[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by chikorita157

I think Miyazaki's view can apply to anything in life. Take the BP oil spill. BP cut corners when they built a deep water rig and look at the oil spill we have now. If BP didn't cut corners and made sure that the rig is safe, we wouldn't have the oil spill we have now. If these energy companies push for alternative energy or put more effort in safety. In contrast to Miyazaki anger with technology, people are now taking notice and angry at the use of oil. So yeah, the analogy can practically apply to anything in life, not just tech and Anime.

Studying the brain, outdoors and out of reach

By Matt Richtel
In Glen Canyon, Utah
Aug 15 (Sun)

MR TODD Braver emerges from a tent nestled against the canyon wall. He has a slight tan, except for a slim, pale band around his wrist.

For the first time in three days in the wilderness, Mr Braver is not wearing his watch. "I forgot," he says.

It is a small thing, the kind of change many vacationers notice in themselves as they unwind and lose track of time. But for Mr Braver and his companions, these moments lead to a question: What is happening to our brains?

Mr Braver, a psychology professor at Washington University in St Louis, was one of five neuroscientists on an unusual journey. They spent a week in late May in this remote area of southern Utah, rafting the San Juan River, camping on the soft banks and hiking the tributary canyons.

It was a primitive trip with a sophisticated goal: To understand how heavy use of digital devices and other technology changes how we think and behave, and how a retreat into nature might reverse those effects.

As they head down the tight curves the San Juan has carved from ancient sandstone, the travellers will, not surprisingly, unwind, sleep better and lose the nagging feeling to check for a phone in the pocket. But the significance of such changes is a matter of debate for them.

Gadgets: Boon or bane?
The trip's organiser, Mr David Strayer, 52, a psychology professor at the University of Utah, says that studying what happens when we step away from our devices and rest our brains — in particular, how attention, memory and learning are affected — is important science.

"Attention is the holy grail," he says. "Everything that you're conscious of, everything you let in, everything you remember and you forget, depends on it." He adds that, on a day-to-day basis, too much digital stimulation can "take people who would be functioning OK and put them in a range where they're not psychologically healthy".

The quest to understand the impact on the brain of heavy technology use — at a time when such use is exploding — is still in its early stages. To Mr Strayer, it is no less significant than when scientists investigated the effects of consuming too much meat or alcohol.

The five scientists on the trip can be loosely divided into two groups: the believers and the sceptics.

The believers are Mr Strayer and Mr Paul Atchley, 40, a professor at the University of Kansas who studies teenagers' compulsive use of cellphones. They argue that heavy technology use can inhibit deep thought and cause anxiety, and that getting out into nature can help. They take pains in their own lives to regularly log off.

The sceptics use their digital gadgets without reservation. They are not convinced that anything lasting will come of the trip — personally or scientifically.

This group includes the fast-talking Mr Braver, 41, a brain-imaging expert; Mr Steven Yantis, 54, the tall and contemplative chairman of the psychological and brain sciences department at Johns Hopkins, who studies how people switch between tasks; and Mr Art Kramer, 57, a white-bearded professor at the University of Illinois who has gained attention for his studies of the neurological benefits of exercise.

STORY CONTINUES ON NYT

An interesting story about the effects of technology on our mental processes and, by extrapolation, on our societies.

Deeper into the piece, the scientists refer to a "seminal study from the University of Michigan that showed people can better learn after walking in the woods than after walking a busy street".

The study indicates that learning centres in the brain become taxed when asked to process information, even during the relatively passive experience of taking in an urban setting. By extension, some scientists believe heavy multitasking fatigues the brain, draining it of the ability to focus.

Mr Strayer argues that nature can refresh the brain. "Our senses change. They kind of recalibrate — you notice sounds, like these crickets chirping; you hear the river, the sounds, the smells, you become more connected to the physical environment, the earth, rather than the artificial environment."

Mr Braver accepts the Michigan research but wants to understand precisely what happens inside the brain. And he wonders: Why don't brains adapt to the heavy stimulation, turning us into ever-stronger multitaskers?

"Right," says Mr Kramer, the sceptic. "Why wouldn't the circuits be exercised, in a sense, and we'd get stronger?"

The portions I highlighted, I believe, will find particular resonance with director Hayao Miyazaki.