All posts tagged: Believing

Persuasive Illusions and When Seeing Isn’t Believing

Persuasive Illusions and When Seeing Isn’t Believing

Published by Jenni Sidey

Having won an ionic ‘detox’ footbath at a fundraiser, she sat with her feet immersed in a basin of clear water as a gentle current began to run through it. Within minutes, the water darkened, first slightly, then dramatically, until it resembled a murky brew, complete with swirling debris and tinted foam. For a moment, even a seasoned negotiation expert found herself wondering: What if this is actually working? The answer, from a scientific standpoint, is straightforward. The discoloration comes from the machine, not the liver staging a dramatic detox through the feet. But the moment of doubt is far more interesting and instructive. It reveals something fundamental about how humans process information, form beliefs, and make decisions. The Brain’s Bias Toward Visual “Proof” Humans are highly visual creatures. When something can be seen, especially when it unfolds in real time, it carries an outsized sense of credibility. The brain tends to equate visibility with validity. This phenomenon is not new. Research in cognitive psychology consistently demonstrates that people give disproportionate weight to information that …

J.J. Spaun Is Contending at Colonial and Believing Things Are Aligning for His U.S. Open Defense

J.J. Spaun Is Contending at Colonial and Believing Things Are Aligning for His U.S. Open Defense

Published by Sam Flores

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — J.J. Spaun is thinking a little bit about his schedule and a lot about his putting while in contention at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial. The reigning U.S. Open champion believes he’s getting both lined up just about right three weeks before he tries to defend his first major title. Spaun surged with four birdies on his front nine before a couple of late bogeys in a 2-under 68 that put him at 8 under Friday, two shots behind Englishman Jordan Smith and one back of Hideki Matsuyama and three others after 36 holes at Colonial. Smith took the lead by himself with a 31-foot birdie putt at the par-3 16th, saved par from a bunker on 17 and missed a 9-footer for birdie on 18 to finish at 10 under with a second consecutive 65. “It’s going to be a new experience for us out here leading for the first time,” said Smith, a 33-year-old PGA Tour rookie who qualified through the DP World Tour and had his …

I went to Anthropic’s ethics gathering. I left believing wisdom traditions have key role.

I went to Anthropic’s ethics gathering. I left believing wisdom traditions have key role.

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — One of the most consequential dimensions of the conversation about how artificial intelligence will reshape the world will turn on a question that sounds almost too simple to take seriously: What does it actually mean for a human being to flourish?  This past April, I spent two days at AI startup Anthropic, where technologists, ethicists, theologians and investors had convened around that question. I went in expecting some interesting conversations with some interesting people. I left unable to think about little else for weeks. The people building some of the most powerful AI systems in the world were sitting across from rabbis, Buddhist teachers and leaders from many other spiritual traditions, discussing what it means to build technology that truly serves humanity, rather than the other way around.  Being in that room clarified something I, as a venture capitalist with an interest in spirituality and part of the Baha’i community, have believed for a long time but rarely seen articulated so explicitly inside a tech company: The frontier of AI is also an ancient frontier. The questions being asked …

How to Pray Without Believing

How to Pray Without Believing

Published by Sam Flores

When someone you care about is in trouble, there’s a line people reach for almost automatically: “I’ll pray for you.” It’s a small sentence, but it carries a lot. As a humanist, I’ve never quite known what to say instead. Humanists don’t pray, at least not in the traditional sense, because we don’t believe anyone is listening. We still wish, and we still hope. But those aren’t quite the same thing. A wish imagines a better version of reality without really engaging with whether it will happen. “I wish it were Friday” is more preference than commitment. You can’t quite hope it’s Friday, unless you’re confused about the date. A wish can ignore reality. You can’t really pray it’s Friday either. Prayer, like hope, only makes sense when the outcome hasn’t yet been determined. We use “wish” in a lot of ways, but in this sense, it’s a way of imagining a better version of reality without committing to how it might happen. Hope is different. Hope takes uncertainty seriously. Hope favors a preferred outcome …

Meghan Markle, believing in astrology is wishful thinking – even I don’t take it seriously and I see psychics

Meghan Markle, believing in astrology is wishful thinking – even I don’t take it seriously and I see psychics

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the Well Enough newsletter with Harry Bullmore for tips on living a healthier, happier and longer life Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore Get the Well Enough email with Harry Bullmore If you didn’t know already, the Duchess of Sussex, 44, is a Leo (born on 4 August 1981). That is why she reshared a post on her Instagram stories over the weekend from the account “Astrology is For Everyone” of two men doing a cheesy disco dance to Celine Dion’s “That’s The Way It Is”, captioned: “Taurus, Leo, Scorpio & Aquarius ending the hardest seven years of their lives on April 25th.” Meghan – like scores of others in that star sign grouping, who are breathing a collective sigh of relief right now – is clearly letting us know that she’s been having a tough ride for the last seven years, or even longer. She opened up about it all during her recent quasi-royal tour of Australia, when she told students at Melbourne’s Swinburne University of Technology: “For now, 10 years, …

Believing in a “chemical imbalance” might keep patients on antidepressants longer

Believing in a “chemical imbalance” might keep patients on antidepressants longer

Published by José Betancourt

People who view their depression or anxiety as the result of a chemical imbalance tend to use antidepressants for much longer periods than those who see their condition as a reaction to life events. These individuals are also less likely to attempt coming off their medication, even when their ongoing symptoms are mild. The research detailing these patterns was published in the Journal of Affective Disorders. Since the 1990s, pharmaceutical marketing and educational campaigns have heavily promoted the idea that depression is a biological disease. Many of these campaigns specifically claimed that emotional distress originates from a lack of serotonin in the brain. This medical explanation was originally intended to reduce social stigma and encourage people to seek professional help. Over the past few decades, prescriptions for depression and anxiety have surged in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Today, long-term prescribing is a primary driver behind the massive increase in continual antidepressant use. In the UK, millions of people take these drugs, and at any given time, half of them have been …

The ‘drunk’ patriot who pushed workmen off a ladder wrongly believing they were taking down Union Jacks

The ‘drunk’ patriot who pushed workmen off a ladder wrongly believing they were taking down Union Jacks

Published by Sam Flores

A man has avoided a prison sentence after he was captured on a viral video kicking a ladder from under a workmen he wrongly thought was removing a Union Jack. Charles Gee, 62, emerged drunk from Bull’s head pub in Walkden to confront the council workmen, Krystof Kustra, who was perched on top of a ladder, a court heard. Mr Kustra was installing ‘multiple cameras’ around Manchester at the time but was accosted by Gee when he started working on High Street in Walkden on September 19 last year, prosecutor Miss Harrison told Manchester and Salford Magistrates’ Court. Get MEN Premium now for just £1 HERE – or get involved in our WhatsApp group by clicking HERE. And don’t miss out on our brilliant selection of newsletters HERE. He was on top of a 3.8 metre ladder when he was confronted by the defendant after emerging from the pub, the court heard. Gee approached ‘in an aggressive manner’ and shouted ‘don’t touch the flag’, according to the prosecutor. But as the worker started to descend …

Bryte Balance Pro Smart Mattress Review: Sleeping Is Believing

Bryte Balance Pro Smart Mattress Review: Sleeping Is Believing

Published by skeptic

There are 100 firmness levels to choose from with the Balance Pro, and it also features the softest memory foam top layer of all its mattress offerings. I ended up leaning toward firmer levels to offset this softness, landing at 60, while my husband opted for 80. It took about a week to fine-tune our preferences and establish a baseline, as the Bryte app outlined during installation. Another marquee feature of smart mattresses, aside from customizable firmness, is compatibility with adjustable bases. Adjustable bases enable a smart mattress head and foot to move to different positions, whether to help with snoring or to kick your feet up. We tried the Balance Pro on an adjustable base and ultimately decided against it, which was not the case with other smart mattresses I’ve tested. We found that the Bryte Balancers were so rigid that we didn’t want to risk material breakdown from simply wanting the head and foot of the mattress to move up and down. I reached out to Bryte’s team to cross-confirm whether it was …

Study finds education level doesn’t stop narcissists from believing conspiracy theories

Study finds education level doesn’t stop narcissists from believing conspiracy theories

Published by José Betancourt

If there are two things the internet loves talking about, it’s conspiracy theories, and who may or may not be a narcissist. Misinformation and conspiratorial thinking are long-running concerns, while narcissism has become TikTok’s favourite armchair diagnosis. Research shows the two concepts, though seemingly separate, may actually be closely linked. In my new research published in the Journal of Personality and Individual Differences, more than 600 people completed surveys, and the findings show higher scores on measures of narcissism were linked to belief in conspiracy theories and misinformation. Importantly, this result held true regardless of how educated the participants were. Head vs heart Scholarly evidence shows people with lower levels of education are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories. But that’s only part of the story. We also know that historically, conspiracy theories have done well in times of uncertainty, including during war, economic downturn and widespread hardship (such as the COVID pandemic). A prominent explanation for this is that conspiracy beliefs serve underlying psychological needs. These include providing answers when things are unclear …