[ifethereal]

Can anyone come up with a citation for this?

Not to say it's a hallucination, but, to modern standards, if this were publicly funded research, it seems like it would have been a gross violation of ethics or other non-technical criteria. Interested to see how people think of it in later years, e.g., now.

[Terretta]

It's a particularly misleading anecdote.

In a sufficiently isolated population, you get the same effect from a sound-making greeting card, or a battery powered light and/or sound toy from a carnival.

And for what it's worth, tomorrow they don't miss whatever “indistinguishable from magic” thing, so no harm done.

// grew up near such areas

[mlok]

On TV, content changes all the time. It is "always new". In your examples, content is the same over and over. They would not be fascinating for too long because the novelty would wear off. Very different.

[Terretta]

I was responding to the "violation of ethics". Both are novel or fascinating for a bit, no harm no foul.

And to be clear, same effect from a Kodak slide projector and carousel, just one carousel, endlessly fascinating. Anything is. A carved stick toy is. If you let them have the carnival gizmo, they'll wear it out. If you take it back, they happily go back to their toy made out of a stick.

If anything, a defining characteristic is a lack of boredom, that novelty doesn't wear off from things westerners might find quickly dull. At the same time, sameness and change are taken in stride, along with a disregard for aggregate time in general, neither planning ahead nor regard for "spending" it. Everything is in the moment.

[randycupertino]

> On TV, content changes all the time. It is "always new".

Personally I think this also is what makes reddit so addictive as well. I want to read all the threads on the subreddits I enjoy... which is impossible, because there's always new interesting posts.

[petethomas]

Probably this https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1525/var...