Susceptibility Poll

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Are most human beings susceptible to negative programming?

Please feel free to provide your own thoughts on this controversial topic.

Thanks!

What the heck IS "negative programming"?

And please don't answer this with a link, or a video.

Just tell us what the heck you're taking about in your own words please.

Do you mean social conditioning? Like Pavlov stuff?

I thought it was obvious what negative programming is! It's anything that endorses patterns or behaviors that destroy your life and diminish your happiness while brainwashing you into believing it's actually good. Society is full of them which is why we are where we are today, struggling with all kinds of social ills and problems. One of the most destructive of all is the doctrine of consumerism which is strongly linked to people wanting to make as much money as they possibly can. No doubt the programming is there, question is, how susceptible are people to it's influence. I won't share my thoughts until we have more answers. I want others to share theirs before reading mine.

Consumerism is closely linked to hedonic adaptation and humans have been struggling with that for at least a couple thousand years...

I don't think it's necessarily due to 'programming.' I think it's more like a naturally occurring maladaptive tendency.

I get it.

Except the first sentence. The first sentence is incomprehensible.

You expect us believe that you penned this question, and then read it back to yourself, and then decided that it was obvious to readers what you meant?

That would be incredible if it were true!


"Negative programming" could mean: "negative advertising" ( as in elections). It could mean "negative reinforcement" (punishment as opposed to reward). It could mean the ends are negative. It could mean that the means are negative, but the ends are positive. There are countless zillions of things (large, and small) that the phrase could refer to.

I apologize that I'm not psychic.

I agree with this. We evolved consumption drives that served us well when there was very little to consume because it was all naturally occuring. Now we have created so much muchness that consuming it all (or trying to) is detriemntal and sometimes fatal. But those drives are still there.

If anything, it takes negative programming to fight those drives. Many religions past and present have been full of commands intended specifically to program people to consume less than they evolutionarily are driven to want to. All those "thou shalt nots....", sexual restrictions, food restrictions. Consumerism really just looks like the inevitable default of no restrictions programmed in, rather than a programming in itself. Some people come to asceticism naturally, but most don't. I don't, and therefore put in "adverse health consequences" self programming that does the job that lack of access and religion does for others. Fear of adverse consequences is one way to fight this natural urge, but I have no doubts it is a natural urge.

I tend to think it is more about programming. Society tells you you cannot possibly be happy with less. You can only be happy with more. Therefore you endeavor to obtain more and more. You do not have a sense of fulfillment. You do not look for fulfillment from simple pleasures in life.

Then why is one of the 10 commandments "Thou shalt not covet"? If people had to be programmed to consume, rather than programmed not to, that commandment would be uneccessary.

Oh don't get me started on the Bible. Heh, it's not the best programming either. Some of it is okay but this obsession with Apocalypse, anti Christs, prophets and miracles confuse people, mislead them, and cause them to become obsessed with really morbid topics. I am not impressed in the least.
People do not follow the ten commandments that much, anyway. Even states execute people. The Bible says thou shalt not murder. It doesn't say thou shalt not murder except in cases of self defense, retribution, abortion. It just says thou shalt not murder. I won't even get started on adultery and bearing false witness, the two most abused commandments of all. Let's remember eye for eye, tooth for tooth, but not life for life. The Bible never says life for life but then God comes along and kills you for not following him. Confusion on a silver platter.

I think it's a combination of genetics and programming that determine what people will focus on in life. but yes they are highly susceptible to programming.

The Bible isn't as great an influence as the media, anyway, and the media pretty much promotes gluttony at all costs.

you're missing the point.
He is not asking you to like the Bible.
He is saying that thousands of years before Madison Avenue an ancient book was trying to put the fear of god into you to not covet. Which means even before modern media -folks covetted.

What is this thread? Put me down for "susceptible to everything"

Last edited by Stannis on 29 Sep 2014, 12:03 pm, edited 18 times in total.

Well it's obvious what is in the Bible is an attempt to deprogram the programming that existed before which was obviously based on coveting what others had.

Put culture in the mix and humans are always going to be subject to negative programming, from female genital mutilation in some countries, to all you can eat sugar, at the Tom Thumb store in 99 cent, 44 OZ, super sized sugared drinks.

In general, humans come programmed to do what feels pleasurable; it's necessary to ensure overall survival.

Problem is they are programmed for intermittent reinforcement and not instant gratification.

And no genetic change, as long as humans are humans is going to change that major factor of suffering associated with over consumption of what tastes and feels good.

No genetic change is going to change the male desire for pornography that is also one for one third of females too, now, unless one takes away all of their testosterone, which just will not work, for human continuing survival, either for males or females.

There is no way to genetically program a human to withstand the effects of instant gratification from birth for a sure fire way to avoid the temptation of instant gratification. And it's just too profitable and necessary for economic survival as a society to change the country to a non-consumer society.

The key is in education that teaches self discipline that somehow gets people's attention that living a life of instant gratification is not 'natural' for positive adaptation, and truly moreover functionally disables human beings in many ways.

But even thinking negative thoughts can impact real biological negative impacts as well, just in one lifetime, over a relatively short period of time, per the video below on the Nocebo effect. Many humans pick the negative choice and program themselves for potential ultimate failure.

In other words, it's impossible to take environment out of the total equation; even a majority part of the equation, as science shows so far, now.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2hO4_UEe-4[/youtube]

There are some people who are not gluttons and find joy in the simplest things. There are others who find joy in solving intricate problems. Take the genes from these people and splice them into everyone. Then, a genetic resistance to gluttony is created.

Exactly HOW is that obvious?

Madison Avenue didnt exist in the previous Bronze Age either.