Saturday, August 22, 2009

The 'Straight Line Length' Test

This is a subject dear to me. I consider it knowledge that liberates me from my limited body, limited mind, and makes my life unique and well worth living. In short, what this blog is about is my 'robot revolt'. My love song to creation.
Community college video in psychology at the tender age of 19 gave me this gem of information. In this video, a group of students- about 14- sat around a rectangular desk. All students but one knew that this was a test. And the 14 or so students changed after every test until a dozen or so of the same example was done. Here was the test:
Two penciled lines were drawn by the instructor. One line was obviously longer then the other- by inches. The paper with these two uneven lines was then passed around, and each student said openly (to the 13 or so other students) which line was longer. Since all but one student in the experiment where in on the experiment, each student would openly say that the shorter line was the longest. In every single test the same bizarre result occurred: the test subject not in the know would agree (when their turn came up) that the shorter line was the longest. They were asked twice, just like the students who knew the correct answer, and every single subject agreed that the shorter line was the longer line.
This was not an optical illusion experiment. The line was clearly shorter- by inches- yet the test subject never disagreed with every other person who said otherwise. Why?
Perhaps they were afraid to differ. Perhaps they did not want to argue. Perhaps their brains actually saw the line to be longer by some trick of imagination; when the mass group agreed, not a single person disagreed.
I call it the critical thinking test. Fear is probably what made the subjects say otherwise. Or they wanted to be agreeable. Maybe if they disagreed they would have to face that there was something wrong with them (in their mind). For whatever reason, no one wanted to go against the group and say that the line was inches shorter then the other. No one wanted to (or could) give the correct answer.
I love independent thought. Original thought. The human brain is an ocean of ideas, generated by electricity. I like to think of my creativity like a perpetual thunderstorm; I barely have control of the flow; but like a storm I can freeze moments of these ideas in photographs. Write it down, like a fisherman catching a fish in a great flowing river. Ideas plucked from ever changing forms of energy- thought, movement, image.
Stay true to yourself no matter how much they object. If you see the line is shorter, even if they are hostile and shout you are wrong, you know the answer. You're thoughts are what keep you unique. Be true to yourself. Because 'what is in vogue' is just a table of test subjects, told to say the opposite of truth.

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