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This fascinating TED talk by Sebastian Seung.

He is one of those scientists who adds humor and charisma to explain complex concepts, makign them engaging and easy to understand.

Our brain functions by creating a series of connections between the most interesting and memorable “events” that happen in our life. And this connections are constantly changing depending on our mental experiences.

Consider that everytime we think of something, we create or modify our connections, therefore defining our brain, our vision and understanding of the world.

What I think is really interesting about this concepts is that neuro connections and actual personal connections are about the same thing.

The more we connect with people the deeper is their impact in our lives.

Connections between us and interesting people, rewarding activies and richer experiences won’t happen unless we actively seek them, over time and with repetition.

Simple enough.

Lets develop data storytelling skills.

These results suggest that the most powerful effect of advertising is just to create a good feeling about a product by surrounding it with other things that you like. It is also important to point out that affective conditioning is most effective when you don’t realize that it is happening. That is, trying to pay less attention to the ads you see on TV and in magazines may actually make this type of advertising more effective.

So, why do we choose things just because we feel good about them? The world is a busy place. It is hard for us to feel confident that we have all of the objective facts about anything, whether it is products, people, or choices of things to do. The feelings we have are often a good marker of what is safe to do and what is likely to turn out well. If we have to make a choice, and one of the options just feels good to us, then we are likely to go with the one that feels good.

Most of the time, of course, that is a good idea. Often, we feel good about something because we have had positive experiences with it in the past. The problem is that we allow advertisers to have access to our mental world. They have paid for the opportunity to slip information to us about what feels good. That information ultimately affects the way we make choices, whether we know it or not.

Really interesting from Psychology Today.

Affective conditioning is most effective when you don’t even realise its happening. If you’re like me and consciously paying attention to ads, denouncing or praising them, its alleged that if we paid less conscious attention to them, they’d be more effective. What dya reckon?

Acronyms have become so prevalent that they suffer what anything does when coined without end: devaluation. “Oh, my God” still packs quite a punch in the right circumstances. “OMG”, by contrast, is barely effective as a plaything any more. (“OMG he’s cute.” “OMG is it ten already?”) LOL began life as “laughing out loud”, a way for internet chatterers to explain a long pause in typing. Now, LOL means “you just said something so amusing my lip curled for a moment there.” And how many BFFs will truly be best friends forever?  Teens, with their habit of bleaching once-mighty words (from “awesome” to “fantastic”), can quickly render a coinage banal.

I really like this. Its from a place called Dim Sum Pop (http://www.dimsumpop.com) and I’d love to see more menus like this, subtly nudging you along the menu choices from start to finish and giving you questions to answer along the way to help make decisions easier.

Really nice. I’d love to know what @smorgasbord thinks. He’ll probably hate it.

Well worth a read.