Nexus - 1102 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

to human-shaped targets. By the time of the Vietnam War, 95% button, viewers report feeling more relaxed. Because the of the riflemen fired their weapons when the right opportunity relaxation occurs quickly, people are conditioned to associate arose. Today, the Marine Corps uses a modified version of the viewing with rest and lack of tension. The association is positively first-person action game Doom (known as Marine Doom) as a reinforced because viewers remain relaxed throughout viewing, training device, along with the traditional live ammunition range and it is negatively reinforced via the stress and dysphoric targets as a means of normalising killing amongst their personnel. rumination that occurs once the screen goes blank again..." In fact, this has been so successful that the Marine Corps Combat Part of the human attraction to television has to do with our and Development Command in Quantico, Virginia, has evaluated biological orienting response. “First described by Ivan Pavlov in more than 30 commercially available electronic games for their 1927, the orienting response is our instinctive visual or auditory potential use as training tools. reaction to any sudden or novel stimulus. It is part of our This brings up a very disturbing question. If the US military evolutionary heritage, a built-in sensitivity to movement and has acknowledged for decades the success of using human-like potential predatory threats. Typical orienting reactions include targets to normalise killing, what, then, is the effect of the same or _ dilation of the blood ves to the brain, slowing of the heart, and similar games on kids, where the objective is the near- constriction of blood vessels to major muscle groups. The brain indiscriminate killing of "the enemy" using toy guns? With this in focuses its attention on gathering more information while the rest mind, the rise of school shootings should of the body quiets... In 1986 Byron Reeves come as no surprise. of Stanford University, Esther Thorson of (Jhally & Huntemann, 2000; Naisbitt et al., the University of Missouri and their pp. 76-77) colleagues began to study whether the simple formal features of television—cuts, 15) At the forefront of White House a 0 edits, zooms, pans, sudden noises—activate thinking is the global command and direction What we re the orienting response, thereby keeping of the world economy through information i i attention on the screen. By watching how control. While World War II was still witnessing here today brain waves were affected by formal ongoing, "US leadership recognized the IS perhaps not only features, the researchers concluded that centrality of information control for gaining these stylistic tricks can indeed trigger world advantage. Well before most of the the announcement involuntary responses and ‘derive their world could do much about it, US groups, of a new sort of attentional value through the evolutionary rivate and governmental, were actively i significance of detecting movement... It is romoting information and cultural technological center, form, not the content, of television that but the creation of a military-industrial- media-entertainment complex". rimacy on all continents." US films and television programs are "the rimary fare of national systems in most countries. News programs, especially CNN, offer US perspectives, sometimes the only perspective rovided, to world audiences. US recorded music, theme parks and advertising now comprise a major part of the world's cultural environment..." "What is of special interest here, owever, is the skillful combination of information instrumentation with philo- 22) In August 1999, the US Army sophic principle—a mix that fuels the push toward concentrated signed a five-year, $45-million deal with the University of is unique...’ Annie Lang's research team at Indiana University has shown that heart rate decreases for four to six seconds after an orienting stimulus. In ads, action sequences and music videos, formal features frequently come at a rate of one per second, thus activating the orienting response continuously." (Kubey & Csikszentmihalyi, 2002; Boihem & Emmanouilides) cultural power. Not the laws of chance but strategic planning, Southern California, chosen because of its close proximity to rarely identified as such, underlies this development. It has suc- Hollywood, to have the school's movie, special-effects and other ceeded well beyond the initial expectations of its formulators." technology experts help with troop training, including battle (Schiller, 1995, pp. 18-19; Allen, 2000, pp. 87, 89-99) scenarios, virtual-reality combat and large-scale simulations creating settings similar to Operation Desert Storm. This 18) On average, individuals in industrialised nations spend three _ partnership is known as the Institute for Creative Technologies. hours a day watching television—roughly half their leisure time; "The digital world, the world of virtual reality...is going to be part only to work and sleep is more time devoted. At this rate, someone of the embrace of this great new cooperative venture," said Jack who lives to be 75 would spend more than nine years of their life Valenti of the Motion Picture Association of America. However, just watching TV. Why do we watch so much? In studies, subjects according to James Der Derian, Professor of International claimed that television was a means of relaxation, as confirmed by Relations at Brown University, "What we're witnessing here today electroencephalograph (EEG) readings of brain waves, skin is perhaps not only the announcement of a new sort of resistance and heart rates of subjects while watching television. technological center, but the creation of a military-industrial- However, even though relaxation is associated with TV by the — media-entertainment complex". viewers, research has shown that passivity and a lowered level of (US Army, 1999; italics mine) "What we're witnessing here today is perhaps not only the announcement technological center, but the creation of a military-industrial- media-entertainment complex". 18) On average, individuals in industrialised nations spend three hours a day watching television—roughly half their leisure time; only to work and sleep is more time devoted. At this rate, someone who lives to be 75 would spend more than nine years of their life just watching TV. Why do we watch so much? In studies, subjects claimed that television was a means of relaxation, as confirmed by electroencephalograph (EEG) readings of brain waves, skin resistance and heart rates of subjects while watching television. However, even though relaxation is associated with TV by the viewers, research has shown that passivity and a lowered level of correlate. Furthermore, once the television is turned sense of relaxation dissipates rather quickly, but the passivity and lowered alertness remain for a considerable time. "Within moments of sitting or lying down and pushing the 'power' 24) In October 1999, the CIA held a lavish gala film premiere for In the Company of Spies, the first spy thriller ever to bear the CIA's stamp of approval. Starring Tom Beringer and Ron Silver, NEXUS = 13 of a new sort of FEBRUARY — MARCH 2004 www.nexusmagazine.com