There is a
great deal of concern and worry over the level of security operations and
intrusion into our communications and social interaction.
Variously
described as “Stasi” as in the former State of East Germany , “Orwellian” as in
the book “1984” by George Orwell, “Gestapo” as in Hitler’s Germany or “KGB” as
in the Soviet Union, according to taste, it is said that we have much to fear.
An article
in “Science Daily” today titled “Tense Film Scenes Trigger Brain Activity” this
isn’t the half of it. The title may seem
to be a statement of the blinding obvious and the project one of those
expensive ways for scientist to clock up their publication ratings, but it is
other matters that are of interest.
The part
that really caught my eye was the final part:
Quote:
The
team sees several potential applications for the ability to quantify levels of
engagement, including neuro-marketing, quantitative assessment of
entertainment, measuring the impact of narrative discourse and the study of
attention deficit disorders. "Advertisers would love to know where and
when an ad is engaging," he noted.
"The
potential to measure engagement is huge since this provides an objective way to
collect data," added Dr. Dmochowski, who currently is investigating
whether there is a correlation between social media usage and brain activity in
young people while watching "The Walking Dead," a drama series on the
American Movie Classics cable network.
"We
are mining Twitter to measure the depth of watching," he continued.
"We think there will be many correlations between scenes that elicit
social media responses and neural signatures, and we can look at both positive
and negative responses.
"
The
study was funded by a Defense Advanced Research Program Agency grant. Joao Dias
of City College
and Paul Sajda of Columbia
University
Unquote.
When forced
to go into town it is now usual to see large numbers of apparently brain dead
young people deep in Twitter or social media activity. Their responses to any ordinary verbal
contact are normally garbled and indistinct.
When I were
a lad what the corner newsagent, the grocer, the postman, the window cleaner
and her a few doors up did not know about us wasn’t worth knowing.
And the
butcher knew all about neuro-marketing.
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