Mar 18, 2023·edited Mar 18, 2023Liked by Gurwinder
This is a fantastic list. Thanks for putting it together. Do you take requests? If so, I'd love to see "Prevalence-Induced Concept Change" in next season's list. I came across the concept about three years ago and still think about it (and see it happening) all the time (Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon?). It seems to explain so much about the past 10 years or so of American society. Research links are below, but for a taste, here's the abstract:
"Why do some social problems seem so intractable? In a series of experiments, we show that people often respond to decreases in the prevalence of a stimulus by expanding their concept of it. When blue dots became rare, participants began to see purple dots as blue; when threatening faces became rare, participants began to see neutral faces as threatening; and when unethical requests became rare, participants began to see innocuous requests as unethical. This “prevalence-induced concept change” occurred even when participants were forewarned about it and even when they were instructed and paid to resist it. Social problems may seem intractable in part because reductions in their prevalence lead people to see more of them."
*Since personality is a performance in the limelight of another’s gaze, we cannot be someone without someone to be someone for.* - Wow, this is disturbingly profound!
I love these articles. There must be a pithy way to express the concept of “Reading Gurwinder’s mega threads but never being able to recall any of the concepts when they would be most useful to you.”
Occasionally one of the dozens and dozens of ideas that grab me hold on long enough for me to actually write a whole thing. For the rest, I might steal this strategy of summary. Thanks in advance.
Mar 18, 2023·edited Mar 18, 2023Liked by Gurwinder
Re #28, The Cylindrical Perspective, I first saw that as background to a Twitter biography several years ago. Think I tracked it down to an Imgur graphic from 2016:
So much gold in here. Thank you for taking the time to make this! I will be coming back here often for inspiration. I love reading/writing about ideas like these and I have just recently started posting some short journals on https://trainingthoughts.substack.com/ if anyone is interested. Thanks again and take care!
I had a Great Time reading through this. Funny thing I intuitively knew most concepts but didn't know they had actual terms and names to define them. It was very Insightful
So many hooks! Ok, you snagged me--I’m now a paying subscriber! Each of them worthy of a lengthy essay. I especially loved Deep Time, Presentism, and Gurwinder’s Defibulator.
#1 caught my attention...I'm forwarding it to my daughter.. who will like to add this new word to her vocabulary. It fits her brother and my son to a T. He is ultra intelligent, but is like the little man in Lil' abner comics Joe Btfspik, walking around under a dark raincloud about to fall on his head. Every time we speak to my son something else has gone wrong. This has been the story of his life. I read the entire list...and wonder about the photo under: 66 YEARS LATER. Was the moon landing "smoke and mirrors"? Some say it never occurred and that all the technical information relating to this event disappeared.
Liking Gurwinder’s defibrillator. Hello fellow apes!
This is a fantastic list. Thanks for putting it together. Do you take requests? If so, I'd love to see "Prevalence-Induced Concept Change" in next season's list. I came across the concept about three years ago and still think about it (and see it happening) all the time (Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon?). It seems to explain so much about the past 10 years or so of American society. Research links are below, but for a taste, here's the abstract:
"Why do some social problems seem so intractable? In a series of experiments, we show that people often respond to decreases in the prevalence of a stimulus by expanding their concept of it. When blue dots became rare, participants began to see purple dots as blue; when threatening faces became rare, participants began to see neutral faces as threatening; and when unethical requests became rare, participants began to see innocuous requests as unethical. This “prevalence-induced concept change” occurred even when participants were forewarned about it and even when they were instructed and paid to resist it. Social problems may seem intractable in part because reductions in their prevalence lead people to see more of them."
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aap8731
https://dtg.sites.fas.harvard.edu/LEVARI2018COMPLETE.pdf
Love ❤️ your lists. You are sharp...
*Since personality is a performance in the limelight of another’s gaze, we cannot be someone without someone to be someone for.* - Wow, this is disturbingly profound!
I love these articles. There must be a pithy way to express the concept of “Reading Gurwinder’s mega threads but never being able to recall any of the concepts when they would be most useful to you.”
Excellent! Love distilled wisdom. Some stuff that I “know” I need to hear often!
Re #6 - https://thedispatches.substack.com/p/candy-candy-everywhere
Occasionally one of the dozens and dozens of ideas that grab me hold on long enough for me to actually write a whole thing. For the rest, I might steal this strategy of summary. Thanks in advance.
Re #28, The Cylindrical Perspective, I first saw that as background to a Twitter biography several years ago. Think I tracked it down to an Imgur graphic from 2016:
https://imgur.com/gallery/7eF4H/
But a rather brilliant illustration of how perspective tends to colour or distort our perceptions.
So much gold in here. Thank you for taking the time to make this! I will be coming back here often for inspiration. I love reading/writing about ideas like these and I have just recently started posting some short journals on https://trainingthoughts.substack.com/ if anyone is interested. Thanks again and take care!
Magnificent brother, as thought provoking as ever! We need a good catch up...
I had a Great Time reading through this. Funny thing I intuitively knew most concepts but didn't know they had actual terms and names to define them. It was very Insightful
So many hooks! Ok, you snagged me--I’m now a paying subscriber! Each of them worthy of a lengthy essay. I especially loved Deep Time, Presentism, and Gurwinder’s Defibulator.
#1 caught my attention...I'm forwarding it to my daughter.. who will like to add this new word to her vocabulary. It fits her brother and my son to a T. He is ultra intelligent, but is like the little man in Lil' abner comics Joe Btfspik, walking around under a dark raincloud about to fall on his head. Every time we speak to my son something else has gone wrong. This has been the story of his life. I read the entire list...and wonder about the photo under: 66 YEARS LATER. Was the moon landing "smoke and mirrors"? Some say it never occurred and that all the technical information relating to this event disappeared.
Too good!
A great insightful post!
A great read. Thanks a lot for putting this together.