Bye to Buy

What role does clever product marketing influence our spending habits?

We all fall prey to the hype of clever marketing whether it is on a conscious or subconscious level. Yes, we see those images of perfect men and women smiling at us from a billboard or magazine cover and we want to have what they have, perfect faces, perfect lives and above all success and happiness. So we ask ourselves how do we achieve this and the answer comes back to us in plain black and white writing. All we need to have what they have is buy whatever they are wearing ,holding or are photographed vaguely close to and we will become them. We are buying dreams and fairy dust and not the product.

 The truth is we are all being brain washed and what we believe as the truth based on no tangible evidence is just a fantasy which we are buying into literally and figuratively. The hard reality is our perception is not based on core values but hard marketing ignites an emotional response in us. We want to better ourselves, and at the same time we want to keep up with the Jones’s. So we will buy that toothpaste that offers us impossibly white teeth or that car which is a chick magnet or that insurance policy that will offer a lifetime of financial security.

Marketing is just a clever business strategy that often plays on our insecurities. We feel fat, so when we see the infomercial on TV that offers washboard abs with little or no time and little effort by using nothing more than a piece of plastic we believe, because we want to believe. If this is backed by actors pretending to be users with doctored before and after pictures and promises of scientific research and development with proven results, well even better. And when we get tired or bored of our new fangled abdominal machine through our own experience, without even self explanation we throw the device under the bed without question or recourse to the manufacture. This is because we feel certain that maybe we and not the device failed. Or perhaps we are not in the 9 out of 10 users who experienced results. Our interpretation is that we must be that 1 out of 10 who cannot ever have flat abs.

Sometimes, intuition is not enough when it comes to opening our pocket books we should demand real evidence not beliefs and promises peppered with half truths. Clever marketing can sell ice to an Eskimo. And often as society evolves and products become part of our culture, we have even more reason and justification to buy products we often managed well without. On a knowledge point of view we need to question if we really need a product and know if it can live up to its expectations.  So do not fall for marketing tricks and say bye bye to buy buy.

Past Tense, Future Perfect

What role does history and historical figures influence our culture and actions?

When we look back at any historical event we can paint a picture that suits ourselves. We can judge events based on our emotional association rather than factual evidence. What we do when we look at the evidence and make a historical documentation is to cloud the truth. And then future generations read this as the gospel truth and we believe the written word. Surely, we think and reason that historians were there as witnesses and they without pre-conceived notions based on evidence of their eyes and ears documented the truth without prejudice. The real truth is that historians’ knowledge may not always be first hand. A series of Chinese whispers takes place that distorts the real hard core facts and public opinion gets in the way of facts. Often interpretation of any events or a perception of the character of an historical figure is based on belief and values and emotions rather than sound judgment?  So how can we really trust or justify that Hitler was the bad guy and that Gandhi was the good guy? Are we seeing two dimensional creations that become historical fact? Is not the truth that we hope secretly that history will be kind to us. We want our epitaph and tombstone to be flattering and positive. We want to be remembered as perfect when we never are. We want to edit our mistakes so that others will remember us fondly. Is it at all possible that Hitler had some good points and Gandhi had some bad points but we conveniently ignore these to maintain our evidence and keep on proving our point? Would any evidence to the contrary destroy our inherent belief system of how someone or some event needs to be remembered? After all, history can be kind or cruel. This is similar in a way a movie or restaurant can get good or bad reviews. But unlike a movie or restaurant which may have its good or bad points history is always black or white.

Then if this is true then is not history manipulating us by controlling our cultural and emotional response to a person or event. And does history simply repeat itself or do we learn from our past mistakes such as wars?  Yes, of course we are influenced and controlled by history, but that control is never enough to change our instincts and intuition or us culturally as a whole community. Let us take the proof and evidence of Gandhi. He is revered in India and in fact the world as a great man, the Mahatma or great one. We all believe his truth and values relating to peace and non-violence. But experience has shown that India or the World does not blindly follow his belief system. We have not changed culturally as while we admire his beliefs, we interpret each situation we encounter with our own intuition. Therefore, India and the world still continues to have wars, violence and riots. The principle of peace lives on in theory but not always in practice. We acknowledge and reason that we as mere mortals cannot all conform to his perfection. We are imperfect, and therefore will scream and turn to road rage at times at simple events such as a traffic jam.

We believe with certainty that history is the truth but we never look to history to define our present or future. History, is after all simply that history….

Much Ado About Nothing

What is it about mathematical theories that makes it convincing or unconvincing?

From early man in prehistoric years, we invented the wheel and learnt to write on the cave (our earliest white board), and learnt to count. Little did these prehistoric men realize that they were actually using complex mathematical formula to invent the wheel. Something, in their brain was pre-conditioned to solve equations and formulae. Therefore, from this evidence we can justify the belief that mathematics existed long before formal education. Early man used his experience and intuition to use the laws of physics combined with the intricacies of mathematical design to make the simple wheel which we still use in modern day transportation.

But it was not until the Greek mathematicians such as Euclid and Pythagoras with the advent of the simple abacus as a counting machine back in circa 600 BC that mathematical theory began to be taken seriously and was formally documented. The word mathematics in fact is derived from the ancient Greek for, ‘ subject of instruction’. In fact the study of mathematics for its own sake and the use of generalized mathematical theories and proofs, is the key differences between Greek mathematics and those of preceding civilizations. The concept of zero played a role in defining the growth of higher mathematics which is a major step in the history of mankind. Zero is a synonym for none. Mathematics surely starts with zero, but how can we believe the concept and perception nothing exist?

So on a knowledge point of view how do we really know that zero is the lowest number and that below this are negatives numbers, there are half numbers, decimals and there exists infinity? How do we really know that 2 plus 2 really equates to 4? Is there really enough proof and explanation to justify our belief or do we blindly accept all interpretations as the gospel truth on blind faith, without real understanding. Do we use reason or are we using our emotions that scholars must be correct. Is our perception of the truth behind the mathematics based on certainty and evidence or just trust? For the most people on this Earth we believe because we are told to believe from teachers and parents who we perceive as being more knowledgeable than us.

For the most part the majority of us hate mathematics. We shy away from this complex brain twister and consciously accept that mathematics and the visit to the dentist are our pet hates. There seems to be no logic or tangible explanation for this subject. But our inability to conquer or enjoy this subject is based (like the dentist visit) on one emotion, fear. We already have a preconceived notion that if we cannot see our subject of study, (like biology can be seen) or understand it as factual (such as history), then we need to fear this study.

What we need to do is to conquer our negative perceptions. We need to trust our intuition and make mathematics our friend. By doing so we open up our mind and our level of understanding increases. We also need to give reverence to a subject that has supported scientific studies and given us inventions that have enhanced our lives. So perhaps the derogatory zero should be renamed to hero…..