A few months ago, I was on a local college campus during its homecoming weekend. I happened to be wearing one of their official college sweatshirts, a rather heavy sweatshirt.
While in the parking lot, I saw three young men greet each other happily and in high spirits, and I smiled at their happiness. Hours later back at home, I realized that I continued to feel very happy; in fact, I was euphoric. Nothing had happened in my life since being in the college parking lot that would account for the euphoria I was experiencing.
As I've contemplated that experience and considered the difference in my mental state that came from ceasing to wear my habitual rings around three years ago, I have come to wonder whether there wasn't some sort of technology being quietly put to use on the college campus, technology used to promote the persistence of happy feelings in the student body and visiting alumni and parents during the homecoming weekend. Perhaps the unusual weight of my "school spirit" sweatshirt was because it contained something that enhanced the effectiveness of such a technology.
Colleges nowadays put a lot of effort into fundraising, and it seems that their fundraising would be more likely to be successful when visiting alumni and parents have strong, persistent happy feelings upon visiting a college in person.
I can hear people debating as they read this, "But surely such technology can't exist. We would know about it!" But such technology would be a lot more effective if not disclosed as no one likes to feel manipulated. If such technology exists and is in use, you can expect it to be a closely-held secret.
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