memory refresh

Memories, the new science suggests, are actually reconstructed anew every time we access them, and appear to us a little differently each time, depending on what’s happened since. 

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remix vs originality

but the key thing is that the more likely your work is going to get remixed, the less likely it's going to be in a genuinely new and interesting way. They call this trade-off between originality and generativity "the remixing dilemma".

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Proximity vs similarity

In general, people chose friends of similar age and race. But if the friend lived down the hall, then age and race became a lot less important. Proximity overpowered similarity.

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one vs all

The first is that the individual forming part of a crowd acquires, solely from numerical considerations, a sentiment of invincible power which allows him to yield to instincts which, had he been alone, he would perforce have kept under restraint.
He will be the less disposed to check himself from the consideration that, a crowd being anonymous, and in consequence irresponsible, the sentiment of responsibility which always controls individuals disappears entirely.

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virus vs gammarid

The gammarid’s odd swimming behavior allows the parasite to take the next step in its life cycle. Unlike baculoviruses, which go from caterpillar to caterpillar, thorny-headed worms need to live in two species: a gammarid and then a bird. Hiding in the pond mud keeps a gammarid safe from predators. By forcing it to swim to the surface, the thorny-headed worm makes it an easy target.

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voting vs cereals

Since the great majority of voters presumably do not expect to influence election outcomes, who they support is influenced disproportionately by campaign rhetoric, debates among candidates that have little intellectual content, and by other methods of persuasion that are not very informative about the candidates. I like to say that consumers put more time and effort into deciding which cereal to buy and into other small consumer choices than in gathering information on economic and other issues about presidential candidates.

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80/20

Economists often talk about the 80/20 Principle, which is the idea that in any situation roughly 80 percent of the "work" will be done by 20 percent of the participants. In most societies, 20 percent of criminals commit 80 percent of crimes.

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gambling & cocaine

He was learning that a game is, at its root, a structured experience with clear goals, rules that force a player to overcome challenges, and instant feedback. What he couldn't have known then is that because they offer those clearly articulated rewards for each point players score and new level they achieve, games trigger the release of dopamine, a hormone in the brain that encourages us to explore and try new things. Since we like the feeling we get when our brains are awash in dopamine, we'll do whatever it takes to get it, over and over again. Video and computer games, as well as slot machines, are particularly good at this. They offer "threshold effects," where prizes or level changes are dribbled out to keep us hooked. It's the same system that drives compulsive gamblers and cocaine addicts.

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in & out

We are trained to think that what goes into any transaction or relationship or system must be directly related, in intensity and dimension, to what comes out.

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cats & toxoplasma

This research could potentially provide important clues about human behavior. In the case of Toxoplasma, for example, humans can become hosts if they handle contaminated cat litter or eat parasite-laden meat. Some studies have linked Toxoplasma infection with subtle changes in personality, as well as with a higher risk of schizophrenia.

life & warcraft

Since the game's release in 2004, users have racked up some 50 billion hours of playing time -- the equivalent of 5.93 million years. McGonigal points out that 5.93 million years ago is when early primates began to walk upright. "We've spent as much time playing World of Warcraft," she notes, "as we've spent evolving as a species."

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memory vs pot

The interesting thing about smoking pot is that marijuana is one of those rare drugs that seems to interact with both the dopamine and the acetylcholine system, speeding up the former and slowing down the latter. That's why when you get stoned, your heart races but your memory sucks.

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ipod & shuffle

When Apple first introduced the shuffle feature on its iPods, the shuffle was truly random; each song was equally as likely to get picked as any other. However, the randomness didn't appear random, since some songs were occasionally repeated, and customers concluded that the feature contained some secret patterns and preferences. As a result, Apple was forced to revise the algorithm. "We made it less random to make it feel more random," said Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple.*

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'oh, shit' & dopamine

Whenever the dopamine neurons make a mistaken prediction—when they expect juice but don't get it—the brain generates a unique electrical signal, known as error-related negativity.
The signal emanates from the ACC, so many neuroscientists refer to this area as the "oh, shit!" circuit.

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reason & emotion

If it weren't for our emotions, reason wouldn't exist at all.

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snoopy & gambling

"People enjoy investing in the market and gambling in a casino for the same reason that they see Snoopy in the clouds," says the neuroscientist Read Montague.
"When the brain is exposed to anything random, like a slot machine or the shape of a cloud, it automatically imposes a pattern onto the noise. But that isn't Snoopy, and you haven't found the secret pattern in the stock market."

real vs absolute

From the point of view of absolute truth a cube or a circle are invariable geometrical figures, rigorously defined by certain formulas. From the point of view of the impression they make on our eye these geometrical figures may assume very varied shapes. By perspective the cube may be transformed into a pyramid or a square, the circle into an ellipse or a straight line. Moreover, the consideration of these fictitious shapes is far more important than that of the real shapes, for it is they and they alone that we see and that can be reproduced by photography or in pictures. In certain cases there is more truth in the unreal than in the real.

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history vs people

The memorable events of history are the visible effects of the invisible changes of human thought.

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love vs bad

Bad is stronger than good. This is why in marital interactions, it generally takes at least five kind comments to compensate for one critical comment.

somebody else's problem

'A what?' he said.
An SEP.
An S ...?
... EP.
And what's that?
Somebody Else's Problem.

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sense & urgency

"Yes?" urged Arthur. He had picked up Slartibartfast's sense of urgency but didn't know what to do with it.

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reason vs lunch

A computer chatted to itself in alarm as it noticed an airlock open and close itself for no apparent reason. This was because Reason was in fact out to lunch.


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yellow vs hangover

God what a terrible hangover it had earned him though. He looked at himself in the wardrobe mirror. He stuck out his tongue. "Yellow," he thought. The word yellow wandered through his mind in search of something to connect with. Fifteen seconds later he was out of the house and lying in front of a big yellow bulldozer that was advancing up his garden path.

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