Lunch at the Labs

Items of Interest

Various web links I found to be of interest recently.

• The Opposite of Happiness

  Misery is an emotional feature, not a glitch in the system. Why do anger, regret, and shame linger? Because evolution optimized our emotions to keep us alive, not to make us happy. by George Loewenstein

  1. Negative emotions are varied, memorable, and motivating because they help us avoid threats.
  2. Positive emotions may exist simply as a contrast, a momentary reprieve to signal that the threat is gone.
  3. Understanding that misery is a key feature of our emotional architecture, not a flaw, can help us better navigate our emotional worlds.
• Have We Destroyed Childhood?

  We blame smartphones-but the problem might be us.
  Peter Gray’s new book, "Restoring Childhood: How to Set Kids Free in the Age of Anxiety"

  "The ultimate goal of childhood is to break away from dependence on parents and establish oneself as one's own person," Gray asserts. But adults, increasingly, are building a world in which this is impossible.
  ...
  The experts were quite certain that youth mental health has declined, and that smartphones can cause sleep problems. But in many other areas they took a more middle-of-the-road view. Although the majority of experts believed that smartphones could cause "social deprivation," for example, almost all of them also said that "both the magnitude and direction" of those effects "are likely influenced by various individual and social moderators." In other words, a lot depends on the context and the kid. For some people, social media really is social.

• Alcohol and Cancer Risk

  Epidemiologic studies have shown that people who drink alcohol are at higher risk of certain cancers than those who do not drink alcohol and that the more someone drinks, the higher the risk of these cancers. Even light drinkers can be at increased risk of some cancers. For example, women who have just one drink per day have a higher risk of breast cancer than those who have less than one drink a week, and risk is increased even more in heavy drinkers and binge drinkers (3-7).

• Why Modern Economic Policy Failed: James K. Galbraith's 'The Power to Destroy'

  'In The Power to Destroy,' James K. Galbraith explains how yesterday's economic tools don't work today.

  1. Mismanaged Inflation: Weak responses to the post-pandemic inflation of 2021–2022.
  2. Geopolitical Miscalculations: Flawed strategies regarding the sanctions war against Russia and the economic rise of China.
  3. Stagnant Revival: Half-hearted and ineffective attempts at domestic industrial policy.
  4. Unaddressed Crises: Inadequate preparation for climate change and the impending demographic crisis.
• Older People Surpass The Young In The World For The First Time In History

  There are now more seniors in the world than young children. The world will only get grayer as more time goes by, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report.