Juliette Meyer May 10, 2018 in Culture 💫INSPIRING QUOTE💫 We know – it has been measured in many experiments – that children with strong impulse control grow to be better adjusted, more dependable, achieve higher grades in school and college and have more success in their careers than others. Success depends on the ability to delay gratification, which is precisely what a consumerist culture undermines. At every stage, the emphasis is on the instant gratification of instinct. In the words of the pop group Queen, “I want it all and I want it now.” A whole culture is being infantilised.
Juliette Meyer May 10, 2018 in Technology Self surveillance in a Panoptic society If you were unfortunate enough to have been incarcerated in England at the end of the 18th Century, you may have found yourself inside a ghoulish structure called the Panopticon. This unique architectural structure was the brainchild of philosopher named Jeremy Bentham who, in 1791, theorised this glass-roofed, circular structure featuring prison cells facing inwards along its external wall, which faced a central guard tower. This ingenious structure allowed guards, stationed within the rotund tower, to keep all inmates in the surrounding cells operating under the assumption that they were under constant surveillance. Its ingenuity lay in the fact that the...