"Cognitive dissonance. One of the most irritating human traits."
I Power
Scientific Research & Self-Development Activism
Urban Sharing Experiment in Antwerp City, April 2012
URBAN SHARING EXPERIMENT
We, and with "we" I mean my band PSY'AVIAH, did an experiment... Would like to know what you guys think, and how you would react if you encountered such packages and stuff... Read below & see videos...
EXPLANATION
Life can become a colorless routine.. So we decided ‘t was time for an experiment, of sorts… We placed envelopes and other packages with strange or mysterious writing on different places in the city. Hidden in those envelopes were one of our cds and a note, thanking the “lucky finders” for the “risk” of opening that package…
One of the main reasons behind the idea was that people often fall into routines, and forget to open their eyes for opportunities. Some studies and experiments show that when people are aware, and when they’re open to opportunities in general (such as helping people, taking a survey, or taking other risks), they say that they experience to have more luck in life.
Basically, in the first place, we wanted people to be confused, baffled.. We wanted people to look up, feel weird, or make them feel good by them daring to “take the risk”.. Secondly, by making these videos, we wanted to try and communicate that being aware of your surroundings and people around you, can be valuable.
The experiments were done in April and May 2012 at Antwerp City. We and documented it on video (see below). We might do this again – so keep your eyes open for opportunities– in whatever form they come, from us or from others!
VIDEOS
Part 1, April 2012, Antwerp City – covers preperation, distribution of enevelopes…
Part 2, May 2012, Antwerp City — covers more distribution of envelopes and packages tied to a rope…
Grtzz,
PSY’AVIAH
Tags: activism, experiment, experiments, irl, life, non-profit, real, risks, sharing, urban, More…
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by The Shiznit on -
Awesome! :-D
-
Permalink Reply by ..LeRenard! on -
heh, glad you like the idea..
how would you react to it, you think? Call the police, ignore it, don't notice it being there, or...?
-
Permalink Reply by The Shiznit on
-
It's difficult to say because you guys used such a wide diversity in how you labelled the packages and where you placed them... so I think I would react differently depending on which of the packages I encountered. In a general sense I'm the type of person who normally ignores things that I consider inconsequential or "none of my business"... so I'd probably just ignore most of them. If I got the impression that somebody had accidentally dropped or misplaced one of the pkgs and lost it, then I might open it to see if there was some information available inside about how to return it to them. Good Samaritan motivation, y'know? And if the package was inviting in some way, like if it said, "Pick me up & open me! I'm free!" lol then I also might stop for it; cuz I like free stuffs. XD
One of the most interesting placements I saw you employ was the pkg that was hanging in the escalator-stairway at a level where it would hit you in the head if you weren't paying attention. lol I think I'd definitely grab that one; partly out of curiosity, but also to keep it from being a nuisance to others after me. :-D
-
Permalink Reply by ..LeRenard! on
-
hehe, well yeah, the hanging packages were the most fun :-)
in our next installment, part #3, we'll try to do more "blocking path packages", where people will really notice it.. and we'll try to film reactions (but due to time restraints this isn't always possible)..
anyway, myself, I wouldn't know how I'd react. Probably too afraid to pick it up myself :-)
Thanks for your elaborate answer
-
Permalink Reply by ..LeRenard! on
-
quick, update with people reacting to it :-)
Forum
Condemning others to validate ourselves.
Started by Lore in I Power: Self-Development Activism. Last reply by Nathaniel Mortazavi 38 minutes ago. 9 Replies 0 Likes
The ethical implications of "Temporal Isolation"
Started by Aya in Off-Topic. Last reply by Aya yesterday. 34 Replies 1 Like
Lexical argumentation and its merit
Started by Anthony D in Off-Topic. Last reply by Anthony D on Thursday. 21 Replies 0 Likes
Latest Activity
Nathaniel Mortazavi replied to Lore's discussion Condemning others to validate ourselves."Absolutely, I completely agree. The only way to solve the problem is to eliminate the cause.
Exactly, the shooter gains worldwide fame over night. Why would a resentful, friendless, lonely, insane young man who wanted to leave an impression on the…"
Aya replied to Aya's discussion The ethical implications of "Temporal Isolation""From the last three lines of your post, I'm assuming you are applying the "better safe than sorry" mentality to life-rights over all of time. This addresses points 3) and 5) of my post on Wed 5/15, but does not address points 1),…"
Isaac Renshaw joined The Shiznit's group
Creating Your Own "Crew"
This is a Group for people who are interested in the idea of expanding I-Power by encouraging our members to create I-Power/SDA related cell groups, or "Crews" in their own communities.See More
Isaac Renshaw joined The Shiznit's group
The Transition Movement
The Transition Movement is a grassroots Network of communities that are working to build resilience in response to peak oil, climate change, and economic instability. Utilizing various concepts such as Permaculture and Local Currency systems, the…See More
Anthony D replied to Lore's discussion Condemning others to validate ourselves."An issue in the context of your reply is the so-called "mad/bad debate". And it very much plays into the perception of these rather extreme forms of criminal behavior.
From a legal and forensic psychological standpoint a…"
Lore replied to Lore's discussion Condemning others to validate ourselves."Interesting. I think that just being aware that our behavior is not always justified and taking on some personal responsibility can go a long way."
Lore replied to Lore's discussion Condemning others to validate ourselves."Maybe I take empathy and attempting to understand such actions by people to the extreme, but I think it is important to understand the causes of such behavior. You do bring up a good point about school shootings Nathaniel, in that the media makes…"
Nathaniel Mortazavi replied to Lore's discussion Condemning others to validate ourselves."I agree with the principle to an extent. However, in the case of school shooters, I don't think it can be justified. Same with rape. There's definitely a line, but like you said, those are the most extreme cases.
On the topic of mass…"
© 2013 Created by Reese Leysen.
