Relativity lesson

Unguided reactions to media communcations might be damped by better conceptual framing i.e. informed rearrangement of our idea maze.

Consider the shift in questioning style mandated by the discovery that time's passage is frame-dependent. Since our old ways of thinking and talking often assume that time's passage is universal instead, they may cause more confusion than they are worth.

In that case, the cognitive dissonance can be lessened by reframing questions. For instance, unless you want the resulting arguments to sound like a free-for-all on the Jerry Springer Show...:

• ...don't ask: Is that particular clock fast or slow?
• ...instead ask: How does the proper-time elapsed on that clock compare to: (i) the clock's elapsed-time reading and (ii) the time elapsed in a map-frame of co-moving yardsticks and synchronized clocks?

This second two-part question is better because it respects the fact that time's passage is frame dependent, and separates questions of clock-calibration (i) from questions about frame-dependent differences in how fast it appears to tick (ii).

What are some comparable guidelines for making media communications more robust?

Constructive refocus

Present day media likes to talk about problems with corruption by others. It's also fond of summarizing the numbers of people killed and injured. Both of these items relate to the structure of bonds in a community i.e. of layered niches of responsibility, but they make no attempt to capture the whole picture.

The multiplicity of niche types that look in and out from the skin, family and culture of each individual does attempt to capture the whole picture. When a disaster occurs or a wall is built between cities, what does that do the connections between people involved? How are these connections impacted by changes in governmental policy?

Although there are simpler ways to score social injury, progress bringing niche-network layer multiplicity in a community up near six can be a robust measure of accomplishment as well. Hence a news focus on this broader picture of social impact is probably worth working on, even if we have to work through a few pitfalls of biased representation along the way. Suggestions invited...

Integrative opportunity

The challenge of making available to everyone all six of the niche types that look in/out-ward from skin, family and culture provides a rational basis for working together across regional-community, belief-system, and professional boundaries.

Name two groups who distrust one another, and this platform provides a context for them to work together. How can we make the most of it, and what are some illustrative examples that come to mind?

Flatlining complexity.

Disrespect for perspectives informed to other levels of organization is an excellent way to lose those levels irreversibly. In fact slowing down this process may be a key challenge (not just for our species) during the second half of metazoan life on earth.

How might we help?

Are all roses roses?

Call all spades spades, and black hearts (not expected and hence easily mistaken for spades in a typical deck) may get carte blanche.

Media economics

What folks will pay for something like a home or a gold mine in light of the latest news-reports, and that something's thermodynamic net surprisal with respect to the physical ambient*, are two different things. How can we help one another not lose sight of the latter, as we adapt to the new-found mobility of cartoonifying news-reports across our planet?

* The technical term for this is Kullback-Leibler divergence.

Proactive spending

Discussions about the economy lately have been interesting: We want to give money to people, banks, etc. in hopes that they'll spend it willy nilly rather than save it. Wait a minute. Didn't we get in this mess by spending what we haven't earned on what we don't need?

A more proactive approach might be to give folks better reasons to spend what they have, regardless of where they got it. Most people already know that there are good as well as bad reasons to shop for ipods, video games, automobiles, and new places to live rather than to keep one's money in the bank or under a mattress. Perhaps it's time to dust off some of those reasons.

For instance, most of the challenges that face us in the years ahead involve taking care of correlations between ourselves and the world around on as many as possible of six levels. Connection diversity can at once be a measure of community health and resilience, as well as of individual accomplishment and satisfaction.

Putting money in the bank or under the mattress does very little for connection diversity, especially in times of economic uncertainty. What does? The answer is strengthening correlations that look inward and outward from three physical boundaries: that of your skin, your family, and your culture. Correlations on all six of these levels face severe challenges in the days ahead, and that's what each of us may want to spend some of what we have on now.

How can we get the media engaged in helping us do this as smartly as possible?