Cognitive Engineering

While Aleph Insights is on a summer break from recording podcasts, here's an episode from our archive. What does tastiness tell us about fruit choice? Could we engineer the perfect fruit? Or are we just comparing apples and oranges? Image: Malte Sörensen via Flickr

While Aleph Insights is on a summer break from recording podcasts, here's an episode from our archive. Are personality tests any use? What can they tell us if anything? Or is it like a star-sign? Take the test! www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test Image: Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers. Courtesy of Katharine Myers via Wikipedia.

Is it meaningful to assign personalities to the decades? Image: Ezekiel via Wikipedia Things mentioned in this podcast: - The thirty-year nostalgia cycle https://thepatterning.com/2017/02/13/the-nostalgia-pendulum-a-rolling-30-year-cycle-of-pop-culture-trends/ - When did the sixties really begin? https://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/02/06/when-did-sixties-really-begin-heres-why-it-matters - Did...

GAME OF THRONES - SPOILER ALERT Was the ending contrived? Were you satisfied by the way it ended? What makes a good ending? Image: BagoGames via Flickr Things mentioned in this podcast: - ‘Creative Writing Now’ on endings https://www.creative-writing-now.com/story-endings.html - NYT article: closers and clinchers https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/anatomy-endings - Unconventional e...

Why did Jamie's Italian fail? What goes wrong when businesses try to scale. Image: Scandic Hotels via Wikicommons Things mentioned in this podcast: - Problems in the casual dining sector https://www.bmmagazine.co.uk/opinion/why-are-uk-restaurant-chains-going-out-of-business/ - The largest restaurant chains https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_largest_fast_food_restaurant_chains For more Cogni...

How can we avoid the end of the world through nuclear and other cataclysmic accidents? Could Chernobyl happen again? How can we design our systems and train our people to prevent accidents? We discuss with our guest Tom Plant. Image: Kamil Porembiński via Flickr Things mentioned in this podcast: - World nuclear industry status report https://www.worldnuclearreport.org/IMG/pdf/20180902wnisr2018-hr....

Grumpy Cat dies aged seven: 'Some days are grumpier than others'. A loss the meme world. Memes, what are they? Do they have some property that makes them reproduce more effectively than other ideas. Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr Things mentioned in this podcast: - Guardian obituary https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/may/17/grumpy-cat-dies-seven-internet-meme-gif - The Independent’s ‘Top...

The Perfect Chalk Chalk has been used by humans as a communication tool for thousands of years. Are some technologies too good to be replaced? Image: contri via Flickr Things mentioned in this podcast: - 2015 article expounding the virtue of Hagoromo chalk (https://gizmodo.com/why-mathematicians-are-hoarding-this-special-type-of-ja-1711008881) For more Cognitive Engineering episodes find us on iTu...

Does listening to The Grateful Dead make you yearn to meet your maker, or do you acknowledge the seminality of their music? Is the term ‘influential’ overused nowadays? Image: Warner Bros. Records via Wikimedia Things mentioned in this podcast - Article analysing influence in pop music https://qz.com/quartzy/1133090/the-most-influential-pop-music-artists-of-all-time-according-to-social-network-ana...

Crystal Palace goalkeeper, Wayne Hennessey, provides an unintentional insight into the links between ignorance and stupidity. Image: Wayne Hennessey by Steindy via Wikimedia Things mentioned in this podcast: -Wayne Hennessey’s Nazi salute https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47946382 -Seymour (1929), A Study of the Relation between Knowledge, Intelligence, and Character (https://scholarworks.umass...

Some things seem difficult to purchase in the right quantities. Why do we always end up with too much celery in our fridge? Image: Peter Griffin via publicdomainpictures.net Things mentioned in this podcast: WRAP report on food and drink waste http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/Household_food_and_drink_waste_in_the_UK_-_report.pdf For more Cognitive Engineering episodes find us on iTunes, Goo...

Following Gavin Williamson’s sacking from Theresa May’s cabinet, we discuss the indicators of whether or not someone is telling the truth. Image: Gavin Williamson. By UK Parliament via Wikipedia Things mentioned in this podcast - Rogers et al (2017), Artful Paltering (https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-59847-001) - Serota et al (2010), The Prevalence of Lying in America (https://msu.edu/~levinet/...

David Cameron famously promised ‘stability and strong Government’ if he won the 2015 general election. How can we minimise our chances of our statements being undermined by subsequent events? Image: Great Temple at Abu Simbel by youssef_alam via Wikipedia Things mentioned in this podcast: -David Cameron’s famous tweet: https://twitter.com/david_cameron/status/595112367358406656?lang=en -Shelley’s...

As London’s black cabs move inexorably towards extinction, we ponder whether the progress of civilisation is merely illusory. Image: JamesGardinerCollection via Flickr Things mentioned in this podcast -‘Meditations on Moloch’ from Slate Star Codex: https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/ -The Tragedy of the Commons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons -Ronald...

David Simoes-Brown, CEO of 100%Open, tells us why we should trust our feelings when it comes to important decisions. Image: The Anger of Achilles, by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo via Wikipedia Things mentioned in this podcast - David Simoes-Brown, CEO of 100%Open: http://www.100open.com/person/david-simoes-brown/ - Categorising basic emotions: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/hide-and-seek/201...

When do you grow up? Is there a cut off age to childhood or are we constantly growing up? Image: rawpixel.com Things mentioned in this podcast Commons’s Model of Hierarchical Complexity: https://www.dareassociation.org/documents/GWOF_A_330277%20Introduction.pdf The Seven Ages of Man: https://jrbenjamin.com/2013/06/04/seven-ages-of-man/ David Finkelhore: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Finkelho...

What happens when algorithms learn to be biased? What does that even mean? We talk to special guest Dr Jess Whittlestone from the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence about whether algorithmic bias is something to worry about, and whether anything can be done about it? Image: CBS Television via Wikipedia Things mentioned in this podcast Danks and London (2017): A taxonomy of types and...

Should transgender women be allowed to compete in women’s sports? Is it unfair on cis women if they do? Is it unfair on trans women if they can’t? Is there a coherent logic to the partitioning of sporting events? Image: by Michael Steele via Getty Images Things mentioned in this podcast - Martina Navratilova’s criticism of transgender women in sport https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/martina...

Understanding how other people are going to behave is a key element of analysis and forecasting. But professional actors do this all the time. We talk to special guest Edmund Kingsley to find out what insights the acting trade can offer for analysts. Image: Carole Raddato via Wikicommons Things mentioned in this podcast -A summary of attribution biases. https://opentextbc.ca/socialpsychology/chapt...

What’s the point of tidying up? It’s just moving stuff from one place to another. But does it offer cognitive and health benefits, and if so why? Image: My Bed by Tracey Emin. Photo: Karen Bryan via Flickr Things mentioned in this podcast Tidiness guru Marie Kondo https://konmari.com/ McMains and Kastner (2011): clutter makes concentration harder https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21228167 Sitton...

Is the slow creep of Americanisms into the British vernacular a pernicious assault on our linguistic heritage, or should we just chill? Things mentioned in this podcast Goncalves etc al (2018) on the Americanisation of English: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1707.00781.pdf Britishisms in US English: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19929249 Differences in US and English Harry Potter editions: https://ww...

Where would we be without the likes of Da Vinci, Turing and Goethe? Things mentioned in this podcast Jordan Peterson on the ‘curse of creativity’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocDli45faiw Wallas’ ‘The Art of Thought’: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Thought-Graham-Wallas-ebook/dp/B00MBPCBQ8 Kaufman and Beghetto on types of creativity: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228345133_Beyond_Big_and...

Smells like… something Why is smell the oft forgotten sense, and where does following our nose take us? Image: Barney Moss via Flickr Things mentioned in this podcast Wired article on why smells are hard to describe: https://www.wired.com/2014/11/whats-up-with-that-smells-language/ Smell and the reminiscence bump: https://academic.oup.com/chemse/article/37/2/179/273246

Russia after Putin - is history shaped by great men and women, or are they just in the right place at the right time? Image: Пресс-служба Президента Российской Федерации via Wikipedia Things mentioned in this podcast Hoffman et al (2011) - a study of the drivers of good leadership https://psyc.franklin.uga.edu/sites/default/files/CVs/Great%20man%20or%20great%20myth_-2%20(1).pdf The most influentia...

Is reality killing fiction? Things mentioned in this podcast Scripted dramas are not dying out: https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/2017-scripted-tv-series-fx-john-landgraf-1202653856/ Ranker article on the ‘Dumbest Reality Shows of All Time’: https://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-dumbest-reality-shows-of-all-time Vox on the rise of reality TV: https://www.vox.com/2016/1/7/10728206/reality-show...