Inception: Micro and Macro..

I recently watched inception (again!). While Leonardo DiCaprio was explaining the idea of inception, here's what came to my mind -
The process of influencing other people's minds is rather universal. The way chosen by DiCaprio & Team is highly complex and for the sake of a better word, let's call it micro-inception. Take a look around - all those people who have an opportunity or obligation to influence other people's minds are doing (or at least trying) the same thing, i.e. inception - only at a macro level.
Teachers of all kinds (academic to hobbies and more) and at all levels are in fact, trying to imprint new ideas into their audience's minds. So are politicians, CEOs, commanding officers in an army unit.. the list is unending..



 Let me rewind back to a quote from the movie to set the stage:

What is the most resilient parasite? Bacteria? A virus? An intestinal worm? An idea. Resilient... highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it's almost impossible to eradicate. An idea that is fully formed - fully understood - that sticks; right in there somewhere.

Think back your first day at school (or any other place) when you first wrote those a,b,cs...and so did a bunch of other kids around you. Recall the times when you first encountered the concept of addition of two numbers, multiplication of two numbers..that's precisely what I'm implying by macro inception. The challenge for any teacher is how best to streamline the process given a limited amount of time and an unthinkable variety of minds around to influence. For DiCaprio, the task is essentially micro! Hacking one mind at a time (with a crew of more than one person)

Here's another gem of a quote:

"I will split up my father's empire." Now, this is obviously an idea that Robert himself would choose to reject. Which is why we need to plant it deep in his subconscious. Subconscious is motivated by emotion, right? Not reason. We need to find a way to translate this into an emotional concept.

Some parallels follow from micro world to the macro world. There is often resistance to accept new ideas and people do fall into their subconscious in many-a-classrooms :) It may mean that the idea was not fully understood and/or the audience was not completely engaged.
It also partly explains why great orators (not to mention great teachers ) are often able to get hold of people's minds in a few seconds. They do something that appeals the audience's subconscious, which is motivated by emotion (as the quote goes) - it may be some form of empathy. The sensation of "I have to listen to this person, he/she is speaking MY language" in people's minds translates in mesmerizing the masses.
If DiCaprio and the gang need to plan hours to just for single mind inception, think of the complexity involved in teaching an average sized classroom!

Finally, a third quote that will underline the importance of this mechanism:

I'm going to improvise. Listen, there's something you should know about me... about inception. An idea is like a virus, resilient, highly contagious. The smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can grow to define or destroy you. 

Inception at any level is a double edged sword. A charismatic personality can often inspire people. The charisma is no excuse for the cause it served. People captivated by the power of a thought can go on to do pretty radical things - liberate themselves from oppression or subjugate others to oppression.