Cognitive Engineering

In the age of music streaming, does the idea of an album make sense any more?

In this podcast we discuss the conceptual origins of the album and talk about the implications of its evolution from vinyl, to tape and CD, and finally to the cloud. We also touch on the artistic purpose of an album, and whether this has been destroyed or merely altered by the move to digital streaming. Fundamentally, we question the purpose of an album and whether it still has meaning.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• Album sales at their lowest for 60 years
• Music format trends
• Average length of hit songs

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

“Advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise” - so definitely don’t listen to us, as we discuss what to do with others’ wisdom.

In this podcast we explore the value of intergenerational advice, whether age equates to wisdom and what makes someone receptive to advice, regardless of its quality. We also address the areas in which people seek advice and how this has altered over time.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• Biggest life mistakes
• Citizens Advice trends
• Citizens’ Advice Bureauxinformation film from 1940
• Do old people understand what young people worry about?

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

An American makes tea badly and suddenly the British are up in arms. What does the way you make tea tell someone about you?

This podcast addresses the information we obtain from little shibboleths such as making tea, and discusses whether it is accurate, valid and useful. Does it merely foster class and cultural exclusion, or do these ceremonies and their preservation still serve a valuable social purpose?

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• Michelle on TikTok explains how to make ‘British Tea’
• The original ‘shibboleth’
• Tea and class
• Historical shibboleths

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

With our current pandemic related concerns, we seem to have forgotten about other scary things, like terrorism or environmental catastrophe. Should we be concerned by our lack of worry?

We discuss whether we worry about the right things, whether we are worrying less than we used to and whether worry can even be accurately measured. What is the right amount to worry and what is the purpose of worrying? Does it serve a rational function?

Things mentioned in this podcast:

• Personal well-being, according to the ONS
• Ipsos MORI’s ‘issues index’, tracking top concerns over time
• Cognitive economics is a new field that takes the goings on inside of the mind seriously
• System 3: Decision making through imagination
• Help to stop worrying

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

How bad or good is 2020 by historical comparison? Should we stop moaning and just be glad we weren’t living through 536 AD or 541 AD?

We mull over how to go about determining the overall amount of suffering in a given year and what constitutes the worst year ever. How should it be measured? Is the size of the human race at the time relevant? And are we predisposed to recency bias, where terrible events in the past are largely ignored?

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• Is 2020 the worst year ever?
• List of natural disasters by death toll
• List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll
• The Toba Catastrophe Theory
• The ‘536 AD’ theory

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

Is it better to live one day as the comic singer of a novelty number one, than 100 years as a respected indie band with a cult following?

Nick, Chris and Fraser discuss what constitutes a one-hit wonder, how it applies to other art forms and areas of human endeavour, and whether we should aim for sustained mediocrity or concentrated brilliance.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• UK one-hit wonders
• ‘One Hit Wonderland’ by ToddintheShadows

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

Do pre-digital relics have a purpose in our technology-driven world? How have digital technologies changed our world and what pre-digital relics are worth hanging on to.

And for the sake of nostalgia, here are some things that we grew up with that are unknown today because of the evolution of digital technology: writing a letter, calling someone on the phone for a chat, reading the papers, looking stuff up in reference books, reading maps, surprise visits, being uncontactable, remembering things like phone numbers and waiting for news.

Things mentioned in this podcast:

• Two spaces after a full stop.
• Buttons on shirts

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

Is there wisdom in crowds and is group decision-making effective? Fraser, Nick and Peter reach a swift and conclusive judgement.

• https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/48937685671

Things mentioned in this podcast:

• How group dynamics affect decisions
• ‘Officially official’
• Group decision-making
• The Expert

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

Does fame and an ability to pretend to be someone else qualify you to be an expert on other matters?

Things mentioned in this podcast:

• Hugh Grant’s views on the government’s reaction to COVID-19
• Cognitive skills and their transfer
• List of actor-politicians
• Fifty years of celebrity endorser research
• 24 times celebrities have been completely unrelatable during quarantine

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

According to the adage, you can’t change the past, but can you or should you change the record of the past?

Things mentioned in this podcast:

• Dominic Cummings changed his blog
• Historical Negationism
• Our World in Data, ‘Books’
• List of pages removed from Google’s search results

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