In Other Words

Natter

Technically this is my second post of the day, but then I’ve slept a good eight hours so I’m going to count this as a different post on a different day. Why am I saying this? I really don’t know, it just seemed like a good idea at the time. It’s better than starting off with ‘today I went and did this and this and this’.

I’ve had headaches for the last couple of days. I think it’s caffeine related. Since I started doing the surveys I’ve been drinking a number of cups of coffee every session. I end up trembling slightly and needing to go to the toilet every half-hour or so. It is also at about that time that my headaches started.

I doubt the extra sharpness during work is worth the headaches. Especially seeing as I’m going to end up getting used to caffeine again and then I’ll end up needing it just to remain normal and to avoid the headaches. For that reason I’m going to go back to tea.

Interesting, huh? Oh well, it’s my blog and I’ll do what I want to, you ken? If I want to talk about my caffeine intake, well that’s my choice and if that means that you people will bugger off and stop reading my blog, well that’s your choice.

It would be practical if you could decide what people read, huh? I guess that’s what people try to do with advertising. First off spreading awareness and secondly making up people’s minds for them. Fortunately it is not a very exact science yet. The question becomes, how exact are we going to let it get before we start regulating it? In some ways, of course, advertising regulation already happens. Some products can’t be advertised and all that jazz.

What I’m talking about, however, is how long is it going to take before forms of advertising will be outlawed? Not specific products, but specific forms of advertising those products. Like beaming stuff straight into the mind, or using ads that are coded in such a way that people can’t help but have something imprinted on their minds.

How close are we to this form of advertising at this time? How close are we to realising mental privacy rights? Or maybe not privacy rights, but the mental rights to be who we are. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of those laws are already in place in some places, truth be told. But then we really have no idea how much control people can already exert over the minds of the innocent bystander. How long before the little flashy device from MIB becomes a reality? It is technologically probably feasible. Like any decent computer, our minds can probably be reset, rebooted and even rewired without us being able to do anything about it. The computer doesn’t get a choice in the matter about what parts get put in and what parts get taken out.

Alright, enough rattling on in unexpected directions, talk to you soon.

posted by Symbol @ 15.5.05