THUNK

THUNK

By Josh PeltonSociety & CultureScienceEducationPhilosophyNatural Sciences
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THUNK episodes

  • 246. Against Worldbuilding

    “Worldbuilding” has become a necessity for authors of genre fiction, but sci-fi author M. John Harrison thinks it’s crippling both writers & their audiences.

    Video: http://youtu.be/QJHR2NB7Wt4

    Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2023/12/30/246.-Against-Worldbuilding.html

    13 min
  • 245. The STEM Shortage

    The 2023 tech sector layoffs have claimed a quarter of a million jobs to date, but this hasn’t seemed to make a dent in the enthusiasm for getting more kids into STEM - what’s going on here?

    Video: http://youtu.be/BraS-fMgB5A

    Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2023/11/16/245.-The-STEM-Shortage.html

    14 min
  • 244. The Meaning of Games and Flow

    Many assume that, when a game’s over, there’s nothing more to reflect on besides the fun. Positive psychology’s theory of “Flow” prompts a similar stance. But what if games and Flow are both saying more than we might suppose at first glance?

    Video: http://youtu.be/GEl5cbzkD6M

    Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2023/10/02/244.-The-Meaning-of-Games-and-Flow.html

    14 min
  • 243. Maintenance

    Maintenance is often ignored, minimized, or portrayed as being inferior to creative/productive work, but it’s really the most fundamental activity of life itself, & it can teach us a lot about the world.

    Video: http://youtu.be/7pFrhsC2I7Q

    Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2023/09/07/243.-Maintenance.html

    13 min
  • 242. The 'Tragedy' of the Commons

    Everyone’s heard of the infamous “Tragedy of the Commons,” but the real tragedy is that Elinor Ostrom’s work refuting it isn’t just as widely-known.

    Video: http://youtu.be/9h0iidPzMXE

    Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2023/08/10/242.-The-'Tragedy'-of-the-Commons.html

    18 min
  • 242. The “Tragedy” of the Commons
    https://youtu.be/9h0iidPzMXE
    Everyone's heard of the infamous "Tragedy of the Commons," but the real tragedy is that Elinor Ostrom's work refuting it isn't similarly popular.
    -Links for the Curious-
    “Aristotle, Politics, Book 2.” n.d. Accessed August 8, 2023. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0086,035:2.
    Big Think, dir. 2012. *Ending The Tragedy of The Commons | Elinor Ostrom | Big Think*. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr5Q3VvpI7w.
    Carson, Kevin. n.d. “Governance, Agency and Autonomy: Anarchist Themes in the Work of Elinor Ostrom.”
    “Commons and Contradictions: The Political Ecology of Elinor Ostrom - Undisciplined Environments.” 2017. September 20, 2017. https://undisciplinedenvironments.org/2017/09/20/commons-and-contradictions-the-political-ecology-of-elinor-ostrom/.
    Dietz, Thomas, Elinor Ostrom, and Paul C Stern. 2003. “The Struggle to Govern the Commons” 302.
    “‘Elinor Ostrom’s Rules for Radicals: Cooperative Alternatives Beyond Markets and States’ by Derek Wall Reviewed by John Barry.” n.d. Accessed August 4, 2023. https://marxandphilosophy.org.uk/reviews/16044_elinor-ostroms-rules-for-radicals-cooperative-alternatives-beyond-markets-and-states-by-derek-wall-reviewed-by-john-barry/.
    Frischmann, Brett M., Alain Marciano, and Giovanni Battista Ramello. 2019. “Retrospectives: Tragedy of the Commons after 50 Years.” *Journal of Economic Perspectives* 33 (4): 211–28. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.33.4.211.
    Hardin, Garrett. 1968. “The Tragedy of the Commons: The Population Problem Has No Technical Solution; It Requires a Fundamental Extension in Morality.” *Science* 162 (3859): 1243–48. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.162.3859.1243.
    Laerhoven, Frank van, and Elinor Ostrom. n.d. “Traditions and Trends in the Study of the Commons.”
    Ostrom, Elinor. 2012. “Green from the Grassroots | by Elinor Ostrom.” Project Syndicate. June 12, 2012. https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/green-from-the-grassroots-2012-06.
    ———. 2015. *Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action*. 1st ed. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316423936.
    Ostrom, Elinor, Joanna Burger, Christopher B. Field, Richard B. Norgaard, and David Policansky. 1999. “Revisiting the Commons: Local Lessons, Global Challenges.” *Science, New Series* 284 (5412): 278–82.
    Sustainable Development and the Tragedy of Commons - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByXM47Ri1Kc.
    Elinor Ostrom on Resilient Social-Ecological Systems - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqC7xG8fxHw.
    Velicu, Irina, and Gustavo García-López. 2018. “Thinking the Commons through Ostrom and Butler: Boundedness and Vulnerability.” *Theory, Culture & Society* 35 (6): 55–73. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276418757315. Icons for Principles of the Commons from The Noun Project:
    https://thenounproject.com/icon/puzzle-5278809/
    https://thenounproject.com/icon/monitoring-2906106/
    https://thenounproject.com/icon/russian-nesting-dolls-2671768/
    https://thenounproject.com/icon/pillory-4509440/
    https://thenounproject.com/icon/boundary-3856835/
    https://thenounproject.com/icon/arbitration-1142571/
    https://thenounproject.com/icon/revise-1085288/
    https://thenounproject.com/icon/raised-fist-4914991/
    Trap music from Freesound: https://freesound.org/people/Inespy/sounds/514311/
    18 min
  • 241. Mental Speed
    https://youtu.be/ONpydsGW3Tg
    Children can be impressively ingenious when given enough time to work thru a problem, but we tend to judge their mental prowess by how quickly they figure things out - is mental speed really the best yardstick for intelligence?
    - Links for the Curious -
    Stankov, Lazar, and Richard D. Roberts. “Mental Speed Is Not the ‘Basic’ Process of Intelligence.” Personality and Individual Differences 22, no. 1 (January 1997): 69–84. [https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(96)00163-8](https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869%2896%2900163-8 "https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(96)00163-8").
    Berger, M. “The ‘Scientific Approach’ to Intelligence: An Overview of Its History with Special Reference to Mental Speed.” In A Model for Intelligence, edited by Hans J. Eysenck, 13–43. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer, 1982. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-68664-1_2.
    Danthiir, Vanessa, Richard D. Roberts, Ralf Schulze, and Oliver Wilhelm. “Mental Speed: On Frameworks, Paradigms, and a Platform for the Future.” In Handbook of Understanding and Measuring Intelligence, by Oliver Wilhelm and Randall Engle, 27–46. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks California 91320 United States: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2005. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452233529.n3.
    Schubert, Anna-Lena, Dirk Hagemann, Gidon T. Frischkorn, and Sabine C. Herpertz. “Faster, but Not Smarter: An Experimental Analysis of the Relationship between Mental Speed and Mental Abilities.” Intelligence 71 (November 2018): 66–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2018.10.005.
    Vernon, Philip A., ed. Speed of Information-Processing and Intelligence. Norwood, N.J: Ablex Pub. Corp, 1987.
    Eysenck, Hans J. “The Concept of ‘Intelligence’: Useful or Useless?” Intelligence 12, no. 1 (January 1988): 1–16. [https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-2896(88)90019-0](https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-2896%2888%2990019-0 "https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-2896(88)90019-0").
    Neisser, Ulric. “The Concept of Intelligence,” n.d.
    Taleb, Nassim Nicholas. “IQ Is Largely a Pseudoscientific Swindle.” INCERTO (blog), May 17, 2023. https://medium.com/incerto/iq-is-largely-a-pseudoscientific-swindle-f131c101ba39.
    “253 – Why IQ Is Bullshit – Srsly Wrong,” April 1, 2022. https://srslywrong.com/podcast/253-why-iq-is-bullshit/.
    Mulrow, John, and Sybil Derrible. “Is Slower More Sustainable? The Role of Speed in Achieving Environmental Goals.” Sustainable Cities and Society 57 (June 1, 2020): 102030. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2020.102030.
    “High-Speed Society: Social Acceleration, Power, and Modernity,” n.d.
    Inc.com. “4 Reasons Speed Is Everything in Business,” July 5, 2015. https://www.inc.com/adam-fridman/4-reasons-speed-is-everything-in-business.html.
    8 min
  • 241. Mental Speed

    Children can be impressively ingenious when given enough time to work thru a problem, but we tend to judge their mental prowess by how quickly they figure things out - is mental speed really the best yardstick for intelligence?

    Video: http://youtu.be/ONpydsGW3Tg

    Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2023/07/13/241.-Mental-Speed.html

    8 min
  • 240. Dual Process Theory and The Mythical Number Two

    Kahneman’s “Thinking, Fast and Slow” has become a popular reference in public discussions of cognition and the dangers of impulsive decision-making, but many researchers think it might be wrong, or even damaging to the field at large.

    Video: http://youtu.be/-UVoAYFYtoM

    Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2023/06/01/240.-Dual-Process-Theory-and-The-Mythical-Number-Two.html

    9 min
  • 240. Dual Process Theory & The Mythical Number Two
    Kahneman's "Thinking, Fast & Slow" has become a popular reference in public discussions of cognition & the dangers of impulsive decision-making, but many researchers think it might be wrong, or even damaging to the field at large.
    https://youtu.be/-UVoAYFYtoM 
    The Mythical Number Two https://acmelab.yale.edu/sites/default/files/melnikoff_bargh_2018_mythical_number_2_0.pdf
    You Can't Play 20 Questions With Nature And Win: Projective Comments On The Papers Of This Symposium (Newell, 1973) - https://www.coli.uni-saarland.de/~crocker/documents/Newell-1973.pdf
    Dual-Process Theories of Higher Cognition: Advancing the Debate (Evans & Stanovich, 2013) - https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Keith-Stanovich/publication/258179748_Dual-Process_Theories_of_Higher_Cognition/links/540606c40cf23d9765a7e87d/Dual-Process-Theories-of-Higher-Cognition.pdf
    [https://www.sgim.org/web-only/clinical-reasoning-exercises/dual-process-theory-overview#](https://www.sgim.org/web-only/clinical-reasoning-exercises/dual-process-theory-overview "https://www.sgim.org/web-only/clinical-reasoning-exercises/dual-process-theory-overview#")
    https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/24/sports/baseball/thinking-fast-and-slow-book.html
    https://www.marketingsociety.com/think-piece/system-1-and-system-2-thinking
    https://www.compassitc.com/blog/combating-cognitive-bias-to-mitigate-social-engineering-attacks
    https://uxdesign.cc/better-decisions-72e955c70a5c
    https://onepetro.org/PS/article-abstract/61/03/57/33217/Decision-Making-How-System-1-amp-System-2?redirectedFrom=fulltext
    https://bdtechtalks.com/2022/01/24/ai-thinking-fast-and-slow/
    9 min

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