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Javier E

The Power of Nudges, for Good and Bad - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...f-nudges-for-good-and-bad.html

behavioral economics nudge

shared by Javier E on 10 Nov 15 - No Cached
  • Nudges, small design changes that can markedly affect individual behavior, have been catching on. These techniques rely on insights from behavioral science
  • when used ethically, they can be very helpful. But we need to be sure that they aren’t being employed to sway people to make bad decisions that they will later regret.
  • Three principles should guide the use of nudges:■ All nudging should be transparent and never misleading.■ It should be as easy as possible to opt out of the nudge, preferably with as little as one mouse click.■ There should be good reason to believe that the behavior being encouraged will improve the welfare of those being nudged.
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  • the government teams in Britain and the United States that have focused on nudging have followed these guidelines scrupulously.
  • the private sector is another matter. In this domain, I see much more troubling behavior.
  • Many companies are nudging purely for their own profit and not in customers’ best interests. In a recent column in The New York Times, Robert Shiller called such behavior “phishing.” Mr. Shiller and George Akerlof, both Nobel-winning economists, have written a book on the subject, “Phishing for Phools.”
  • Some argue that phishing — or evil nudging — is more dangerous in government than in the private sector. The argument is that government is a monopoly with coercive power, while we have more choice in the private sector over which newspapers we read and which airlines we fly.
  • I think this distinction is overstated. In a democracy, if a government creates bad policies, it can be voted out of office. Competition in the private sector, however, can easily work to encourage phishing rather than stifle it.
  • One example is the mortgage industry in the early 2000s. Borrowers were encouraged to take out loans that they could not repay when real estate prices fell. Competition did not eliminate this practice, because it was hard for anyone to make money selling the advice “Don’t take that loan.”
kirkpatrickry

Face It, Your Brain Is a Computer - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...-your-brain-is-a-computer.html

science brain science technology computer

shared by kirkpatrickry on 20 Oct 15 - No Cached
  • This approach is misguided. Too many scientists have given up on the computer analogy, and far too little has been offered in its place. In my view, the analogy is due for a rethink.To begin with, all the standard arguments about why the brain might not be a computer are pretty weak. Take the argument that “brains are parallel, but computers are serial.” Critics are right to note that virtually every time a human does anything, many different parts of the brain are engaged; that’s parallel, not serial.
  • But the idea that computers are strictly serial is woefully out of date. Ever since desktop computers became popular, there has always been some degree of parallelism in computers, with several different computations being performed simultaneously, by different components, such as the hard-drive controller and the central processor. And the trend over time in the hardware business has been to make computers more and more parallel, using new approaches like multicore processors and graphics processing units.Skeptics of the computer metaphor also like to argue that “brains are analog, while computers are digital.” The idea here is that things that are digital operate only with discrete divisions, as with a digital watch; things that are analog, like an old-fashioned watch, work on a smooth continuum.
kushnerha

Physicists in Europe Find Tantalizing Hints of a Mysterious New Particle - The New York Times - 1 views

www.nytimes.com/...a-mysterious-new-particle.html

new york times physics science research theory

shared by kushnerha on 16 Dec 15 - No Cached
  • seen traces of what could be a new fundamental particle of nature.
  • One possibility, out of a gaggle of wild and not-so-wild ideas springing to life as the day went on, is that the particle — assuming it is real — is a heavier version of the Higgs boson, a particle that explains why other particles have mass. Another is that it is a graviton, the supposed quantum carrier of gravity, whose discovery could imply the existence of extra dimensions of space-time.
  • At the end of a long chain of “ifs” could be a revolution, the first clues to a theory of nature that goes beyond the so-called Standard Model, which has ruled physics for the last quarter-century.
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  • noting that the history of particle physics is rife with statistical flukes and anomalies that disappeared when more data was compiled
  • A coincidence is the most probable explanation for the surprising bumps in data from the collider, physicists from the experiments cautioned
  • Physicists could not help wondering if history was about to repeat itself. It was four years ago this week that the same two teams’ detection of matching bumps in Large Hadron Collider data set the clock ticking for the discovery of the Higgs boson six months later.
  • If the particle is real, Dr. Lykken said, physicists should know by this summer, when they will have 10 times as much data to present to scientists from around the world who will convene in Chicago
  • The Higgs boson was the last missing piece of the Standard Model, which explains all we know about subatomic particles and forces. But there are questions this model does not answer, such as what happens at the bottom of a black hole, the identity of the dark matter and dark energy that rule the cosmos, or why the universe is matter and not antimatter.
  • CERN physicists have been running their collider at nearly twice the energy with which they discovered the Higgs, firing twin beams of protons with 6.5 trillion electron volts of energy at each other in search of new particles to help point them to deeper laws.The main news since then has been mainly that there is no news yet, only tantalizing hints, bumps in the data, that might be new particles and signposts of new theories, or statistical demons.
  • Or it could be a more massive particle that has decayed in steps down to a pair of photons. Nobody knows. No model predicted this, which is how some scientists like it.
  • “The more nonstandard the better,” said Joe Lykken, the director of research at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and a member of one of the CERN teams. “It will give people a lot to think about. We get paid to speculate.”
  • When physicists announced in 2012 that they had indeed discovered the Higgs boson, it was not the end of physics. It was not even, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, the beginning of the end.It might, they hoped, be the end of the beginning.
  • Such a discovery would augur a fruitful future for cosmological wanderings and for the CERN collider, which will be running for the next 20 years.
Javier E

Scientists Seek Ban on Method of Editing the Human Genome - NYTimes.com - 1 views

www.nytimes.com/...iting-technique-in-humans.html

method human genome modification

shared by Javier E on 21 Mar 15 - No Cached
  • A group of leading biologists on Thursday called for a worldwide moratorium on use of a new genome-editing technique that would alter human DNA in a way that can be inherited.
  • The biologists fear that the new technique is so effective and easy to use that some physicians may push ahead before its safety can be assessed. They also want the public to understand the ethical issues surrounding the technique, which could be used to cure genetic diseases, but also to enhance qualities like beauty or intelligence. The latter is a path that many ethicists believe should never be taken.
  • a technique invented in 2012 makes it possible to edit the genome precisely and with much greater ease. The technique has already been used to edit the genomes of mice, rats and monkeys, and few doubt that it would work the same way in people.
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  • The technique holds the power to repair or enhance any human gene. “It raises the most fundamental of issues about how we are going to view our humanity in the future and whether we are going to take the dramatic step of modifying our own germline and in a sense take control of our genetic destiny, which raises enormous peril for humanity,”
  • The paper’s authors, however, are concerned about countries that have less regulation in science. They urge that “scientists should avoid even attempting, in lax jurisdictions, germline genome modification for clinical application in humans” until the full implications “are discussed among scientific and governmental organizations.”
  • Though such a moratorium would not be legally enforceable and might seem unlikely to exert global influence, there is a precedent. In 1975, scientists worldwide were asked to refrain from using a method for manipulating genes, the recombinant DNA technique, until rules had been established.
  • Though highly efficient, the technique occasionally cuts the genome at unintended sites. The issue of how much mistargeting could be tolerated in a clinical setting is one that Dr. Doudna’s group wants to see thoroughly explored before any human genome is edited.
  • “We worry about people making changes without the knowledge of what those changes mean in terms of the overall genome,” Dr. Baltimore said. “I personally think we are just not smart enough — and won’t be for a very long time — to feel comfortable about the consequences of changing heredity, even in a single individual.”
  • Many ethicists have accepted the idea of gene therapy, changes that die with the patient, but draw a clear line at altering the germline, since these will extend to future generations. The British Parliament in February approved the transfer of mitochondria, small DNA-containing organelles, to human eggs whose own mitochondria are defective. But that technique is less far-reaching because no genes are edited.
  • There are two broad schools of thought on modifying the human germline, said R. Alta Charo, a bioethicist at the University of Wisconsin and a member of the Doudna group. One is pragmatic and seeks to balance benefit and risk. The other “sets up inherent limits on how much humankind should alter nature,” she said. Some Christian doctrines oppose the idea of playing God, whereas in Judaism and Islam there is the notion “that humankind is supposed to improve the world.” She described herself as more of a pragmatist, saying, “I would try to regulate such things rather than shut a new technology down at its beginning.
  • The Doudna group calls for public discussion, but is also working to develop some more formal process, such as an international meeting convened by the National Academy of Sciences, to establish guidelines for human use of the genome-editing technique.“We need some principled agreement that we want to enhance humans in this way or we don’t,” Dr. Jaenisch said. “You have to have this discussion because people are gearing up to do this.”
Javier E

Many Academics Are Eager to Publish in Worthless Journals - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...datory-journals-academics.html

academic journals peer-review scientific science research publishing

shared by Javier E on 31 Oct 17 - No Cached
  • it’s increasingly clear that many academics know exactly what they’re getting into, which explains why these journals have proliferated despite wide criticism. The relationship is less predator and prey, some experts say, than a new and ugly symbiosis.
  • “When hundreds of thousands of publications appear in predatory journals, it stretches credulity to believe all the authors and universities they work for are victims,” Derek Pyne, an economics professor at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, wrote in a op-ed published in the Ottawa Citizen, a Canadian newspaper.
  • The journals are giving rise to a wider ecosystem of pseudo science. For the academic who wants to add credentials to a resume, for instance, publishers also hold meetings where, for a hefty fee, you can be listed as a presenter — whether you actually attend the meeting or not.
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  • Many of these journals have names that closely resemble those of established publications, making them easily mistakable. There is the Journal of Economics and Finance, published by Springer, but now also the Journal of Finance and Economics. There is the Journal of Engineering Technology, put out by the American Society for Engineering Education, but now another called the GSTF Journal of Engineering Technology.
  • Predatory journals have few expenses, since they do not seriously review papers that are submitted and they publish only online. They blast emails to academics, inviting them to publish. And the journals often advertise on their websites that they are indexed by Google Scholar. Often that is correct — but Google Scholar does not vet the journals it indexes.
  • The number of such journals has exploded to more than 10,000 in recent years, with nearly as many predatory as legitimate ones. “Predatory publishing is becoming an organized industry,” wrote one group of critics in a paper in Nature
  • Participating in such dubious enterprises carries few risks. Dr. Pyne, who did a study of his colleagues publications, reports that faculty members at his school who got promoted last year had at least four papers in questionable journals. All but one academic in 10 who won a School of Business and Economics award had published papers in these journals. One had 10 such articles.
  • Academics get rewarded with promotions when they stuff their resumes with articles like these, Dr. Pyne concluded. There are few or no adverse consequences — in fact, the rewards for publishing in predatory journals were greater than for publishing in legitimate ones.
  • Some say the academic system bears much of the blame for the rise of predatory journals, demanding publications even from teachers at places without real resources for research and where they may have little time apart from teaching.At Queensborough, faculty members typically teach nine courses per year. At four-year colleges, faculty may teach four to six courses a year.
  • Recently a group of researchers who invented a fake academic: Anna O. Szust. The name in Polish means fraudster. Dr. Szust applied to legitimate and predatory journals asking to be an editor. She supplied a résumé in which her publications and degrees were total fabrications, as were the names of the publishers of the books she said she had contributed to.The legitimate journals rejected her application immediately. But 48 out of 360 questionable journals made her an editor. Four made her editor in chief. One journal sent her an email saying, “It’s our pleasure to add your name as our editor in chief for the journal with no responsibilities.”
Javier E

Denying Genetics Isn't Shutting Down Racism, It's Fueling It - 0 views

nymag.com/...own-racism-its-fueling-it.html

genetics race racism environment inequality research science

shared by Javier E on 01 Apr 18 - No Cached
  • For many on the academic and journalistic left, genetics are deemed largely irrelevant when it comes to humans. Our large brains and the societies we have constructed with them, many argue, swamp almost all genetic influences.
  • Humans, in this view, are the only species on Earth largely unaffected by recent (or ancient) evolution, the only species where, for example, the natural division of labor between male and female has no salience at all, the only species, in fact, where natural variations are almost entirely social constructions, subject to reinvention.
  • if we assume genetics play no role, and base our policy prescriptions on something untrue, we are likely to overshoot and over-promise in social policy, and see our rhetoric on race become ever more extreme and divisive.
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  • Reich simply points out that this utopian fiction is in danger of collapse because it is not true and because genetic research is increasingly proving it untrue.
  • “You will sometimes hear that any biological differences among populations are likely to be small, because humans have diverged too recently from common ancestors for substantial differences to have arisen under the pressure of natural selection. This is not true. The ancestors of East Asians, Europeans, West Africans and Australians were, until recently, almost completely isolated from one another for 40,000 years or longer, which is more than sufficient time for the forces of evolution to work.” Which means to say that the differences could be (and actually are) substantial.
  • If you don’t establish a reasonable forum for debate on this, Reich argues, if you don’t establish the principle is that we do not have to be afraid of any of this, it will be monopolized by truly unreasonable and indeed dangerous racists. And those racists will have the added prestige for their followers of revealing forbidden knowledge.
  • so there are two arguments against the suppression of this truth and the stigmatization of its defenders: that it’s intellectually dishonest and politically counterproductive.
  • Klein seems to back a truly extreme position: that only the environment affects IQ scores, and genes play no part in group differences in human intelligence. To this end, he cites the “Flynn effect,” which does indeed show that IQ levels have increased over the years, and are environmentally malleable up to a point. In other words, culture, politics, and economics do matter.
  • But Klein does not address the crucial point that even with increases in IQ across all races over time, the racial gap is still frustratingly persistent, that, past a certain level, IQ measurements have actually begun to fall in many developed nations, and that Flynn himself acknowledges that the effect does not account for other genetic influences on intelligence.
  • In an email exchange with me, in which I sought clarification, Klein stopped short of denying genetic influences altogether, but argued that, given rising levels of IQ, and given how brutal the history of racism against African-Americans has been, we should nonetheless assume “right now” that genes are irrelevant.
  • My own brilliant conclusion: Group differences in IQ are indeed explicable through both environmental and genetic factors and we don’t yet know quite what the balance is.
  • We are, in this worldview, alone on the planet, born as blank slates, to be written on solely by culture. All differences between men and women are a function of this social effect; as are all differences between the races. If, in the aggregate, any differences in outcome between groups emerge, it is entirely because of oppression, patriarchy, white supremacy, etc. And it is a matter of great urgency that we use whatever power we have to combat these inequalities.
  • Liberalism has never promised equality of outcomes, merely equality of rights. It’s a procedural political philosophy rooted in means, not a substantive one justified by achieving certain ends.
  • A more nuanced understanding of race, genetics, and environment would temper this polarization, and allow for more unifying, practical efforts to improve equality of opportunity, while never guaranteeing or expecting equality of outcomes.
  • In some ways, this is just a replay of the broader liberal-conservative argument. Leftists tend to believe that all inequality is created; liberals tend to believe we can constantly improve the world in every generation, forever perfecting our societies.
  • Rightists believe that human nature is utterly unchanging; conservatives tend to see the world as less plastic than liberals, and attempts to remake it wholesale dangerous and often counterproductive.
  • I think the genius of the West lies in having all these strands in our politics competing with one another.
  • Where I do draw the line is the attempt to smear legitimate conservative ideas and serious scientific arguments as the equivalent of peddling white supremacy and bigotry. And Klein actively contributes to that stigmatization and demonization. He calls the science of this “race science” as if it were some kind of illicit and illegitimate activity, rather than simply “science.”
  • He goes on to equate the work of these scientists with the “most ancient justification for bigotry and racial inequality.” He even uses racism to dismiss Murray and Harris: they are, after all, “two white men.
  • He still refuses to believe that Murray’s views on this are perfectly within the academic mainstream in studies of intelligence, as they were in 1994.
  • Klein cannot seem to hold the following two thoughts in his brain at the same time: that past racism and sexism are foul, disgusting, and have wrought enormous damage and pain and that unavoidable natural differences between races and genders can still exist.
  • , it matters that we establish a liberalism that is immune to such genetic revelations, that can strive for equality of opportunity, and can affirm the moral and civic equality of every human being on the planet.
  • We may even embrace racial discrimination, as in affirmative action, that fuels deeper divides. All of which, it seems to me, is happening — and actively hampering racial progress, as the left defines the most multiracial and multicultural society in human history as simply “white supremacy” unchanged since slavery; and as the right viscerally responds by embracing increasingly racist white identity politics.
  • liberalism is integral to our future as a free society — and it should not falsely be made contingent on something that can be empirically disproven. It must allow for the truth of genetics to be embraced, while drawing the firmest of lines against any moral or political abuse of it
Javier E

Facebook Overhauls News Feed to Focus on What Friends and Family Share - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...facebook-news-feed.html

fb friends family social media psychology meaning

shared by Javier E on 12 Jan 18 - No Cached
  • it would prioritize what their friends and family share and comment on while de-emphasizing content from publishers and brands
  • The changes are intended to maximize the amount of content with “meaningful interaction” that people consume on Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s chief executive, sai
  • The social network wants to reduce what Mr. Zuckerberg called “passive content” — videos and articles that ask little more of the viewer than to sit back and watch or read — so that users’ time on the site was well spent.
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  • “We want to make sure that our products are not just fun, but are good for people,” Mr. Zuckerberg said. “We need to refocus the system.”
  • The change may also work against Facebook’s immediate business interests. The company has long pushed users to spend more time on the social network. With different, less viral types of content surfacing more often, people could end up spending their time elsewhere. Mr. Zuckerberg said that was in fact Facebook’s expectation, but that if people end up feeling better about using the social network, the business will ultimately benefit.
  • The goal of the overhaul, ultimately, is for something less quantifiable that may be difficult to achieve: Facebook wants people to feel positive, rather than negative, after visiting.
  • . Publishers, nonprofits, small business and many other groups rely on the social network to reach people, so de-emphasizing their posts will most likely hurt them
  • Thursday’s changes raise questions of whether people may end up seeing more content that reinforces their own ideologies if they end up frequently interacting with posts and videos that reflect the similar views of their friends or family.
  • Facebook has conducted research and worked with outside academics for months to examine the effects that its service has on people. The work was spurred by criticism from politicians, academics, the media and others that Facebook had not adequately considered its responsibility for what it shows its users.
  • “Just because a tool can be used for good and bad, that doesn’t make the tool bad — it just means you need to understand what the negative is so that you can mitigate it,” he said.
  • Facebook and other researchers have particularly homed in on passive content. In surveys of Facebook users, people said they felt the site had shifted too far away from friends and family-related content, especially amid a swell of outside posts from brands, publishers and media companies.
  • “This big wave of public content has really made us reflect: What are we really here to do?” Mr. Zuckerberg said. “If what we’re here to do is help people build relationships, then we need to adjust.”
  • Product managers are being asked to “facilitate the most meaningful interactions between people,” rather than the previous mandate of helping people find the most meaningful content, he said.
  • “It’s important to me that when Max and August grow up that they feel like what their father built was good for the world,” Mr. Zuckerberg said.
fischerry

Why English and general knowledge are important | Free Malaysia Today - 0 views

www.freemalaysiatoday.com/...eneral-knowledge-are-important

knowledge education

shared by fischerry on 06 Mar 17 - No Cached
  •  64 2 1 70 Why English and general knowledge are important
  • Proficiency in English is a normal requirement in the private sector, particularly in the tourism industry.
  • Instead of using our diversity as our strength, bigotry has turned it into a weakness. Instead of embracing English to reach out to the world, we have let it slip and are happy to be local champions.
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  • If feelings of superiority are prevalent, there will be no need to learn from others or strive to be better. It will also become much easier to pull others down.
  • fischerry on 06 Mar 17
     
    Language, and embracing english is important, especially in developing countries. Let's spread education.
dicindioha

How a Nation Reconciles After Genocide Killed Nearly a Million People - The New York Times - 2 views

www.nytimes.com/...wo-decades-after-genocide.html

shared by dicindioha on 26 Apr 17 - No Cached
  • Scenes like this one were playing out across Rwanda on this Saturday — a monthly day of service known as Umuganda.The premise is simple and extraordinary in its efficient enforcement: Every able-bodied Rwandan citizen between the ages of 18 and 65 must take part in community service for three hours once a month. The community identifies a new public works problem to tackle each month.
  • “We never had Umuganda before the genocide,”
  • Though the genocide ended a year before Mr. Kwizera was born, it is deeply ingrained in the lives of even the youngest Rwandans.
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  • reconciliation, development and social control
  • thousands in the country’s Hutu ethnic majority unleashed unspeakable violence on the Tutsi minority and moderate Hutu countrymen who refused to take part in the slaughter. In just 100 days, nearly one million people perished.
  • Many political analysts and human rights groups say Mr. Kagame has created a nation that is orderly but repressive. Laws banning so-called genocidal ideology that were adopted to deter a resurgence of sectarian or hate speech are also used to squelch even legitimate criticism of the government.
  • Like others in this generation, who have been taught from their earliest school days to suppress any sense of ethnic identity, he considers himself simply Rwandan.
  • That was the fault of the then government that pushed us to kill Tutsis,” he said, his eyes gazing steadily ahead as he echoed a sentiment heard throughout the community from both perpetrators and survivors. “We massacred them, killed and ate their cows. I offended them gravely.”
  • Mr. Sendegeya re-entered society through a program that allows perpetrators to be released if they seek forgiveness from their victims.
  • But the healing process has taken years.
  • She has taught them about the history of the genocide, and she said that they knew the role that Mr. Sendegeya had played in killing members of their family, but that they had never feared him.
  • dicindioha on 26 Apr 17
     
    I think it's really interesing that across the country people are required to community service, and I think that's a good way to bring people together. It shows how when a mass killing happens, that at least forces people to reflect on history and how to prevent death. This has occurred in Germany, but we talked last year about how the US hasn't really done that with slavery as a community. But we could really benefit from it. But on the flip side of this, people are still forced to reject ethnicity, so there are solutions, but solutions still have problems.
Javier E

E.P.A. Dismisses Members of Major Scientific Review Board - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...r-scientific-review-board.html

policy science trump research

shared by Javier E on 08 May 17 - No Cached
  • Members of the board say they have reviewed the E.P.A.’s scientific research on the public health impact of leaking underground fuel tanks, the toxicity of the chemicals used to clean up oil spills, and the effects of the spread of bark beetles caused by a warming climate. Advertisement Continue reading the main story A larger, corresponding panel, the 47-member Science Advisory Board, advises the agency on what areas it should conduct research in and evaluates the scientific integrity of some of its regulations.
  • Both boards, which until now have been composed almost entirely of academic research scientists, have long been targets of political attacks. Congressional Republicans and industry groups have sought to either change their composition or weaken their influence on the environmental regulatory process.
  • “In recent years, S.A.B. experts have become nothing more than rubber stamps who approve all of the E.P.A.’s regulations,” Mr. Smith said at a House hearing in February. “The E.P.A. routinely stacks this board with friendly scientists who receive millions of dollars in grants from the federal government. The conflict of interest here is clear.”
sissij

The Increasing Significance of the Decline of Men - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...nce-of-the-decline-of-men.html

new york times social media research bias

shared by sissij on 17 Mar 17 - No Cached
  • At one end of the scale, men continue to dominate.
  • But at the other end of the scale, men of all races and ethnicities are dropping out of the work force, abusing opioids and falling behind women in both college attendance and graduation rates.
  • From 1979 to 2007, seven percent of men and 16 percent of women with middle-skill jobs lost their positions, according to the Dallas Fed study. Four percent of these men moved to low-skill work, and 3 percent moved to high-skill jobs. Almost all the women, 15 percent, moved into high-skill jobs, with only 1 percent moving to low-skill work.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • For boys and girls raised in two-parent households, there were only modest differences between the sexes in terms of success at school, and boys tended to earn more than their sisters in early adulthood.
  • At the same time, the divorce rate for college graduates has declined from 34.8 percent among those born between 1950 and 1955 to 29.9 percent among those born between 1957 and 1964. In contrast, the divorce rate for those without college degrees increased over the same period from 44.3 percent to 50.6 percent.
  • First, there are irreversible changes in the workplace, particularly the rise of jobs requiring social skills (even STEM jobs) that will continue to make it hard for men who lack those skills.
  • Females consistently score higher on tests of emotional and social intelligence. Sex differences in sociability and social perceptiveness have been shown to have biological origins, with differences appearing in infancy and higher levels of fetal testosterone associated with lower scores on tests of social intelligence.
  • This vulnerability, in turn, makes boys more susceptible toattention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and conduct disorders as well as the epigenetic mechanisms that can account for the recent widespread increase of these disorders in U.S. culture.
  • Schore argues that a major factor in rising dysfunction among boys and men in this country is the failure of the United States to provide longer periods of paid parental leave, with the result that many infants are placed in day care when they are six weeks old.
  • Men are really going to have to change their act or have big problems. I think of big guys from the cave days, guys who were good at lifting stuff and hunting and the things we got genetically selected out for. During the industrial revolution that wasn’t so bad, but it’s not going to be there anymore.
  • Second, male children suffer more from restricted or nonexistent parental leave policies and contemporary child care arrangements, as well as from growing up in single-parent households. Advertisement Continue reading the main story
  • It has been a longstanding objective of right-wing regimes to push women back into traditional gender roles. Is that what’s going on here? Or could it be something less pernicious and more important?
  • sissij on 17 Mar 17
     
    I think this research is very interesting. It takes a different perspective when discussing gender issues. It notices that there are actually a decline of men in the society. Although there are still wage inequality and other gender problems that women are usually in disadvantages, men are having more and more disadvantages now as the the society shift from physical work to mental work. As the society evolved, the social structure also evolves. Gender equality means we should put equal attention to all genders (there are more than two). --Sissi (3/16/2017)
colemorris

What impeachment means for Trump, Biden and America - BBC News - 1 views

www.bbc.com/...election-us-2020-55640439

government

shared by colemorris on 14 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • Exactly one week after security forces with guns drawn defended the House of Representatives against an angry mob, legislators gathered in the same chamber to impeach the president that mob supported.
  • Exactly one week after security forces with guns drawn defended the House of Representatives against an angry mob, legislators gathered in the same chamber to impeach the president that mob supported.
    • colemorris
      colemorris on 14 Jan 21
       
      It is ridiculous to think that this is what America has come to. The divide in our nation, to me, is almost equal to that of the civil war and similarly to then it seems there really isn't much of a middle ground
  • It marked the first time in the 231-year history of the United States that a president has been impeached twice in his term.
    • colemorris
      colemorris on 14 Jan 21
       
      Atleast he is setting records but this .
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • "There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution,"
    • colemorris
      colemorris on 14 Jan 21
       
      well said. I believe he was never an honest leader, and these last few months has really showcased his persona of putting himself first rather than what is around him.
  • Another presidential run in 2024 would be a very real possibility.Instead, Trump is on the ropes. He's been silenced from social media, including his beloved Twitter account. Even if he is not prohibited from running for office by a Senate conviction, his power and influence within the Republican Party has been dented.
    • colemorris
      colemorris on 14 Jan 21
       
      I could be wrong but since he got impeached, doesn't this make it so he is unable to run for president again?
  • For five years, Trump has been proving critics and prognosticators who penned his political epitaph wrong. He's survived scandals and controversies that would take down most other politicians.This time, at long last, could be different.
    • colemorris
      colemorris on 14 Jan 21
       
      This article seemed left leaning, it is interesting to me that the author almost suggests hope through this.
ilanaprincilus06

US cities are losing 36 million trees a year. Here's why it matters and how you can stop it - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

trees climate change USA

shared by ilanaprincilus06 on 16 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • Trees can lower summer daytime temperatures by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a recent study.
  • A study published last year by the US Forest Service found that we lost 36 million trees annually from urban and rural communities over a five-year period. That’s a 1% drop from 2009 to 2014.
  • “cities will become warmer, more polluted and generally more unhealthy for inhabitants,”
  • ...17 more annotations...
  • Trees act as water filters, taking in dirty surface water and absorbing nitrogen and phosphorus into the soil.
  • But the one reason for tree loss that humans can control is sensible development.
  • “Every time we put a road down, we put a building and we cut a tree or add a tree, it not only affects that site, it affects the region.”
  • The study placed a value on tree loss based on trees’ role in air pollution removal and energy conservation. The lost value amounted to $96 million a year.
  • Trees provide shade for homes, office buildings, parks and roadways, cooling surface temperatures.
  • Trees absorb carbon and remove pollutants from the atmosphere.
  • Trees reduce energy costs by $4 billion a year, according to Nowak’s study.
  • there are many reasons our tree canopy is declining, including hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, insects and disease.
  • Trees reduce flooding by absorbing water and reducing runoff into streams.
  • Trees can deflect sound
  • Trees absorb 96% of ultraviolet radiation, Nowak says.
  • Many studies have found connections between exposure to nature and better mental and physical health.
  • And studies have associated living near green areas with lower death rates.
  • Worldwide, forests provide for a huge diversity of animal life.
  • there’s a downside to trees too, such as pollen allergies or large falling branches in storms, “and people don’t like raking leaves.”
  • Urban forests especially need our help to replace fallen trees. Unlike rural areas, it is very difficult for trees to repopulate themselves in a city environment with so much pavement and asphalt.
  • Don’t remove old trees if it’s not necessary: Instead, try taking smaller actions like removing branches.
colemorris

Covid in California: The state is struggling to contain the virus - BBC News - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...election-us-2020-55578098

covid

shared by colemorris on 17 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • California was praised for acting swiftly to contain the coronavirus last spring. Now more than 31,000 people have died of the virus in the state.
  • California was the first to issue a state-wide stay-at-home order, and experts at the time predicted the pandemic would peak here in April with fewer than 2,000 lives lost.
    • colemorris
      colemorris on 17 Jan 21
       
      started out so hopeful
  • But since November, deaths have surged by more than 1,000%. In Los Angeles alone, nearly 2,000 people died this week.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • Makeshift morgues have been set up across the state, ICUs are full, oxygen is being rationed and ambulance teams have been told not to transport those unlikely to survive the night because hospitals are too full.
  • Disneyland, which has been closed since March, is now being turned into a massive vaccination centre
  • And like most places, Covid-19 has hit Los Angeles' poor the hardest.
  • For every case of Covid in Beverly Hills, there are six times more in Compton. While two people from Bel Air have died, more than 230 people have lost their lives in working-class East LA.
  • As the virus spreads, it's likely mutating more than we know, says Dr Neha Nanda."Maybe the bigger the place, the more variation," she says.
katedriscoll

Memory - 0 views

sohowdoweknow.weebly.com/memory.html

shared by katedriscoll on 15 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • MEMORY Your memory plays perhaps a more important role in the acquisition of knowledge than you may realise. Our memory shapes our personal and shared identity. A large amount of second hand knowledge has been passed on through language to become part of the shared knowledge of knowledge communitie
  • Even though memories can be biased and blurry, they do play an important role in the construction of knowledge. Consider how you would know anything without memory
anonymous

The Unfolding Of 'Home-Grown Fascism' In Capitol Assault | HuffPost - 1 views

www.huffpost.com/...ult_n_5ffc5542c5b65671988782cf

shared by anonymous on 11 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • Only days later is the extent of the danger from one of the darkest episodes in American democracy coming into focus. The sinister nature of the assault has become evident
  • This was not just a collection of Trump supporters with MAGA bling caught up in a wave.
  • McGovern told The Associated Press on Sunday. “Looking at their faces, it occurred to me, these aren’t protesters. These are people who want to do harm.”
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • Pelosi said Sunday “the evidence is that it was a well-planned, organized group with leadership and guidance and direction. And the direction was to go get people.”
  • But with countless smartphone videos emerging from the scene, much of it from gloating insurrectionists themselves, and more lawmakers recounting the chaos that was around them, contours of the uprising are increasingly coming into relief.
  • Criminals pardoned by Trump, among them Roger Stone and Michael Flynn, came forward at rallies on the eve of the attack to tell the crowds they were fighting a battle between good and evil and they were on the side of good.
  • “If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral,”
  • Although the Capitol’s attackers had been sent with Trump’s exhortation to fight, they appeared in some cases to be surprised that they had actually made it in.
  • Within the hour, the Senate had resumed its work and the House followed, returning the People’s House to the control of the people’s representatives.
  • Said McGovern: “I was in such disbelief this could possibly happen. These domestic terrorists were in the People’s House, desecrating the People’s House, destroying the People’s House.”
Javier E

Opinion | Two visions of 'normal' collided in our abnormal pandemic year - The Washington Post - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...ded-our-abnormal-pandemic-year

pandemic bias normal cognitive bias emergency psychology

shared by Javier E on 31 Dec 20 - No Cached
  • The date was Sept. 17, 2001. The rubble was still smoking. As silly as this sounds, I was hoping it would make me cry.
  • That didn’t happen. The truth is, it still looked like something on television, a surreal shot from a disaster movie. I was stunned but unmoved.
  • ADLater, trying to understand the difference between those two moments, I told people, “The rubble still didn’t feel real.”
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • now, after a year of pandemic, I realize that wasn’t the problem. The rubble was real, all right. It just wasn’t normal.
  • it always, somehow, came back to that essential human craving for things to be normal, and our inability to believe that they are not, even when presented with compelling evidence.
  • This phenomenon is well-known to cognitive scientists, who have dubbed it “normalcy bias.”
  • the greater risk is more often the opposite: People can’t quite believe. They ignore the fire alarm, defy the order to evacuate ahead of the hurricane, or pause to grab their luggage when exiting the crashed plane. Too often, they die.
  • Calling the quest for normalcy a bias makes it sound bad, but most of the time this tendency is a good thing. The world is full of aberrations, most of them meaningless. If we aimed for maximal reaction to every anomaly we encountered, we’d break down from sheer nervous exhaustion.
  • But when things go disastrously wrong, our optimal response is at war with the part of our brain that insists things are fine. We try to reoccupy the old normal even if it’s become radioactive and salted with mines. We still resist the new normal — even when it’s staring us in the face.
  • Nine months into our current disaster, I now see that our bitter divides over pandemic response were most fundamentally a contest between two ideas of what it meant to get “back to normal.”
  • One group wanted to feel as safe as they had before a virus invaded our shores; the other wanted to feel as unfettered
  • he disputes that followed weren’t just a fight to determine whose idea of normal would prevail. They were a battle against an unthinkable reality, which was that neither kind of normalcy was fully possible anymore.
  • I suspect we all might have been less willing to make war on our opponents if only we’d believed that we were fighting people not very different from how we were — exhausted by the whole thing and frantic to feel like themselves again
  • Some catastrophes are simply too big to be understood except in the smallest way, through their most ordinary human details
ilanaprincilus06

How Knowledge Changes Us - The New York Times - 1 views

brooks.blogs.nytimes.com/...knowledge-corrupts

memory time manipulation secrets

shared by ilanaprincilus06 on 30 Oct 20 - No Cached
  • They become the center of every room they enter, with all the attendant narcissism. They also have inside information, and often leap to the conclusion that people who don’t have this information are simply not worth listening to.
  • They become the center of every room they enter, with all the attendant narcissism. They also have inside information, and often leap to the conclusion that people who don’t have this information are simply not worth listening to.
    • ilanaprincilus06
      ilanaprincilus06 on 30 Oct 20
       
      Logical fallacy of appealing to authority. Their narcissism will continue to bias their mind with the idea that they will always be seen by others as correct just because they have more power over them.
  • “First, you’ll be exhilarated by some of this new information, and by having it all — so much! incredible! — suddenly available to you.
    • ilanaprincilus06
      ilanaprincilus06 on 30 Oct 20
       
      Relates to our memory recollection. Shortly after experiencing something new or exciting, our emotions usually project this with happiness and other good feelings
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Still, there are psychic effects that come from having this information. I have never seen them so perfectly expressed as by Daniel Ellsberg in a speech he supposedly gave to Henry Kissinger in 1968 as Kissinger was entering the government.
    • ilanaprincilus06
      ilanaprincilus06 on 30 Oct 20
       
      One affect could be mind deception. Over time, the secret is more likely to be altered based on certain experiences/actions that the secret holder partakes. This will leave a negative impact on the true nature of the secret.
  • you will forget there ever was a time when you didn’t have it, and you’ll be aware only of the fact that you have it now and most others don’t
    • ilanaprincilus06
      ilanaprincilus06 on 30 Oct 20
       
      Relates to theory of mind. The secret constantly reminds the secret holder of the disparity between their understanding of the secret and other's unknowingness to the secret
  • it’s often inaccurate
    • ilanaprincilus06
      ilanaprincilus06 on 30 Oct 20
       
      The effects that the brain leaves on long-term memory. The premise of the secret may still be true, but the conclusion and other evidence is most likely skewed
pier-paolo

The YouTube Paradox - The New York Times - 0 views

dealbook.nytimes.com/...-the-savior-or-the-anti-christ

shared by pier-paolo on 03 Nov 20 - No Cached
  • The online video-sharing upstart, which shows more than 100 million video clips a day, has titans wondering: friend or foe?
  • trying to improve the site for its users while working to find arrangements that will satisfy Hollywood.
  • that YouTube and MySpace, the social networking site, “are copyright infringers and owe us tens of millions of dollars.”
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • an early Internet video site that was bought by Yahoo, said that YouTube would eventually be “sued into oblivion” because of copyright violations.
  • dealing with YouTube “is not the typical situation we run into every day” because the company has not thought through many of the issues raised by its business.
  • “Part of what we are doing is working with them to figure out what their business model can be,”
  • The minute a Yahoo, Microsoft or News Corp. buys YouTube, you have a target for anyone who wants to sue.
lucieperloff

Dogs are humans' oldest companions, DNA shows - BBC News - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...science-environment-54690458

animals research science knowledge

shared by lucieperloff on 03 Nov 20 - No Cached
  • The analysis reveals that dog domestication can be traced back 11,000 years, to the end of the last Ice Age.This confirms that dogs were domesticated before any other known species.
  • The analysis reveals that dog domestication can be traced back 11,000 years, to the end of the last Ice Age.This confirms that dogs were domesticated before any other known species.
    • lucieperloff
      lucieperloff on 03 Nov 20
       
      Dogs have been important for a VERY long time
  • To some extent, dog genetic patterns mirror human ones, because people took their animal companions with them when they moved.
    • lucieperloff
      lucieperloff on 03 Nov 20
       
      We have things in common with dogs - relates to migrations
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • "Dogs are our oldest and closest animal partner. Using DNA from ancient dogs is showing us just how far back our shared history goes and will ultimately help us understand when and where this deep relationship began."
  • If there were multiple domestication events around the world, these other lineages did not contribute much DNA to later dogs.
    • lucieperloff
      lucieperloff on 03 Nov 20
       
      Basically came from one type of event
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