Trilemma

Trilemma is a difficult choice from three options, each of which is (or appears) unacceptable or unfavourable. There are two logically equivalent ways in which to express a trilemma: it can be expressed as a choice among three unfavourable options, one of which must be chosen, or as a choice among three favourable options, only two of which are possible at the same time. The term derives from the much older term dilemma, a choice between two or more difficult or unfavourable alternatives. 

Covert hypnosis

Covert hypnosis is an attempt to communicate with another person's unconscious mind without informing the subject that they will be hypnotized. It is also known as conversational hypnosis or sleight of mouth. It is a term largely used by proponents of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), a discredited approach to communication and interaction. The objective is to change the person's behavior subconsciously so that the target believes that they changed their mind of their own volition. When or if performed successfully, the target is unaware that they have been hypnotized or that anything unusual has occurred. Arguably there is a debate about what hypnosis is, and how covert hypnosis should be classified. "Standard" hypnosis requires the focus and attention of the subject, while covert hypnosis seems to focus on "softening" the subject by using confusion, fatigue, directed attention, and interrupted sentences. This is most similar to salesmen talking to customers when they are tired. Critical thinking and questioning of statements likely requires mental effort. The theme of "covert hypnosis" appears to be along the lines of causing the subject to enter "down time". Regardless of if "covert hypnosis" is "hypnosis" by a standard definition, fatigue does appear to make critically thinking more difficult. This might explain why interrogation and cult-recruitment practices prefer to deprive their new-recruits of sleep.

Extinction Rebellion

Extinction Rebellion (sometimes shortened as XR) is an international social movement that aims to drive radical change, through nonviolent resistance, in order to avert climate breakdown, halt biodiversity loss and minimise the risk of human extinction and ecological collapse.
Extinction Rebellion was established in the United Kingdom in 2018 with about one hundred academics signing a call to action and launched at the end of October. In November 2018, various acts of civil disobedience took place in London. The movement is unusual in that a large number of activists have pledged to be arrested and are prepared to go to prison, similar to the mass arrest tactics of the Committee of 100 in 1961. Citing inspiration from grassroots movements such as Occupy, Gandhi’s independence movement, the Suffragettes, Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, Extinction Rebellion intends to rally support worldwide around a common sense of urgency to tackle climate breakdown. The Government must tell the truth about the climate and wider ecological emergency, reverse inconsistent policies and work alongside the media to communicate with citizens.
The Government must enact legally binding policy measures to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2025 and to reduce consumption levels. A national Citizens' Assembly to oversee the changes, as part of creating a democracy fit for purpose. "We have a shared vision of change – creating a world that is fit for generations to come. We set our mission on what is necessary – mobilising 3.5% of the population to achieve system change – using ideas such as momentum-driven organising” to achieve this. We need a regenerative culture – creating a culture which is healthy, resilient and adaptable.
We openly challenge ourselves and this toxic system – leaving our comfort zones to take action for change. We value reflecting and learning – following a cycle of action, reflection, learning, and planning for more action. Learning from other movements and contexts as well as our own experiences. We welcome everyone and every part of everyone – working actively to create safer and more accessible spaces. We actively mitigate for power – breaking down hierarchies of power for more equitable participation.
We avoid blaming and shaming – we live in a toxic system, but no one individual is to blame. We are a non-violent network – using non-violent strategy and tactics as the most effective way to bring about change. We are based on autonomy and decentralization – we collectively create the structures we need to challenge power. Anyone who follows these core principles and values can take action in the name of RisingUp!

Reversal test

The reversal test is a heuristic designed to spot and eliminate the status quo bias.
The reversal test was introduced in the context of the bioethics of human enhancement. Given that humans might suffer from irrational status quo bias, how can one distinguish between valid criticisms of proposed increase in some human trait and criticisms merely motivated by resistance to change? The reversal test attempts to do this by asking whether it would be a good thing if the trait was decreased: An example given is that if someone objects that an increase in intelligence would be a bad thing due to more dangerous weapons being made etc., the objector to that position would then ask "Shouldn't we decrease intelligence then?" "Reversal Test: When a proposal to change a certain parameter is thought to have bad overall consequences, consider a change to the same parameter in the opposite direction. If this is also thought to have bad overall consequences, then the onus is on those who reach these conclusions to explain why our position cannot be improved through changes to this parameter. If they are unable to do so, then we have reason to suspect that they suffer from status quo bias. Ideally the test will help reveal whether status quo bias is an important causal factor in the initial judgement. A similar thought experiment in regards to dampening traumatic memories was imagining whether aliens naturally resistant to traumatic memories should adopt traumatic "memory enhancement". The "trip to reality" rebuttal to Nozick's experience machine thought experiment (where one's entire current life is shown to be a simulation and one is offered to return to reality) can also be seen as a form of reversal test.

Olivo Barbieri

Olivo Barbieri (born 1954 in Carpi, Emilia-Romagna) is an Italian artist and photographer of urban environments.
He is recognized for his innovative technique creating miniature still photography from actual landscapes by simulating shallow depth of field via the use of tilt-shift lens photography. Barbieri's technique simulates the shallow depth of field effect of macro photography by tilting the lens's angle to the back plane of the camera, which creates a gradual blurring at the top and bottom edges, or left and right edges of the filmed image. The technique is called selected focus and the effect is that a picture of an actual city looks like the picture of a model.

Choreomania (dancing mania)

Dancing mania (also known as dancing plague, choreomania, St. John's Dance and St. Vitus's Dance) was a social phenomenon that occurred primarily in mainland Europe between the 14th and 17th centuries. It involved groups of people dancing erratically, sometimes thousands at a time. The mania affected men, women, and children who danced until they collapsed from exhaustion.
Affecting thousands of people across several centuries, dancing mania was not an isolated event, and was well documented in contemporary reports. It was nevertheless poorly understood, and remedies were based on guesswork. Generally, musicians accompanied dancers, to help ward off the mania, but this tactic sometimes backfired by encouraging more to join in. There is no consensus among modern-day scholars as to the cause of dancing mania. The several theories proposed range from religious cults being behind the processions to people dancing to relieve themselves of stress and put the poverty of the period out of their minds. It is speculated to have been a mass psychogenic illness, in which physical symptoms with no known physical cause are observed to affect a group of people, as a form of social influence.
"Dancing mania" is derived from the term "choreomania", from the Greek choros (dance) and mania (madness), and is also known as "dancing plague.":The term was coined by Paracelsus, and the condition was initially considered a curse sent by a saint, usually St. John the Baptist or St. Vitus, and was therefore known as "St. Vitus's Dance" or "St. John's Dance". Victims of dancing mania often ended their processions at places dedicated to that saint, who was prayed to in an effort to end the dancing; incidents often broke out around the time of the feast of St. Vitus

The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement

The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHEMT[A]) is an environmental movement that calls for all people to abstain from reproduction to cause the gradual voluntary extinction of humankind. VHEMT supports human extinction primarily because, in the group's view, it would prevent environmental degradation. The group states that a decrease in the human population would prevent a significant amount of human-caused suffering. The extinctions of non-human species and the scarcity of resources required by humans are frequently cited by the group as evidence of the harm caused by human overpopulation. VHEMT was founded in 1991 by Les U. Knight, an American activist who became involved in the environmental movement in the 1970s and thereafter concluded that human extinction was the best solution to the problems facing the Earth's biosphere and humanity. Knight publishes the group's newsletter and serves as its spokesman. Although the group is promoted by a website and represented at some environmental events, it relies heavily on coverage from outside media to spread its message. Many commentators view its platform as unacceptably extreme, though other writers have applauded VHEMT's perspective. In response to VHEMT, some journalists and academics have argued that humans can develop sustainable lifestyles or can reduce their population to sustainable levels. Others maintain that, whatever the merits of the idea, the human reproductive drive will prevent humankind from ever voluntarily seeking extinction