Cognitive Engineering

As we edge closer to summer we found ourselves looking forward to holidays but dreading the thought of running into British tourists abroad. Is disliking your countrymen while overseas a universal feeling or are we disproportionately hard on ourselves? How do we ensure our holidays won’t be ruined by people exactly like ourselves?

In this week’s podcast, we discuss Brits abroad. We discuss ingroups and outgroups, Newcomb’s paradox, the intricacies of the British class system and evolutionary information discovery. Peter shares his strategy for avoiding Brits while on holiday and we share some of our best and worst experiences of meeting Brits abroad.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• Britons make worst tourists, say Britons
• Newcomb’s Paradox

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

There’s something about zombies that makes them the perfect genre to explore our apocalyptic fears and anxieties. Films about zombies seem to constantly reinvent the genre in new ways, whilst staying true to some core tenets. But how are zombies actually supposed to work and why are they so popular?

In this week’s episode, we discuss zombies with friend-of-the-podcast Mikey Lear. We discuss the etymology of the word zombie and the history of zombie films, the cordycep fungus, technozombism and the brain-in-a-vat thought experiment. We ask whether AIs are zombies and Jordan presents his zombie survival plan. Finally, we share our favourite scenes from zombie films.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• List of Zombie Films
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Zombies
• How the Zombie Represents America’s Deepest Fears
• The Evolution of the Zombie in Popular Culture

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

If you’re a fan of sci-fi you’ll know that one of the most important characteristics of the genre is the depiction of a fictional universe. Whether it’s Middle Earth, the Death Star or Arrakis, a plausible setting for events to take place is a key requirement. But do we have to accept a certain level of inconsistency between the fictional world and reality in order for it to work?

In this week’s podcast, we discuss fact versus fiction in media and storytelling. Are there rules for fiction that can be changed and ones that can’t? We discuss The Mandalorian, the Rings of Power series, celebrity paradox and construal level theory. Finally, we share some of our favourite fictional universes.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• TV Tropes: Acceptable breaks from reality
• Vice-Admiral Holdo destroys Supremacy
• Celebrity paradox examples
• Construal level theory

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

After the news that renowned clairvoyant Mystic Meg has recently passed into the next realm, we decided to focus our energy on all things astrological. Zodiacs, tarot cards and horoscopes can seem irrational, but is believing in astrology bad for you or can it shed light on the human condition?

In this week’s podcast, we discuss astrology. Have beliefs in astrology declined in recent years or have we simply filled this void with other things? We unpack the decline of organised religion in the Western world, the relationship between narcissism and astrology, the Australian Sheep-Goat Scale and discuss how spirituality manifests itself in contemporary society. Finally, we analyse each other’s horoscopes.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• Mystic Meg: Astrologer dies aged 80
• British public reveal their beliefs in new survey
• Are we becoming more narcissistic?
• Science says religion is good for your health

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 possible to fall over on purpose? What does the construction of words in a sentence tell us about the way we use natural language to convey thoughts and ideas? We often think about language as being an essential part of what it means to be human, but does the rise of new artificial intelligence technologies force us to reconsider this?

In this week’s podcast, we discuss language. As the popularity of ChatGPT and other large language models continues to grow, we ask what we are giving away to these models and speculate on how they might impact the way we use language. We discuss Ordinary language philosophy, Steven Pinker’s theory of the association between words and thoughts and linguistic codes in music from the American South.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• Del Boy Falls Through the Bar - Only Fools and Horses
• Steven Pinker
• Noam Chomsky: The False Promise of ChatGPT
• The Language Revolution: How LLMs Could Transform the World
• Ordinary Language Philosophy
• Songs of Slave Resistance

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

One way of thinking about leadership is to separate it into two tasks: thinking and doing. But what does thinking involve and how should you lead people? In this week’s podcast, we discuss leadership with our special guest Hugo Marino.

Hugo, who has had a long career in the British Army, joins us to provide an insightful account of how he adapted military-style leadership skills to develop a more analytical approach to leading teams. We discuss non-frontline personnel, the Sandhurst model of leadership, intelligence analysis and military doctrine. Finally, we share a few stories from working inside the intelligence services and recount memorable examples of how leadership can go wrong.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• What Do Leaders in Different Fields Need to Succeed?
• Executive Personality Types: A Comparison of Military and Civilian Leaders in a Single Organization
• Frequencies of Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Among Military Leaders
• Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule

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

Audiophiles, tweakers and techno-mysticists often invest incredibly large amounts of money to chase the highest level of sound production. But does spending more money on equipment actually produce higher performance or is this an irrational misconception?

In this week’s podcast, we discuss audiophilia. In doing so, we explore pseudoscience and the placebo effect, information theory and power cables. We ponder over a spiritual void in contemporary society that may lead to obsessions and reveal why you should think twice before ‘believing the science’. Finally, we share some of our expensive obsessions.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• Nordost Odin 2 Speaker Cable - Factory Terminated Pair
• Audio Woo
• List of topics characterized as pseudoscience
• Why Expensive Wine Tastes Better
• To the Audiophile, Magic is Real
• Audiophiles Are Funny

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

It has been a busy few months for weird news. First there were the multiple Chinese spy balloons across North America, then the Ohio train derailments and finally the mysterious Godzilla egg that washed up on a beach in Japan. But what is it that makes news weird and is there a correct level of scepticism to meet unexplained phenomena?

In this week’s podcast, we discuss weird news. We start by investigating data on levels of trust in the media, Stanley Cohen’s theory of moral panics and theoretical physics. We discuss key case studies such as ball lightning, animal rain, and unexplained noises and disappearances. Nick also presents a general theory of weirdness and offers some potentially related responses.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• The Fortean Times magazine
• 2023 Chinese balloon incident
• Mystery sphere found on beach perplexes Japan
• Crop Circle

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 scroll through Netflix or Amazon Prime and wonder where all the office sitcoms are? In the 80s, 90s and 00s the office sitcom seemed like a television staple, but if this is no longer the case, what does it tell us about contemporary culture and society?

In this week’s podcast, we discuss sitcoms. We trace back recent trends in comedy, discuss some comedy classics, speculate on whether the sitcom genre may be in decline, and reveal what we should be looking for to identify the stock comedy characters of the next five to ten years. Finally, we share our favorite sitcoms and the comedy characters we most identify with.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• Comedy and critical thought: Laughter as resistance
• Weekly top 50 shows

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

We’ve all come across different versions of the “just be yourself” principle at some point. Being told to “follow your dreams” or “say what you think” can often feel like empty platitudes. But what does it actually mean to be yourself and is it something you can aim for?

In this week’s podcast, we discuss being yourself. We explore evolutionary biology, Dunbar’s number, Aristotle, status hierarchies, eating olives and different cultural approaches to individualism and collectivism. We ask how to objectively disambiguate authenticity and inauthenticity and suggest some metrics for measuring our inner feelings and behaviour. Finally, we share moments from our lives where we were guilty of inauthenticity.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

• Trait personality and state variability
• Does intraindividual variability of personality states

improve perspective taking?

• https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/bitstream/handle/18452/21157/jintelligence-06-00050.pdf?sequence=1
• Variability in state authenticity predicts daily affect and emotion regulation
• Distinguishing between authenticity and personality consistency in predicting well-being
• Tim Urban’s What’s our problem

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