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From the Economy to Unemployment; from Same Sex Marriage to abortions; from Big Oil to Green Energy; from redistribution to higher taxes……

…… its all about Thinking how it affects US.

Welcome to The Differences of US…… move US…. to Think. 

Here we separate the Headlines, ignore political persuasions and get down to the basics of how current events, legislation, and more, effect each one of US, all 313,550,287 of US.

In simpler terms JohnnySoftware summed up our mission best:

The human eye works so well because of two of its components: rods & cones.

Rods process light as pretty much straight amplitude; color-blind, they essentially just detect brightness. They see the world kind of like a black and white TV screen portrays it: darkness & light.

Cones are populations of more subjective receivers that receive, individually, subranges of the spectrum of light. They are triggered by light in a certain frequency, and that means light that includes certain colors — those the to which the cone(s) in color are “sensitive”. Ones that do not include them do not fire off a response.

These cones and rods are kind of like the phosphor, or now LCD, dots of a TV/computer screen — except in reverse. Instead of the array emitting light, the rods and cones in the eye receive light.

The brain integrates ALL of this information, as best it can, all of the time.

Turns out, in very low light conditions, the rods continue to work which is why you don’t see colors at night — but at least you can see something, though you miss certain details.

This is widely known and written about. Here is a simple test. Go out at night or recall your last walk outdoors at night; grass not so vividly green, right?

Compare that to its daytime look — wow, the difference is striking! A shortage or weakness of rods will result in ‘night blindness’ — an inability to see almost at all under low-lighting conditions.

Cones need ‘extra’ [well, more anyway] light, probably because they are filtering out much of the spectrum and just focusing on their ‘notch’ or keyhole of the spectrum.

That means less energy from an existing light stream is used. It’s essentially decimating the available trigger energy. However, in exchange for that, it is providing more detail and helping build richer imagery with more context than the purely black & white rods could ever fill. Obviously, that makes it a “keeper” too, despite nocturnal limitations.

It is reasonable to believe that the products of nature recreate in the large what exists, and works pretty well, in the small.

Unfortunately, here is the thing.

Rods & cones do not call each other terrorists and attack each other. Instead, they quietly coexist, doing their job, so the brain always has the best available information under the circumstances.

Differences don’t mean better or worse all the time. The integration of the different perception is crucial.

If you see a wolf shape bounding toward you in the night, you really do not care what color its fur is; but you really do need to be able to perceive that shape. If you see blue-green carrots at lunchtime, instead of orange, you probably do not want to put them into your mouth.

Evolution would have eliminated those whose genes had only one of the two types of eyesight, situationally, over time — particularly among clans. Or, caused a lot of cautionary superstition & habits, to compensate: NEVER go out at night or if you do then travel with a lot of people with a lot of extra bright torches; ALWAYS smell your food, etc.

I think our society would work better if people/institutions tried not to go 100% the “rod” way, or the “cone” way — but instead tried to use both things as much as possible. Both are individually fallible; the failings muted & diminished by the other, though.

I think this rod/cones thing is a decent analog. It is not hard to see how it can be used to fulfill a better model of societal perception than what we have going. People in/with both parties, and regardless of party affinity, need to look at this.

So, in that vein, five days a week, we will pick one hot topic and delve into its ‘affects’ on US.

Please note the three tabs on the home page:

Beyond the Headlines – one topic – every angle exposed – to Think about its effects on US.

News Coverage – Formerly the NTKN.

Political Pulse – all video.

Additionally, we will feature a new article from our growing list of authors five days a week, which should offer some fresh thinking beyond the talking heads.

And finally, we will have what we refer to as ‘Thinking Polls’ weekly to engage US in thinking.

Thanks for joining The Differences of US and Happy Thinking!