Lunch at the Labs

Various web links I found to be of interest recently.

• The Importance of Critical Analyses in Examining Social Science Evidence

  Peter Gray: Comments on Jonathan Haidt's The Anxious Generation

  When you read a book that references research studies supporting the author's thesis, don't assume the studies truly show what the author says or implies. This brings me to The Anxious Generation.
  ...
  When I read, at Jon's request, a pre-publication draft of the book, I told him I could not support it, and I explained why. I had at that time already looked quite broadly and deeply at the research pertaining to questions about effects of screens, Internet, smartphones, and social media on teens' mental health and found that, despite countless studies designed to reveal such harmful effects, there was very little evidence for such effects. If you survey the research literature selectively, with an eye toward finding studies that seem to show the effects you are looking for, and if you don't analyze them critically, you can make what will seem to readers to be a compelling case. But people who really know the research and have examined it fully and critically will see through it.

• Why and How Capitalism Needs to Be Reformed (Parts 1 & 2)

  Ray Dalio, Founder, CIO Mentor, and member of the Bridgewater Board

  Over these many years I have also seen capitalism evolve in a way that it is not working well for the majority of Americans because it's producing self-reinforcing spirals up for the haves and down for the have-nots. This is creating widening income/wealth/opportunity gaps that pose existential threats to the United States because these gaps are bringing about damaging domestic and international conflicts and weakening America's condition.

  I think that most capitalists don't know how to divide the economic pie well and most socialists don't know how to grow it well, yet we are now at a juncture in which either a) people of different ideological inclinations will work together to skillfully re-engineer the system so that the pie is both divided and grown well or b) we will have great conflict and some form of revolution that will hurt most everyone and will shrink the pie.

  Also see by Ray Dalio, The Coming Great Conflict

  As you know, based on my study of history, I believe there are now and have always been five big, interrelated forces that drive how domestic and world orders change. They are the 1) the big debt/credit/money cycle, 2) the big internal order/disorder cycle 3) the big external order/disorder cycle, 4) acts of nature (i.e., droughts, floods, and pandemics), and 5) human innovation that leads to advances in technology. Today, I am focusing on why I believe we are approaching the point in the internal order-disorder cycle when you will have to choose between picking a side and fighting for it, keeping your head down, or fleeing.

• AIP Interview of Jim Simons December 3, 18, and 22, 2020

  David Zierler, American Institute of Physics

  This transcript may not be quoted, reproduced or redistributed in whole or in part by any means except with the written permission of the American Institute of Physics.

I've been going to presentations at the Simons Foundation in NYC since 2017. After the death of James Simons on May 10 2024, I searched for information about him, especially his history of smoking. Even though he died of lung cancer, details were hard to find. This interview discusses that and also includes lots of information about his life. Fascinating.

Surprising to me, Simons' estimate of the risk of getting lung cancer was not irrational. At The Mystery of Why So Many Lifelong Smokers Never Get Lung Cancer May Be Solved it says:

The findings could help explain why 80 to 90 percent of lifelong smokers never develop lung cancer. It could also help explain why some people who never smoke at all do develop the tumors.

• What Makes Memory Retrieval Work-and Not Work?

  One mystery is how we summon long-term memories into consciousness.

  Delayed retrieval occurs because searching unsuccessfully along ineffective retrieval pathways primes unused pathways nearby. If some of these nearby pathways connect to the memory we want, priming makes them more likely to be activated later, leading to successful recall. Delayed recall often occurs unexpectedly because retrieval processes continue operating without our direct awareness.

• What Would It Take to Recreate Bell Labs?

  Institute for Progress, Brian Potter

  Bell Labs was made possible by a large-scale, vertically integrated telephone monopoly that allowed for an unusually long and wide research and development horizon for an industrial lab. Outside of those conditions (not likely to be repeated), funding a Bell Labs-style operation does not appear to be something most companies are willing to do.
  ...
  Jon Gertner likewise posits in The Idea Factory that even in the absence of a justice department lawsuit, the technology that Bell Labs spawned would have ultimately unwound the AT&T monopoly and thus the very thing that allowed Bell Labs to exist.

• Skip the Small Talk - NYC

  We'll pair you up and give you some psychology-backed question prompts (but you'll always have the option to pick the question prompt of your choosing or make up your own), and then have you switch partners so you'll get to talk to a bunch of people throughout the event. We always start and end with the same question prompts (that you can still always opt out of), but our middle question prompts are always different.
  ...
  While our events are currently centered on guests in their 20's and 30's and the majority of people who show up tend to be in that age range, guests of all ages attend and have reported having a nice time.

• Grouper

  Grouper is leading a social fitness movement that encourages healthy living through meaningful social connections and shared experiences.

  As you join and participate in qualifying in-person activities with groups, we work with your health plan to support the costs of participation in those groups and make other benefits available to you.

Some (older but still relevant) items related to motor skills in older adults.

• Why does motor performance decline with aging?

  NeuRA 2017

  Populations in many countries are aging as the proportion of people over 65 years is projected to increase over the next 30-40 years. Aging however, is accompanied by a reduced ability to perform daily tasks such as walking, rising from a chair and climbing stairs, ultimately impacting independence of living. These age-related reductions in daily functional activities are associated with changes in the neuromuscular system that include reduced muscle strength, power and endurance of limb muscles with notable declines beginning at around 60 years. Although people are living longer, the causes for the large declines in neuromuscular function with very advanced age (greater than 80 years) are not well described or understood. Other contributing factors such as physical activity, genetics, nutritional status, hormonal status and inflammation can interact with biological aging and modify these functional declines both within an individual and between people as they age. This review (Hunter et al., 2016) highlighted some of the known functional deficits and causes for age-related changes in muscle function with a focus on the basic functional unit of the neuromuscular system called the 'motor unit', which is a motor nerve and the muscle fibres it innervates.

• A role for nutritional intervention in addressing the aging neuromuscular junction

  ScienceDirect 2018

  The purpose of this review is to discuss the structural and physiological changes that underlie age-related neuromuscular dysfunction and to summarize current evidence on the potential role of nutritional interventions on neuromuscular dysfunction-associated pathways. Age-related neuromuscular deficits are known to coincide with distinct changes in the central and peripheral nervous system, in the neuromuscular system, and systemically. Although many features contribute to the age-related decline in neuromuscular function, a comprehensive understanding of their integration and temporal relationship is needed. Nonetheless, many nutrients and ingredients show promise in modulating neuromuscular output by counteracting the age-related changes that coincide with neuromuscular dysfunction. In particular, dietary supplements, such as vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids, β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate, creatine, and dietary phospholipids, demonstrate potential in ameliorating age-related neuromuscular dysfunction. However, current evidence seldom directly assesses neuromuscular outcomes and is not always in the context of aging. Additional clinical research studies are needed to confirm the benefits of dietary supplements on neuromuscular function, as well as to define the appropriate population, dosage, and duration for intervention.

• Motor-skill learning in older adults-a review of studies on age-related differences

  Bio Med Central (BMC) 2008

  This paper reviews research on motor-skill learning across the life span with particular emphasis on older age. For this purpose, studies that focus on age-related differences in fine and gross motor skills and studies that analyze the further refinement of known skills as well as learning of unknown motor skills are summarized. The reviewed studies suggest that although motor performance tends to decline in old age, learning capabilities remain intact, and older adults are able to achieve considerable performance gains. The extent to which the learning capability varies with age, however, has to be considered very carefully. While most studies revealed that performance gains in fine motor tasks are diminished in older adults, results for gross-motor-skill learning are more contradictory. Additionally, there is considerable agreement on the finding that age-related learning differences are statistically more robust in complex tasks, whereas in low-complexity tasks, the learning of younger and older adults is very similar. This applies to fine and gross motor skills. Relative age differences seem to become enlarged when effortful resources are required for motor performance. Thus, the decline in motor learning that accompanies aging is task specific and not absolute.

• How Juggling Can Increase Neuroplasticity

  Brain&Life 2024

  When people - young or old - learn to juggle, their brains change, research shows. One such study, published in 2004 in Nature, reported that gray matter in a part of the hippocampus that's associated with complex visual processing became denser. Another study, published in Nature Neuroscience in 2009, reported changes in the brain's white matter in areas associated with reaching and grasping in the periphery of vision-regardless of skill level.

  These structural changes in the brain after juggling also may improve cognitive function, according to researchers in a 2022 review of 11 studies on juggling and the brain, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.