Cogent – Curated – Updated || Since 1999 || Information you need-produced by humans
Background: “Studies suggest that relying on willpower is hopeless. Instead, we must find strategies that don’t require us to be strong. In the modern era, habits have become a significant area of scientific inquiry. Psychologists have explored the genesis of habitual behavior and its impact on health and happiness. William James, echoing Aristotle, wrote, ‘All our life, so far as it has definite form, is…
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Should information be shared freely? That is, should content (text, images, videos, etc.) be shared without heavy external control (usually aimed at making as much money or gaining as much power as possible)? And should the information be able to be accessed and shared at no additional cost? Is transparency and free access a part of the common good? Or, at the other end of…
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“… AI tools to generate and edit content are getting more advanced, easier to operate, and cheaper to run—all reasons why the US government is increasingly paying to use them. We were well warned of this, but we responded by preparing for a world in which the main danger was confusion. What we’re entering instead is a world in which influence survives exposure, doubt is…
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Amid the hype about the capabilities of artificial intelligence, there are assertions that AI can replace humans in situations where empathy and caring are especially important. But, is that true? Think about John Haugeland’s famous quote “the trouble with artificial intelligence is that computers don’t give a damn.” As Chris Tessone commented — “The philosopher John Haugeland explained why we should not trust software with…
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How do people respond–positively and negatively–to political stress? Background: There is no denying that tens of millions of people in the United States–and many millions worldwide–face turmoil, dread, anxiety and real physical and psychological symptoms from the political divisions created by some politicians, their backers, and corporations often motivated primarily by power, greed, and wealth through corrupt means. Instead of public service, these politicians and…
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How and when does an established viewpoint of a society change? What does it take for a society (a very large group of people) to alter its collective opinion? Is there a “tipping point” for public opinion? Background: A 2018 study using a naming game discovered that when a minority viewpoint became held by “at least 25% of the population,” that viewpoint “was likely to…
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It can seem–sometimes very visibly and brutally–that we are losing the ability to make and influence decisions about our own lives. That no matter what we do and what we want, forces greater than us and our families and even our communities will steamroll us in order to impose someone else’s will–and that generally means greater power and greater wealth for a set of politicians…
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Sunita Sah, Cornell University (from The Conversation) You’re in a meeting when your boss suggests changing a number to make the quarterly report look stronger. Heads nod. The slides move on. You feel a knot in your stomach: Do you speak up and risk being branded difficult, or stay silent and become complicit? Most people picture defiance as dramatic outbursts. In reality, it’s often these…
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What do people who support authoritarian leaders believe? Why do some people support political violence? “For over 80 years, political psychologists … have studied the authoritarian personality—a collection of attitudes and behaviors that increase a person’s susceptibility to authoritarian leaders. We have found that authoritarian followers share three tendencies: they obey authority figures from their in-group (called authoritarian submission); they punish rule breakers (authoritarian aggression);…
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Aaron French, Kennesaw State University (from The Conversation) Back in 2008, The Atlantic sparked controversy with a provocative cover story: Is Google Making Us Stupid? In that 4,000-word essay, later expanded into a book, author Nicholas Carr suggested the answer was yes, arguing that technology such as search engines were worsening Americans’ ability to think deeply and retain knowledge. At the core of Carr’s concern…
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