Wed May 31 11:51:29 EDT 2017

Items of Interest

Various web links I found to be of interest recently.

  • Researchers have ditched the autism-vaccine hypothesis. Here's what they think actually causes it.

    Genes and the microbiome are some of the most promising leads.

    Today, about one in 68 US children has autism -- a rate that's remained unchanged since at least 1990, though there's been a steady increase in awareness and diagnosis.
    ...
    But "of all the causes of autism, the thing we know with the greatest certainty is that it's a very genetic disorder," said UCSF geneticist and autism researcher Stephan Sanders. "If you look at a child with autism, then look at their siblings, you'll find the rate of autism is 10 times higher in those siblings than in the general population. This has been looked at in populations of millions."
    ...
    Overall, the evidence for these prenatal exposures is stronger than the evidence for the range of postnatal causes that may trigger autism, said Amaral.

  • Why You're Biased About Being Biased

    Such biases can still affect you even if you know all about them because they operate unconsciously. We judge whether we have a bias by examining our thoughts, and because we believe our thoughts are rational, we often think we're not biased when we are. Psychologists call this contradiction the "bias blind spot." Although we're quick to see biases in others, we have more trouble noticing them in ourselves.

    And the more we convince ourselves that we don't have certain biases, the more likely we are to exhibit them. If we believe we're good people, for example, we may stop trying to be better and may be more likely to act indecently. Similarly, if we think we're smart, we might skip studying for a test and give ignorant answers. In general, if we believe we're unbiased, we're giving ourselves permission to be biased.

  • Why We Believe -- Long After We Shouldn't

    Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson in Skeptical Inquirer

    That's motivated cognition; people are emotionally motivated to reject findings that threaten their core beliefs or worldview.
    ...
    The key motivational mechanism that underlies the reluctance to change our minds, to admit mistakes, and to be unwilling to accept unwelcome scientific findings is cognitive dissonance -- the discomfort we feel when two cognitions, or cognition and behavior, contradict each other.
    ...
    Dissonance theory comprises three cognitive biases in particular:

    1. The bias that we, personally, don't have any biases-the belief that we perceive objects and events clearly, as they really are. Any opinion I hold must be reasonable; if it weren't, I wouldn't hold it.
    2. The bias that we are better, kinder, smarter, more moral, and nicer than average.
    3. The confirmation bias, the fact that we notice and remember information that confirms what we believe and ignore, forget,

  • How One Little Cable Company Exposed Telecom's Achilles' Heel

    Forget net neutrality--the real fight is over controlling price-gouging monopolies.

    Here's the reality: The details of the net neutrality rules adopted by the FCC in February 2015 were not important to AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Spectrum, or CenturyLink. What was important was the idea that any part of the government might have enforceable oversight over their data transmission services or charges. That's what they can't stand; that's what they would do anything to avoid. And that's what they are working to undo: the FCC's classification of them as "common carriers" under "Title II" of the Telecommunications Act.

  • The Inadequacies of the Invincible

    On the Failure of Stoic Ethics

    The rise of Stoicism is a sign of a civilization in decline. There is something decadent about a society trying to escape its own loss through a sour grapes philosophy. Let us face reality. The answer isn't in the flick of the mind. We could come together with our friends- decide what we require of each other - and turn back the tide of decline.

    This doesn't mean we shouldn't try to master our volatility when the chips are down or that powerful reactions to false beliefs are healthy. Our emotions can be off, ill-fitting to a situation. But perhaps all we need is a good night's rest, less junk food, some time with friends, and good exercise. All of these help us gain emotional stability better than the sphincter squeezing contortions of Stoic impulse control.

  • The Reactionary Temptation

    An open-minded inquiry into the close-minded ideology that is the most dominant political force of our time - and can no longer be ignored. By Andrew Sullivan

    Reactionism is not the same thing as conservatism. It's far more potent a brew. Reactionary thought begins, usually, with acute despair at the present moment and a memory of a previous golden age. It then posits a moment in the past when everything went to hell and proposes to turn things back to what they once were. It is not simply a conservative preference for things as they are, with a few nudges back, but a passionate loathing of the status quo and a desire to return to the past in one emotionally cathartic revolt. If conservatives are pessimistic, reactionaries are apocalyptic. If conservatives value elites, reactionaries seethe with contempt for them. If conservatives believe in institutions, reactionaries want to blow them up. If conservatives tend to resist too radical a change, reactionaries want a revolution. Though it took some time to reveal itself, today's Republican Party - from Newt Gingrich's Republican Revolution to today's Age of Trump - is not a conservative party. It is a reactionary party that is now at the peak of its political power.


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