On the Boredome
During my grad school days, I discovered an effect that I call the “Boredome”, namely the spooky ability of a single lecturer to put a whole roomful of people to sleep just by talking to them. During one such lecture, amidst my struggle to retain consciousness, I looked to my right, and I saw a whole row of fellow sufferers all nodding off in synchrony!
Amazing! Since then I have detected the Boredome in written form, in bureaucratic forms, educational essays, sermons, philosophy, technobabble, and military-speak. Two questions arise: why does this happen? And how does this happen? The ‘why’ is fairly obvious: it’s to defend the speaker from critique. The ‘how’ remains a mystery to me.
Can this power be used for good? As a sleep aid, or an anesthetic? To induce hybernation for space travelers? Will it find military applications?
And can we reverse the effect, to talk to people in ways that wake them up?
Hypnotism.
ReplyDeletePlain accidental hypnotism, by someone who doesn't understand that they are doing it, or occasionally doing it very deliberately.
Having a basic understanding of hypnotism, can help you control when you use it or avoid it in your communications.