Cognitive Engineering

If you were able to time travel back into the past, how would you go about proving you were from the future? Is there a set of predictions you could offer that would improve your chances of being believed?

In this week’s podcast, we discuss what it is that makes a person from the future different to those from the present day and what technology or innovation we might replicate to persuade the disbelieving. We also look at the illusion of explanatory depth, the concept of proof, rationality and the Flashman Papers Series. Finally, we disclose our desired guest list for a dinner party made up of historical attendees.

• Javier, alleged time-travelling TikToker
• I, Pencil by Leonard Read
• Why it took so long to invent the wheel
• The Science of Cycology
• The misunderstood limits of folk science: an illusion of explanatory depth

For more information on Aleph Insights visit our website https://alephinsights.com or to get in touch about our podcast email [email protected]

Are general tools more useful than specific tools? Is it better to have one thing that tries to do everything or many things that only attempt a single function?

In a world awash with multifunctional tools and devices, in this week’s podcast, we discuss multifunctionality. How should we design tools to perform multiple tasks and does multifunctionality lie in the object or in the user? We discuss cobblers cutting keys, stores that sell both darts and televisions, and Swiss army knives. Finally, we share some of our favourite tools and implements.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• Borlands Darts and Television
• The Craziest Multi-Tool Ever Made Kills in 100 Different Ways
• 25 Multi-functional Products
• Runcible Spoon

For more information on Aleph Insights visit our website https://alephinsights.com or to get in touch about our podcast email [email protected]

Whenever a new conflict emerges, the two sides seem to almost naturally fall into an underdog scenario. It’s a concept that looms large in our collective imagination, but is there any evidence the underdog does any better than the top dog?

In this week's podcast, we discuss the underdog. What are the benefits of being an underdog and why is the concept more prevalent in sport and warfare than other domains? We survey how the underdog effect operates in historical military campaigns, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and share our favourite underdog stories and examples.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• ‘Small Axe’ by Bob Marley and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry
• Wallets, Ballots, or Bullets: Does wealth, democracy, or military capabilities determine war outcomes?
• Military victories against the odds
• Small Firm Effect
• The gap between large and small companies is growing. Why?
• Three professional footballers versus 100 kids in a football match

For more information on Aleph Insights visit our website https://alephinsights.com or to get in touch about our podcast email [email protected]

If there’s one thing that was made easier by the Covid-19 lockdowns, it was holding meetings online. Now that lockdowns are hopefully a thing of the past, are we once again condemned to the horrors of trying to arrange physical meetings?

This week, we discuss the problems with booking meetings. How do you schedule meetings with people coming from different places and is there a way to do it properly? We discuss the set cover problem, information theory and ask if organising meetings solidifies power structures in organisations and groups. We debate whether we should do away with meetings completely or find a way to universally enforce shareable calendars. Finally, Nick and Fraser illustrate a real-life example of scheduling madness.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• Co-ordination, timing, and common knowledge
• Set cover problem

For more information on Aleph Insights visit our website https://alephinsights.com or to get in touch about our podcast email [email protected]

The old adage that ‘violence is never the answer’ was put to the test when the actor Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock at this year's Oscars ceremony. Are there instances where violence is acceptable? And if so, how much violence is proportional?

In this week’s podcast, we unpack the infamous Oscars slap and apply an analytical lens to the concept of violence more broadly. We discuss the narrow legal conditions that apply to violence, the historical use of violence in Hollywood films and the presence of violence in early human history. During our discussion we also present the continuum of force, the execution paradox and a game theory approach to the use of violence, as well as the surprising correlation between lead and the decline of violent behaviour in society.

• Will Smith slaps Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars
• Reasonable Force Law and Legal Definition
• Lead–crime hypothesis

For more information on Aleph Insights visit our website https://alephinsights.com or to get in touch about our podcast email [email protected]

Are quizzes and puzzles dying in the era of the internet - where any answer is seemingly a click away - or can they be Google-proofed?

This week, we ask our in-house crossword expert to tell us what types of questions create answers that are hard to search for, how a puzzle question should be structured, and what features make for a good puzzle. We also discuss what makes something un-Googleable and consider the implications for human knowledge sharing. If listening to this podcast doesn’t make want to go to your next local pub quiz night, nothing will.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• Quizmaster devises Google-proof questions to stop pub quiz smartphone cheats
• Google-ability and Google ability
• ‘How Google Works’, according to Google developers (note: this doesn’t tell you how Google works)
• The ‘Tip of my Tongue’ subreddit
• Cognitive Engineering podcast: Why do we like puzzles?

For more information on Aleph Insights visit our website https://alephinsights.com or to get in touch about our podcast email [email protected]

Brands often build loyal bands of acolytes who can verge on the fanatical. It's easy to find evidence of people professing their love for Apple, Google or HP Sauce, but untangling the reasons why they fall in love with particular brands is more difficult.

The idea for this week's podcast comes from loyal listener, Helge. Based on his suggestion, we delve into what kind of brands inspire loyalty, what it means to be loyal to a brand and why people emotionally attach themselves to brands in the first place. We discuss the marketing concept of “value alignment”, cognitive biases associated with brand loyalty and, finally, we share the brands to which we remain steadfastly loyal.

For more information on Aleph Insights visit our website https://alephinsights.com or to get in touch about our podcast email [email protected]

You won't believe the 10 ways that listening to this podcast could change your life!!! This week we discuss writing and whether it is the author's responsibility to engage their audience or the reader's responsibility to buckle down and concentrate.

We look at whether the quality of writing affects the quality of the argument and if it is the case that some subject matter cannot be reduced to simple language. We discuss the idea of irreducible complexity and Flesch–Kincaid readability tests. Peter presents his ‘naive information theory’ and Nick proposes an economic model based on the market of ideas. Finally, we share some of our most loved pieces of text that we still regard as terrible writing.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• Feld et al., ‘Writing Matters’
• Flesch-Kincaid readability tests
• Are Reading and Writing Building on the Same Skills?
• Cognitive Engineering podcast: Simplification

For more information on Aleph Insights visit our website https://alephinsights.com or to get in touch about our podcast email [email protected]

What constitutes a good question? In this week’s podcast, we examine one of the gripping questions of our time: are there more doors or wheels on planet Earth?

We use the wheels vs doors debate as a gateway into the dynamics of questions and information exchange, considering how a question should be defined and whether it is the same as generating a hypothesis. In doing so, we discuss logical positivism, value of information theory, Fermi analysis and the Zen Buddhist concept of Mu. Finally, we share the best and worst questions we’ve asked or been asked.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• More wheels or doors?
• Vienna Circle
• Fermi Estimate
• Manhattan Project

For more information on Aleph Insights visit our website https://alephinsights.com or to get in touch about our podcast email [email protected]

Do you ever wonder what happened to that kid at school? Are there classmates with whom you've lost touch, but would love to catch up with? Or does the whole thing fill you with dread? In this week’s podcast, we discuss school reunions.

We start by probing the reasons behind the popularity of the school reunion film trope of the 1970s and 80s, ask whether school reunions are more than just a benchmarking exercise with our peers, and question the impact of social media on getting together with our schoolmates. Finally, we attempt to guess what our fellow podcast participants were like during their school days.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• The Impossibility of The Big Chill Today
• Google Books Ngram for ‘School Reunion’
• Just before COVID-19, American migration hit a 73-year low

For more information on Aleph Insights visit our website https://alephinsights.com or to get in touch about our podcast email [email protected]