Shen Yaozi on 2003/8/9

Some human sensory adaptations tend towards environmental levels; when the environment becomes fragrant or foul, people, after prolonged exposure, no longer notice the fragrance or foulness. When the environment becomes shameless, people, over time, no longer perceive it as shameless.

Physiologically, the functions of human senses can be divided into fast and slow adaptation based on actual needs. Fast adaptation usually pertains to non-harmful sensations, such as the touch of hair, which becomes less noticeable shortly after wearing clothes. Similarly, the sense of smell, as the saying goes, one does not notice the fragrance after staying long in a room filled with orchids. Thermal sensation is also a type of fast adaptation; one feels very hot when first entering a hot spring, but soon adapts, even though the water temperature has not changed.

Slow adaptation senses usually have a protective function, such as pain sensation, which, once it starts, does not easily disappear unless the cause of the pain is removed. Other examples include cold sensation and touch, which also belong to slow adaptation.

The adaptability of hearing is quite unique; the muscles attached to the eardrum in the middle ear adjust its tension to quickly adapt to various loudness levels, protecting the inner ear from damage by excessively strong sound waves. Under this special adaptation, the human ear can perceive sound intensities that differ by millions of times.

Beyond sensory adaptation, psychological adaptation should not be underestimated. Whether it is pain, stress, or relaxation, as long as it is within an appropriate range, over time, it becomes the norm.

Some aspects of psychological adaptation are similar to sensory adaptation; it can also fatigue and even be damaged. Particularly, its changes are often gradual, hard to detect, and have the concept of a state function. "State" refers to differences in degree, such as climbing a mountain, where descending is easier than ascending. People can become accustomed to luxury or adapt to frugality, and "it is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go from luxury to frugality" is the best depiction of a state function, where the cost of sinking is the rapid loss of energy .

Shame is another example. Following Ai Iijima, Maria Ozawa also came to Taiwan to seek fortune. Decades ago, such people were still underground movie stars, but now they have surfaced as respectable public figures! Their behaviors, which would have been universally condemned as extremely shameless a hundred years ago, are widely accepted in modern times, with many beautiful young women seeing them as a shortcut to fame and fortune, flocking to them. All these indicate that people are gradually adapting to the feeling of shamelessness. It is easy for people to become shameless, but hard to regain a sense of shame. The state function value of the entire society is currently declining.