“After 22 iterations of that process, Beauchamp’s algorithm managed to find a mix of topics, represented in a particular trio of statements, that improved Obamacare approval ratings 30 percent, from neutral (five points) to 6.5. Topics related to laws, rights, and government tended to turn people off Obamacare, while sentences related to employer mandates or pre-existing conditions boosted approval.”
Category: ideas
Hacking Used To Be Cool (Until It Got Hacked)
“Unlike the open uprising of the liberation leader, the hacker impulse expresses itself via a constellation of minor acts of insurrection, often undertaken by individuals, creatively disguised to deprive authorities of the opportunity to retaliate. Once you’re attuned to this, you see hacks everywhere.”
We Are The Stories We Tell? Don’t Believe It
“We story ourselves and we are our stories. There’s a remarkably robust consensus about this claim, not only in the humanities but also in psychotherapy. It’s standardly linked with the idea that self-narration is a good thing, necessary for a full human life.” But it isn’t true.
Ambiguity – How Did It Get To Be So Valued In Art?
“Above all, how did it come to take on, at least for some, a cloak of liberal righteousness, to shift from being an aesthetic to a moral virtue, as if the text that wasn’t clear, that didn’t state its preferences clearly, were ethically superior to the text that does. In every other sphere of expression ambiguity is a flaw. Clarity is prized.”
What Should The Arts Be Doing That They Aren’t?
Barry Hessenius: “Sometimes I look around at what we’re NOT doing, especially when compared to other sectors, and I just don’t get it.”
The Knowledge Economy – Who Decides Where The Value Is?
“Who decides what you are allowed to learn?” Who decides what metaphors we use to speak of knowledge? And can we still learn how knowledge is organized by people in a particular location, together with the communities in which we teach?”
A Field Guide To Dwelling On Your Failures
“When something doesn’t go right, the usual, understandable instinct is often to forget it, as quickly as possible. Move on, we advise each other. Don’t look back. … And yet, as tempting as it is to think of stoically soldiering on as the smart approach to dealing with failure, there’s also a solid case for wallowing in your mistakes, at least for a time.”
Some Oliver Sacks Reading Lists
“Over the course of his life’s work, Sacks approached his many questions with rigorous intellect and, above all, empathy. The best word for this, maybe, is grace. And it’s everywhere in the elegant body of work he left behind—his many books, but also his shorter essays and interviews.”
(Also, here’s a link to all of Sacks’ work for the New Yorker.)
Small Villages In Turkey Use Whistles To Talk From Town To Town – And That Changes Their Brains
“Researchers in Current Biology discovered an interesting effect whistled Turkish has on the brain: since it’s composed of auditory features like frequency, pitch, and melody, it lights up the whistler’s right brain in addition to their left brain.”
The Science Behind Why Some People Are Selfish
“What is interesting, then, is that when you show calculating people what they expect — that you are ready to exploit their vulnerabilities for self-gain — there is no sign of surprise. When you respond to their selfish behavior with kindness, their brains immediately start planning how to best take advantage of you. They are, in fact, selfish jerks.”