Sunday, September 24, 2017

Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?


i wanted to read this book, but haven't gone looking for it.

Amazon link to above book

by chance, came across this article by the author of the book.

Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?


now, it's a habit of every generation to talk down of the younger generation. "my generation is better!"

but not in this case here.

I’ve been researching generational differences for 25 years, starting when I was a 22-year-old doctoral student in psychology. Typically, the characteristics that come to define a generation appear gradually, and along a continuum. Beliefs and behaviors that were already rising simply continue to do so. Millennials, for instance, are a highly individualistic generation, but individualism had been increasing since the Baby Boomers turned on, tuned in, and dropped out. I had grown accustomed to line graphs of trends that looked like modest hills and valleys. Then I began studying Athena’s generation.

Around 2012, I noticed abrupt shifts in teen behaviors and emotional states. The gentle slopes of the line graphs became steep mountains and sheer cliffs, and many of the distinctive characteristics of the Millennial generation began to disappear. In all my analyses of generational data—some reaching back to the 1930s—I had never seen anything like it.

sounds scary to me.

the traits the author described, i see in many of my generation and younger generation too, but widespread among iGen is a serious issue.

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

The Great Nutrient Collapse


The Great Nutrient Collapse

oh my...


  • due to rising CO2 levels, our plants now have higher carbohydrate at the expense of other nutrients like protein and minerals. in other words, plants are becoming less nutritious - like junk food. this in turn will contribute to obesity and health problems for mankin.
  • the researcher is a mathematician with interest in biology. no one wants to fund his research. math grants wouldn't fund him as his work is too "biology". biology grants won't fund him as his work is too "math". hence took 15 years to complete this research. this is our problem, thinking in categories, thinking in boxes. for humanity to prosper, we need to move beyond this kind of thinking.
  • good things take time! 15 years to conduct the research. in this age of instant gratification, how many have the patience these days?