn’t happen with Internet or Computers.
What is dependency? If we are forced to walk on the street stark naked we will feel clinically significant distress and does it mean that we are dependent on Clothes? In a sense, we are dependent on shoes, tooth paste, toilet soap, motor vehicles, phone, computer, internet etc… We have a bigger list than cave men, they may not be dependent on many things considered by us necessary. Most of us feel significant distress if we are disconnected from all phones or motor transportation. It can be cured with psychotherapy or pharmacological management. It is very difficult to define pathological dependency.
Thank you.
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