parallelnormal

Some teens are having troubling distinguishing between real and virtual realities, making them more likely to turn on the public with real guns blazing.

That’s what Oregon Health and Sciences University psychiatrist Jerald Block was scheduled to tell a conference in Washington earlier today. He cites the Columbine shooting case as an example of what is yet to come.

The Columbine shooters, Harris and Klebold, Block say, were addicted to first person shooters (video games). The two took their aggressions into RL (real life) after having the plug pulled on their digital worlds.

OHSU psychiatrist to highlight warning signs for school shootings
“Virtual realities, like the ones that Harris and Klebold experienced, are a double-edged sword,” explained Block, a clinical faculty member in the OHSU Department of Psychiatry. “On one hand, virtual worlds allow people to feel connected and empowered. They also allow participants to escape stress and have an outlet for aggression. On the other hand, when a heavy user must eliminate or cut back on the virtual, as was the case with these two killers at times, the user can feel lonely, anxious, or angry.

Robotic Predator drones are wreaking havoc on Iraqi and Afghani targets. U.S. homeland reconnaissance missions are also on the rise. And like Cylon raiders, while hardware might die, the brains live on–the drones’ human operators are safely ensconced in trailers, Stateside.

Predator combat air patrols double in 1 year
The Air Force plans to expand Predator training by standing up a second Predator training squadron and establish a Predator Weapons Instructor Course in early 2009. This action is necessary to lay the foundation to further increase and enhance joint warfighting capability.

The food riots anticipated by military experts have already started. Now the Royal Institute for International Affairs is talking revolution, as a way to approach world hunger.

The Royal Institute for International Affairs is calling for something “close to a revolution” in agricultural efforts to meet the world’s hunger for food by 2030. A report from Chatham House (link, below), says we may already be at a point where a global middle class of fatties is taking food from the mouths of the poor.

Chatham House - Publications - Reports and Papers - View Paper
In the longer term, the key challenge is to increase the supply of food: the World Bank estimates that demand for food will rise by 50 per cent by 2030, as a result of rising affluence and growing world population. Achieving this challenge will require something close to a revolution, and a massive investment in agriculture in developing countries.