I read this article (http://www.nybooks.com/articles/20851) in the NY Review of Books a few weeks back. It relates Big Pharma to Eben's following statement: "But COMMERCIAL TV is a social [something]: it induces a state of mind that facilitates selling to you, which is 'vegging out.'"

Perhaps most telling of the theses in this set of books is the review's title - "Talking Back to Prozac." Our relationship to these mind-numbing drugs should be not a monologue in which one is talked to or at as may be the case with advertisements and other unresponsive communicators generally, but rather a dialogue in which we retain our voice.

-- JesseCreed - 22 Jan 2008

• You can make one many places, Kate, and I'll help if people don't know how. But this is actually a class we're making together. Many kinds of trust are necessary for collaboration, one basic kind being the trust that students need to have that teachers are working on their students' behalf, as lawyers work on their clients' behalf. That's why grades and exams are stupid, because they interfere with the trust that makes teaching possible. My effort is to help people think more creatively in order to give them more of what they are seeking, which is why I begin by asking what people want. Obviously there are things you want to write that you don't want me to read, and there is literally no end of places to write and share them. Not, however, here. On my side, you have my word that whether I agree or disagree with an idea is not how I go about judging the execution of the thinker's expression.
  -- EbenMoglen 20 Jan 2008.

• I defer more explication of my view to class on Wednesday. For the moment, let me just say again that I was talking about a list of steps for the strengthening of memory, not primarily conducting a campaign against television, let alone against video more generally.
  -- EbenMoglen - 20 Jan 2008

Regarding “vegging out”, I think that it would be useful to define the term precisely: what are the elements of “vegging”? I had a difficult time thinking of one, but one element would probably be mindlessness or passivity. It’s my impression that some of the posters above take issue with the statement: If you watch TV, then you are vegging out. I tend to agree that the truth of that statement depends on what and how you are watching.

Even assuming that TV negatively impacts our memories, it still might not be “unreasonable” for us to engage in viewing if the benefits of doing so outweigh the associated costs. Entertainment, relaxation, humor, information, imagination, for instance, might all have value for television viewers. If these are significant relative to the costs (impaired memory, time loss, etc.), then TV viewing might increase personal utility.

-- EdwardNewton - 22 Jan 2008

In response to Michael Brown’s question about memory:

Of course, some capabilities in forming memories are genetic and biological, but that is not to take away from the importance of what you can do. You may not be able to ever "master" knowledge retention. You can improve your memory. Through an actively learning mind you create new neural synaptic connections allowing for easier access to where your memories are “stored” in the distributed network that is your brain. The more paths that are related to the relevant information, the greater the probability you will be able to access that information in the future.

Stressing active participation in what you do will improve your memory (the effect of active participation is at least partially due to the heightened attention focused on the activity), but the best “scientific” advice I can give to improve your memory is to get proper sleep because that is when your brain consolidates much of the day’s happenings.

I am more than happy to discuss the neural aspects of memory, as this is what I studied before I came here, so feel free to let me know if you would like to discuss this in more depth.

-- MattDavisRatner - 21 Jan 2008

Although I really have no idea whether TV inhibits the formation of useful memories (I'd be interested in seeing some statistical evidence on the topic), I can, from first-hand experience, support Eben's suggestion to meditate as a means of relaxing. I always thought meditation was either hippie BS or something for exotic eastern religions; however, last semester when I was having trouble dealing with stress, a close friend suggested I try breathing exercises as a form of meditation. It only took me a few days to get the hang of it, and despite my skepticism, I had to admit that it was a great way to clear my mind and relax after a long day of class and studying. I don't really know whether it helps or hurts my memory, but I can understand how it has persisted as a form of relaxation for thousands of years, despite the invention TV, a far flashier and more scintillating form of leisure. I think, in the end, my positive experience meditating stems from Daniel and Adam's earlier comments that it is much more a question of what you do with the medium, than what exactly the medium is.

-- GideonHart - 19 Jan 2008