Week 1

ART

Modern Art Improves Quality of Life for Alzheimer's Patients
Looking at art can improve the quality of life for people with Alzheimer’s, studies show, because patients continue to have emotional responses to art, which trigger memories. The program was started at the MoMA in 2006, with tours of all Alzheimer’s patients. It was part of an initiative to reach underserved audiences, such as the deaf and blind. A keynote speaker at a summit held to create the program encourages us to “stop thinking about Alzheimer’s as a death sentence, and start looking at it as we would any other chronic condition.” On the tours, Alzheimer’s patients are not treated as a special needs group, and the action of looking at art helps them recall memories, which increases their quality of life.

This article reminds us that there is something about art which encourages creative thinking and establishing connections. Viewing and discussing art is beneficial for everyone, and it is unfortunate to see it constantly cut from school programs. It’s great to see research and instances which remind us of the importance of art.

THINKING

Waking Life
Since this movie covered a lot of ground, I’m picking out one of my favorite scenes and going from there. I like this scene, because it points out what a lot of people ignore when they talk about science and religion. People tend to pit the two against each other, when really, they have a lot in common. They both seek to understand how the world works, and in the case of free will they both struggle to explain it. Religion fails to explain free will in the face of an omnipotent God, and physics fails to explain free will in a world of predictable chemical and physical reactions.
The speaker explains, simply, how our movements are controlled; electrodes fire in the brain and send a pulse through the nervous system, which causes a muscle to contract. He states that each of these actions and reactions can be explained with basic physics. I don’t know enough about it myself, but I would be interested to see what starts the chain in the brain. I guess that’s the tricky bit, because that’s when we, make decisions. Or are all of our actions simply reactions to the problems placed in front of us. What about thoughts, which never manifest themselves into actions?

SOCIAL CHANGE

“Information Diet” on NPR
“If we want to make media better, then we've got to start consuming better media,” says Clay Johnson, author of “Information Diet.” I saw this headline on NPR’s front page, and was immediately interested in how Johnson was able to transpose the language and logic of obesity and dieting onto the consumption of media. It’s a really straight forward interview, and I think this line of thought is especially important in the Internet age, when we, the consumer, have the power to choose what we watch, see, and hear online. We are not limited to the two news stations we get on our television, and the paper that comes every morning. (In fact, I don’t think I know anyone my age who regularly watches news on TV or gets a newspaper daily). We get our news online, via twitter feeds, facebook, and reddit.  Johnson explains how media sources cater to the desires of their readers, which often comes at the cost of quality, informed news stories. If we want better news, we have start looking for better news. Stop sifting through ads, and clicking on the first thing that catches your attention. Johnson suggests staying as close to the source, and as far from opinion, as you can. For example, if looking at legislation, try to find the bill instead of reading someones opinion on the bill.