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“The impact of missed education could be lasting. “If a child is not reading at grade level by the third grade, they are four times less likely to graduate high school,” says Christakis. “And low-income children are six times less likely.” - Dimitri Christakis of Seattle Children’s Research Institute, quoted in The New Scientist September 2, 2020
People often change their political minds as they get older. Adolescents and young adults tend to form political opinions that reflect those of their peers or are more extreme versions of their parents’ politics (as befits the intensity of youth). Then something happens: the intrepid fledglings leave home and school, enter the greater world of work and responsibility, and begin to doubt their old certainties about how the world is and should be. Or at least some do.
Just a few years ago talk of robots taking over was all the rage. Thanks to robots, humans would no longer have to work unless they wanted to. Some typical headlines:
When Robots Take All the Work, What'll Be Left for Us to Do? (Wired/2015)
Robots will take over most jobs within 30 years, experts warn (The Telegraph/2016)
Robots will eliminate 6% of all US jobs by 2021, report says (The Guardian, 2016)
In the real world, we talk more of causes than rules, but the process of establishing a causal relation is similar to that of validating a rule: seek cases that disconfirm the proposition that x causes y. In other words, find cases of x without y and y without x (the equivalent of turning over the D and 7 cards in the Wason task).
Mmmmm…I had naively thought Americans were more criminally-inclined than Europeans, or at least more violent. We’re actually middle-of-the-road, crime-wise. And we’re not more violent, just more homicidal, at least when compared with the larger European countries like France and the United Kingdom.
Not everyone needs a four-year college degree to get into the middle class (although it certainty helps). There are plenty of occupations that don’t require a degree, in which a good portion of the workers earn enough to be classified as “middle-class”. I’m not saying these occupations pay well right off the bat, but they do have the potential to pay experienced workers at least $40,000 a year - which was the median annual wage in 2019.
So what should be the point of comparison for questions of race, ethnicity and arrest-related deaths? The answer matters, because it sheds light on the nature of the problem…which in turn leads to better ideas on how to fix it.
Jonathan Haidt defined moral emotions as “those emotions that are linked to the interests or welfare either of society as a whole or at least of persons other than the judge or agent.” Moral emotions motivate people to do good and to avoid doing bad. Let’s grant that moral emotions are a good thing. But is more of a good thing even better? And does feeling a moral emotion less intensely mean…
6. Leaves No Room for Doubt: As the Greek philosopher Hippo said, “Doubt is the origin of wisdom”. Calling out comes from a place of certainty, which undermines learning, discovery, critical thinking and scientific inquiry. …
Per dictionary.com, to insinuate is to “to suggest or hint slyly” or “to instill or infuse subtly or artfully, as into the mind”. To insinuate is to lead one’s target along a winding path – a sinuous path – that takes them to where the insinuator wants them to go. On the surface, all is a succession of neutral facts. But what one make of these facts is nudged in certain directions by choice of words, choice of facts, and how they are put together. Think Iago in Othello.
… whenever we feel we’re contributing to another’s well-being or happiness, we feel less lonely. Like if we’re with a friend and that friend is obviously enjoying our company. Or when we help a co-worker solve a vexing problem. In these situations, the pleasures of getting and giving are intermingled, e.g., being liked, appreciated, admired, or respected plus the satisfaction of benefiting someone else.
In contrast to ideologues, reformers still have faith in the current system’s capacity to make things better. To reformers, the system needs to be fixed, not overturned. Reformers identify specific problems and propose narrow solutions. Ideologues identify existential threats and fight for “structural change”. Reformers are cool. Ideologues are hot, hot, hot. Of course, reformers can get excited about their vision of change but they tend to lack the ideologue’s righteous passion.
These are 30 TV series or mini-series that were rated over 90% on Rotten Tomatoes by both critics and audience:
Germany, Iceland, New Zealand, the Shetland Islands, Ireland, the bucolic English countryside…Wouldn’t it be great to visit these places and partake of their wonders and exotic allure? And we can! Maybe not in person, but on our devices of choice. I’m not talking travel shows but deeply satisfying, immersive thrillers and crime dramas - the high quality type, with believable characters, plausible plots, and fully-realized worlds that suck you in, even those with subtitles.
Yes, a large majority of people under 60 who have been infected with the coronavirus have only mild symptoms. And I guess if someone is only concerned about their own health, that's enough to be cavalier about the possibility of getting sick. But higher risk individuals can get seriously ill and, given how contagious the coronavirus appears to be, the more people who get sick with mild symptoms, the more people who will get seriously sick in the general population.
The following stats are care of the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), part of the U.S. Department of Justice. First, data on time served in state prisons, based on prison release records for 2016 from 44 states…So, how are US prisoners doing upon release? Turns out, not so good. This from a BJS nine-year follow-up study of state prisoners…
“Profit is the money a business pulls in after accounting for all expenses. Whether it's a lemonade stand or a publicly-traded multinational company, the primary goal of any business is to earn money, therefore a business performance is based on profitability, in its various forms.” — What Is Profit? by Will Kenton/Investopedia Updated Nov 13, 2019
Cross-cultural studies have found that people generally agree the needy deserve some sort of help (van Oorschot and Roosma, (2017). Such generosity comes with qualifications, though. For example, individuals “seen as being personally responsible for their neediness are seen as less deserving (if at all)” (van Oorschot and Roosma, (2017). How much control the needy have over their circumstances, and whether these circumstances are so bad that charitable assistance is warranted are additional considerations. In lab studies, young children would not help a distressed child if her distress appears unjustified, such as crying over something trivial. They would only help when the distress seems justified by a clear cause (Tomasello 2019).
So what does matter to Americans? That is, what are the essentials of their own version of the American Dream? Allowing that the American Dream means different things to different people, there are some things that most Americans care deeply about: freedom, family, and a comfortable retirement (followed by contributing to the community and then owning a home). That’s according to a survey conducted by Pew Research a couple years ago. Check it out:
Of course, not all optimism is good. Per Haynes , Perry & Stupnisky (2009), over-optimism is actually a risk factor in college. Overly optimistic college students tend to base their optimism on uncontrollable factors, such as innate ability and luck. Think of people who like to repeat self-affirmations or are prone to saying things like “I can do it!” and “I know it will all work out!”, without taking concrete steps to actually make the good thing happen. Time and again, they fall, pick themselves up, repeat their affirmations, then fall again.
Then again, the right kind of optimism is associated with academic success…