Dumpsters are the biggest consumers and promoters of fake news

Dumpsters are the biggest consumers and promoters of fake news

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Continuing this prior post,  this new study by Oxford University confirms the phenomenon. And no, this study is not confirmation bias but scientific reality.  The abstract: “What kinds of social media users read junk news? We examine the distribution of the most significant sources of junk news in the three months before President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union Address. Drawing on a list of sources that consistently publish political news and information that is extremist, sensationalist, conspiratorial, masked commentary, fake news…

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Neural responses to media a strong predictor of friendship

Neural responses to media a strong predictor of friendship

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“The findings revealed that neural response similarity was strongest among friends, and this pattern appeared to manifest across brain regions involved in emotional responding, directing one’s attention and high-level reasoning. Even when the researchers controlled for variables, including left-handed- or right-handedness, age, gender, ethnicity, and nationality, the similarity in neural activity among friends was still evident. The team also found that fMRI response similarities could be used to predict not only if a pair were friends but also the social distance between…

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Dancing or fitness sport?

Dancing or fitness sport?

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The title of a recent article in Frontiers of Human Neuroscience. Parts of the abstract: “Age-related degenerations in brain structure are associated with balance disturbances and cognitive impairment. However, neuroplasticity is known to be preserved throughout lifespan and physical training studies with seniors could reveal volume increases in the hippocampus (HC), a region crucial for memory consolidation, learning and navigation in space, which were related to improvements in aerobic fitness. Moreover, a positive correlation between left HC volume and balance performance…

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Persuasion: Do you want to be effective or just feel righteous?

Persuasion: Do you want to be effective or just feel righteous?

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A recent article in The Atlantic reports fascinating research on the relative effectiveness of typical and moral-framing based approaches to persuading people of an opposing political orientation to see value in alternative positions. The upshot is that there are verifiably effective methods for getting around entrenched, reflexive opposition.

Roger McNamee on brain hacking and Facebook

Roger McNamee on brain hacking and Facebook

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Brain hacking is using social media and your smart phone to addict people and implant ideas. The advertisers put us in filter groups to feed addiction to our ‘likes,’ giving us a dopamine rush. It creates a sense of belonging with others who agree with us while further isolating human relations in real life. These filter groups are also geared to feed our fear and anger, which makes us more receptive to notice the ads and buy their products. While…

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Analysis of inept interviewer raises several interesting questions

Analysis of inept interviewer raises several interesting questions

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Misleading and sensationalist news personalities have ceased to be noteworthy. They are the norm in American mainstream media. Interviewers strive to oversimplify and shape guests’ messages–tactics interviewees who are good communicators can cast in sharp relief. Experts tend to present information in systemic, relational, and process terms no longer welcome in or compatible with the aims of popular media outlets. A fascinating article in The Atlantic not only surfaces these tactics (which may have become habits more than deliberate interviewing methods) but highlights…

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Altered states and altered traits

Altered states and altered traits

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Good, brief clip on the difference between the above, and how meditation can turn altered states into lasting traits that one carries in their daily life. Aside from the physiological benefits, if we can just dump the metaphysical mumbo jumbo that accompanies traditional interpretations of what these states and traits mean then we’ll have made progress toward a postmetaphysical cultural metaphor.

The evolution of synergy

The evolution of synergy

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Very interesting, short video on how evolution relies on synergy, the forming of new organisms by teaming up with others. It also applies to how synergy leads to social organization. An enticing quote: “It outlines a path for completely new organisms to evolve which does not rely on natural selection for increased complexity. In fact, just the opposite. It relies on relaxed selection and degradation” (9:15).

Communication between brain areas based on nested oscillations

Communication between brain areas based on nested oscillations

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eNeuro, 10 March 2017, 4(2). This might be neuroscientific evidence for my speculations on the syntegration of consciousness states and stages via meditative discipline. To be determined. The abstract: “Unraveling how brain regions communicate is crucial for understanding how the brain processes external and internal information. Neuronal oscillations within and across brain regions have been proposed to play a crucial role in this process. Two main hypotheses have been suggested for routing of information based on oscillations, namely communication through coherence and…

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Study of fake news in the 2016 election

Study of fake news in the 2016 election

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Authors from Princeton, Dartmouth and Exeter published this. The abstract: “Though some warnings about online “echo chambers” have been hyperbolic, tendencies toward selective exposure to politically congenial content are likely to extend to misinformation and to be exacerbated by social media platforms. We test this prediction using data on the factually dubious articles known as “fake news.” Using unique data combining survey responses with individual-level web traffic histories, we estimate that approximately 1 in 4 Americans visited a fake news website…

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