The short essay by Beirut I took to heart was of Information design and the Placebo effect. It factors into a discussion I had in a previous Philosophy class about Pavlov’s dogs. The relevance of the color coded terror alert system was very insightful.
For instance If the person in charge of raising and lowering the system kept it at a perpetual orange alert: Imminent threat, then would our fears be perpetual. When the system was revoked by the Obama administration, the fear of the threat of terrorism was drastically diminished. I also found it interesting how the effects of design also include the sense of reward. Rewards do not have to be consistent, rather they can be parceled out when it suits the producer. However, in the interest of maintaining a following the use of gratifying results is necessary.
I found these notions to be shockingly insightful.