Cognitive Engineering

Are you a fan of League of Legends or a Fortnite feen? Or do you prefer to share and create content on social media? Either way, how much have you thought about your own online behaviour or the behaviour of others?

In this week's podcast, we explore online cultures and environments. Specifically, we take an in-depth look at the world of online gaming to see what it can tell us about the evolution of online behaviours and norms, and the factors that influence our interactions with others.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• 12 Games That Can't Escape Their Own Aggressively Toxic Communities
• 'Call Of Duty,' 'Dota 2' Ranked In Top Five Most-Toxic Subreddits
• Reddit: What online gaming community is the least toxic?
• The 8 Friendliest Gaming Communities
• Data on player numbers

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

The aborted attempt, by the world’s richest football clubs, to form a European Super League appears to be another salutary lesson in the self-defeating nature of greed. But, does greed always lead to the death of the goose that laid the golden eggs?

We start this podcast by examining the decision-making of the various football clubs involved in trying to establish the European Super League, asking whether it was flawed. We then look at the pros and cons of greed as a driver of behaviour. Finally, we attempt to identify where greed tends to go wrong, and what we might do to harness the energy created by greed, while avoiding its pitfalls.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• European Super League
• Manchester United Business Model
• Is Greed Good? The psychology and philosophy of greed
• Greed, not generosity, more likely to be ‘paid forward’
• The Problem of Corporate Greed
• Relational Models Theory
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/9731367@N02/7643873724

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

How ready are you for whatever the world might throw at you?

Using the closure of the Suez Canal as a case study, this week's podcast explores the concepts of fragility and resilience. We discuss whether we can really prepare for unexpected events or should just rely on our adaptability.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• The cost of the Suez Canal blockage
• Lottery winners and accident victims: is happiness relative?

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

Using the government’s 'Test and Trace' programme as a case study, this week’s podcast discusses decision-making and analysis in environments where decisions need to be made quickly.

We debate whether we should shoot from the hip or take our time when it comes to decision-making, examining the advantages and disadvantages of both ways of operating. We explore different approaches to decision-making, particularly when we are faced with a variety of constraints and varying levels of information or data.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• NHS Test and Trace 'no clear impact'
• Three keys to faster, better decisions
• Make Good Decisions Faster

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

As the Covid-19 vaccine rollout continues, there is an ongoing discussion in some parts of the world about the relative risks associated with various vaccines.

In this podcast, we delve into the principle of 'first, do no harm' - primum non nocere. We discuss this principle, its limitations and how we might determine if the cure is, in fact, worse than the disease. We also examine some of the consequences of medical errors on societal trust and perceptions of competency and credibility.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• AstraZeneca: Thailand delays vaccine rollout over blood clot fears
• 10 Medical Errors That Changed the Standard of Care
• The Ten Worst Drug Recalls In The History Of The FDA
• ‘Causing Death and Saving Lives’ by Jonathan Glover
• The Acts and Omissions Doctrine

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

Are you allowed to choose the colour of your house, the height of your grass, or more importantly can you have a garden gnome?

In this podcast, we delve into the world of town planning. We discuss the evolution of urban planning, its pros and cons, and whether new cities have it right or if there are still lessons that can be learned from old towns. We also look at how town planning can affect people's happiness and examine what should be the key considerations when it comes to planning a new town.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• Hampstead Garden: The History of The Suburb
• Annual personal well-being estimates
• ‘Britain’s Love-Hate Relationship with New Towns’
• The Private Production of Urban Planning
• 10 Reasons Explaining the Importance of Urban Planning

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

Have you ever tried to teach someone to whistle? Highly frustrating for both instructor and student. This week we examine what makes a skill difficult to teach.

This podcast looks into how skills are taught and what factors create barriers to this process. We try to classify different types of skills, as well as different types of teachers and learners. We also discuss what we have personally found difficult to master, and as a bonus Tom teaches us how to make a noise like a dolphin.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• PACEY survey on the hardest things to teach kids
• Tom learns the piano in six easy steps

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

We recently reached our five year anniversary of producing these podcasts, and (in true meta fashion) thought we would celebrate by analysing why we recognise such occasions.

At the point of recording this podcast, there have been 241 episodes of the Cognitive Engineering podcast and nearly 100,000 listens. For some reason, though, we find it much more significant that this achievement has taken us five Earth years to complete. In this podcast we examine why humans are drawn to recognise the passing of the years and whether it is useful to do so.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• Places with the least seasonal variations
• Javanese calendar

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

Ten years on from the Arab Spring uprisings, we look at whether revolutions constitute an effective way of improving a country’s governance, with Dr Alia Brahimi, an expert in Middle Eastern politics.

In this podcast we look at the precursors and aftermath of the Arab Spring, examining several of the affected countries - then and now - to see whether their lots have been improved. We also examine revolutions in general and consider how you might determine their success or failure, and over what period of time it is appropriate to judge their outcomes. Finally, we analyse different types of revolution and try to understand how they might be predicted.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• Jihad and Just War in the War on Terror
• ‘Life has got worse since the Arab Spring’
• Alias Advisory
• Quality of Government data

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

Which is more grating, constant punning or permanent snarkiness? We examine the hierarchy of humour in order to determine what is, indeed, no laughing matter.

In this podcast, we consider whether humour value can be objectively measured, and if so, whether it is a separate concept to that of wit. We also look at why we bother to attempt humour in the first place. Finally, we engage in a slightly awkward exercise to determine whether we are good judges of our own funniness.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• The eleven kinds of joke according to The Onion’s founder
• The Atlantic: What Makes Something Funny?
• Do animals have a sense of humour?
• Humor ability reveals intelligence, predicts mating success, and is
• higher in male
• Walter Nash’s ‘The Language of Humour’
• ‘Biggus Dickus’

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