Cristina delves into the fascinating yet terrifying science of high density crowds in light of the recent Astroworld music festival tragedy. Adam takes a closer look behind popular memes. Are they data mining, pushing elaborate conspiracy theories, or just plain old clickbait? Darren gives us a great overview of Steven Pinker’s latest book “Rationality”, which explores the concept of collective rationality in society.
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Dangers Of High Density Crowd
Travis Scott Astroworld Festival Tragedy: Everything We Know
YouTube: How Crowds Can Kill You
YouTube – Crowd Safety – Oasis concert
Big Crowds Flow Like Water in Amazing (and Terrifying) Ways | Psychology Today Canada
Astroworld Festival joins a list of historical concert tragedies
These are the warning signs that a crowd is dangerously dense
Niall Horan stress about fan’s safety a stark reminder following Astroworld tragedy
Travis Scott Made $20 Million Off of His Meal Deal With McDonald’s – Eater.
Memes: Conspiracies Or Clickbait?
How Cute Cats Help Spread Misinformation Online – The New York Times
Do National Son’s Day and National Daughter’s Day Even Exist? – Truth or Fiction?
National Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day – February 5, 2022
National Hammock Day – July 22, 2022 – National Today
Facebook takes action against ‘I Love America’ network – Sky Island Scriber
How to make money on Facebook – Moovly
How Can I Make Money on Facebook? – Facebook
‘Rationality’ By Steven Pinker
Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters
Stuart, I know you live in the Boulder area….are you ok? The fires looked terrifying,
Hey Bob. I don’t think Stuart is on our site very often but I’ve heard from him and he’s safe. The fires sure were scary though.
Thanks!
Much as I like and admire Steven Pinker, esp. “The Sense of Style,” I’m not at all clear why “Rationality” is getting so much praise and attention. Disclosure, I haven’t read the book but I did attend a one-hour Zoom meeting where he presented the book in a slide show, and I’ve also read reviews. My reluctance to endorse the book is that it really sounds like it would make a first-rate required-reading high school textbook, but the main theme seems to be that “being rationale is good.” As Darren points out, he didn’t learn much from the book that he didn’t already know…and that’s exactly what I got out of Pinker’s otherwise excellent slide show. Yes, it was great to be reminded of the names of various fallacies and see examples but we don’t need another primer telling us how important it is to think rationally—that is, “why it matters.”