Menu
header photo

Project Vision 21

Transforming lives, renewing minds, cocreating the future

Blog Search

Blog Archive

Comments

There are currently no blog comments.

What we see on the movies often dictates what we do in real life

So many stories were recently published in highly respected media outlets about controlling the human brain that it is no longer just a curiosity, but it is becoming an alarming trend, at least for those of us who still want to enjoy the illusion of freedom, as writer Jorge Luis Borges once said, because we ignore the reasons who move us to action.

 

The online version of Clarin newspaper (in Buenos Aires, Argentina) published a story on August 24, 2008 about neuromarketing and the new neuroeconomy, that is, the application of methodologies developed by neuroscientists to the “true necessities” of consumers, especially people in the process of selecting a product or a service.

 

Neuroscience is the study of how the brain makes a decision and, therefore, the information and knowledge created by neuroscientist can be applied to the behavior of a person buying a product or service in order to modify that behavior.

 

In other words, neuroscience enables neuromarketers to use not words but mental stimuli to obtain the desire behavior of the consumer. And they are including those stimuli more frequently in movies produced in the United States. This is not science fiction. This is happening right now.

 

In fact, according to an article published by LiveScience on August 22, the Department of Psychology at New York University is using movies to understand the behavior of the human brain. And the Film School at the same university is using that research to produce movies able to manipulate some parts of brain, creating an “emotional and cognitive experience” for the viewer, who may not know his or her brain is being manipulated.

 

The key word here is “control.” In fact, Neurofocus, a company based in California, is doing research about how people react to certain movies, TV series, and ads. And then they “share” (sell?) that information to Hollywood producers.

 

And there is even more, because that same company, based on research done at the University of Chicago, is in the process of producing movies able to control the emotional and cognitive reactions of a crowd of spectators, for example, at a football or baseball game.

 

Neuroscience and neuromarketing have now an increasingly important role in the production and promotion of movies, videos, and video games, the main elements of communication in our society.

 

And there is something else. According to a story published by MailOnline on August 21, new developments at the Department of Creative Technologies at the University of Southern California now allow scientist to “recreate” digitally real persons. However, those digital images are so complex and include so much detail that is very difficult, if not impossible, to know they are not a real person.

 

There is even a video of an “interview” with a digital person. Many people do not know the interviewee is computer-generated. Who sponsored such a development? A company that sells special effects to Hollywood and to video game makers.

 

The circle is closing around our brains and we will be trapped inside.

 

 

Go Back