Today's bummer is news of the death of Roky Erickson, the frontman of pioneering psychedelic rock band The 13th Floor Elevators. Being a college radio listener, I have long been a fan of the 'Elevators, and had referenced them in a couple of blog posts. Even more than Roky's distinctive vocals and jangly guitar, the main feature which made the band's sound so unique was their use of the electric jug, showcased perfectly in such songs as the epic Slip Inside this House, an anthem of the psychedelic era.
Perhaps my favorite song by the band is She Lives (In a Time of Her Own), which might be an ode to a woman...
Roky had his fair share of mental and legal issues, both of which were exacerbated by his use of, and praise for, mind-altering substances. It's almost a miracle that he survived as long as he did. His legacy as the leader of one of the most outré bands in American popular music will remain secure, at least among us weirdos.
Friday, May 31, 2019
Thursday, May 30, 2019
Secret Science Club Belated Post-Lecture Recap: Making the Moral Mind
On Tuesday evening, I headed down to the beautiful Bell House, in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn, for this month's Secret Science Club lecture, featuring social psychologist Dr Daniel Yudkin of Yale University’s Crockett Lab. The topic of Dr Yudkin's lecture was the development of the moral mind, specifically the growth of third party punishment to regulate behavior.
Dr Yudkin began his lecture by recounting Damon Dash's statement that he wanted to slap Harvey Weinstein because of his maltreatment of women, noting that this is a great topic of study for psychologists. What underlay Mr Dash's desire to punish Mr Weinstein- he was not directly affected my Mr Weinstein's misconduct, but he couldn't look the other way. This phenomenon is known as third party punishment- when A harms B, and C, who isn't directly affected, punishes A. This behavior is rather more common than most people think. Individuals often protest on others' behalf, usually out of a deeper feeling about justice. This often serves to make society more fair.
Our behaviors are the result of evolution... more fairness is thought to increase the ability of humans to cooperate over long periods of time. While individuals may have an incentive to take more than their fair share, interventions to maintain fairness maintain a fairer distribution of resources. One motivation for this behavior is reputational, acting fairly makes oneself look good. Another motivation is true justice, when individuals truly care about bad behavior. The issue faced by psychologists is how to distinguish between these two behaviors. Dr Yudkin took a developmental approach. There are advantages to studying children- they are more gullible than adults. The development of reputational concern occurs over several years, at about five years of age, children start to care about their reputations. Third party punishment is a product of reputational care.
Dr Yudkin developed an experiment, an experiment which had to be comprehensible to children in which the children had to exact a costly punishment in order to ensure personal investment. The experiment was conducted with a play group of children in a museum, consisting of two hundred children of diverse backgrounds, ages three to six. The children were first allowed to play on a slide, then they were instructed to draw a picture for a book, then they were told a story about two participants- one of whom was asked by the other to guard the picture shed had drawn. In a video shown to the children, the girl tasked with guarding the picture destroyed it, which created a sense of outrage. The subjects were then given a choice to punish the bad girl by disallowing further use of the slide by everyone- they could punish the malefactress, but at a personal cost. The experiment tested assumptions about punishment, conditions of transgression and compliance were created. When there was no transgression, 0% of the subjects chose to close the slide down, but in conditions of transgression, 60% of the subjects closed the slide, a strong confirmation of the basic assumption about third party punishment. The children were asked for a verbal explanation of their choice, and 77% of those who closed the slide mentioned bad behavior. Those who chose not to close the slide explained their decision by stating that they had a desire to go down the slide.
Age affected the results- only 25% of 3-4 year olds closed the slide, while 60% of 5-6 year olds closed it. The 3-4 year olds tended to act out of a true justice motive, they were not worried about their reputations. Children have a sense of justice, they are willing to punish rule breaking. Protest isn't just about virtue signalling. Dr Yudkin quipped about the typical misogynist's feelings about men who attended the women's marches: "How many beta males are attending the Women's March just to get laid?" He countered by stating that most of the participants genuinely cared about women's rights.
Dr Yudkin also tested for the role of group membership in the meting of third party punishment. For much of human history, close knit communities competed for scarce resources, leading to tribalism, an Us vs Them dynamic. This tribalism can be based on nationalism or religious affiliation, as Dr Yudkin illustrated with the famous Rabbit God/Duck God cartoon:
There are two hypotheses about who gets punished- the first is that in-group punishment would be more prominent in order to ensure that group members behave, the second is that out-group punishment would be more common due to xenophobia. To test this, group affiliation was manipulated- in some instances, the girl in the video was identified as belonging to 'our museum', in others, she was described as being a member of a 'Boston museum'. The out-group punishment rate was more than twice that of the in-group punishment rate. On a societal scale, the higher sentencing rates of African-Americans can be chalked up to out-group discrimination, which poses the problem of how to erase such discrimination.
Leadership might evoke a desire for fairness. The roles of leadership and responsibility were tested by giving certain children sheriff's badges and telling them that they were in charge of the group. Approximately fifty percent of the children took these symbols seriously. The 'sheriffs' tended to punish the in-group more than the out-group, they were more invested in policing their own community. While children demonstrate the beginning of out-group discrimination, a sense of leadership can mitigate or even reverse discrimination.
Dr Yudkin then tested the role of political formulation in third party punishment. Parents were asked whether they identified as very liberal, somewhat liberal, somewhat conservative, or very conservative. The experiment being conducted on Manhattan's Upper West Side, these results were somewhat skewed... He then gauged the relationship between parental politics and children's behavior. At age 3-4, the relationship between parents' politics and children's behavior began to emerge. The children of liberal parents tended to punish in-group members more, and possession of a badge did not change this significantly. The children of conservative parents tended to punish out-group members more and badge bearers tended to punish more often. The children of liberal parents were more attuned to fairness and care, while the children of conservative parents were more attuned to loyalty, authority, and purity. The conservative-leaners were more lenient with the in-group, had a stronger sense of Us vs Them, and a stronger emphasis on authority.
Children are influenced by their parents' politics at a young age. This can result in different sets of moral priorities... a breakdown in communication is ingrained early by different moral languages. This problem can only be addressed if there is an awareness of these different moral languages.
Dr Yudkin presented the audience with several takeaways: Altruism isn't just about doing good for others, it is also about protesting injustice. Humans are capable of acting on 'true justice' motives. Outgroup discrimination emerges at a young age, but leadership can mitigate it. Political differences emerge at a young age- different moral foundations emerge, as if different moral 'lenses' lead to different views.
The lecture was followed by a Q&A session. Some bastard in the audience asked about the specter of radicalization later in life (I used to believe in women's equality until I was red-pilled by some cartoon frog memes). Dr Yudkin chalked this up to a product of the Nature vs Nurture divide, while parents can model certain attitudes for their children, Nature probably plays a large role in one's moral attitudes. Conservatives have been shown to have strong disgust responses than liberals tend to have. Another question involved our closest relatives- regarding chimpanzees, while chimps and humans have many common behaviors, Dr Yudkin stated that third party punishment has not been observed among chimps. Regarding true justice motives, it's not known whether these are a result of observed behavior or a deep seated desire.
Dr Yudkin delivered a thought-provoking lecture, one which was grounded in his experiment, so I didn't have to hunt down various links around the internet. The one important link here is to a video concerning his experiment: that bad girl looks like she's having a blast destroying that picture! Once again, the Secret Science Club served up a fantastic lecture- kudos to Dr Yudkin, Margaret and the traveling Dorian, and the staff of the beautiful Bell House. It was the sort of night when a guy would brave the storm to see some SCIENCE!!!
Dr Yudkin began his lecture by recounting Damon Dash's statement that he wanted to slap Harvey Weinstein because of his maltreatment of women, noting that this is a great topic of study for psychologists. What underlay Mr Dash's desire to punish Mr Weinstein- he was not directly affected my Mr Weinstein's misconduct, but he couldn't look the other way. This phenomenon is known as third party punishment- when A harms B, and C, who isn't directly affected, punishes A. This behavior is rather more common than most people think. Individuals often protest on others' behalf, usually out of a deeper feeling about justice. This often serves to make society more fair.
Our behaviors are the result of evolution... more fairness is thought to increase the ability of humans to cooperate over long periods of time. While individuals may have an incentive to take more than their fair share, interventions to maintain fairness maintain a fairer distribution of resources. One motivation for this behavior is reputational, acting fairly makes oneself look good. Another motivation is true justice, when individuals truly care about bad behavior. The issue faced by psychologists is how to distinguish between these two behaviors. Dr Yudkin took a developmental approach. There are advantages to studying children- they are more gullible than adults. The development of reputational concern occurs over several years, at about five years of age, children start to care about their reputations. Third party punishment is a product of reputational care.
Dr Yudkin developed an experiment, an experiment which had to be comprehensible to children in which the children had to exact a costly punishment in order to ensure personal investment. The experiment was conducted with a play group of children in a museum, consisting of two hundred children of diverse backgrounds, ages three to six. The children were first allowed to play on a slide, then they were instructed to draw a picture for a book, then they were told a story about two participants- one of whom was asked by the other to guard the picture shed had drawn. In a video shown to the children, the girl tasked with guarding the picture destroyed it, which created a sense of outrage. The subjects were then given a choice to punish the bad girl by disallowing further use of the slide by everyone- they could punish the malefactress, but at a personal cost. The experiment tested assumptions about punishment, conditions of transgression and compliance were created. When there was no transgression, 0% of the subjects chose to close the slide down, but in conditions of transgression, 60% of the subjects closed the slide, a strong confirmation of the basic assumption about third party punishment. The children were asked for a verbal explanation of their choice, and 77% of those who closed the slide mentioned bad behavior. Those who chose not to close the slide explained their decision by stating that they had a desire to go down the slide.
Age affected the results- only 25% of 3-4 year olds closed the slide, while 60% of 5-6 year olds closed it. The 3-4 year olds tended to act out of a true justice motive, they were not worried about their reputations. Children have a sense of justice, they are willing to punish rule breaking. Protest isn't just about virtue signalling. Dr Yudkin quipped about the typical misogynist's feelings about men who attended the women's marches: "How many beta males are attending the Women's March just to get laid?" He countered by stating that most of the participants genuinely cared about women's rights.
Dr Yudkin also tested for the role of group membership in the meting of third party punishment. For much of human history, close knit communities competed for scarce resources, leading to tribalism, an Us vs Them dynamic. This tribalism can be based on nationalism or religious affiliation, as Dr Yudkin illustrated with the famous Rabbit God/Duck God cartoon:
There are two hypotheses about who gets punished- the first is that in-group punishment would be more prominent in order to ensure that group members behave, the second is that out-group punishment would be more common due to xenophobia. To test this, group affiliation was manipulated- in some instances, the girl in the video was identified as belonging to 'our museum', in others, she was described as being a member of a 'Boston museum'. The out-group punishment rate was more than twice that of the in-group punishment rate. On a societal scale, the higher sentencing rates of African-Americans can be chalked up to out-group discrimination, which poses the problem of how to erase such discrimination.
Leadership might evoke a desire for fairness. The roles of leadership and responsibility were tested by giving certain children sheriff's badges and telling them that they were in charge of the group. Approximately fifty percent of the children took these symbols seriously. The 'sheriffs' tended to punish the in-group more than the out-group, they were more invested in policing their own community. While children demonstrate the beginning of out-group discrimination, a sense of leadership can mitigate or even reverse discrimination.
Dr Yudkin then tested the role of political formulation in third party punishment. Parents were asked whether they identified as very liberal, somewhat liberal, somewhat conservative, or very conservative. The experiment being conducted on Manhattan's Upper West Side, these results were somewhat skewed... He then gauged the relationship between parental politics and children's behavior. At age 3-4, the relationship between parents' politics and children's behavior began to emerge. The children of liberal parents tended to punish in-group members more, and possession of a badge did not change this significantly. The children of conservative parents tended to punish out-group members more and badge bearers tended to punish more often. The children of liberal parents were more attuned to fairness and care, while the children of conservative parents were more attuned to loyalty, authority, and purity. The conservative-leaners were more lenient with the in-group, had a stronger sense of Us vs Them, and a stronger emphasis on authority.
Children are influenced by their parents' politics at a young age. This can result in different sets of moral priorities... a breakdown in communication is ingrained early by different moral languages. This problem can only be addressed if there is an awareness of these different moral languages.
Dr Yudkin presented the audience with several takeaways: Altruism isn't just about doing good for others, it is also about protesting injustice. Humans are capable of acting on 'true justice' motives. Outgroup discrimination emerges at a young age, but leadership can mitigate it. Political differences emerge at a young age- different moral foundations emerge, as if different moral 'lenses' lead to different views.
The lecture was followed by a Q&A session. Some bastard in the audience asked about the specter of radicalization later in life (I used to believe in women's equality until I was red-pilled by some cartoon frog memes). Dr Yudkin chalked this up to a product of the Nature vs Nurture divide, while parents can model certain attitudes for their children, Nature probably plays a large role in one's moral attitudes. Conservatives have been shown to have strong disgust responses than liberals tend to have. Another question involved our closest relatives- regarding chimpanzees, while chimps and humans have many common behaviors, Dr Yudkin stated that third party punishment has not been observed among chimps. Regarding true justice motives, it's not known whether these are a result of observed behavior or a deep seated desire.
Dr Yudkin delivered a thought-provoking lecture, one which was grounded in his experiment, so I didn't have to hunt down various links around the internet. The one important link here is to a video concerning his experiment: that bad girl looks like she's having a blast destroying that picture! Once again, the Secret Science Club served up a fantastic lecture- kudos to Dr Yudkin, Margaret and the traveling Dorian, and the staff of the beautiful Bell House. It was the sort of night when a guy would brave the storm to see some SCIENCE!!!
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
I, Bonehead
In an extremely bone-headed move, I spilled coffee on my laptop and use have shorted something. While the laptop functioned normally after a reboot and BIOS check, the battery wouldn’t charge. I spent the afternoon watching the battery percentage dwindling, even though the icon noted that the charger was plugged in. I wouldn’t be so pissed off if this weren’t the day I was going to post a lecture recap, which is tough to do using my phone.
Tomorrow, I will visit the local mom-and-pop computer store, which specifically mentions repairing spill-damaged electronics. Have I mentioned that I live in the city’s tavern district? At any rate, I will write the recap tomorrow, when I will have access to a computer at work. In the meantime, I will curse my clumsiness.
Tomorrow, I will visit the local mom-and-pop computer store, which specifically mentions repairing spill-damaged electronics. Have I mentioned that I live in the city’s tavern district? At any rate, I will write the recap tomorrow, when I will have access to a computer at work. In the meantime, I will curse my clumsiness.
Tuesday, May 28, 2019
Poison, Poison, Tasty Flowers!
We have quite a few black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) trees at our various sites. While the wood is brittle, it is rot resistant, so it is often used for fence posts and pier pilings. The locust tree's foliage, wood, and bark are toxic, to the extent that it's not recommended to eat even prized mushrooms growing on locust trees. The flowers of the locust tree, however, are edible and as delicious as they are showy:
Locust honey is, by all accounts, prized, but I am not a beekeeper, so I stick to the flowers themselves, which appear after redbud and wisteria bloom. The post title is taken from a classic 'Simpsons' scene.
Locust honey is, by all accounts, prized, but I am not a beekeeper, so I stick to the flowers themselves, which appear after redbud and wisteria bloom. The post title is taken from a classic 'Simpsons' scene.
Monday, May 27, 2019
A Most Confusing Holiday
Memorial Day has long struck me as an odd holiday... on the one hand, it is a holiday set aside to commemorate military personnel who lost their lives in service to the nation, on the other hand, it is a day most people celebrate by going to the beach or throwing barbecue parties. As far as the meaning of Memorial Day goes, nobody has articulated it better than Eric Bogle.
I can't criticize anybody who spent the day at the beach or at a party- it's not like Americans get too many paid holidays, and these days of the gig economy even paid vacation time is becoming increasingly rare. I'm at work, but it may as well be a holiday- after an initial hour of dealing with the public, including a visitor who set off alarm bells with the manager on duty because she strayed away from her tour group on three occasions (I had to do an inspection tour to make sure she didn't pocket anything), I have our lovely property all to myself.
Part of me thinks that Memorial Day should be moved to a time of year when the weather isn't so gorgeous. It's hard to be solemn when it's sunny and warm outside. Maybe Presidents' Day and Memorial Day can be swapped- February is a much better time of year to be contemplative.
I can't criticize anybody who spent the day at the beach or at a party- it's not like Americans get too many paid holidays, and these days of the gig economy even paid vacation time is becoming increasingly rare. I'm at work, but it may as well be a holiday- after an initial hour of dealing with the public, including a visitor who set off alarm bells with the manager on duty because she strayed away from her tour group on three occasions (I had to do an inspection tour to make sure she didn't pocket anything), I have our lovely property all to myself.
Part of me thinks that Memorial Day should be moved to a time of year when the weather isn't so gorgeous. It's hard to be solemn when it's sunny and warm outside. Maybe Presidents' Day and Memorial Day can be swapped- February is a much better time of year to be contemplative.
Sunday, May 26, 2019
Herbivore Showdown
On Friday afternoon, I got a glimpse of a 'showdown' between representatives of the two great endothermic terrestrial animal lineages... put in normal person terms, a woodchuck got into a standoff with a family of geese:
This showdown was preceded by a tiff between two woodchucks, with one chasing the other right past the geese until the pursuer set off the parenting instinct of the adults. Confronted by two hissing theropod dinosaurs, the large rodent decided to beat a hasty retreat.
I had the advantage of being on a raised porch above this particular fray. I doubt that the woodchuck would have approached the vicinity if I had been at eye level.
This showdown was preceded by a tiff between two woodchucks, with one chasing the other right past the geese until the pursuer set off the parenting instinct of the adults. Confronted by two hissing theropod dinosaurs, the large rodent decided to beat a hasty retreat.
I had the advantage of being on a raised porch above this particular fray. I doubt that the woodchuck would have approached the vicinity if I had been at eye level.
Saturday, May 25, 2019
Tough Talk Fail: The Dragon Kraken of Budapest
The funniest political story of the week was wannabe Bond villain Seb Gorka trying to talk tough about the enemies of Donald Trump being crushed:
Ah, yes, 'the kraken has been unleashed'. I'm sure that Gorka thought it was cold-blooded shit to say, but it's really just a line from a kiddie fantasy flick (and its remake). It's the sort of thing that I say jocularly when I get to work and open the door to let Ginger, who hasn't been fed all day, out. Even on the terms of the movies, though, releasing the kraken is ineffectual- even with both versions of the fight, the kraken only lasts about ten minutes... not much of a threat, is it?
Poking around the t00bz, I found that ineffectuality of the kraken inspired a jokey song by a nerdy band... besides failing as a tough guy, Gorka also fails as a nerd.
I wrote this post on a computer at work, and I'm blocked from embedding videos. I'll clean this one up later in order to embed the linked YouTube videos.
It has begun@realDonaldTrump has unleashed his secret weapon.
— Sebastian Gorka DrG (@SebGorka) May 24, 2019
In the next few days the conspirators will begin to tear at each other.
Stayed tuned friends:
https://t.co/gPC21NC6G9 pic.twitter.com/yxEccHmnPi
Ah, yes, 'the kraken has been unleashed'. I'm sure that Gorka thought it was cold-blooded shit to say, but it's really just a line from a kiddie fantasy flick (and its remake). It's the sort of thing that I say jocularly when I get to work and open the door to let Ginger, who hasn't been fed all day, out. Even on the terms of the movies, though, releasing the kraken is ineffectual- even with both versions of the fight, the kraken only lasts about ten minutes... not much of a threat, is it?
Poking around the t00bz, I found that ineffectuality of the kraken inspired a jokey song by a nerdy band... besides failing as a tough guy, Gorka also fails as a nerd.
I wrote this post on a computer at work, and I'm blocked from embedding videos. I'll clean this one up later in order to embed the linked YouTube videos.
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