Book Report: Factfulness

 General Overview

Given the state of the world right now, the book Factfulness by Hans Rosling is a relevant work that everyone should read. The apparent overpopulation, crime, terrorism, pandemic  and many other world issues can leave society concluding that life as we know it was much better in the past. Although these issues may seem obvious, Rosling explores how with a difference in perception, the world may not be in as bad of a shape as it may seem. Rosling challenges the status quo of humanity's way of  thinking regarding the state of the world and reassures audiences that it is getting better . The book intends to give the audience hope not by just  spewing foundationless reassurance but instead with facts and statistics.

Favorite Part

My favorite part of the book occurred fairly early into the novel. It began on page 17 and spoke about the Overdramatic Worldview that we have as a society. This chapter was the one that truly grasped my attention and is where I started to enjoy what I was reading. In a nutshell this portion of the book summarizes what the entire premise of Factfulness is about. He speaks on the commonly addressed political issues and how many people in the media mislead the general public making everything seem much worse than it is. He touches on poverty and the misinterpretation on the amount of people affected by this and its extent. I also found this interesting because of how well it connected to our lecture about the way we think about things. In the lecture, it was stated that humans automatically and effortlessly use fast thinking in their everyday lives. Similarly,  Rosling speaks on the way the human brain was hardwired and how it helped our ancestors survive. He states “Our brains often jump to swift conclusions without much thinking, which used to help us to avoid immediate dangers.” This quick way of thinking that both the course and the book presented is a great explanation why people tend to overreact to situations that they shouldn’t. If more people took time to slow down and critically think about things they hear or read, there would be a lot less misinterpretation in the general population. 

Real-World Extension

This conclusion about critical thinking can be utilized in the world today, especially in recent memory. Through the past few years, there has been countless amounts of misinformation spread throughout the news and other forms of media regarding various topics. The biggest example of this I can think of is the vast amounts of lies that were spread about the COVID-19 vaccine and its effects on people’s health. Since they have been released to the public, numerous anti-vaccine people have misinformed about effectiveness to fight against the virus and side effects that will occur if the vaccination is received. The entire premise of the book Factfulness is about ignoring opinions and looking strictly at facts. Rather than instantly making a decision on the vaccine or any societal issue, the general public should critically think and do the research that is necessary to decide anything. Looking at the statistics and slowly reaching a conclusion would help many clarify all that they have misconstrued within the world. 

Rosling TED Talk About The Future State of the World

https://youtu.be/Sm5xF-UYgdg

Book report (The Scout Mindset)

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/15hpH7E-O9qRFU-I3DXbT5r3Hn2s53afm_ujRutg7iyA/edit#slide=id.g1435b0402cc_0_363

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11tmovXlxpNLAtiRhkGYvC0P7pMLz75htvZqXOY-7nE4/edit

Blog #2: Coming to an end

Mariah Schley

Lecture 4 discusses the possibility of the world coming to an end. For centuries many have believed that the world would soon come to an end. However, time after time the sun fell just to rise again. Hearing that the world might soon come to an end was a scary concept for me. This was particularly because I'm so young and often felt as if I have beardly begun to live. However, due to rapid increases in global pollution and the advancement of nuclear weapons, this could very well increase the cases of the world coming to an end.

Despite the world not yet coming to an end I strongly believe that the world will not last forever. Like many other things, we all have an expiration date. Quite honestly the world could end in a number of different ways, for instance, we could possibly use up all of the earth's resources and poison the growth preventing new growth this is why it is so important that we learn to coexist with nature and that care of our planet.

The World Is Always Coming to an End (degruyter.com)

The End of the World as We Know it: Social Science for the Twenty-first Century - Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein - Google Books

Blog #3: Aromatherapy

     I’ve struggled with anxiety since a very young age, and my mom took me to see one of her fellow yoga class attendees whose occupation was a licensed therapist. This woman introduced me to essential oils when I was young and I was obsessed with them. My mom would put the various oils into an oil diffuser and create a nice ambience in our house. I always found them to be super calming and put me into a Zen like state of mind. I would also attend yoga classes with my mom where essential oils were a key factor to the specific type of yoga we were practicing. My favorite part of the yoga class was the last 15 minutes of the class where we would lay down with our eyes closed, a blanket covering our bodies, and meditate to very calming music. The instructor would draw lines of essential oils over our foreheads. It felt like heaven. My freshman year of college was a time where I experienced a tremendous amount of stress and anxiety, so my parents provided me with a lavender essential oil from the store White Lotus that you can use as a roller to put on your wrist and neck. Before exams I’d always give my wrist a big whiff and became noticeably calmer. Is it a placebo? Maybe, who knows. All I know is that personally essential oils have aided me in coping with anxiety and many others who deal with similar struggles.

Blog #2: Salem Witch Trials

When I got to taking notes on the final lecture, I was ecstatic to see that the Salem Witch Trials were a part of the class material. I greatly enjoyed learning about these insane events in high school, and I still get skeptical to whether or not they actually occurred because of how mind blowing it was. Something that I was not aware of about the Salem Witch Trials prior to reading the slides was that two dogs were accused and executed. Besides the iconic Great Gatsby, The Crucible was my second favorite book that we were assigned to read my junior year of high school in my American literature and composition class. It’s crazy to think about because witchcraft is seen as trendy nowadays thanks to apps like Tiktok, but was seen as evil enough to result in execution back in the 1600’s. Given the fact that I’m a tarot card reader myself, I would have been toast.

Blog #1: UFO sightings and alien abduction

 Mariah Schley

Lecture 8 reviews UFOs and alien lifeforms. Throughout time in history UFO sightings have continued to be reported by thousands of people each year. Sightings of UFOs and reports of people having interactions with extraterrestrial beings have been dated back as far as some of the oldest cave drawings. Egyptians even reported the presence of UFOs which can be seen in some of the many pyramid inscriptions. Despite very little knowledge known about the galaxy many believe that there is no possibility of other forms of life outside of our planet Earth. 

I'm not quite sure that I would agree. Many others argue that extraterrestrial life does not only exist but also live among us. A great deal of people have reported sightings of UFO's around top-secret military bases such area 51. A great deal of people believe that this hints that the government is attempting to hide alien lifeforms perhaps to avoid mass panic in society. Without further knowledge there is no sure way to conclude the presence of extraterrestrial life however I believe that as we continue to advance our technology we can perhaps come to truths with this topic. 

Life as We Do Not Know It: The NASA Search for (and Synthesis of) Alien Life - Peter Ward - Google Books

Alien abduction experiences. - PsycNET (apa.org)

Book Report: Viral BS

 Kaitlyn LeVance

Overview

Viral BS by Dr. Seema Yasmin was published in 2021, and is a book I believe should be read by everyone.  Dr. Seema Yasmin is a doctor, journalist, CDC trained disease detective, and a professor. Using her  knowledge she has gained from her experience in these areas, she goes through and debunks the myths that get spread around across the globe. She focuses mainly on medical myths and explains throughout the book that false science often spreads faster than actual factual science. This is because the false science gets construed into these myths, that often cause hysteria amongst people causing all logical thinking to be thrown out a window, allowing for these myths to be easily spread across the globe. Humans tend be drawn towards the dramatics and conspiracies rather than the factual and "boring" science, which is what contributes to the rapid spread of these myths. Dr. Seema Yasmin debunks 46 myths within her book, each chapter focuses on a different myth. Within these chapters she addresses the viral myth that is being questioned. From there she focuses on finding the answers to why it was created, is there any truth to it, do people still believe it, and is it completely false. As she debunks the myth, she simultaneously explains to the reader how to debunk these myths on their own by analyzing their own thinking. She stresses to her readers that knowing the scientific method and knowing how to slow down your thinking when processing the information of these claims to avoid what she calls "fast thinking" tendencies. 

Favorite Part

Although I found the entire book to be very interesting and eye opening, the chapter that stuck out to me in particular was the one that covered whether or not mammograms  cause more problems than they detect. This chapter stuck out to me in particular because as a women, mammograms are a very important routine medical tasks to keep up with in order to ensure overall health. A few of my family-friends have been diagnosed with breast cancer, which also made this chapter stick out to me. In this chapter Dr. Seema Yasmin explains that this myth derived from when women go to get their mammograms, some may be sent back for testing of suspicious lumps and they end up being nothing. The book states,  "So for every 424 women screened in the trial, one women was over diagnosed with breast cancer and potentially received unnecessary treatment"(Seema 61). She goes on to explain that screening, such as mammograms, cause an ethical question of what to do if you see a lump that may be cancerous. And that its the job of the doctor to provide all the information to their patient and let them choose. Factors such as age, family history, medical history, lifestyle, and so many other factors can effect a women's likelihood to develop breast cancer. And that in the end its up to the patient to decide to get mammograms and if something suspicious does appear, the patient can decide where they want to go from there with the information provided from a doctor. 

This chapter along with the message of the entire book ties into lecture 9, mass delusions and hysterias. Just like the mass hysterias mentioned in the lecture, like the Salem Witch Trials, rather than people using logical thinking to find the reason those girls ere acting that way, they immediately fell for the story that they were witches. This is because, like many of the reasons people today believe the medical myths covered in the book, they rely on fast thinking tendencies and believe what makes for a more exciting story. 

Extension

This book can be used beyond this class because not only does it provide you with factual information about myths that were believed by many, it also gives you skills to help you from believing any new myths that may be construed in the future. Knowing to analyze your own thinking, slow down and think about the logistics, and being aware of your "fast thinking" tendencies are skills that can be applied through all real world problems and situations. This book is extremely useful, and has taught me a new skill set to help me make sure I don't fall into the viral bs that can get spread around. This is extremely useful in todays world as social media and technology is a big factor in todays society and false information gets spread on there in the matter of seconds. So knowing how to decipher what's true and what's not is an important skill set to have. 

Creative Extension

Below I linked a YouTube video of Dr. Seema Yasmin covering 10 myths that are circulating around Covid-19. Most of the myths have to do with preventing and treating the disease. I believe this is an important thing to cover and educate our selves on because Covid is still relevant and people are still being infected by this disease. So understanding what is true and false when it comes to the control and spread of this virus is important. 

Blog Post #3 The Salem Witch Trials

 I remember my first time ever hearing about the Salem Witch trials and the mass hysteria that came with it when I was a Sophomore in High School. In my English class we were assigned to read the crucible which was a play that took place in Salem, Massachusetts that gave insight on what times were like during this event. I find it interesting how far humanity has come from so long ago. With the advancements in science humanity has made its hard to imagine an event like this happening again. I also find it remarkable how willing every person involved in this was to accept that the girls were doing witchcraft and were punished so severely for it. It tells of how little humanity truly understood about the world compared to modern times. 

Blog Post #2 The End of the World

     The idea of the world ending can be a scary thought to the average person. Most would think that if there was ever a time for this to happen, there would be major warning signs to indicate this calamity. Although this may seem realistic, often times these occasions are foretold more-so like conspiracy theories. In the past few decades and many more to follow there will be new theorists who come out with new dates in time where humanity and the world will spontaneously cease to exist.  As stated before this can be a scary piece of information to try to process.  These theories spread like wildfire throughout news outlets and many other forms of media causing society to panic and begin to prepare for the world as they know it to change or even die off. The confusing part of this panic is that every single prediction for the world to end so far has been off the mark. 

    Despite the fact that eventually, a person will be correct about the end of the world, it is pretty easy to presume that when these theories of the end of the world come out they're most likely false. Considering this, it is incredibly jarring that the word of a wannabe Nostradamus can grasp the urgency of society easier and much more effective than the obvious signs that have already been showed of how we are currently destroying the world ourselves with humanities carelessness towards the environment. That is end of the world that we as a whole should have been focusing on all of these years. 

2012

 It is crazy to think that the world was supposed to end ten years ago. I remember being in middle school, and everyone talked about it, sharing their ideas on how the world would end. As a kid, I believed it and thought we would die. However, the following day, I woke up and started to question myself and what was happening.

Lecture 4 is about the end of the world. As I was learning about this topic, I found it interesting that people built bunkers and stocked up on canned goods and other nonperishable items, believing the world would end. I also found it interesting that there were different years when different people predicted the world would end. For example, Chris McCann believed the world was going to end on October 7th, 2015, and Sir Isaac Newton said the world was going to end in 2060 for the fifth time.

Bigfoot and The Jersey Devil

 When I was younger, I watched "Finding Bigfoot" on TV. I remember being fascinated by every episode, wondering if they would ever find anything resembling Bigfoot. I remember believing in Bigfoot as a teenager. However, I believe it is a theory, and nothing is out there. 

The same goes for The Jersey Devil. I remember hearing about it in middle school, not thinking anything of it. However, I recently saw a video that opened my eyes to believe something was out in the Batsto forest. It might not be The Jersey Devil, but it is an energy. 

Finding Bigfoot

The Jersey Devil

Blog Post #3: Psychic Detectives

     I found the story of Noreen Renier to be really fascinating. Before watching the video in the presentation, I knew little about psychics. I know the basics of it and what these people are capable of. I never really knew how much I trusted it, but since watching YouTube, I have become more and more open to the idea of it. I never would have guessed that they would make great detectives. Renier's story about finding Norman Lewis really opened my mind some more. Her psychic abilities helped detectives find the body that they had been looking for. Without her help, they probably never would have been able to find Norman Lewis. 

    If her psychic abilities were able to help find a missing body, who knows what else these psychic abilities could help. I would really like to look more into this show and do more research about this topic because it is really interesting and is something that I had never really thought of before. It is definitely a controversial topic among people about whether or not psychic abilities are accurate or not, and whether or not they are useful in law enforcement. Again, I do not know much about the science of psychic abilities, but it seems to be useful. If there are more cases in which psychics help solve cases, then I think that their abilities are absolutely helpful. However, there will probably always be controversy over the topic due to legitimate proof of their abilities working. I will be doing more research on this topic to get a better understanding of it and come up with my own opinion on whether or not I truly believe in psychic abilities. 

Book Report: Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

 

Book Overview

In this book, Kahneman’s aims to simplify for the general public the concepts of irrationality, decision making, perception, psychology, and illogical thinking. The biases of human intuition are the focus of this book. Kahneman explains how two processes—intuition and slow thinking—shape our judgment and how we may use both to our advantage. Kahneman also instructs us on how to think and prevent errors in circumstances when the stakes are extremely high using behavioral economic ideas.

Favorite Part

Chapter five is my favorite part of the book. In that chapter, Kahneman explains how when we are conscious, many calculations take place in our brains to ensure that everything is proceeding as planned, that there are no risks, and that our focus should not be diverted. The author also talks about how incorrect assumptions are made based on cognitive ease. This chapter is my favorite since it explains how we fall in routines that enable us to be lazy. When we naturally favor things that make our cognitive processes easier, we begin to build positive connections with those things, even if something that is simple to process might not always be accurate or beneficial, which can result in mistakes.

Part Related to the Course

A Machine for Jumping to Conclusions in chapter 7 is the part that I believe is related to the course as it talks about the ways of thinking with the emphasis on the halo effect. The halo effect is defined as this tendency to like or dislike for all their characteristics, even those you have not seen. In that chapter, the author believes that the halo effect is one of the ways that System 1 creates a more straightforward picture of the real world. He also highlights the decorrelate error method, which uses the views of numerous individuals to reduce the halo effect. In conclusion, the first lecture, Ways of Thinking align with Daniel Kahneman’s book Thinking Fast and Slow as they both discuss our ways of thinking.

Creative Extension

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjVQJdIrDJ0

I believe the book can be helpful because few individuals are truly conscious of their ideas. This book helps us comprehend how to effectively utilize our cognitive processes. You may strengthen your connections with others around you by reading this book. Also to better understand their thoughts and behaviors. Additionally, it aids in a clearer understanding of who we are as people and how we fit into the world.

Blog #3: UFO Abductions and Projective Testing

 Kaitlyn LeVance

Aliens and UFO's I believe are a touchy subject as people tend to lean extremely against or for the believe that aliens may or may not be real. There have been countless "encounters" that people have claimed to have to explain the unexplainable that may have happened to or around them. Personally, I believe people use aliens and UFO as a way to kind of give them a quick answer that they are looking for, rather than thinking out the logistics. I'm not saying that I don't think there is some kind of other life form out some where out in the galaxies, because that would be an assign statement as we haven't even explored it all. But with that said, do I think there is a little green alien with big black eyes circling around the sky? No. I think we have a lot of exploring that still needs to be done and whether it's in the near or far future, I believe  that one day we will discover some other kind of life form(s) living in our galaxy. 

Blog #2: Subliminal Messaging and the Mozart Effect

 Kaitlyn LeVance

Lecture 5 goes over subliminal messaging and the Mozart effect. Both of these topics are covered and are debunked of their claims that they can alter the mind in a positive way. The Mozart effect in particular, states that those who listen to classical music and Mozart specifically will gain a higher IQ and have an increase in over all intelligence. Prior to this lecture, I have never heard of this effect and so I did further research.

There is not evidence to prove that the Mozart Effect is actually effective and will improve someones overall general intelligence. And the studies that have been done, show that any improvement that was gained within participants, was very short lived. I also found out that this effect was mostly studied amongst children. This is because parents were eager to have a "smart" baby, and where willing to do whatever it takes to ensure their children's intelligence. This makes me wonder to what extend parents will go to try and have a "smart" baby, and what will expose their children to to try and increase their intelligence. 

https://parentingscience.com/mozart-effect/

Blog Post 1: The End of The World

   The one thing I learned from lecture 4 is that the easiest way to create mass hysteria among inhabitants of earth is the idea of the world coming to an end. Entertaining conspiracy theories and prophecies that involve life diminishing in a snap of a finger can cause panic to a point where people create doomsday bunkers or even stack up on cans of food as shown in the PowerPoints. According to Finder, 45% of Americans in 2021 have spent money on survival items in preparation for the worst day that is yet to come. Are they overreacting or should we all follow suit? Fortunately, we will never know the answer to that question until that day comes. 

    A great example of a prophecy creating mass hysteria was the prediction of the world ending in 2012. Instead of people being skeptical, it instilled fear and panic. Los Angeles Times reported that Government agencies such as NASA received a high volume of calls in regards to the world ending in December of 2012. Who would've thought that a government agency would have to calm hundreds of people due to a misunderstanding and false prophecies? A NASA spokesperson confirmed that there were 200-300 calls a day from people around the world. It just goes to show how much fear and concern so many people had. I recall the topic of the world ending in 2012 being all over youtube and social media during that time. Like everyone else, I was also concerned and worried but glad the apocalypse never came to fruition. 

https://www.finder.com/doomsday-prepper-statistics

https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/la-now/story/2012-12-19/dec-21-2012-fearful-end-of-world-callers-flood-nasa

Blog Post 2: End of the world

     Fear is something that I feel like drives the human race. People do not know how to react to fear and how to control that feeling. I was born in 2001, so I have no idea what it felt like to be nearing Y2k. My dad told me he remembers how some people were worried about computers crashing down, but that was really it. I think this all traces back to simply not knowing. Technology was booming and becoming more and more complicated. It was becoming newer and newer every day, and it makes sense that people were anxious about the year 2000. It was a whole new millennia. Talk of the 'end of the world' has always been a thing. People will always be superstitious and worry about the future. If someone says one thing and another person believes it, that can spread like wild fire and can cause people to freak out just a little bit. 

    I remember when the world was supposed to end in 2012. I was 11 years old and in 6th grade at the time. I remember sitting in my history class and us all staring at the clock, waiting for the exact time to pass on December 21st. That was when the world was supposed to end. I didn't think much of it, and neither did the rest of the class. We all thought of it more as a joke, but I'm sure there were people out there that truly believed it. This will be a continue cycle until the world does finally end one day (if it does) and people are always going to be fearful for it. 

    One of the things in this lecture that really interested me were the two men that both had bunkers of some sort to retreat to when things did start to go south. These people have armor, food, thousands of gallons of water, bed, etc. The other man who had the large place which wealthy people have already bought for themselves to keep themselves safe for when things get bad. Again, I think that this is all fear driving these people to go to such extremes. When the world 'ends' again, these are the people that I will be thinking about. 

    

Blog Post #1: Folk Legends

 Growing up, the vast variety of folklore was enough to invoke fear in my 8 year old heart. Although with this fear, came curiosity of the unknown. I remember countless hours at home with my family watching shows such as finding Bigfoot and dreaming of being the person who would finally prove the existence of the sasquatch. I would not consider myself superstitious by any means, but with such a large scale amount of witnesses of these mythical beings, it left the younger version of  me with a lot of time on my hands to explore such peculiar circumstances. 

Particularly, the folk legend that garnered my interest was that of the Wendigo. Although it is rather far fetched in terms of its believability, the sense of morality that the stories seemingly are trying to teach is what truly grasped my attention. The origin of the wendigo began within the lives of the Natives. It was much more common for people at that time to settle for cannibalism as a means to survive harsh climates or dire situations. The legend has it that those who engage in this activity make themselves vulnerable to possession of the wendigo spirit, ultimately transform into a creature with an undying urge of hunger. I find this concept rather interesting because rather than it just being a "scary story", it can also be used as a teaching point for the morality of humanity and right from wrong albeit in an extreme case. 

Blog Post #1: Heaven's Gate Cult

 When I read the slides and watched the videos on the Heaven's Gate Cult in the out of body experiences lecture, my mind was absolutely blown. This was a mass suicide pact made by a UFO cult in 1997, in which they gathered a powerful barbiturate called phenobarbital which they purchased in Mexico, and planned to mix it with alcohol to get the job done. The cult had a uniform composed of nike shoes that were on sale, and a patch specifically designed for "the away team" which one of the followers described as similar to a spacecraft in Star Trek. He states, "The away team goes down to the planet, does what they have to do, and comes back up." Two men named Applewhite and Nettles were seen as the keys to the kingdom of heaven. In December of 1996, the Hailbot commit moved closer to Earth to which Applewhite announced that this was the sign that he's been waiting for, and that the spaceships will soon arrive to take them home. In the video presented on the lecture, one of the followers mentioned that the day the suicides were planned would be the "happiest day of his life", and that he's been "looking forward to this for so long". My jaw literally dropped. I will never understand why certain people hold these types of beliefs, but to each their own. 

Blog Post 1: Mythical Creatures

 If you live in New Jersey, or anywhere near the Pine Barrens, you have most likely heard of the Jersey Devil. Whether you believe in it or not, you know what it is. I remember in fourth grade we actually spent time learning about the Jersey Devil. I was probably around 10 years old, so I probably believed in it at the time. I don't remember exactly why it was being taught, but I'm assuming it had something to do with the history of New Jersey. That was probably the first time in my life that I had actually heard about the Jersey Devil. Sure, I'm sure that it was talked about here and there, but I never really knew exactly  what it was. I just recently asked some family if they had any stories to share, and one of my uncles had a story of being in the Pine Barrens when he was younger. I don't remember the fully story, but he did mention how he found large scratch marks on his motorcycle. He had no idea where they came from. 

It is crazy to me to hear everyone's stories about seeing mythical creatures, such as the Jersey Devil, chupacabras, and Big Foot without a second thought. The woman from the video mentioned that she saw a chupacabra, when it could have been some sort of animal with no hair. People do not think straight away when they witness something that might scare them. That chupacabra could have been just coyote with mange or some animal with some type of disease. I personally do not believe in any of the three creatures mentioned in this lesson. As a science major, it is difficult for me to believe anyone who does not have actual proof, or proof that doesn't sound like it could be of something else. I find everyone's stories very interesting though. I think the most believable one would be the chupacabra. It could just be a new species that we do not know about. 

I do appreciate people's stories about what they find or what they think they are finding. Especially when it comes to the Jersey Devil. That probably just has something to do with being from here and having the Jersey Devil as part of New Jersey history. When though I don't believe in these superstitions, I like hearing other people talk about it and seeing how passionate they are about it.