January 13, 2004

Behaviourism lives on...

B.F. Skinner must have been proud

posted by Gyan 20 years ago
  • >>4. Do I have to sleep with every body or share my partner with others? Of course not. (darn)
  • Can't feel that this is a good place: We undoubtedly value the fine arts and artistic handiwork. However, over the years and due to our small population, members have had less possibilities to engage in artistic work because of more demanding priorities...it is important to mention that no professional artists have ever lived in the community... Be warned.
  • I don't know how old school behaviourists acknowledge that the development of behaviourism or any science at all can arise in human culture from mere behaviourist principles. I realize that modern behaviourists have more in common with cognitive scientists than B.F. Skinner. Still this "community" freaks me out. It's "1984" meets "Ernest goes to Camp"
  • Beeswacky, now that you say that. I realize this is more a training camp for future corporate drones.
  • "supermacrocontingencies"? *barfs*
  • Yes, the behaviorist jargon is off-putting. And yes, one knows that this sort of utopian community experiment can sometimes go very very wrong. But I have to admit I was favourably impressed. For example: their work with autistic children looks pretty good. One doesn't have to be a card-carrying behavourist to approve of the general care-in-the-community principle, which essentially seems to consist of giving autistic children lots of attention and encouraging them to learn appropriate behaviour by watching and imitating other people. On art: what they say (to quote the passage in full) is this. 'It is important to mention that no professional artists have ever lived in the community. In such a case the community would grant them the time needed to make art' (my italics). I don't think they are anti-art. In fact they seem very keen to attract a professional artist into the community. And they like tortoises.
  • We recommend parents and relatives of a praticipant [sic] not to come and visit during the camp...*Video Cameras and Cellular Phones are not allowed.
  • They're not using all the moves from the cult playbook, and they do seem to be generally decent and caring, but they do achieve some creepiness, so well done!