Cognitive Engineering

Was it useful to label Extinction Rebellion as a terrorist organisation? How is terrorism different from extremism? Image: Extinction Rebellion via Wikicommons Things mentioned in this podcast: - Extinction Rebellion are included in a list of extremist groups https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/13/priti-patel-defends-inclusion-of-extinction-rebellion-on-terror-list - Global Terrorism...

We ask whether mental toughness is all in the mind. Image: Mark Jones via Wikicommons Things mentioned in this podcast: - Harry and Meghan’s statement https://sussexroyal.com/about/ - Susie Ballentyne’s research page at the University of Sussex http://www.sussex.ac.uk/profiles/476810 For more Cognitive Engineering episodes find us on iTunes, Google Play or wherever you get your podcasts, or add th...

Edged tools have been used by hominids for millions of years, but the elastoplast was only invented just over 100 years ago. Did we get our priorities right? Image: DMC-FZ18 via Pixhere Things mentioned in this podcast: - Sudesh Amman attack https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51389884 - Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and the discontinuation of the dataset https://www.rospa.com/Resources/...

Emotion, recency and virtue signalling - does it matter what drives charitable behaviour? Image: Cimon and Pero: "Roman Charity" by Jean-Baptiste Greuze via Wikicommons Things mentioned in this podcast: - Amelia Roberts’ charity appeal https://news.sky.com/story/charity-donations-pour-in-after-woman-finds-order-of-service-in-desk-11911407 - Givewell’s top charities https://www.givewell.org/chariti...

A dish best served cold, or not at all? We discuss revenge as a strategy. Image: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Things mentioned in this podcast: - The ProRevenge subreddit https://www.reddit.com/r/ProRevenge/ - William Miller, In Defense of Revenge https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1130&context=book_chapters - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Retributive Justice ht...

Does our always on, instantly connected world mean that we’ve lost the job of serendipity? Can we engineer our environment to maximise the chance of good things happening to us? Image: The Three Princes of Serendip Things mentioned in this podcast: - Red Dwarf - ‘Future Echoes’ https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x41k0sb - Doing the same thing twice is more fun than you think https://www.theatlantic...

Does inequality actually matter? If it does, why? What problems does it cause? Is it self fulfilling? Is our objection to it a moral one, or is there there rational economic issues with it? Image: Wellcome Collection ref ICV No 12015 V0011749 Things mentioned in this podcast: - Is there really more inequality? https://www.economist.com/briefing/2019/11/28/economists-are-rethinking-the-numbers-on-i...

Are you a cat or a dog person? Which is best? Image: nguyen hoangnam via Flickr Things mentioned in this podcast: - Moral Foundations Theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_foundations_theory - PDSA Animal Wellbeing Report https://www.pdsa.org.uk/get-involved/our-campaigns/pdsa-animal-wellbeing-report - Who’s Smarter: Cats or Dogs? Psychology Today - https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/val...

What’s it like to celebrate Christmas in the southern hemisphere? Are there things about Christmas that don’t make sense in summer? Image: Milz via pixels.com Things mentioned in this podcast: - Was Jesus born on 25 December? https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/when-was-jesus-born/ - Average monthly temperature of cities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_average_temperatu...

What does it mean to be out of touch? Why do we expect our leaders to be in tune with everyday people and their concerns? Image: Ewan Munro via Wikimedia.org Things mentioned in this podcast: - Influence of class on attitudes https://www.bsa.natcen.ac.uk/media/38459/bsa30_social_class_final.pdf - Effect of poverty on decision-making http://www.lse.ac.uk/business-and-consultancy/consulting/assets/d...

Is it wrong to do amoral things in computer games? Is it ok to bully people as a goose in Untitled Goose Game? Image: House House Things mentioned in this podcast: - Untitled Goose Game https://goose.game/ - Ethics in the Virtual World by Garry Young https://philpapers.org/rec/YOUEIT-2 For more Cognitive Engineering episodes find us on iTunes, Google Play or wherever you get your podcasts, or add...

Why do animal sounds vary between languages? Image: Alex Andrews via Pexels.com Things mentioned in this podcast: - Onomatopoeia in different languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-linguistic_onomatopoeias - Idiophones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiophone - Disentangling canid howls across multiple species and subspecies: Structure in a complex communication channel https://www.cam.ac.uk...

Assuming we can’t blame a virus for its own evolutionary success, just whose fault is it when we catch something? Image: Robert E. Bates, USCDCP via pixnio.com Things mentioned in this podcast: - Data on childhood vaccination in England https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-immunisation-statistics/england-2017-18 - The law on transmission of STDs https://www.cps....

Can you be forever young or wise beyond your years? Is age a justifiable way of categorising people? Image: William Mulready RA via Wikipedia Things mentioned in this podcast: - Shakespeare’s ‘Seven Ages of Man’ https://www.thoughtco.com/shakespeares-seven-ages-of-man-2831433 - Peak age in different sports https://www.thestatszone.com/archive/olympic-sports-how-does-peak-age-vary-13812 - Cognitive...

Peter, Nick and Fraser mansplain the adoption of new vocabulary for any wordies out there - totes adorbs. Image: artyangel via pixabay.com Things mentioned in this podcast: - Plotkin paper on information theory and language evolution https://langev.com/pdf/plotkin00languageEvolution.pdf - Bentz et al on entropy across different languages http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~lpearl/colareadinggroup/readings/...

Should we spend time worrying about the risk of freak accidents? Image: Theo Campbell and Kaz Crossley by Theo Campbell Things mentioned in this podcast: - Theo Campbell’s accident https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-49483153 - National Statistics death data https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths - Micromorts infographic https://www.visualcapi...

Can the call for divine intervention be a cause of harm? God only knows. Image: wlox.com Things mentioned in this podcast: - Willingness to pay for prayers https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/09/10/1908268116 - Hate crime advice https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/discrimination/hate-crime/what-are-hate-incidents-and-hate-crime/ - Harrassment advice https://www.citizensadvice.org....

Cowboys, 49ers and Patriots - can we determine anything about a culture based on the sports it plays? Image: KeithJJ via pixabay Things mentioned in this podcast: - Geert Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions https://data.world/adamhelsinger/geerthofstedeculturaldimension - Hofstede’s methodology https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=orpc - All-time Olympic medal table ht...

Do fiery rhetoric and extreme policies help win elections? Image: Bundesarchiv via Wikipedia Things mentioned in this podcast: - Kaldor-Hicks criterion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaldor%E2%80%93Hicks_efficiency - ‘That which is seen, and that which is unseen’ (Bastiat) http://bastiat.org/en/twisatwins.html - Public spending in the UK since 1900 https://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/past_spending -...

"If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience." Was George Bernard Shaw right about the lessons of the past? Image: Public domain via Wikicommons Special Guest: Dr Kristian Gustafson https://www.brunel.ac.uk/people/kristian-gustafson For more Cognitive Engineering episodes find us on iTunes, Google Play or wherever you get your...

The internet provides a level of information resilience that mankind has never before possessed. But what happens if it breaks? Image: Tekniska museet via flickr Things mentioned in this podcast: - Getting deplatformed from Apple https://boingboing.net/2019/08/13/getting-deplatformed-from-appl.html - Cloudflare outage explanation https://blog.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-outage/ - List of significant...

Do not listen to this podcast. When is it permissible to ignore the voice of authority? Image: Danny Lawson via PA Images Things mentioned in this podcast: - Whaley Bridge residents who refuse to move https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-49210937 For more Cognitive Engineering episodes find us on iTunes, Google Play or wherever you get your podcasts, or add this RSS feed to your prefer...

They're persistent, irritating and difficult to ignore. Yes, Frazer, Nick and Peter discuss midges. Image: CSIRO via Wikipedia Things mentioned in this podcast: - Midge facts https://www.lifesystems.co.uk/news/45-facts-about-the-highland-midge and https://www.highlandtitles.com/blog/midges/ - Parasite strategies https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsif.2013.1108 - How successful is...

Would it be wrong to take a set of instructional schematics to the barber? We discuss when vague requirements work, and importantly when they don't. Image: J Pitts via Wikipedia Things mentioned in this podcast: - Goodhart’s Law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law For more Cognitive Engineering episodes find us on iTunes, Google Play or wherever you get your podcasts, or add this RSS fe...

While Aleph Insights is on a summer break from recording podcasts, here's an episode from our archive. Why do some films age better than others? Image: www.starwars.com/news/the-5-most-…s-visual-effects