Cognitive Excercise 1

[Placid Dingo]

Write down ten things you like before continuing.















































Beside each one, write down anyone who may want you to like them. Advertisers, corporations, religious instiutions, friends, family, etc.

[Placid Dingo]

Discordianism (Discordians, Loompanics/SJ Games other 'alternative publishers')
Game of Thrones (RR Martin, His Publisher, HBO, Friends (Community bond through shared interest))
Close Friends, Family (Close friends and family)
Ipod (Apple, Foxxcon)
Reading (Publishers)
Arguing on the Internet (Website owners/Content providers. Institutions setting adgendas (Eg current arguments on Welfare/911 Truth of Hip Forums, would refusing the topic oxygen be more effective?))
Slacklining (Gibbon)
Writing (?)
Following Politics (Political insitutions and PR organisations)
Twitter (Twitter, Twitterers)

I don't know if this is a good excercise or not, it just came to mind to examine the unquestioned sources of why we like what we like.

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

Butts (advertisers)
Butts (marketers)
Butts (satanists)
Butts (the gay agenda)
Butts (the lesbian agenda)
Butts (nudists)
Butts (people wearing spandex pants)
Butts (liberals)
Butts (underwear manufacturers)
Butts (my girlfriend)

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Butts (advertisers)
Butts (marketers)
Butts (satanists)
Butts (the gay agenda)
Butts (the lesbian agenda)
Butts (nudists)
Butts (people wearing spandex pants)
Butts (liberals)
Butts (underwear manufacturers)
Butts (my girlfriend)

[tyrannosaurus vex]

quiet (just me I'm pretty sure, judging by how much everyone else needs NOISE and WORDS)
philosophy (leftist academia, Plato's ghost, google)
music (RIAA, local concert halls, google)
movies (MPAA, Netflix, google, cable company, amazon, TV manufacturer, theaters)
gadgets (computer makers, Newegg, Amazon, google)
my immediate family (hopefully my immediate family)
traveling (Delta, hotels, restaurants, google)
my job (the president, mitt romney, rush limbaugh, advertisers)
knowing all my bills are paid (the city of mesa, Verizon, etc.)
also butts (definitely google)

Pretty sure google is behind it.

[Internet Jesus]

Beer.  (Brewers.  Advertisers.  Molson-Coors, it's shareholders)
Weed. (Growers. Medical Marijuana advocates. 14 year olds everywhere)
Comic books. (DC.  Marvel.  The Ghost of Jack Kirby)
Higher criticsm of the Bible (Atheists.  The Center for Free Inquiry.  Robert M. Price)
History Podcasts (Apple.  History podcasters.  Mike Duncan)
I-products (Apple, again.  Foxxcon.  The cancer that killed Steve Jobs.)
Sermons by Hare Krishnas (The Krishnas of Spanish Fork, UT.  A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)
Money (The whole of society since, well forever)
Sex (Me.  Just me, all by my lonesome)
Sons of Anarchy (Kurt Sutter.  FX network.  me again, trying to live the life of a badass, even if vicariously)

Not sure if this goes anywhere, except to reveal that I'm less of who I'd like to be and more of an aggregation of desires that may not wholly be my own.

[Golden Applesauce]

Feeling good about myself. (any advertiser who thinks they can make me feel bad about myself and sell me the cure)
Winning games. (anyone who sells games, people who play games with me.)
Solving hard problem. (my employer, tool vendors, educational industry, Stack Overflow)
A good story. (book publishers, television studios, advertisers)
Getting better at stuff. (educational / training industry, my employer)
Learning new things. (educational industry, nonfiction publishers, my employer, conference organizers)
Hanging out with friends. (my friends)
Helping people. (charities, people who need help, my employer)
Watching a true professional at work. (professionals??)
Hot meals. (restaurants, grocery stores, whoever manufactures my microwave)

[Golden Applesauce]

quiet (just me I'm pretty sure, judging by how much everyone else needs NOISE and WORDS)

You're in luck, because they have a product for that!

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Brain science (Pharmaceutical companies)
My kids (My kids, other family members, the social system)
Melty glass (Jewelry handcrafters, glass suppliers, lampwork toolmakers)
Gardening (Seed companies, birds, earthworms, garden tool importers)
Hiking (Sportswear companies, sandwich purveyors)
Sweater dresses (Clothing companies)
Boots (Bootmakers)
Road trips (Oil companies, auto companies, hospitality industries)
Gallery openings (Artists, gallery owners)
My friends (My friends)

[Placid Dingo]

Not sure if this goes anywhere, except to reveal that I'm less of who I'd like to be and more of an aggregation of desires that may not wholly be my own.

Thanks IJ and others. The above was the kind of theme I was trying to explore, more just as a personal exercise but it seemed worth sharing.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Not sure if this goes anywhere, except to reveal that I'm less of who I'd like to be and more of an aggregation of desires that may not wholly be my own.

Thanks IJ and others. The above was the kind of theme I was trying to explore, more just as a personal exercise but it seemed worth sharing.

It's completely worth exploring. I don't know if you've ever taken any sociology classes but one of the things that really drives home is just how much of a product of our environment, and therefore society, we really are.

[Internet Jesus]

Not sure if this goes anywhere, except to reveal that I'm less of who I'd like to be and more of an aggregation of desires that may not wholly be my own.

Thanks IJ and others. The above was the kind of theme I was trying to explore, more just as a personal exercise but it seemed worth sharing.

It is, but then again, perhaps the fact that these are desires that have a root outside of myself, doesn't necessarily make them invalid.  Sure, Molson-Coors has a vested interest in making me consume their product, but it doesn't necessarily follow that I don't kinda dig beer.

Perhaps it raises the bar on what I would consider a desire that is authentically my own, but that doesn't mean it's not a desire I authentically feel.  It's not like were all fucking Buddhists here.  At least I don't think we are.  We're allowed to have desires. Just might want to be a little more discerning about the extent we allow those desires to dictate our actions.

Or hell, I don't know, maybe there is no real me, the buddhists are correct and it's all just socially programmed bullshit.  Still doesn't mean I don't like beer though.

[P3nT4gR4m]

P3ntGF - P3nTGF
Coffee - Bolivia
Beer - Anyone who makes a living fixing the things I break when beer
Weed - my dealer
Kayaks - Kayak and equipment manufacturers
Getting away from civilisation - civilisation
Video games - the people who make video games

It's monday morning I can only think of 7 things I like right now 

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

The dynamic between market demand and the companies that serve those desires is far more complex than "teh Free Market" or "Evol Corporations". I get the sense that this exercise emphasizes the latter in a simplistic and convenient way. I like x and therefore I am a product of y¹, y², and y³.

On one hand it's clever in that it appeals to the ego by giving us the opportunity to list our 10 most favorite things that make us a special snowflake. But on the other, it seems to sidestep the fairly hairy issue of what exactly the vested interests have actually had an impact on in terms of our choices to pursue a discipline, purchase products, or what have you.

It just seems like a way to provide testimonials (a surprisingly persuasive marketing tactic) for a presupposed conclusion, rather than get into the evidence, arguments, and messy assortment of facts that actually surround the issue.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

I read this over the weekend on the phone thingie when I couldn't reply, so this is what I remember:

Bacon -- Pork industry, diners and restaraunts, everyone who benefits from fat people
Sleeping the fuck in -- political and corporate interests that benefit from people not yelling at buildings? maybe?
My feet (specifically toes) -- Shoe manufacturers, nail polish companies
Warm blankets -- textile companies, home decorating people, big box retailers
Pancakes -- See #1
My husband's arms -- him, heteronormative culture