Can Control Affect Your Health? - Leonard Mlodinow

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/06/01/The_Drunkards_Walk_Leonard_Mlodinow

Best-selling author and physicist Leonard Mlodinow discusses past studies on the illusion of control in one's environment. Mlodinow presents studies that support the idea that "the need for control is subtle and it's much deeper than your conscious thought processes."

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From economic disaster to Supreme Court rulings, pure randomness may explain life's outcomes more than we realize. Mlodinow proposes that we tend to overestimate the control we have over our destinies. The best-selling author explains how a better understanding of statistics might bring hope to a nation facing an onslaught of misfortune. - Commonwealth Club of California

Leonard Mlodinow was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1954. He graduated from Brandeis University in 1976 with a double major in math and physics, and a Masters degree in physics. In 1981, he received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of California at Berkeley.

After graduating, Mlodinow joined the faculty of the California Institute of Technology, and then became an Alexander von Humboldt fellow at the Max-Planck-Institute for Physics and Astrophysics in Munich, Germany.

In 1985, Mlodinow moved to Los Angeles to become a screenwriter. Over the next several years, he wrote for television series such as Hunter, MacGyver, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the comedy series Night Court.

In 1993, Mlodinow became producer, executive producer and designer of several award-winning video games created in conjunction with Stephen Spielberg, Robin Williams, and the Walt Disney Company. Among the awards won by his games are the Consumer Electronics Software Showcase Award, Home PC Magazine Editor's Choice Award, and the National Association of Parenting Publications Gold Medal (twice). Between 1997 and 2003, Mlodinow was vice president for software development and then vice president and publisher for math education at Scholastic Inc.

As head of Scholastic software, Mlodinow created a children's games division and built it into one of the top five in the United States. While at Scholastic, he began to write popular science books, which by now have appeared in 25 languages.

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[scientrophic]

Researchers still use the swim test in rodents as a measure of depression and motivation. They also do a tail-hold on mice, where they pick a mouse up by it's tail and time how long it struggles to escape. Having control over one's fate is very important to being motivated to go on.

[8DX]

This is my fuckin' problem. I'm totally out of control of my life. I feel there is little I can influence. shit.

[FeelOfFriction]

Our culture infects people with object fetishes and the need for closure. This is why they must alter their environment to their satisfaction to be content.

[DoNotBeHighandMighty]

Just  a little wisdom for anybody who comes to this video.

[DoNotBeHighandMighty]

So the person who "seems" to have control over their envionment doesn't get emotionally attached to situations and is in control over their emotions. You won't feel anger unless you keep "thinking" that something is wrong or going wrong. And that is what people who "try" to take control over their lives feel because everything "in their minds" is always going wrong because they are living delusion(the thought that they can control what is happening.)

[DoNotBeHighandMighty]

And those that "TRY" to control what "is." "TRY" to take control over their lives. Are the people who haven't learned to "just be." And they are generally filled with a lot of anger, hate, etc... because everything is always "going wrong" for them. The thing is, things are "going wrong" for those that "seem" to have control over their lives as well, but the person who "seems" to have control over their lives has surrendered themselves to "the moment" and understands they can't control it.

[DoNotBeHighandMighty]

So the thing is, those that seem like they have control over their environment don't really have control over it. They "seem" like they do, but they don't. They just understand that they cannot control the environment and stop "trying" to. And since they stop "trying" to control their environment they are able to "relax." And over time they master the ability of "not having control and being comfortable with it" and that is why they "seem to have control." Whereas some never learn.

[DoNotBeHighandMighty]

So it is a weird paradox. If you don't try to control you end up gaining control. That is what all ancient wisdom points too as well and it is very true. Again, I know from experience. Because those that don't "try" to control go with the "flow" and aren't trying to control "what is." They surrendered to what "is(the moment)" and work with it hence they end up taking control over their lives because they are in touch with reality. It comes down to not trying to control "what IS."

[DoNotBeHighandMighty]

"Those that had control over their lives lived a lot longer than those that didn't." YES, because they are all set and aren't stressed out. But then there are those that don't have control over their lives(Buddist monks) and they would also live very long. It is those that "want" control over their lives but don't know how that become stressed. Usually those that don't "try" to control are the ones that take control over their lives because they know how to relax. I know from experience.

[DoNotBeHighandMighty]

Picture him without the curly hair. Can you say Eric Clapton look alike?