The House or Grissom effect.

There is a curious common character in the tv series, setting a pattern in the reactions I see on some of technoriders: The expert. House, CSI and Lie to me, have an expert who has almost supernatural minds. They use to be a bit (or a lot) rare. I suppose is because they want viewers to identify with second cahracters and keep the genious misterious and far beyond comprehension.

I gave up watching CSI because I could not stop laughing anytime Grissom said something unexpected and making one of his faces moving the lips outwards. I enjoy House, High Laury charm, and I like Tim Roth as Cal Lightman. We could even add the Mentalist to the group, although here the group sorrounding it seems more normal.

We can find experts on new technologies, people that has the same power of conviction of these characters, whatever they say is conisdered as a real fact, a truth beyond discussion. So, here we are that there are people like Buda, Jesus, Aristotle, or any other cultural icons, who after thousands of years are questioned and you give all your confidence to someone you do not know well and who is an expert in something thas is completely now.

We should bear in mind what an expert is, someone told me once that if ia had read more that three articles and seen more that two sources on a topic, I was an expert.

Expert followers tend to believe that their leaders have the most clarivident knowledgement and that they are going to change the world, socially, economically and for ever.

We grow thinking that the porducts our mother buys are the best one, we think that our mother given her experience and her wisdom. But if we ask her why did She really buy a determined product or brand you would discover reasons as: I like the colour, is the one that better fits the cupbard, it is everywhere, or I don't mind, I am used to it. That's to say, the brand does not matter and if your cupboard is bigger you could buy another brand.

So we will start having second thoughts about our motehrs' reasons to buy this or that. And are we going to give all our confidence to someone we do not know and who is tlaking a brand new technologies?

If they are using tv series to build a social pattern, and someway I think they do, they are trying to get people that stop thinking by themselves and to leave decissions on experts.

I have to say that I love my mother and that to me She is the best cooker and buyer of the world but when I started o ask why did She buy certain brands -and as I was growing older and takinfg similar decissions -, I found great surprises. Do it yourself, and report here.