The engineering of consent

Bernays in the 1920s

The modern master of propaganda and public relations -often termed the modern day Machiavelli- is Edward Bernays, Sigmund Freud’s Vienna born nephew. Based in the United States, Bernays -(November 22, 1891 – March 9, 1995)- was a pioneer in collective manipulation. To this effect he skilfully and successfully combined individual and social psychology, public opinion studies, political persuasion and advertising. He used all these to create what he termed necessary illusions which he then presented (or filtered) as reality to the masses. Bernays referred to this social process as the engineering of consent. He’s one of the first people in advertising who used manipulation of the subconscious as a tool to influence public opinion. Bernays himself believed that manipulation was needed as society was dangerous due to it’s “herd instinct”.

One of the reasons this came to mind and blog is related to cigarette smoking and women (more specifically as I mused on why I had started smoking in boarding school in Britain as an early adolescent).

One of Bernays campaigns in the 1920s was made by request of the American Tobacco Company to increase cigarette sales among the female population, among which it was considered taboo to smoke in public. To this effect, he sent a group of young models to march in the New York City parade. He subsequently told the press that a group of women rights marchers would light “torches of freedom”. On this prompt, the women lit up Lucky Strikes cigarettes in front of eager paparazzi. According to Wikipedia, The New York Times, on the 1st of April 1929 edition, printed: “Group of Girls Puff at Cigarettes as a Gesture of Freedom”. This helped to break the taboo against women smoking in public.

More on the man and his third party authorities here. Third party authorities is a method based on the statement that: “If you can influence the leaders, either with or without their conscious cooperation, you automatically influence the group which they sway”.

Portrait of Edward Bernays via wikimedia commons

A little sign of our times

Found a good photo today in the Freakonomics blog; made me think of the times we live in under a tragicomic, self-gloating and perverse light. Some food for thought, I guessed.

Thanks to Author.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shuttercat7/ / CC BY-ND 2.0

A Russian demographic catastrophe

Russia’s single and most acute problem is the demographic trend of the country. National Human Development Report, Russian Federation, 2008: Russia Facing Demographic Challenges is a study recently released by the United Nations. This report projects that Russia would lose at least 11 million more people by 2025. According to the study, “in the coming decades, the nation confronts accelerated population decrease; a dwindling of the working-age population; the general aging of the population; the drop in number of potential mothers; a large immigrant influx; and a possible rise in emigration rates”.

“The mortality crisis is one of the clearest manifestations of Russia’s long-term demographic crisis”, the report warns, with the gap between Russia and other developed countries widening since 1964. Further, life expectancy for both sexes was shortest in Russia among 33 European nations, and Russia lags far behind both the United States and Japan.

A two-pronged strategy is needed to reverse these trends, the new report said, calling for the promotion of active and healthy lifestyles on the one hand, and the adaptation of social services and institutions to the needs of the aging population on the other. It also pointed to migration as a possible way to fill gaps and boost the workforce to support economic growth.

In the past 16 years, nearly 6 million immigrants have come to Russia, but the study warned that for migration to be a truly effective solution, Russian society must adjust to accept the newcomers. Another UN report said last year that the population could fall to as low as 100 million in 2050.

More news and analysis here and here. Images of the Republic of Karelia, courtesy of Eero Korhonen.

Finland and the “cleantech” sector

Finland encourages domestic expertise in clean technology, which it promotes worldwide. Testimony of this reality follows.

1. Between 1998 and 2007 Finnish companies invested 337 EUR Million in energy efficiency, saving 7,35 terawatt hours of energy
2. The International Energy Agency has established that “Finland is a model for the world” in combined heat and power generation
3. A whooping 7% of Finnish exports are in clean tech, the highest of any OECD country
4. The number of Finnish nanotechnology companies has tripled since 2004
5. Since the 1990s, Helsinki has increased energy production by 60%, and has also increased air quality

Sources: Helsinki Times and Cleantech Finland

Before – After: Eastern Finland

Summer in Savonia, Eastern Finland, can be a relaxing -albeit industrious- event. Here’s a great way to spend your time when you’ve got some Silver Birch, Alder and Aspen to deal with for winter’s wood (for your sauna, for example) and a Zetor from the 1960s to help you get the job done.

Before - Zetor on the right lending a hand

After - Ta-da!

My warmest regards and compliments to Matti and Sirkka for this incredible work. Hope to participate in this one next Summer!

Verano (Summer) a poem by Manuel Machado

Frutales Fruit trees
cargados, charged,
Dorados Golden
trigales… cornfields…

Cristales Glass
ahumados. smoked.
Quemados Burned
jarales… rockroses…

Umbría, Shade,
sequía, draught,
solano… easterly wind…

Paleta Palette
completa complete
verano. summer.

Manuel Machado (Seville, 1874 – Madrid 1947)
Spanish poet and playwright of the Generation of ‘98

A close call: Yeşilyurt Camii

Salah is the name of the Islamic ritual prayer. Muslims are summoned to Salah by the muezzin from the mosque; this is done by chanting Athan, the official call to prayer, which is performed 5 times per day. Here is a transliteration from the Arabic from a source including a description on performing the ritual.

Allaahu Akbar (4x)
God is great
Ashhadu Allah ilaaha illa-Lah (2x)
I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except God
Ash Hadu anna Muhamadar rasuulullah (2x)
I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God
Hayya’ alas Salaah (2x)
Come to prayer
Hayya’ ala Falaah (2x)
Come to felicity
A-Salaatu Khayrun Mina-Naum (2x) [Fajr only]
Prayer is better than sleep
Qad qaamitis Salaah (2x) [Iqama only - not recited in Athan]
Our prayers are now ready
Allaahu Akbar (2x)
God is great
Laa ilaaha illa-Lah
There is none worthy of worship except God

Sunni and Shi’a versions of Athan differ. In the map our neighborhood mosque, also referred to in the title of the post.
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Read That Post

“Experiments are only revealed in retrospect to be turning points”.

I strongly recommend to anyone working in media, or classifieds, or publishing of any kind to read this post.

And now, back to thinking about Aldus Manutius, the Elder.

Good night!

Stalin’s tall buildings (Stalinskie Vysotki)

I am currently staying for a few weeks in one of Stalin’s Seven Sisters. Specifically, the one on Kudrynskaya Ploshad, in Moscow. According to Khrushchev, Stalin had said the following prior to this project:

We won the war… foreigners will come to Moscow, walk around, and there’s no skyscrapers. If they compare Moscow to capitalist cities, it’s a moral blow to us

I am not sure the architectural value of these could be considered a main attribute, but the history of the project is of certain interest. It seems it was the Municipal Building in downtown Manhattan that both impressed and inspired Stalin’s orders to the architects who were commissioned these buildings.

Perception (mis)management

The phrase perception management has often functioned as a euphemism for “an aspect of information warfare”. A scholar in the field notes a distinction between “perception management” and public diplomacy , which “does not, as a rule, involve falsehood and deception, whereas these are important ingredients of perception management; the purpose is to get the other side to believe what one wishes it to believe, whatever the truth may be“.

I shared this information on perception management with a colleague of mine just as I came across it, and he sent me the following and positively interesting interpretation on the issue:

Please bear in mind that the Truth is absolute, simple, universal and unique (“Truth is Truth”).
Perceptions of Truth are relative. Therefore, facts (which are perceptions of Truth by human beings) are relative. The Truth of the human mind is also relative therefore, perception of that which is personal Truth.

Only WISE PEOPLE may perceive the TRUTH, although they call it by different names. Truth shall triumph. That is why the Truth is singular, but the perceptions are plural.

I found this statement of special interest and highly relevant to the world we live in. However, I am not sure all of us would agree that facts are “perceptions of Truth”… Read and interpret at your own whim!

Smoking away

I work and live in countries where smoking is prevalent. Last night I had diner next to a 60 year old man who, while he ate, let a concatenation of cigarettes pretty much smoke themselves on the ashtray next to him. Today, it occurred to me to check just how much smoking is going on in these parts. As I imagined, the countries in which I spend most of my time are the world’s most notorious smoking centers. Just looking at the map of smoking males aged 15 or plus, I came across the following data in a recent World Health Organisation atlas.

With 60% and above smoking in that gender age group we have: Russia, Romania, Turkey, Tunisia, Georgia, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, Republic of Korea, Cambodia, Yemen, Kenya…

Just for comparison I looked at my country, Spain, at 40-49% and also Finland, at 20-29% (like Canada). On the low end places like Sweden, below 20%, alongside Oman or Barbados. The low end has an interesting mixture of countries, which indicates that a number of different and possibly mutually exclusive factors contribute to low smoking indices. I leave this to another post.

More in 10 Facts about Global Burden of Disease; Tobacco Free Initiative of World Health Organisation

Image courtesy of darkroastedblend

The dry clothing conundrum

Sublimation is the process by which a solid changes to a vapor (or gas) without passing by a liquid state. For example, the transformation of ice to water vapor and vice-versa.

In psychology it is a defense mechanism by which unacceptable feelings or behaviour are manifested in a constructive manner. Freud discussed it as a process of redirecting physical energy from ego-desire to the satisfaction of cultural aims.

The relation between the two meanings of the word could be - for example – the fact that both are complex processes by which a state of being (solid; ego-desiring) takes a very different state on (gas; cultural satisfaction).

Anyway, it was just a word that came to mind today as I was hanging clothes in a pretty cold terrace and wrongly thinking that, because it was cold, they would not dry.

The phase diagram for CO2. At about 1 atmosphere (the pressure at sea level on Earth) and at room temperature, CO2 will turn directly from a solid into a gas, bypassing the liquid state. Illustration courtesy of Swinburn

Dostoevsky wrote it before you thought it

“The horror of it is that beauty is not only a terrifying thing – but it is also a mysterious one. In it the Devil struggles with God, and the field of battle is the hearts of men. And as a matter of fact, it’s natural that those who are in pain should talk about it. Now listen, for I want to come to the matter in hand”.

Dimitri Fyodorovich Karamazov to his brother Alyosha
The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Russian Hour

A Russian internet professional was telling the other day some facts about the runet which are quite interesting.

The runet has a 29% yearly audience growth; 70% of users are on broadband; there’s an 80% penetration rate in ages 12-24; 48% of households have computers; 39% of Russians conform the runet’s monthly audience; 500M$ was the ad spend of 2007; 800M$ is the 2008 forecast (maybe less now after the crisis); the e-commerce turnover was supposed to be 2B$ in 2007 and is forecasted at 3,4B$ in 2008. About 150M$ were spent in Russia in web production last year (programming, design, webmastering…)

15B queries were made on search engines in the Russian language in 2007 (that’s 40% more than in 2006); there were 90M mailboxes with 9,5M daily users; in 2007 there were 50M user profiles in social networks in Russia. Number of profiles grew 15x in 2007.

The end of the world as we know it. Chapter One

New York University’s Nouriel Roubini (Istanbul, 1958) aka Dr. Doom, said yesterday that the markets have become destructive forces and it could make sense to close them for a period of time to stop the free-fall. He also said yesterday in Madrid that he “prefers the costs of over-regulation than the risks of the current regulatory system” (the one that just collapsed in front of our eyes).

I like the prognoses of Roubini, even though nobody ever used to take them seriously before. And this one is for revision (meaning, let’s get back to this in 12 months time): he said yesterday that things now are just getting worse, not better, and that the recession will last more than 2 years and will also affect emerging market economies worldwide. (ie. China growing less than 7% means increased poverty).

We will see, but looks like Dr. Doom could be more on target than we’d like. I mean, read this excerpt from October 24th 2008: “In July 2006, Roubini predicted the financial crisis. In February this year he forecast a “catastrophic” meltdown that central bankers would fail to prevent, leading to the bankruptcy of large banks exposed to mortgages and a “sharp drop” in equities.

In any case, he does not think it will be as bad as the Great Depression, where output in the US fell more than 20%. 

Photo courtesy of wallstrip and media.collegepublisher.com

Tapas in Madrid (anytime)

Here are three recommendations for a tapas trek in Madrid. Pursue at your peril as they’re based on my personal tastes and the years of my youth spent living in the city. If you’re staying at the Tryp, don’t forget to take a stroll in the Plaza de Oriente before pursuing any of these routes. You might also decide to stay in that area and opt for a quiet dinner in the Cafe de Oriente with spectacular views of the Palacio Real and the Teatro Real.

 

La Latina – Austrias. The true Madrid castizo

Start at the trendy and progressive El Bonanno (Plaza del Humilladero, 4) for a beer and then head down Almendro street, riddled with tapas bars, towards Taberna Almendro, 13 to have some huevos rotos (broken eggs) and porra antequerana (a much thicker and very tasty kind of gazpacho with some iberico shavings). In the streets Cava Baja and Cava Alta is where most of the tapas bars of the area are located, as well as legendary restaurants like Casa Lucio or El Viejo Madrid. A very animated neighbourhood, muy castiza. You can also climb to the top of three story restaurant El Viajero, head towards the animated Delic, on Plaza de la Paja for a mojito, or stroll down to the Basilica of San Francisco el Grande and have a digestive orujo at Las Vistillas, in Calle Bailen, over a view of the Cathedral of La Almudena.

Almudena Cathedral

Plaza de Santa Ana – Madrid de las Letras

Plaza de Santa Ana (Cervantes lived a couple of streets away) is the center piece of what has become known as the Barrio de las Letras. It’s just off Madrid’s geographical center, the Puerta del Sol and it’s a pleasant and animated square. There you can eat good tapas in historical venues like La Moderna or Cerveceria Alemania. For great views try the Penthouse Bar & Terrace on the Hotel Melia Reina Victoria, also on the square. Stroll around that neighbourhood down Calle Huertas and head to a more sophisticated seated diner experience in the cozy East47 or simply walk around the small bar filled pedestrian streets of the neighborhood and get a glimpse of the very lively Madrid theatre district. 

Plaza de Santa Ana

Retiro – a stroll in the park and great food discoveries

If you find yourself anywhere near the more up-class Barrio de Salamanca, do not miss Taberna Laredo (Calle Menorca, 14) and La Castela (Calle Doctor Castello, 22) for some of the most extraordinary tapas of the city. These are classic venues which will be packed. Just find a spot as close to the barra as possible and enjoy the fantastic wine choices by the glass and their very articulate and well executed tapas selection. Before you may want to take a stroll in the Retiro park, which is just across these two great venues.

Retiro

They’re open: mission future

On September 8, 2008, Mission Future will bring together visionaries, innovators and creative entrepreneurs from diverse disciplines to explore and drive the impact of the sharing-economy on society and business.

Under the theme “We’re open: How open minds and open industries are shaping the world” will focus on open innovation and open economy by contributions from guys like Joichi Ito, Technotari’s VP of International and Mobility Development, Issac Mao, director of the Social Brain Foundation and Gerfried Stocker, director of the Ars Electronica Center.

The event commits itself to the principles of open source, where attendees are active participants and the boundaries between expert and participant are fluid. Mission Future’s goal during this day is to advance pathbreaking projects guided by open principles. It’s in Linz’s Art University

Eino Leino (1878-1926)

Eino Leino

Originally Eino Armas Leopold Lönnbohm, Finnish poet Eino Leino was a playwright and novelist and considered a master of song-like poetic forms. He was the most important name in Finnish-language poetry at the turn of the 20th century is by now Finland’s most cited poet. Leino combined the “archaic and mythic tradition, symbolism, and influences from Friedrich Nietzsche with his romantic concept of the poet as a truth-seeking visionary”. 

Leino’s life style was bohemian and from the beginning of his literary career Leino was a well-known figure amongst Helsinki’s cultural elite. Here’s an extract from his work.

Short time’s to us allotted till our urn.
Living, like furnace flames then let us burn,
High let us in the fire be ascending,
Earth stays below, the spirit’s heavenward tending.
(from Hymn to Fire)

Image courtesy of wikimedia commons

Confucius of the heart

To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must cultivate our personal life; and to cultivate our personal life, we must first set our hearts right.

—Confucius, 551-479 BC

Also visit the Institute of Heart Math

Gosh, I never thought about it…

Data centers consume a lot of energy, much more than we’d care to think when we make a query in google. Yes, it seems each individual query to google consumes more than one hour of a lighted lighbulb’s energy consumption (let’s assume a 140W one). It seems information technology will rival air traffic by 2020 in polution capacity terms. Yikes. It could be the case that google is slowly releasing information to independent sources and the mainstream media on the issue in order to:

1. Convince people that search and data control has a cost
2. That you should assume your part of responsibility in this cost
3. That you should/would/will eventually pay google to actually search or some variation therein