“What Happens When AI-Generated Lies Are More Compelling Than The Truth?”
“Mythmaking, more than truth seeking, is what seems likely to define the future of media and of the public square. The reason extraordinarily strange conspiracy theories have spread so widely in recent years may have less to do with the nature of credulity than with the nature of faith… When all the evidence presented to […]
Curiosity As The Balm For Uncertain Times
“How Zero-Sum Beliefs Get In The Way Of Fairness”
“The Questions At The Heart Of Conflict And Peace”
“What Does It Take To Build Peace After Six Decades Of Conflict?”
“In 2016, after more than 60 years of war, Colombia seemed poised for peace.”
“Why Randomness Doesn’t Feel Random”
“We ascribe meaning too readily to the clustering that randomness produces, and, consequently, we deduce that there is some generative force behind the pattern. We are hardwired to do this.”
Boredom Vs. Engagement In History Classes: What Causes The Difference?
“I found that, far from being a natural state of high school, student boredom was driven by key differences in how the two histories were taught. Whereas the Holocaust was taught as a causal story that animated student interest, apartheid was taught primarily through lists (of laws and events).”
When Did People Really Start Talking About Creativity? (Very Recently!)
“Strikingly, before about 1950 there were approximately zero articles, books, essays, treatises, odes, classes, encyclopedia entries, or anything of the sort dealing explicitly with the subject of “creativity.” …Despite the fact that many in the postwar American art world embraced self-expression and experimentation, it turns out the efforts to really get under the hood of […]
Give More Feedback. People (Including Peers) Want It.
“We tested the desire to give and receive feedback in all sorts of situations—with strangers and close friends; when the feedback was less consequential (like mispronouncing a word) and more consequential (like making an egregious error during an interview). We found that, in almost all of the situations we tested, people underestimated how much others […]
Concrete Vs Abstract Language: When To Use Each And Why
“While concrete language is great for increasing understanding, or for making complex topics easier to comprehend, when it comes to things like such as describing a company’s growth potential, abstract language is better, because while concrete language focuses on the tangible here and now, abstract language gets into the bigger picture.”