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Contents contributed and discussions participated by sissij

sissij

Want to Get From A to B Safer? The Color of Your Car Matters | Big Think - 2 views

  • If you’ve taken to the United States streets anytime lately, you may have noticed that most public school buses are a very particular shade of yellow. That shade is called National School Bus Glossy Yellow in Canada and the US, and it was specially designed by Dr. Frank Cyr.
  • It makes sense that yellow taxi cabs are safer than the blue ones.
  • What’s more, while the majority of those who are color blind have trouble distinguishing red from green, they can still see yellow just fine.
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  • Yellow is easy to see in the dim lights of early morning or late evening, and because it's seen across both the green and red cones in the eye, it pops in our vision faster than other colors.
  • Furthermore, the drivers tend to drive at similar speeds, so the color of the cabs isn’t attracting certain driver personalities. It is mostly linked to the color of the cab.
  • The long-standing association of yellow being the color of cabs means many people purchase cars that are specifically not yellow, because of the connection, but they will purchase blue cars. People are more careful around the yellow vehicle for the same reason they are careful around the school bus: they know what the color means.
  • Of course, this is all a short-term worry: we won't be at the mercy human error for much longer.
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    I think this is very interesting that even the color of a car can be associated with the accident rate of the taxi. The yellow color on the taxi make use of the pattern recognition in human mind as people tends to make connection between yellow and caution. I really like this idea because it shows that sometimes the fallacies in our logic can benefit us in the modern society. It is not totally useless. --Sissi (3/15/2017)
sissij

Gaymoji: A New Language for That Search - The New York Times - 1 views

  • You don’t need a degree in semiotics to read meaning into an eggplant balanced on a ruler or peach with an old-fashioned telephone receiver on top. That the former is the universally recognized internet symbol for a large male member and the latter visual shorthand for a booty call is something most any 16-year-old could all too readily explain.
  • And so, starting this week, Grindr will offer to users a set of trademarked emoji, called Gaymoji — 500 icons that function as visual shorthand for terms and acts and states of being that seem funnier, breezier and less freighted with complication when rendered in cartoon form in place of words.
  • That is, toward a visual language of rainbow unicorns, bears, otters and handcuffs — to cite some of the images available in the first set of 100 free Gaymoji symbols.
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  • “Partly, this project started because the current set of emojis set by some international board were limited and not evolving fast enough for us,” said Mr. Simkhai, who in certain ways fits the stereotype of a gay man in West Hollywood: a lithe, gym-fit, hairless nonsmoker who enjoys dancing at gay circuit parties.
  • Like most every other human in the developed world, they had their heads buried in their screens.
  • “We’re all so attached to our phones that when people talk about the notion of the computer melding with the human and ask when that’s going to happen, I say it already has,” Mr. Simkhai said. He added that the prospect of being deprived of a phone for 20 minutes induced in him “the highest level of anxiety I can possibly have.”
  • Gaymoji, then, serve as both conversational and even existential placeholders, Ms. McCulloch said: “You’re using them to say, ‘I’m still here and I still want to be talking to you.’”
  • As if to emphasized that assertion, a reporter combing through the new set of Gaymoji in search of something that would symbolize a person of Mr. Simkhai’s vintage could find only one.It was an image of a gray-haired daddy holding aloft a credit card.
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    Emoji is becoming more and more popular in people's chatting and comments on social medias. People use emoji because they faster, more convenient, and funnier. And now people can even design their own emoji to have it suit for various conditions. But can emoji really replace the letters and language? I sometimes feel that emoji is so fast and cheap. It only take a click to sent an emoji and people usually sent without any further thoughts because it is so quick and easy. Although emoji is sometimes make the comments seem cuter and funnier, it makes people's comments less hearty. I think typing in some letters in the comments does oblige us to think about what we are saying before we sent it out. --Sissi (3/15/2017)
sissij

It Turns Out Cosmic Dust Is Everywhere | Big Think - 0 views

  • Who among us doesn’t thrill to catch a glimpse of a meteorite streaking across the night sky? Except for a few colorful cases — a living room in Connecticut, an explosion in the sky over Chelyabinsk, Russia — these beauties disappear into our atmosphere.
  • Now a new picture book, In Search of Stardust: Amazing Micro-Meteorites and Their Terrestrial Imposters, reveals that, really, it’s everywhere. 
  • The cosmic stuff is so ubiquitous that we probably eat it in our salads all the time.
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  • Instead of trying to identify bits from space, he would instead teach himself to recognize the terrestrial source of all the samples he collected.
  • something that anybody can do. It could and should become part of teachings in schools, an aspect of citizen science.
  • The key is knowing what to look for.
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    I have listened to a radio show. There was a guest speaker one time that he talks about meteorite. He said that cosmic dust is the smallest and most common meteorite. I think it is really amazing to think about because those mysterious meteorites that are sold high in the auction are actually al around us. There is one quote that I really like from this article: "The key is knowing what to look for". I think this is pretty true in our daily life. For example, when I was doing my IA chemistry lab, once I understand the mechanics behind the lab procedure, the whole process becomes more meaningful for me. It feels like that I switch to a different perspective after understanding the lab. --Sissi (3/14/2017)
sissij

Unsealed Documents Raise Questions on Monsanto Weed Killer - The New York Times - 0 views

  • The court documents included Monsanto’s internal emails and email traffic between the company and federal regulators. The records suggested that Monsanto had ghostwritten research that was later attributed to academics and indicated that a senior official at the Environmental Protection Agency had worked to quash a review of Roundup’s main ingredient, glyphosate, that was to have been conducted by the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
  • Monsanto also rebutted suggestions that the disclosures highlighted concerns that the academic research it underwrites is compromised.
  • In a statement, Monsanto said, “Glyphosate is not a carcinogen.”
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  • The safety of glyphosate is not settled science.
  • they could ghostwrite research on glyphosate by hiring academics to put their names on papers that were actually written by Monsanto.
  • The issue of glyphosate’s safety is not a trivial one for Americans. Over the last two decades, Monsanto has genetically re-engineered corn, soybeans and cotton so it is much easier to spray them with the weed killer, and some 220 million pounds of glyphosate were used in 2015 in the United States.
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    This news shows that there are a lot of cases that companies use science as a shield to convince people that their product is safe and good. Honesty is scientific papers has always been an important issue when we talk about the reliability of those papers. As we discussed in TOK, science is more like a social project that involves a lot of people and all human works are more or less biased and subjective. Now, science is intertwined with benefit and economics so the issue become much more complicated. I think we should identify the sources of the paper before citing any word from the paper because who write the paper is a big factor of which side the paper is standing. --Sissi (3/14/2017)
sissij

Manterruption is a Thing, and Now There is an App to Detect it in Daily Conversation | ... - 0 views

  • Introducing our word of the day – “manterruption”. It’s a pretty self-explanatory term, describing a behavior when men interrupt women unnecessarily, which leads to a pretty serious imbalance in the amount of female vs. male contributions in a conversation.
  • A 2004 study on gender issues at Harvard Law School found that men were 50% more likely than women to volunteer at least one comment during class and 144% more likely to volunteer three or more comments. 
  • which as a consequence leaves decision-making mostly to men.
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  • Meaning, women’s voices bring a different and valuable perspective in a conversation and should be heard more.
  • Here's the thing, though: while fighting for the cause of hearing the female perspective equally in all matters of business, government, and life is definitely worthwhile, blaming it all on interrupting men doesn’t seem fair. Because it is not just men who interrupt women, women do it too. As a matter of fact, a study done in a tech company showed that 87% of the time that women interrupt, they are interrupting other women.
  • There are also other dynamics at play, for example, seniority. It is still more likely that men will hold a more senior position in a professional environment and, generally, people with a higher rank tend to interrupt more and be interrupted less.
  • Hearing the voices and perspectives of both genders equally is incredibly important, but we should make sure we are addressing the right root causes and are not antagonizing those who need to be on the same side for progress to be made. 
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    I think this app is very interesting. There are obviously gender inequality in the society that men are often more used to take the leadership than women. I think by counting how many times a woman is interrupted by a man is a very interesting aspect to show how the society is still dominated by men. I also really like that the author discusses about other possible factors of why women are more likely to be interrupted by men. Only arguing about one side wouldn't make a strong argument. Gender inequality is a big and heavy label that we should give it more thinking before we apply it to any phenomenon. --Sissi (3/14/2017)
sissij

The Choose-Your-Own-News Adventure - The New York Times - 0 views

  • some new twist on the modern media sphere’s rush to give you exactly what you want when you want it.
  • No matter how far the experiment goes, Netflix is again in step with the national zeitgeist. After all, there are algorithms for streaming music services like Spotify, for Facebook’s news feed and for Netflix’s own program menu, working to deliver just what you like while filtering out whatever might turn you off and send you away — the sorts of data-driven honey traps that are all the talk at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival going on here through this week.
  • “You used to be a consumer of reality, and now you’re a designer of reality.”
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  • It started with President Trump’s Twitter posts accusing former President Barack Obama of having wiretapped his phones at Trump Tower.
  • The proof, you would have heard him say, was already out there in the mainstream media — what with a report on the website Heat Street saying that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had secured a warrant to investigate ties between people in Mr. Trump’s campaign and Russia, and articles in The New York Times, in The Washington Post and elsewhere about intelligence linking people in Mr. Trump’s campaign to Russia, some of it from wiretaps.
  • You could throw on the goggles, become a bird and fly around. If virtual reality can allow a human to become a bird, why couldn’t it allow you to live more fully in your own political reality — don the goggles and go live full time in the adventure of your choosing: A, B or C.
  • Just watch out for that wall you’re about to walk into IRL (in real life). Or, hey, don’t — knock yourself out.
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    This new design reminds me of how the internet is limiting us in our comfort zone. Although in theory, there is almost infinite amount of information on the internet, we can only get a very small proportion of it. And people tends to read the information that support their idea or fit their interests. So the news servers start to design system that only provide readers with what they want to see or like to see. It does not do good to diversify people's mind as what internet should be doing. In the quote, Dan Wagner said: "you're a designer of reality", but I interpret this as we are the designer of our own reality. This will only isolate people from each other. Without living in the same reality, people won't have real communication, so I think this new design does have cons. --Sissi (3/14/2017)
sissij

These Wearables Are All About Neuroscience | Big Think - 0 views

  • Artist, writer, and experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats, fresh from his recent Reciprocal Biomimicry project, is back, and this time it’s wearable.
  • It’s clothing designed to alter one’s self-perception.
  • Wearing clothes that make you feel good isn’t new, of course, but Keats’ press release claims to be “applying cutting-edge neuroscience to millennia of costume history.”
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  • The bracelets can encourage the wearer to assume a “power pose,” boosting self-assurance through the release of testosterone.
  • Superego shades have irises that open and close in sync with the wearer’s breathing, raising his or her consciousness of his or her respiration.
  • Superego shoes offer heels whose height can be adjusted to ensure the wearer is always taller than anyone with whom he or she is speaking.
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    I think it is very interesting than even those wearable designs can be related to neuroscience. They seem to me that the two subjects are very far away. Those designs are very interesting as it combine some idea in science with artistic designs. As we learned in English when we were having a speech project, power pose is a standing position that can strengthen our confidence and persuasiveness. By having those clothing specially designed, it can force us into such position. I think this is a very fantastic idea. I really like the changing height high heel. As a short person, I know how people feel when they have to raise their heads to talk to people. --Sissi (3/12/2017)
sissij

Resist the Internet - The New York Times - 0 views

  • So now it’s time to turn to the real threat to the human future: the one in your pocket or on your desk, the one you might be reading this column on right now.
  • your day-to-day, minute-to-minute existence is dominated by a compulsion to check email and Twitter and Facebook and Instagram with a frequency that bears no relationship to any communicative need.
  • Used within reasonable limits, of course, these devices also offer us new graces. But we are not using them within reasonable limits. They are the masters; we are not.
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  • Which is why we need a social and political movement — digital temperance, if you will — to take back some control.
  • Temperance doesn’t have to mean teetotaling; it can simply mean a culture of restraint that tries to keep a specific product in its place. And the internet, like alcohol, may be an example of a technology that should be sensibly restricted in custom and in law.
  • Meanwhile the age of the internet has been, thus far, an era of bubbles, stagnation and democratic decay — hardly a golden age whose customs must be left inviolate.
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    Although I agree with the author on his point that Internet does cut down our time spent in natural world and traditional socialization, I don't think this problem is serious or bad enough that Internet should be sensibly restricted in custom and in LAW. Internet is the product of the changing of the society. There is always losing coming with gain. I think what we gain from the Internet is greater than what we lose. We do need temperance for internet, but I think it's ones' personal right to decide whether to control himself or not. Internet is more life people's personal life style rather than something that need to be regulated. --Sissi (3/12/2017)
sissij

Chinese Mistake Satire on Trump for Real News - The New York Times - 3 views

  • A frantic President Trump, holding court in a bathrobe, ordered his aides to wrap the White House telephones in tinfoil, several Chinese publications reported this week, citing The New Yorker.
  • Internet readers were puzzled. The state-run news media — and China’s army of censors — are not known for making jokes. Was this for real?
  • Others were more discerning. “This was made up and meant to be funny,” another user said. “Surprising it was treated as news. Editor, could you be more professional?”
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  • It was not the first time that American humorists have unintentionally duped the Chinese news media.
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    I think this is not that the editors in China are being unprofessional. It is just they are not used to the satire in America. The news style in different country is very different. It reminded me of an online course I took over the winter break about social media. The teacher in that course highlighted that the social media in western culture are not tightly controlled by the government so their language are more personal. The social media in China is tightly controlled by the government so the language it uses is usually very formal and serious. --Sissi (3/9/2017)
sissij

Is Technology Destroying Happiness? | Big Think - 0 views

  • Historian Yuval Noah Harari writes that happiness itself is not an inalienable right—the pursuit of it is. Semantics matter. 
  • Technology alone is not to blame, as in many ways our uneasiness with our condition seems an old trait.
  • however, Americans have turned more toward British philosopher Jeremy Bentham’s demand that the sole purpose of the state, financial markets, and science “is to increase global happiness.” 
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  • But we’re not happier.
  • Harari points out that initially happiness was introduced as a check on state power.
  • Given how few we encounter on a regular basis, this threat detection system has been co-opted by the luxury of security, causing Harari to realize that: The most common reaction of the human mind to achievement is not satisfaction, but craving for more.
  • The Buddha actually warned against such a chase, deciding contentment was more worthwhile (and saner). The pursuit of pleasure is the root of suffering.
  • As Trentmann points out, the Latin consumere meant a “physical exhaustion of matter.” For example, the wasting disease, tuberculosis, was referred to as consumption. While we’ve redefined that word in modern times the original intention seems destined to win out.
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    The author went depth into how people see happiness. It is very interesting to see that our happiness in life does not increase as our life quality. There are ,any other reasons why we don't feel as happy as we should. The author bring up a very interesting point that happiness is very blank and hard to define, but the pursuit of happiness is what feels real to us and important to us. I think we feel less happiness is because we become easier to get what we want. The process of pursuing the happiness is lightened. --Sissi (3/9/2017)
sissij

There's a New Cognitive Bias in Town: SPOT | Big Think - 0 views

  • You may be thinking, “just what we needed (sigh),” but anything that helps us see through the ways we fool ourselves is worth knowing about. It’s called the “Spontaneous Preference For Own Theories,” or “SPOT,” effect.
  • And now Aiden Gregg and colleagues at the University of Southampton have announced the SPOT effect, which is sort of a combination of all three. It posits that we’re more likely to believe a theory because it’s ours, and will even attempt to hold onto our faith in it in spite of mounting evidence.
  • The subjects were presented a series of seven facts about Wugworld, starting with some that supported the theory that Niffites were the predators — “Niffites are at least twice as large as Luupites.” — but changing over time to evidence that it was the Luupites who were actually the aggressors: “Luupites have been observed eating the dead bodies of Niffites.” After each new fact, the subjects were asked again if they still thought the theory was true.
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    This is a very interesting cognitive bias. It shows that people are very self-center and easily offended. I think it can be explained by the logic of evolution because people need to have a strong feeling for what belongs to them, no matter it is an object or some kind of idea. However, when the thing becomes others', people tend to care less. That's why it is always really hard to convince others to listen to your idea. --Sissi (3/6/2017)
sissij

Google and Facebook Take Aim at Fake News Sites - The New York Times - 0 views

  • Over the last week, two of the world’s biggest internet companies have faced mounting criticism over how fake news on their sites may have influenced the presidential election’s outcome.
  • Hours later, Facebook, the social network, updated the language in its Facebook Audience Network policy, which already says it will not display ads in sites that show misleading or illegal content, to include fake news sites.
  • Google did not escape the glare, with critics saying the company gave too much prominence to false news stories.
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  • Facebook has long spoken of how it helped influence and stoke democratic movements in places like the Middle East, and it tells its advertisers that it can help sway its users with ads.
  • It remains to be seen how effective Google’s new policy on fake news will be in practice. The policy will rely on a combination of automated and human reviews to help determine what is fake. Although satire sites like The Onion are not the target of the policy, it is not clear whether some of them, which often run fake news stories written for humorous effect, will be inadvertently affected by Google’s change.
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    Company start to pay attention to the fake news on the social media. It reminded me of the government involvement in economics. Although internet should be a place free of speech, there are mounting amount of fake news and alternative facts now that the company need to regulate and make rules to restrict it. I think as long as there is human society, we need rule. In free markets, we also need government regulation to remain a balance. --Sissi (3/6/2017)
sissij

Gloria Steinem: Women Have 'Chick Flicks.' What About Men? - The New York Times - 0 views

  • As the flight attendant read the choices aloud, a young man across the aisle said, “I don’t watch chick flicks!”
  • I wasn’t challenging his preference, but I did question the logic of his term.
  • especially if it had been written by women.
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  • Think about it: If “Anna Karenina" had been by Leah Tolstoy, or “The Scarlet Letter” by Nancy Hawthorne or “A Doll’s House” by Henrietta Ibsen — if “The Invisible Man” had been “The Invisible Woman” — would they have been hailed as classics?
  • Indeed, as long as men are taken seriously when they write about the female half of the world — and women are not taken seriously when writing about ourselves, much less about men and public affairs
  • His “chick flick” label might help him avoid certain movies, but shouldn’t he have a label to guide him toward movies he actually liked?
  • Bias is, as always, unfair to everyone.
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    I think this is gender stereotyping. People tend to make the assumption that women are more limited than men because they appear so emotional and irrational. However, in brain science, there is no real difference between male and female. The logic fallacies and flaws in reasoning stay true for everybody, not a specific gender. We also tends to label things to simplify. However, there are always exceptions to labels, as we learned in science. Labeling may filter out some really good stuff just based on our imprecise impression. -Sissi (3/4/2017)
sissij

Have we got Machiavelli all wrong? | Books | The Guardian - 0 views

  • The quickest way, it says, is to have fortune on your side from the outset, with plenty of inherited money and a leg up through family connections.
  • Make the people your best friend. Promise to protect their interests against predatory elites and foreigners.
  • he recommended them – that he himself is the original Machiavellian, the first honest teacher of dishonest politics.
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  • But what if we’re overlooking Machiavelli’s less obvious messages, his deeper insights into politics?
  • Yes, he made sinister excuses for violence and hypocrisy. But his reasons were patriotic, well-meaning, human.
  • But he also says – in a passage most scholars pass over – that “victories are never secure without some respect, especially for justice”. For every cynical Machiavellian precept, I found two or three others that clashed with it.
  • If we look again at how he lived his life and how that life shaped his thoughts, it looks as if we’ve got Machiavelli all wrong.
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    Overinterpretation is very tricky because we never know certain of what other people are trying to say. Especially when we are studying the words of people in the history. People are never consistent with themselves, and I think that's why life is so interesting. People love the coming of age stories because you never know where the character will go. The same with people in the history. They are not black or white. They are a mix. But our confirmation bias always make us unconsciously select the words from them that support our opinion. Although we always say we can learn from the history, what we actually are doing is just agreeing on stuff that we have already agreed with. This is not real learning. --Sissi (3/4/2017)
sissij

When Did 'Ambition' Become a Dirty Word? - The New York Times - 0 views

  • but is instead a stark, black-and-white video, a public service announcement that takes on a thorny issue that dominated the last presidential campaign and has divided people on the right and left.
  • “Embrace Ambition,”
  • “I can think of a lot of dirty words,” Ms. Witherspoon says. “Ambition is not one of them.”
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  • Nevertheless, she seemed to choose her words carefully as she spoke about the campaign.
  • she wanted to get away from the idea that this project was politically motivated, or anti-Trump.
  • But the issue of ambition, and the way it is used to defame women, is nevertheless personal to her.
  • This was confusing to Ms. Burch, who never saw herself as being a particularly threatening person.
  • “I do it, too,” she said. “I’m guilty of all of it.”
  • And the word “feminist” began to shed its Bella Abzug and Betty Friedan connotations, as women like Madonna went from saying they are “not feminists” but “humanists” to wearing T-shirts at anti-Trump events that had the word “feminist” emblazoned across the center.
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    Sometimes, people are ashamed of their ambition. They are afraid to have a dream because they would not bear any failure. I think people don't dare to dream big now. I think it might be because of the concept of economics we have in the recent years. Most people follow the efficiency rule so nobody is willing to risk and make a revolution. Putting on big stake is not the most efficient choice in economics. Although it tells us it is okay to be greedy, but it limited us to the model and make us less willingly to make a breakthrough. --Sissi (3/2/2017)
sissij

Biomimicry in Reverse: 5 Inventions That Help Animals Survive Humans | Big Think - 0 views

  • Scientists have been stealing ideas from animals for years.
  • One industrial “nose job” later, the bullet train is far quieter and goes 10% faster on 15% less fuel.
  • There are countless examples of similar “biomimicry.” The velcro on your coat is based on those aggravating burrs that cling to your jeans after a hike. Scientists are developing painless hypodermic needles modeled on mosquito mouths that get your blood out without your even noticing.
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  • “Reciprocal Biomimicry Initiative.” The idea is to leverage human technology for the benefit of animals for a change.
  • The star attraction, arguably, is GPS for birds.
  • Keats is suggesting specially-designed shell coverings boasting urban colors and visual patterns to help them avoid notice.
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    This article reminded me of an article I read in my SAT reading section. Biomimicry is a very interesting subject because it learns from the nature. An example I have read about is the arrangement of the solar plants. Scientists arrange them like how seeds arranged in a sunflower to maximize the amount of solar energy absorbed. And now, scientists are using human technology to benefit nature. But somehow I think it is inefficient because if we have to spend money to make the environment we influenced to feel like natural, why don't we protect it and keep it natural at the first place? --Sissi (3/2/2017)
sissij

Protesters Gather to Support the Press, From Fox News to The New York Times - The New Y... - 0 views

  • was in response to President Trump’s decision on Friday to bar several news organizations from a White House briefing, including The Times.
  • “When The New York Times is under attack, what do we do?” Michael Zorek, a stay-at-home father from the Upper West Side of Manhattan screamed to the crowd. “Stand up! Fight back!” The group boomed back, responding with the mantra as Mr. Zorek shouted again, listing names of news organizations from BuzzFeed to the Public Broadcasting Service.
  • “When you look at history, the first thing dictators do is shut down the press.”
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  • The president has used Twitter to declare the press “the enemy of the American people.” Mr. Baquet disagreed, saying, “I don’t look at us as the enemy of the White House. I look at us as people who are aggressively covering the White House.”
  • It read: “Truth. It’s more important now than ever.”
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    The freedom of press is one of the main principle of democracy. Although fake news and alternative facts are filled the social media, it is very irrational and inefficient to take out the press completely. Getting rid of the problem is not the right way to solve the problem, it is only escaping. I think the press now is indeed flawed, but the thing it really need is regulation and certain level of government involvement. I also think it is very ironic that the president is using twitter to declare the press "the enemy of the American people" because the internet is filled with more flawed information than the press. People have to think before they publish something on the press, but in Internet, people don't usually consider their responsibility to their words. --Sissi (3/1/2017)
sissij

Believe It Or Not, Most Published Research Findings Are Probably False | Big Think - 0 views

  • but this has come with the side effect of a toxic combination of confirmation bias and Google, enabling us to easily find a study to support whatever it is that we already believe, without bothering to so much as look at research that might challenge our position
  • Indeed, this is a statement oft-used by fans of pseudoscience who take the claim at face value, without applying the principles behind it to their own evidence.
  • at present, most published findings are likely to be incorrect.
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  • If you use p=0.05 to suggest that you have made a discovery, you will be wrong at least 30 percent of the time.
  • The problem is being tackled head on in the field of psychology which was shaken by the Stapel affair in which one Dutch researcher fabricated data in over 50 fraudulent papers before being detected.
  • a problem know as publication bias or the file drawer problem.
  • The smaller the effect size, the less likely the findings are to be true.
  • The greater the number and the lesser the selection of tested relationships, the less likely the findings are to be true.
  • For scientists, the discussion over how to resolve the problem is rapidly heating up with calls for big changes to how researchers register, conduct, and publish research and a growing chorus from hundreds of global scientific organizations demanding that all clinical trials are published.
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    As we learned in TOK, science is full of uncertainties. And in this article, the author suggests that even the publication of science paper is full of flaws. But the general population often cited science source that's in support of them. However, science findings are full of faults and the possibility is very high for the scientists to make a false claim. Sometimes, not the errors in experiments, but the fabrication of data lead to false scientific papers. And also, there are a lot of patterns behind the publication of false scientific papers.
sissij

There Is No Such Thing as Alternative Medicine | Big Think - 1 views

  • Unfortunately for Hahnemann his philosophy—the less of an active ingredient remains the more powerful a remedy is (once you reach 13c on the homeopathic scale there is no longer any active ingredient left)—is nonsense.
  • This does not stop the irrational stream of unproven (or disproven) therapies arising from the holistic and wellness sphere.
  • Distrust in one doctor should not imply blind faith in another.
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  • Yet a growing suspicion of corporate and political interests in the sixties inspired a new wave of holism that’s gaining strength a half-century later. We’re right to be wary of corporate agendas and political mismanagement when it comes to healthcare.
  • The reality is the most basic advice—move often and diversely; eat a balanced, whole foods diet—is boring in an age of immediate gratification.
  • The alternative is suffering, something many companies and hucksters willfully champion at a time when we can all use less of it.
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    People have been searching for more powerful and more efficient medicines. All sorts of weird ideas pop up as people try out different possibilities. Although people believe in science today, they are still willing to try out different things. Alternative medicine is where people like to spend their money on. When it comes to health, people are likely to be superstitious. Many people don't go to the doctors until the last minute. They tends to rely more on their own senses and perception when it comes to their life. I think it's because going to doctor is like trusting another person with your life, which is very hard for people. Seeking for alternative medicine give people a feeling that they can avoid the doctors. Like the medicine of eternity back in time, the alternative medicine today uses the same flaws in our reasoning. --Sissi (2/28/2017)
sissij

A Map of Corruption in France | Big Think - 0 views

  • Yet corruption is not a victimless crime. Cutting corners on good governance costs money, endangers lives and erodes the public trust that oils the machinery of state in modern democracies.
  • Conversely, the interior of France is largely corruption-free, some departments even entirely so. Of course, the incidence of corruption varies with the density of population, and perhaps declines disproportionately in the almost-empty interior because there are so few people to be corrupted by.
  • Mapping corruption at country level brings home the pervasiveness of the problem.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • This corruption map of France seems to be a local initiative. Similar maps of other countries would make for equally compelling reading. Except of course the corruption maps of Somalia, South Sudan and North Korea – they would be totally blank.
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    Corruption in government leads to Pareto inefficiency. I remember in a book about game theory, this is a malicious cycle in hiring government employees. For example, there are four people competing for the same position in government. One is lazy and stupid, One is hardworking but stupid. One is lazy but clever. The last one is hardworking and clever. The first one is obviously the first one to be eliminated. The leader of the government won't hire the last person because he is a potential threats to the leadership of the higher-up. The third one will often mess things up. So the only choice left for them is people who are lazy but clever. These people won't make any contribution to the government, but they occupy the money and regulation. This game theory behind hiring in government indirectly suggest the corruption in government is inevitable.
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