Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Researchers at University of Bern have reported promising results after attaching electrodes to the scalps of test humans to stimulate climate concern.
Research on brain explores how to slow down climate change
ANI | Updated: Jan 08, 2022 22:14 IST
Bern [Switzerland], January 8 (ANI): During a recent study by the University of Bern researchers used brain stimulation to demonstrate that the ability to sympathize with the future victims of climate change encourages sustainable behaviour.
…
“The fact that people aren’t acting in a more climate-friendly way isn’t because we know too little about this critical situation, though,” explained Daria Knoch, Professor for Social Neuroscience at the University of Bern.
To find out more about the reasons that prevent us from acting sustainably, Daria Knoch and her team have conducted a neuroscientific study.…
“It is precisely our inability to mentalise with these strangers that discourages climate-friendly action,” said Daria Knoch, commenting on the findings of the new study that she carried out with her research group in the “Social Neuro Lab” at the University of Bern.
During the study, participants received stimulation to a part of their brain which plays an important role in taking the perspective of others. This stimulation led to more sustainable behaviour.
…
“Applying brain stimulation to the general public is out the question, of course,” explained Benedikt Langenbach, lead author of the study and a former PhD student at the Social Neuro Lab.
However, according to the researchers, the functioning brain area in question can also be enhanced, for example, through neurofeedback and meditation.
…
Read more: https://www.aninews.in/news/science/research-on-brain-explores-how-to-slow-down-climate-change20220108221444/
The article in Cortex Magazine;
Brain study on how to slow down climate change
Date:December 15, 2021 Source:University of BernSummary:When it comes to climate-friendly behavior, there is often a gap between what we want and what we actually do. Although most people want to see climate change slowed down, many do not behave in an appropriately sustainable way. Researchers have now used brain stimulation to demonstrate that the ability to sympathize with the future victims of climate change encourages sustainable behavior.
Read more: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/12/211215113240.htm
The abstract of the study;
Mentalizing with the future: Electrical stimulation of the right TPJ increases sustainable decision-making
Author links open overlay panelBenedikt P.LangenbachabBranislavSavicaThomasBaumgartneraAnnika M.WyssaDariaKnochaaUniversity of Bern, Institute of Psychology, Department of Social Neuroscience and Social Psychology, Bern, SwitzerlandbUniversity of Duisburg-Essen, LVR Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Essen, Germany
Received 23 April 2021, Revised 22 September 2021, Accepted 2 November 2021, Available online 23 November 2021.
Action editor Alan Sanfey; Reviewed 25 July 2021
Abstract
While many people acknowledge the urgency to drastically change our consumption patterns to mitigate climate change, most people fail to live sustainably. We hypothesized that a lack of sustainability stems from insufficient intergenerational mentalizing (i.e., taking the perspective of people in the future). To causally test our hypothesis, we applied high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) to the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). We tested participants twice (receiving stimulation at the TPJ or the vertex as control), while they engaged in a behavioral economic paradigm measuring sustainable decision-making, even if sustainability was costly. Indeed, excitatory anodal HD-tDCS increased sustainable decision-making, while inhibitory cathodal HD-tDCS had no effect. These finding cannot be explained by changes in participants’ fairness norms or their estimation of how other people would behave. Shedding light on the neural basis of sustainability, our results could inspire targeted interventions tackling the TPJ and give neuroscientific support to theories on how to construct public campaigns addressing sustainability issues.
Read more: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010945221003609?via%3Dihub
The scientists are not entirely correct in assuming direct brain stimulation could never be applied to the public. There is plenty of speculation about the possibility of reforming criminals by implanting electrodes in their brain to suppress undesirable behaviour traits.
As the researchers note, there are plenty of less overtly intrusive ways to stimulate the identified brain areas, such as drugs or even precisely tuned propaganda, tested against subjects wired up to a brain monitor.
Lots of people take Prozac, Xanax and other anti-depressants. It is easy to imagine a dystopian future in which standard medical treatments for depression or whatever are covertly spiced up with experimental drugs to stimulate climate concern or alter voting intentions.
In some ways this may already be happening. Scientific American wrote a glowing article in 2020 about how the magic mushroom hallucinogen Psilocybin turns Conservatives into Liberals.
Blue states seem to be leading the way decriminalising the use of magic mushrooms.
Personally I’m skeptical about whether the claimed effect of Psilocybin on voter intentions is real, and I’m not in any way claiming the magic mushroom decriminalisation movement is a plot to change election outcomes. But if the effect on voter intentions turns out to be genuine, it will be fascinating to see how authorities in different jurisdictions respond to that information.
In an age when governments feel empowered to bully ordinary people about their personal health choices, dystopian medical population control nightmares which might once have seemed unthinkable no longer seem so impossibly unlikely.
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The conversion of any Conservatives into ‘Liberals‘ would probably be best explained by the effect of magic mushroom hallucinogen Psilocybin destroying the patient’s brain cells.
Not necessary. Just a drug induced fantasy off in La-La Land where anything is possible.
This is of course, is where liberals live.
For Example:
Global Warming will destroy the planet — La-La Land
Raise taxes to fix the climate — Anything Is Possible
Or
New gun control laws will stop crime — Anything Is Possible
Career criminals will obey new gun control laws — La-La Land
Add your own favorites here.
Socialism will work, if we elect the right people.
Socialism will work, if we [electrocute] the right people.
Fixed it.
Red pill or blue pill? It’s your choice, y’know.
Electronic Brainwashing
Downvotes for Alan when he is clearly just adding to TonyL’s list?
Socialism will work because we can do it correctly in the USA.
….. even though the other team has all the ammo.
Socialism will work, if we try it over and over again and remove everyone who doesn’t embrace it from the gene pool.
The obvious way to convert conservatives to liberals would be to disable their brains’ right hemispheres. They would become disconnected from reality in a way that mimics schizophrenia. The loony left are literally not in their right minds. 🙂
Exactly what my wife said when I read her the opening paragraphs of this article to her, the world is going mad.
Psylocybin doesn’t do that, though. If anything, it promotes neuroplasticity.
The article is drawing untenable conclusions from statistically insignificant study results. Typical for sciam these days.
Exactly, as a an experienced user from the late 60’s I can report from earlier diligent use that there exists a broad range of experience with psychoactive drugs. Compared to LSD, mescaline and the current scourge of brain burners, psylocybin is rather cute and enjoyable.
Knowledge is the best guide, a site like Erowid is a good place to start.
pity they have to link something that MAY be far more effective for depression that the ssris dont work on(not that they DO work for much except creating suicidal ideation strokes etc) the serious small dose research using psylocibin for cancer patients and seriously messed up people seems to show more promise than other options.
dragging politics n climate scams into it just throws it in the shit for brains category
and thats not useful
It seems to me that if you are using a hallucinogen, that would suggest you exist in an imaginary world, completely detached from reality.
They don’t realize what they’re actually saying.
I think it would take electroshocks to the brain and psychedelics to change my mind about destroying the environment and economy with the green new deal crap.
I’m sure plenty of leftists are quite interested in this research.
I was thinking the same thing and put a couple of extra lights on as my shrine :-).
Make sure your lights shine on your leftist neighbors. They live on anguish and seeing you walking around without stubbing your toe will drive them nuts.
Are we sure it doesn’t just reduce IQ dramatically?
Yes we are sure it doesn’t.
It probably works like alcohol, you feel much smarter when you are drinking, but incredibly stupid in the morning.
Brave New World, here we come. Soma anyone?
As long as they are giving injections for “free” they might as well mix in something extra for your own good.
“It is easy to imagine a dystopian future in which standard medical treatments for depression or whatever are covertly spiced up with experimental drugs to stimulate climate concern or alter voting intentions.”
You do not need to imagine any of it. It has all been worked out for you, so you can read all about it.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The drug was “Cure All Your Problems” Soma, as I recall.
Unfortunately, like 1984 by George Orwell, Brave New World was *not* meant as an instruction manual.
The Elite Class may try to do a Great Reset and Build Back Better to create a 1984 or Brave New World.
They may well end up with Atlas Shrugged.
Or “Clockwork Orange”
True, scary.
A little voice whispers “Blade Runner”.
But, why in all these futuristic dystopian scenarios is it always raining or snowing or …
If voting intentions could be changed what would happen when applied to loony lefties? Suppose they turn into proper republicans? What could possibly go wrong with that?
The only problem with changing Dems into Republicans is that then they’d be Republicans. Republicans only redeeming feature is that they are not Democrats. (There are a few exceptions)
The Republicans shifted left to take the views of the Democrats from 20+ years ago. So, the Democrats shifted left to become outright communists.
They’ve already managed to end up with Marching Morons.
I can help. As Ford Prefect said to the B Ark passengers:
“You’re a bunch of useless bloody loonies!”
Zig, you left out the part about spoiled brats that don’t pick up after themselves and trash everything they touch. 🙂
So we’re all being set up to be R. P. MacMurphy now?
It’s illegal to take magic mushrooms in the USA? In the UK it’s not. I believe it’s illegal to preserve them, or sell them, but picked and eaten fresh they are perfectly legal.
Possession of fresh or dried is prohibited. There is an interesting loophole type interpretation in most states where possession, sale, or trade of spores is legal, based on the logic that the spores do not contain active compounds. Cultivating those spores into mycelium or fruits would then of course make it illegal.
Huh. Apparently in 2005 they were made illegal. Naturally growing, pretty much everywhere, and they are not allowed to be consumed.
Just another advance in the ‘war on drugs’. Let’s ignore the fact that no drugs were illegal before the 20th century.
Pot is legal in Washington state, where I live, but I still don’t use it. I don’t see the point in any of that garbage, along with alcohol. If you can’t deal with reality, then just go away.
I suspect I will miss Beethoven when this becomes reality.
Dr. Brodsky: Sin? What’s all this about sin?
Alex: That! Using Ludwig van like that! He did no harm to anyone. Beethoven just wrote music!
Dr. Brodsky: Are you referring to the background score?
Dr. Venkman’s ESP test….updated.
I thought for a moment that I was looking at The Babylon Bee
I’m not yet convinced that it isn’t (or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof)
Same
These people are truly mad. Surely no one can believe such ideas are the product of a sound, healthy mind. These people are getting crazier and crazier.
Excuse me, but “getting crazier”????? No, no, Rory: I beg to differ: they have always been crazier than flies in a garbage dump, but they haven’t had the “freedom” or encouragement to let loose with what they’re just jiggy as all get-out to try.
Red pill or blue pill?
You’re right, of course. They’ve always been crazy, we’re just getting inured to the extent of it.
Remember this ‘research’ is taking place at Bern University in Switzerland.
Switzerland remained neutral in WW2, not wanting to upset their neighbors N@zi Germany who were carrying out atrocities against innocent civilians in many parts of Europe.
So the Swiss authorities have form in having little regard for stepping up to protect the safety & wellbeing of ordinary folks.
Do the Bern researchers also follow a similar disregard for ordinary peoples’ right to not have their bodies interfered with by “the authorities”?
I’ve had my suspicions about the sanity of most psychologist/psychiatrists for a very long time … but the Swiss appear to have their mainsprings too tight. The Nuremberg Code has been completely confined to the dustbin of history by the usual suspects.
A subject of great interest to me. In the ancient days, training for psychology & psychiatry included dozens of hours of mandatory therapy. I recently visited the curricula pages of several institutions and discovered that mandatory therapy has been largely eliminated. Holy coprolite, Batman! The blind are leading the blind. I’ve heard horror stories from people in the field, and the result is every bit as bad as you might expect. The DSM has been reduced to a Leftist Sears hobby catalog. There is no behavior too perverted to be regarded as normal.
That is he sad truth. There was a purpose to mandatory therapy for practitioners … I suppose, rather like a Roman conqueror’s triumphal march into to Rome, with the slave in his chariot holding the laurel wreath above his head, saying; “you’re still just a man, you’re only a man”. As you say, they keep altering the text of the DSM to suit their latest descent into perversion, gradually degrading society according to Marxist dogma to demoralize society … literally. Degenerates like Kinsey get lauded as pathfinders and hero’s now.
The DSM is rather like The Commandments in ‘Animal Farm‘ … flexible with passing time and the decadence of the pigs. Nope … psychology and psychiatry can no longer be trusted. They’re too good at gas lighting. I sometimes think the Democrats have several on staff to direct their strategy.
Begs the question how do they intend to get us to start to believe in future climate victims or even care about it?
Up the voltage.
Millgram found the right answer.
More than 50% of people opted under orders to kill the patient.
Milgram. They opted to behave in a way that would have killed the patient, had there really been one. The patient was imaginary.
Raises the question, “begs the question” is a logical fallacy.
WTF!
FTW!
Electrodes…..
Shocking stuff
Images of Dr; Frankenstein’s lab come to mind.
And the second movie, ‘Young Frankenstein” with that incredible theme music that attracted the “monster” (Peter Boyle), makes it even better.
Interesting to see that ‘they’ don’t use facts about climate change to ‘stimulate concern’. Does this mean they know the facts are against them I wonder
Their assumption is everyone agrees about the facts, they just don’t care enough. So the brain electrodes are meant to stimulate feelings of compassion.
That is the claim Eric.
But in reality, the real effect of mental manipulation, has only one successful impact.
Achieving full complicity from the victim(s), towards a given goal or a particular issue.
Where and when the clause of victimization hangs and/or relies on the inability of proper understanding or comprehension of the key condition in question, and also the conviction and belief in the indisputable certainty of it.
In this case it is aimed at those who can not even contemplate that Climate Change or man made global warming is a massive organized deception, and/or those who do not even contemplate that natural CO2 emissions and natural CO2 atmospheric concentration do not even sense the man made emissions.
Even when such as, pretends and claims “to stimulate feelings of compassion”, it actually stimulates controlled feelings of persecution and lynching towards those that beg to differ from the certainty of the condition.
Only a deluded mind can be manipulated. Only a mind that believes firmly in an indisputable certainty of a given and refuses to even consider the alternatives.
Only a mind that already “enslaved” to a very narrow range of possibilities and probabilities, due to whatever root condition,
A closed and strictly uniformed mind can very successfully be considerably manipulated, regardless of IQ or/and education or/and social hierarchy.
cheers
Only the completely insane are completely convinced of their own sanity.
In the land of the mad, the sane man is at a distinct disadvantage.
“But in reality, the real effect of mental manipulation, has only one successful impact.
Achieving full complicity from the victim(s), towards a given goal or a particular issue.”
It apparently also results in comma abuse.
Eric, the Monster wasn’t the monster. The monster was Dr. Frankenstein.
What “future victims”?
In any case this has to be an ethically and morally unacceptable experiment.
“Minority Report”
Hello!
Because what good is life without a Thanksgiving-size helping of schizophrenia?
This ‘research’ has more holes in it than Swiss cheese.
I would guess the biggest hole is the failure to know the future. Such an ability would be of great utility in artificially moving people who couldn’t see the future onto more perfect behavior and habits. The second hole would be the temptation of trying to suggest to everyone that they should buy an Electric Vehicle while at the same time investing heavily into Tesla. We really don’t need electrodes on our heads as long as we have TV and smart phones do we? The crowd can be cornered, corralled and herded without all of that electrode stuff. Soros is doing a pretty good job with even more primitive pictures of dead presidents.
More junk science. This is a classic case of researchers wanting grant money for something else, but can’t get it without the uttering the politically correct word “climate”.
Indeed. I spoke to a postgrad who agreed that his professor was ‘the best at working climate change into every grant application’.
Is that professor a professor of metallurgy? Working climate change into metallurgy would be very impressive.
I suppose one could apply for a grant to study how climate change makes metals more metal-ier. But that’s one of those grants where you just say you studied it but actually spent the grant money on booze, women, and tropical island vacations.
Does it stop voting numerous times and impersonating dead people?
wow, the ultimate in brain washing!
My guess… The crash test dummies just agreed with whatever the researchers wanted, so they would take the friggin electrodes off!
Mind control, the ultimate dream of the scientific socialists. Do you suspect that funding for their Mind-Boggling plan is funded by popular subscription, or by certain billionaires and corrupt World Organisations intent on imposing their in-house schemes on all.
And don’t forget possible tax-payer funding via unaccountable Deep State black-budget ops, a la the CIA’s MKUltra mind-control research program of the 1960’s and ’70’s, too.
Psilocybin doesn’t damage the brain so it cannot turn conservatives into Liberals.
Daria et al need lobotomies..
Who pays these people for this research?
Good question, Steve. In the U.S., it would be us, the taxpayers.
But in Switzerland? I don’t know how that country ticks, but it seems it’s not only their clocks that are cuckoo.
This is Lord Bertrand Russell’s The Impact of Science on Society :
“Physiology and psychology afford fields for scientific technique which still await development. Two great men, Pavlov and Freud, have laid the foundation. I do not accept the view that they are in any essential conflict, but what structure will be built on their foundations is still in doubt. I think the subject which will be of most importance politically is mass psychology. . . . Its importance has been enormously increased by the growth of modern methods of propaganda. Of these the most influential is what is called `education.’ Religion plays a part, though a diminishing one; the press, the cinema, and the radio play an increasing part. . . . It may be hoped that in time anybody will be able to persuade anybody of anything if he can catch the patient young and is provided by the State with money and equipment.”
This is the day-book for all such misguided ¨research¨ –
… Fourth, that the opinion that snow is white must be held to show a morbid taste for eccentricity. But I anticipate. It is for future scientists to make these maxims precise and discover exactly how much it costs per head to make children believe that snow is black, and how much less it would cost to make them believe it is dark gray.”
It is a matter of research grants! I think the cost of lukewarming far exceeds cooling and warming together!
But if it works in the way suggested, then it will equally well work in the reverse direction, and we can restore alarmists to sane individuals.
Worrying is the Hysteresis area :
Collateral loss of mentation….
brave new world
take your soma
as for this supposed research
an utter waste of funding
the “researchers” should be fired