Category: ideas

“The American Psychiatric Association has conceded that certain mysterious mental afflictions are so common, in some places, that they do in fact warrant inclusion as ‘culture-bound syndromes’ in the official Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.”

Justin Wolfers: “I spent last week at the Aspen Ideas Festival, talking about Betsey’s and my research on the Economics of Happiness. You might think that my message – that income and happiness are tightly linked – would be an easy sell in Aspen, which is the most beautiful and most expensive city I’ve ever visited. But in fact, it’s the millionaires, billionaires and public intellectuals who are often most resistant to data upsetting their beliefs.”

“Newly published research suggests the connection between egotism and inventiveness is more than anecdotal. Participants in a large study who consider themselves creative, and regularly participate in creative activities, scored low on a personality test measuring honesty and humility.”

“[A] team of scientists, led by Dutch psychologist Aldert Vrij , believes that it has identified the precise ingredients of ‘good liars’.”

“Trained celebrants – often with backgrounds in psychology, social work, acting and other professions that emphasize writing or public speaking – are helping families create personalized ceremonies to honor loved ones who’ve passed on.”

“By sensing emotions that we would otherwise miss, these technologies can thwart disastrous social gaffes and help us understand each other better. … Our emotional intelligence is about to be boosted, but are we ready to broadcast feelings we might rather keep private?”

Neil Strauss: “The ‘like’ button began on the website FriendFeed in 2007, appeared on Facebook in 2009, began spreading everywhere from YouTube to Amazon to most major news sites last year … As a result, we can now search not just for information, merchandise and kitten videos on the Internet, but for approval.”

“The networked computer is an amazing device, the first media machine that serves as the mode of production (you can make stuff), means of distribution (you can upload stuff to the network), site of reception (you can download stuff and interact with it), and locus of praise and critique (you can talk about the stuff you have downloaded or uploaded). The computer is the 21st century’s culture machine.”

“Although the movement to deliver news through games is still a fledgling one, it has attracted the interest of academics, media, and advocates all drawn to a perhaps surprising promise: that video games, when done well, have potential to do something new for our understanding of world events.”