Category: Notes

This book is an impressive collection of insights and studies gleaned by a consultant and professor over a long, long time. Most of the studies use some sort technological interaction to explore a human relational question (computers are a lot easier to control that people). For example, one studied compared how well happy or sad people worked with computers that were happy or sad (happy people prefer working with the happy computers while sad people prefer working with sad computers). Much like “The Shallows” by Nicholas Carr and “Switch” by Chip and Dan Heath, this books is a good read and then good again for reference because there are so many good studies presented.

Interesting tidbit: negative experiences cause “retroactive interference” to our memories; we have a hard time remembering what happened immediately before the bad experience. After the negative experience, however, our memories are increased beyond normal clarity. This is why often survivors of a bad accident cannot remember what caused it but can tell you, in great detail, everything that happened immediately after it.

Reading notes

• Evaluation is a natural state of the human brain
  • We are wired to constantly evaluate other
  • We interpret most things we are told as judgement
• We typically perceive neutral to be a negative
  • Think NPS, being promoted is a success everything else is a degree of failure
• People generally get joy from flattery even when they know it is not genuine
• We tend to disregard criticism that we do not agree with, but still obsess over it for days
• Ideally, you can present a few negative items then a long list of positive items so they end up feeling good and remembering well
• Effective feedback is accepted feedback, not necessarily accurate feedback.
• How to criticize effectively:
  • When criticized, we enter an action oriented state: fight, flight, or, ideally, guidance to improve.
  • Give specific details rather than broad advice
  • Break the bad news, let them ask some questions, then take a short break before talking again; This will let them gather their thoughts
• Telling someone something should be easy for them tends to cheapen their experience
• Praise for taking on challenges and addressing criticism helps foster a growth mindset
• Sharing an evaluation of someone tilts everyone else’s perception in the same direction, even if they know you are biased
• Negativity is perceived as smart, profound, and genuine where positivity is seen as superficial

As things begin building, they come to a point where a small extra effort pushes it over the brink. He uses a series of examples to show how three things come together to create a tipping point, for example: Connectors, Mavens and Salespeople. The Connectors keep in contact with a broad variety of people. They do not necessarily know much nor are they really good at convincing people to do things, but they can connect a people from very different walks of life. The Mavens stockpile information. Where the Connector works to stay in contact with people, the Mavens gather information so they can share it with other people. Salespeople do what the Mavens cannot do, convince people. When things reach the tipping point, these three types of people get together. The Connectors are able to connect a Maven (who knows stuff) with Salespeople (who can convince people to ‘buy’ the Mavens ‘product’, whatever it be) and things can take off.

Interesting tidbit: William Dawes rode on the same mission as Paul Revere, but because he was not a good Connector, Dawes was only able to arouse the two individuals he was assigned to where Revere was able to awaken the whole countryside.

A thorough examination of the topic: “What is the Internet doing to our brains?” Carr pulls together a broad range of experiences, reports and research studies to evaluate, though not necessarily draw conclusions, of how our use of computers, and particularly our use of the internet, is literally reshaping our brains. There is a lot of good material in this book, including some ideas on how to enhance your brain.

Interesting tidbit: when reading off of a paper, our eyes are drawn line by line, row to row in a zig-zag fashion (left to right, top to bottom). When reading off an electronic display (e.g. computer, phone, tablet, etc.) our eyes are drawn across the first line of the page, down the left side until the half way point, across the half way point and then down the left side to the bottom of the page (in an “F” shaped pattern). This means, as proved in numerous studies, that students learn and retain more from an actual book than from electronic books. Which is almost ironic to consider how hard schools are pushing ebooks on their students that will inherently result in slower, more difficult learning.

(Note: these patterns are for the Latin-based world, which is English, French, German, etc. Arabic and other language bases have their own distinct patterns that the eyes follow.)

Detailed notes

• Technology literally changes our thinking over time
• Technology can extend our strength, extend our senses, reshape the world, and extend our or alter our thinking
• Clichés were designed to ease memory
• New media always reallocates old medium
• Using the internet starts rewiring the brain within a few hours of use
  • This is helped in part because computers are, almost, a full-body experience for reward-response engagement
  • Browsing the internet can help old minds stay intact
• We literally pause, for the briefest moment, every time we come across a link to determine if we should click or not
• We build long-term memory schemas through experience
• Unique events live in isolation but become connected overtime with similar events
• Book reading provides a slow, steady drip of information, letting us move the information from working-memory to long-term memory with ease
• Videogame playing increasing one’s abilities to shift eye focus and identify object in a field of view
• IQ scores have been rising over time (basically since tests were created) however, this is more likely because things we think are “intelligent” began to permeate society; we think in ways better aligned with the test
  • Other “smart” results have been dropping (for example math and language skills)
• The cheaper information is, the more we can afford to accumulate, the more money Google makes through ads
• Removing thoughts from the context of their books is to dismantle comprehensive thought
• Memorizing strengthens our mental skills
• The connecting of memories is thinking
• “We shape our tools but thereafter they shape us.”
• Tools alienate us from the portion of nature that they enhance

Gould discusses how the conflicts between science and the humanities (religion) are fabricated to put an illogical conflict that should not exist and only drags down both. Instead, science and the humanities should learn to work together. The humanities pride themselves on having one single tactic that works (the method of the hedgehog) while the sciences pride themselves on having a variety of tactics that work (the method of the fox) and that both should learn from each other in order to propel their respective studies into the future. The Magister’s Pox was the method of creating the conflict so that they could remain in control.

Interesting tidbit: Gould argues an unusual point for a scientist: that the perfection of the earth and the biosphere should do more to prove that there is a God than anything short of actually seeing Him. Evolution has one of two possibilities: that nature figured out how to do things by its self or that God put things into such a perfect organization and alignment that He did not need to continually intervene.

This book is a history of the fascinating evolution of the field of molecular biology, particularly the ground breaking work of Seymour Benzer. It was interesting to note that this field has been growing so quickly that few students in the field today have heard of Benzer or his fruit fly experiments.

Interesting tidbit: all fruit flies, and most other animals, have a built in “rest” mechanism that tries to put them to sleep in the afternoon. They think this is to encourage us to survive the afternoon heat and thus be more productive in life.