By Charles Cassidy MPhys, Director of Evidence-based Wisdom I recently decided to buy a petrol-guzzling car. But was it really me who decided? I don’t like cars. They’re costly on the wallet and toxic to the planet. I also live in London, a city of narrow, victorian streets, where graceful parallel parking is a daily necessity. The only time I have ever gracefully parallel parked was in my driving test 23 years ago. How did I end up... Read more
In celebration of Independence Day, I want to share why I think of myself as a weird American. I’m very proud to be a citizen of the United States. It’s one of the greatest countries in the world. America is a beacon of hope for democracy and freedom for millions of people across the globe. Our universities consistently produce ground-breaking research; our companies drive innovation for the global economy; our military helps keep peace in many global conflicts.... Read more
Deception proved a very successful strategy for political causes and individual candidates in the UK and US elections in 2016, leading Oxford Dictionary to choose post-truth politics as its 2016 word of the year. At this low point, it might seem ludicrous to many that we can solve the problem of lies in politics. However, research in behavioral science suggests that we can address political deception through a number of effective strategies, which are brought together in the Pro-Truth Pledge.... Read more
(Methodsshop/flickr) In 2013, the Secular Coalition for America published an Open Letter signed by a host of major leaders of national secular leaders about “improving the tone and substance of online discussions.” The letter read, in part: We refuse to allow the deplorable conduct of a few to debase the reasonable, appropriate, and respectful conduct of the overwhelming majority of our community… Of course we will disagree with each other on some issues, but we can do a better job... Read more
“We are not thinking machines that feel, we are feeling machines that think.” Read more
Written by Dr. Gleb Tsipursky, Intentional Insights Co-Founder and President. ________________________________________________________________ Many mainstream media outlets criticized conservatives with a broad brush over the Montana Congressional special election winner Republican Greg Gianforte assaulting a reporter, Ben Jacobs. Yet, according to behavioral science research conducted by myself and others, such criticism may end up hurting the safety of journalists, instead of advancing freedom of the press and pursuit of the truth. First, the facts of the incident itself.... Read more
Written by Dr. Gleb Tsipursky, Intentional Insights Co-Founder and President. ________________________________________________________________ Extensive evidence emerged in recent days that Donald Trump pressured and then fired FBI Director James Comey to block the FBI’s investigation of Trump’s administration over possible collusion with Russia. Yet a May 24 poll shows that only 24 percent of Republicans believe that this firing had to do with Comey’s investigation of the administration, in comparison to 60 percent for all who took the poll. An earlier... Read more
Caption: Photo of phone with the Facebook login screen and Scrabble words spelling “social media” (Courtesy of Unsplash) ______________________________________ A week ago, on Thursday May 18, I went on Facebook, typed in my password for my personal account, and saw the screen below that told me my account was disabled. Not my official Facebook fan page, which is still fine, but my personal account. Caption: Screenshot from my computer of my disabled personal account Being sure it... Read more
Graphics by Cerina Gillilan, used with permission Imagine the following scenario: you have been raised in a deeply evangelical household. From an early age, your parents taught you to pray daily and told you that the purpose and meaning of life were found in God. Attending Sunday school reinforced this message. So did the television that your family watched, the books that they gave you to read, and the music to which they encouraged you to listen.... Read more
We all want our top investigative bodies to be headed by competent officials. We also all want to ensure that these officials can freely investigate other branches of the government – including the presidential administration – without fear of retribution. How can we tell whether Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey was meant to ensure competent leadership of the FBI, as Trump claims, or to prevent Comey from digging deeper into Trump’s potential connections with Russia, as many... Read more
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