[-empyre-] On Making (Critical) Decisions from Romania to China to Latin America to the US

[Victoria Szabo]

Well, this term is coming out of psychological literature and is differentially related to ADD - without hyperactivity and some other features, but tied to attention.

Wikipedia: 

Sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) is a descriptive term for a cluster of symptoms that some researchers believe comprise a novel psychiatric disorder. Although definitions for this proposed disorder are still being developed, some mental health professionals have characterized those affected as individuals who are daydreamy, mentally foggy, easily confused, and staring frequently. Individuals with sluggish cognitive tempo might also display hypoactivity, lethargy, slow movement, and sleepiness. Children with SCT might appear to have slow processing speed and reaction times.

What I find interesting about this term is the pathologization of day-dreaminess and slowness in general. Also the implication that this is another drug-treatable condition as opposed to more variation in the human range of being. How many artists and makers might come off as "drifty and introspective" as they go about their work? At what point does thoughtfulness and deliberation turn into inefficient use of temporal resources (hence sluggishness)?

NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/12/health/idea-of-new-attention-disorder-spurs-research-and-debate.html?_r=0


On Apr 15, 2014, at 9:30 PM, Timothy Conway Murray <tcm1 at cornell.edu> wrote:

> ----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------
> Hi, Victoria,
> 
> Thanks for your suggestion critical gaming making would benefit from the
> incorporation of "sluggish cognitive tempo."  I'm wondering if you could
> say a little bit more about this term?  Could sluggish cognitive tempo
> also be indicative of the patience workings and makings of alternative
> hackings who labor with the underwear of devices both in order to
> understand them and then to reactivate them, often in contradiction of the
> initial use or social purpose.  Others might also have thoughts about this
> -- eerily representative as well of Marcus's accounts of Brazilian making
> culture.
> 
> Tim
> 
> 
> Timothy Murray
> Professor of Comparative Literature and English
> Director, Society for the Humanities
> http://www.arts.cornell.edu/sochum/
> Curator, Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media
> http://goldsen.library.cornell.edu
> A D White House
> Cornell University,
> Ithaca, New York 14853
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 4/14/14 1:10 PM, "Victoria Szabo" <vszabo at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> "sluggish cognitive tempo"
> 
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