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Cognitive
‘Neural Dust,’ Implanted In Brain, May Let Minds Meld With Machines
September 6, 2013
Earlier this month, five researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, put out a paper discussing the possible development of mind-reading "neural dust," which could be implanted directly into the human brain to allow people to interact with machines. The paper is what the MIT Technology Review calls a theoretical study: The idea is "littered with challenges beyond the state-of-the-art." But according to the Berkeley team, this neural dust sprinkled into an individual's brain...
September 6, 2013
Earlier this month, five researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, put out a paper discussing the possible development of mind-reading "neural dust," which could be implanted directly into the human brain to allow people to interact with machines. The paper is what the MIT Technology Review calls a theoretical study: The idea is "littered with challenges beyond the state-of-the-art." But according to the Berkeley team, this neural dust sprinkled into an individual's brain...
Predictive Policing May Help Bag Burglars—But It May Also Be A Constitutional Problem
September 4, 2013
Imagine a police officer at roll call. He gets a printout stating that at a certain time, on a particular city block, there’s a certain percentage chance that a burglary will take place. Motivated by the odds, the officer heads over to that neighborhood around that very time. While there, he spots a man carrying a black bag. Does the printout, combined with the officer’s observations, amount to reasonable suspicion such that the man could be appropriately stopped and searched? That’s just...
September 4, 2013
Imagine a police officer at roll call. He gets a printout stating that at a certain time, on a particular city block, there’s a certain percentage chance that a burglary will take place. Motivated by the odds, the officer heads over to that neighborhood around that very time. While there, he spots a man carrying a black bag. Does the printout, combined with the officer’s observations, amount to reasonable suspicion such that the man could be appropriately stopped and searched? That’s just...
Sweaty Palms and Racing Heart Can Help Negotiate Better While Making Deals
September 2, 2013
A new study suggests that sweaty palms and a racing heart may actually help some people in get a good deal while negotiating over the price of a new car. As researchers Ashley D. Brown and Jared R. Curhan of the Sloan School of Management at MIT demonstrate in two experiments, physiological arousal isn't always detrimental. "It turns out that the effect depends on whether you are someone who dreads or looks forward to negotiating," Brown said. "It's not inherently harmful." In their first...
September 2, 2013
A new study suggests that sweaty palms and a racing heart may actually help some people in get a good deal while negotiating over the price of a new car. As researchers Ashley D. Brown and Jared R. Curhan of the Sloan School of Management at MIT demonstrate in two experiments, physiological arousal isn't always detrimental. "It turns out that the effect depends on whether you are someone who dreads or looks forward to negotiating," Brown said. "It's not inherently harmful." In their first...
The Power of Mindfulness in the Practice of Law
September 2, 2013
What do the Chicago Bulls, Goldie Hawn, and prisoners at Lowell Correctional Institute have in common? Although this may initially sound like an impossible riddle, there is one commonality between these three entities, and that is the fact that they all practice mindfulness. Mindfulness, also known as mindfulness training, refers to the idea of intentionally focusing one's full awareness on the present moment. The practice of mindfulness has been around for thousands of years, but only recently has it begun...
September 2, 2013
What do the Chicago Bulls, Goldie Hawn, and prisoners at Lowell Correctional Institute have in common? Although this may initially sound like an impossible riddle, there is one commonality between these three entities, and that is the fact that they all practice mindfulness. Mindfulness, also known as mindfulness training, refers to the idea of intentionally focusing one's full awareness on the present moment. The practice of mindfulness has been around for thousands of years, but only recently has it begun...
Pricing Legal Claims Part II – Valuation Biases And Heuristics
August 29, 2013
In the last post, I noted that three different sources of uncertainty affected efforts to appropriately value claims: the amount in controversy, as influenced by the revealed facts and relevant decision makers; the uncertain amount in litigation costs; and the sequential nature and nonmonotonic value of the option to settle. This post focuses on the first–the challenges of gauging the amount in controversy, including but not limited to a potential judgment value. While even robotic litigants...
August 29, 2013
In the last post, I noted that three different sources of uncertainty affected efforts to appropriately value claims: the amount in controversy, as influenced by the revealed facts and relevant decision makers; the uncertain amount in litigation costs; and the sequential nature and nonmonotonic value of the option to settle. This post focuses on the first–the challenges of gauging the amount in controversy, including but not limited to a potential judgment value. While even robotic litigants...
IBM Scientists Show Blueprints for Brainlike Computing
August 25, 2013
IBM researchers unveil TrueNorth, a new computer architecture that imitates how a brain works. To create a computer as powerful as the human brain, perhaps we first need to build one that works more like a brain. Today, at the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks in Dallas, IBM researchers will unveil a radically new computer architecture designed to bring that goal within reach. Using simulations of enormous complexity, they show that the architecture, named TrueNorth, could lead...
August 25, 2013
IBM researchers unveil TrueNorth, a new computer architecture that imitates how a brain works. To create a computer as powerful as the human brain, perhaps we first need to build one that works more like a brain. Today, at the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks in Dallas, IBM researchers will unveil a radically new computer architecture designed to bring that goal within reach. Using simulations of enormous complexity, they show that the architecture, named TrueNorth, could lead...
Surge of Brain Activity May Explain Near-Death Experience
August 25, 2013
It’s called a near-death experience, but the emphasis is on “near.” The heart stops, you feel yourself float up and out of your body. You glide toward the entrance of a tunnel, and a searing bright light envelops your field of vision.It could be the afterlife, as many people who have come close to dying have asserted. But a new study says it might well be a show created by the brain, which is still very much alive. When the heart stops, neurons in the brain appeared to communicate at an even...
August 25, 2013
It’s called a near-death experience, but the emphasis is on “near.” The heart stops, you feel yourself float up and out of your body. You glide toward the entrance of a tunnel, and a searing bright light envelops your field of vision.It could be the afterlife, as many people who have come close to dying have asserted. But a new study says it might well be a show created by the brain, which is still very much alive. When the heart stops, neurons in the brain appeared to communicate at an even...
Being Great At Math Is More Important Than Ever
August 10, 2013
When media first started going digital, journalists feared that they would be judged by the numbers, rather than on the mastery of their craft. To a large extent, that actually happened, but it wasn’t so bad after all. Most were able to adjust. So there was no small amount of irony surrounding the recent high profile negotiations between ESPN and The New York Times over the services of Nate Silver. The stakes were enormous, as Mr. Silver accounted for as much as 20% of the Grey Lady’s...
August 10, 2013
When media first started going digital, journalists feared that they would be judged by the numbers, rather than on the mastery of their craft. To a large extent, that actually happened, but it wasn’t so bad after all. Most were able to adjust. So there was no small amount of irony surrounding the recent high profile negotiations between ESPN and The New York Times over the services of Nate Silver. The stakes were enormous, as Mr. Silver accounted for as much as 20% of the Grey Lady’s...
The Construction of Emotion in Interactions, Relationships, and Cultures
August 9, 2013
Emotions are engagements with a continuously changing world of social relationships. In the present article, we propose that emotions are therefore best conceived as ongoing, dynamic, and interactive processes that are socially constructed. We review evidence for three social contexts of emotion construction that are embedded in each other: The unfolding of emotion within interactions, the mutual constitution of emotion and relationships, and the shaping of emotion at the level of the larger cultural...
August 9, 2013
Emotions are engagements with a continuously changing world of social relationships. In the present article, we propose that emotions are therefore best conceived as ongoing, dynamic, and interactive processes that are socially constructed. We review evidence for three social contexts of emotion construction that are embedded in each other: The unfolding of emotion within interactions, the mutual constitution of emotion and relationships, and the shaping of emotion at the level of the larger cultural...
List of Cognitive Biases
August 8, 2013
Many of these biases affect belief formation, business and economic decisions, and human behavior in general. They arise...
August 8, 2013
Many of these biases affect belief formation, business and economic decisions, and human behavior in general. They arise...
