The New Ideas Blog

Beyond mental slavery is now published (finally). It is available at Amazon.com (just use that link), and can be ordered at your local bookstore as well. You can also read excerpts from the book at a site I set up just for that purpose. My newest site is called, naturally enough, Beyond Mental Slavery .com (and that link takes you there). What is the book about? Here’s a short description:

Are You a Mind Slave?

We like to think we control our minds. Beyond Mental Slavery demonstrates just how often our minds are actually controlling us. We are under the influence of ideas that are not really ours, biases we’re not fully aware of, and programs that cause us to react in ways that have nothing to do with our conscious goals or desires - and may even sabotage them. Research, stories and examples that the reader can verify from experience, are used throughout the book to demonstrate just how easy it is to be ordered around and misguided by various thought processes - by the same mind we believe (more…)

A few years back I was reading a book on subliminal persuasion, and I came to a part about using inflection. The subtle emphasis of certain words can totally change how something is understood. For example, if a salesman says, “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that for you,” with the inflection on the “I,” it suggests that someone might be able to. If he says “I can’t do that for you,” emphasizing the “you,” he is essentially saying that you are the problem.

I later realized that this techniques could be used for creative problem solving. I wrote a page explaining how for one of my websites. Here is a slightly modified reprinting of that: (more…)

Regular readers of this blog and subscribers to my Brainpower Newsletter know that I’m a believer in safe self-experimentation. In fact, I regularly recommend trying things out that do not yet have scientific evidence proving their effectiveness. After all, why would science ever look into a new supplement or technique for improving ones health or mind if their was not first some anecdotal evidence?

In the newsletter I had the “brainpower contest” going for a while (in 2007), to see what “tricks” had worked for subscribers to (more…)

Using a metaphorical understanding is one of the primary ways we communicate ideas. This is true even in - or especially in - the sciences. How would we explain an atom without the concept of a little solar system. Scientists will tell you that they actually look nothing like the metaphorical models we make, but we have to have some way to “see” these things mentally.

Consider the mundane description of temperature as being (more…)

Do you want clearer and more effective thinking? Here’s something that works for me: take a break from any monotonous or stressful mental work to do something you enjoy. It seems that fully engaging in an activity you love rests the brain and refreshes it. I haven’t seen any scientific evidence for this yet, but my experience with the routine has been positive.

Sometimes your mind (more…)

On the morning of September 11, 2001, the first of the World Trade Center towers was hit by a plane. In the second tower, occupants heard a New York Port Authority official announce that everyone should stay at their desks. Yes, you read that correctly. The officials charged with the safety of the downtown area in and around the towers told people to stay in a burning building.

Fortunately Rick Rescorda had (more…)

Yesterday I was reminded how important basic principles or “key ideas,” cab be to our everyday understanding of things. I pulled a frozen meal out of the freezer yesterday and noticed the incredible amount of packaging it had. Why? It seems so wasteful, and yet there are several contributing factors to this situation, based on some key ideas about politics, economics and psychology. Understanding these suggests (more…)

Those of you who follow my writing on various websites know that I frequently suggest making “problems” into opportunities. In my Brainpower Newsletter I might propose this as an exercise in creativity, while in my Unusual Ways To Make Money Newsletter I suggest it as a way to create profitable ideas. But there is a more important aspect to this.

Our ideas about “problems” can make us miserable, and changing them can (more…)

A recent article in Newsweek magazine (October 14, 2008) reported on research into how processing digital information can “rewire” the neurons in your brain. UCLA neuro-scientist Gary Small says that the ways in which we gather information and communicate has caused a rapid evolution which could change the human brain. He says, “As the brain evolves and shifts its focus towards new technological skills, it drifts away from fundamental social skills.” (more…)