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The Mystery of Loyalty, in Life and on ‘The Americans’
The Wall Street Journal: A few weeks ago, I gave a talk at the American Philosophical Association, in an excellent, serious symposium on human experience and rationality. The only problem was that my appearance meant missing the brilliant, addictive TV series “The Americans.” Thank heavens for on-demand cable—otherwise the temptation to skip the conference and catch up on the latest betrayals and deceptions might have been too much for me. Still, one practical benefit of a philosophical education is that it helps you to construct elaborate justifications for your favorite vices. So I’d argue that “The Americans” tackles the same philosophical questions I wrestled with in my talk.
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Baltimore Police Shooting That Wasn’t ‘Illustrates Malleable Nature Of Memories’
NPR: NPR's Robert Siegel speaks to Elizabeth Loftus, professor of psychology at the University of California, Irvine, about inventing memories. False reports Monday said a man was shot by Baltimore police. Yesterday in Baltimore, something didn't happen, despite convincing accounts that it did. The descriptions of a police shooting that wasn't were so persuasive as to make you wonder about perception, certainty and error. Fox News producer Mike Tobin told viewers he had seen it. Read the whole story: NPR
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How to Go From Being Busy to Being Productive
Inc.: Being busy and being productive can be two very different things. If you're super busy but can't manage to get anything done, you're not alone. "It's very easy to succumb to the temptation of staying busy even when it is counterproductive: It is the way our brains are wired," write Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino and University of North Carolina Business School professor Bradley Staats in Harvard Business Review. Read the whole story: Inc.
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Willpower (or Lack of It) Is the Wrong Way to Think About Weight
New York Magazine: When you succeed at eating healthy foods and avoiding junk, you probably attribute the bulk of your success to your ability to resist unhealthy impulses, the sheer power of your mighty will. Likewise, when the diet (inevitably) fails and you start to regain the weight you lost, it’s your inability to exert self-control that takes much of the blame. Read the whole story: New York Magazine
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Music in the Car Can Cause Teen Drivers to Tune Out
Using a cell phone while driving is a recipe for disaster, but study results suggest that the music teens listen to may also have a hazardous influence on their driving.
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Four ways to tell if an educational app will actually help your child learn
The Conversation: Imagine someone telling you that a new technology would be available in five years that has the potential to revolutionise childhood and early education. But the downside is that you will have to choose from among 80,000 possible options. This is the problem currently facing many parents. Following the invention of the iPad in 2010, by January 2015 there were 80,000 apps marketed as “educational” in the Apple App Store alone. We recently published a large-scale review of more than 200 articles on the question of how we can put the education back in educational apps.
