Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Sunday, May 27, 2012
the trouble with brain scans
Many of the methods on which brain scan studies are based have been flawed – as one image of a dead salmon proved
Vaughan Bell: the trouble with brain scans | Science | The Observer
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Lucre or liberty? Ireland's choice...
Ireland faces a choice between lucre and liberty | Mary Kenny http://gu.com/p/37pka
Friday, May 25, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Scams: Why are email scams written in broken English? - Quora
Scams: Why are email scams written in broken English? - Quora
and other scam links (interesting to get an insight into it)
http://www.safety-security-crazy.com/nigerian-scams.html
http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2002/07/53818
and other scam links (interesting to get an insight into it)
http://www.safety-security-crazy.com/nigerian-scams.html
http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2002/07/53818
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Not-So-Quick Fix: ADHD Behavioral Therapy May Be More Effective Than Drugs in Long Run: Scientific American
Not-So-Quick Fix: ADHD Behavioral Therapy May Be More Effective Than Drugs in Long Run: Scientific American
extract"
extract"
- students had good study habits, they did not need the medication to bolster their grades. It is not that medication has no effect, Advokat hypothesizes that "it may be that the medications can help, not in helping you remember, but in helping you form the good study habits" necessary for academic improvement. This outcome suggests that if ADHD patients could learn good study habits early on, medication could become less necessary.
- Other research has examined the role of behavioral interventions not only for school-age children, but also for their parents. Parents of children with ADHD tend to exhibit more parenting-related stress and difficulties than do those of non-afflicted offspring. After training parents in stress management and giving them behavioral tools to help their children, psychologist Bill Pelham of Florida International University and his colleagues saw significant improvement in their children's ADHD-related behavior, such as the frequency of classroom disturbances.
- Independently, Pelham has also shown that behavioral therapy for children also produced effects that were equal to some doses of medication. His data suggests that lower dosages combined with behavioral therapy may provide a far better outcome than stimulant medication or behavioral therapies alone
Monday, May 21, 2012
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Friday, May 18, 2012
Reason and politics
So, you think reason guides your politics? Think again | Simon Jenkins | Comment is free | The Guardian
Extract: " To Jonathan Haidt, reason is not how people wrestle with a problem to find a path to the right answer. That was for the Greeks (the ancient ones). Reason is rather a weapon we deploy to persuade others that we are right, and they use to prove us wrong. It is not a coming together but a driving apart. As David Hume observed, reason is subordinate to the passions. It rides into battle on the elephant of intuition. Hence the advice of modern political tacticians, that politicians should always "talk to the elephant first". Conservatives are good at talking to elephants."
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Alain de Botton on self help books
In defence of self-help books | Alain de Botton | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
Extract: "For 2,000 years in the history of the west, most of philosophy simply was self-help. The Ancients were the most adept practitioners. Epicurus wrote some 300 self-help books on almost every topic, including On Love, On Justice and On Human Life.
Christianity continued in this vein, with such bestselling guides as Thomas a Kempis's The Imitation of Christ. What, then, explains the gradual decline in the prestige of self-help books that continues to this day? A key catalyst was the development of the modern university system that in the mid-19th century became the main employer for philosophers and intellectuals and started to reward them not for being useful or consoling, but for getting their facts right. There began an obsession with accuracy and a corresponding neglect of utility. The idea of turning to a philosopher or historian in order to become wise (an entirely natural assumption for our ancestors) started to seem laughably idealistic and adolescent. Alongside this came a growing secularisation of society, which emphasised that the modern human being could do the business of living and dying by relying on sheer common sense, a good accountant, a sympathetic doctor and hearty doses of faith in science. The citizens of the future weren't supposed to need lectures in how to stay calm or free of anxiety."
Extract: "For 2,000 years in the history of the west, most of philosophy simply was self-help. The Ancients were the most adept practitioners. Epicurus wrote some 300 self-help books on almost every topic, including On Love, On Justice and On Human Life.
Christianity continued in this vein, with such bestselling guides as Thomas a Kempis's The Imitation of Christ. What, then, explains the gradual decline in the prestige of self-help books that continues to this day? A key catalyst was the development of the modern university system that in the mid-19th century became the main employer for philosophers and intellectuals and started to reward them not for being useful or consoling, but for getting their facts right. There began an obsession with accuracy and a corresponding neglect of utility. The idea of turning to a philosopher or historian in order to become wise (an entirely natural assumption for our ancestors) started to seem laughably idealistic and adolescent. Alongside this came a growing secularisation of society, which emphasised that the modern human being could do the business of living and dying by relying on sheer common sense, a good accountant, a sympathetic doctor and hearty doses of faith in science. The citizens of the future weren't supposed to need lectures in how to stay calm or free of anxiety."
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
The wrong Carlos: how Texas sent an innocent man to his death | World news | guardian.co.uk
The wrong Carlos: how Texas sent an innocent man to his death | World news | guardian.co.uk
"A few years ago, Antonin Scalia, one of the nine justices on the US supreme court, made a bold statement. There has not been, he said, "a single case – not one – in which it is clear that a person was executed for a crime he did not commit. If such an event had occurred … the innocent's name would be shouted from the rooftops."
Scalia may have to eat his words. It is now clear that a person was executed for a crime he did not commit, and his name – Carlos DeLuna – is being shouted from the rooftops of the Columbia Human Rights Law Review"
"A few years ago, Antonin Scalia, one of the nine justices on the US supreme court, made a bold statement. There has not been, he said, "a single case – not one – in which it is clear that a person was executed for a crime he did not commit. If such an event had occurred … the innocent's name would be shouted from the rooftops."
Scalia may have to eat his words. It is now clear that a person was executed for a crime he did not commit, and his name – Carlos DeLuna – is being shouted from the rooftops of the Columbia Human Rights Law Review"
Monday, May 14, 2012
The Amygdala Made Me Do It - NYTimes.com
It’s the invasion of the Can’t-Help-Yourself books :
The Amygdala Made Me Do It - NYTimes.com
The Amygdala Made Me Do It - NYTimes.com
- These books possess a unifying theme: The choices we make in day-to-day life are prompted by impulses lodged deep within the nervous system. Not only are we not masters of our fate; we are captives of biological determinism. Once we enter the portals of the strange neuronal world known as the brain, we discover that — to put the matter plainly — we have no idea what we’re doing.
- Why now? To pose the question that psychiatrists ask their patients, why are we preoccupied all at once with the how instead of the why of things?
- But of course what one “feels,” as we’ve learned from all these books, could well be — indeed, probably is — an illusion. As Timothy Wilson puts it with haunting simplicity: “We are strangers to ourselves.” Strangers who can learn how to be friends.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Friday, May 11, 2012
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Gay marriage: three key factors behind voting for bans
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/may/10/gay-marriage-three-key-factors-voting-bans
- wanted to examine whether the percentage of religious adherents, taken from the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA), within a state could explain county-to-county variance in support of marriage bans. I also added variables for partisanship (as measured by Obama's 2008 vote percentage) and for educational attainment (as measured by the percentage of voters within each county with at least a bachelor's degree, according to census figures).
- What I found many would call predictable: 89-93.5% of the variation in vote for same-sex marriage amendments could simply be accounted for these three variables. One of the more interesting pieces of data is that the variable with the least impact is religion. For every extra percentage point of a county's population that is religiously adherent, there is only a 0.1-point change we would see in support for marriage bans.
- Education, it turns out, is far more important at accounting for the differences between county votes in favor of same sex marriage bans. When holding religious adherence and Obama support constant, we would expect that the percentage of support for same-sex marriage bans to drop by 0.8-0.9 of a point for every extra 1% of a county's population that has at least a bachelor's degree.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Our Emotional Brain - All In The Mind - ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Pioneering neuroscientist Richard Davidson deepens our understanding of the mind-body connection. He’s identified six unique emotional styles and explains the brain chemistry underlying them - resilience, outlook, social intuition, self-awareness, context, attention.
He explains that there are simple strategies and interventions which we can use to change our emotional styles. He believes one effective example is through mindfulness meditation, after studying the brain scans of people who practice it.
Our Emotional Brain - All In The Mind - ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Lynne Malcolm: But what about those of us who don’t choose to spend many, many, many hours of time practising mindfulness meditation? How much meditation do you need to do?
Richard Davidson: Great question and we’ve wondered about that ourselves and that has led us to do many studies now with ordinary people who are just learning to meditate for the first time. And in our recent work we find as little as two weeks of practice for 30 minutes a day is sufficient to produce a discernable change in the brain that can be measured. And recent findings in the scientific literature indicate that 8 weeks of meditation practice of mindfulness meditation can actually produce a structural change in the brain, a change in the physical structure that can be measured with a MRI scan. So the answer is that relatively short amounts of practice can produce discernable changes in the brain.
He explains that there are simple strategies and interventions which we can use to change our emotional styles. He believes one effective example is through mindfulness meditation, after studying the brain scans of people who practice it.
Our Emotional Brain - All In The Mind - ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Lynne Malcolm: But what about those of us who don’t choose to spend many, many, many hours of time practising mindfulness meditation? How much meditation do you need to do?
Richard Davidson: Great question and we’ve wondered about that ourselves and that has led us to do many studies now with ordinary people who are just learning to meditate for the first time. And in our recent work we find as little as two weeks of practice for 30 minutes a day is sufficient to produce a discernable change in the brain that can be measured. And recent findings in the scientific literature indicate that 8 weeks of meditation practice of mindfulness meditation can actually produce a structural change in the brain, a change in the physical structure that can be measured with a MRI scan. So the answer is that relatively short amounts of practice can produce discernable changes in the brain.
Ten things you need to know about tax | Money | The Guardian
Ten things you need to know about tax | Money | The Guardian
extracts
extracts
- 'Taxes are the price we pay for civilisation," US supreme court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
- Philosopher Peter Singer addresses this issue in his book on American politics, The President of Good and Evil. "It makes no sense to talk of the money you would have if the government did not levy taxes," he writes. Imagine, he suggests, you're working for a car manufacturer and get $1,000 a week, $200 of which is taken in taxes. Why can't I donate that $200 to the donkey sanctuary or use it to destroy my septum with illegal drugs, professor? Well, says Singer, your car company could not make cars without a legal system that protects mining rights, private ownership of land, accepted currency, transport systems, energy production, an educated labour force, patent protection, judicial resolution of disputes, national defence, protection of trading routes
- Nobel prize-winning economist Herbert Simon once estimated that it is such social capital ? or the social environment in a wealthy country such as the US or UK ? that enables its residents to generate 90% of its income.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Sciam 60 Second Mind snippets
Shut Off E-Mail to Ease Work Stress
Workers who turned off their e-mail had lower stress and did less multitasking compared with co-workers who left their in-boxes open. Sophie Bushwick reports
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=shut-off-e-mail-to-ease-work-stress-12-05-07
If We Feel Too Busy, It's Probably Due to Having Too Much Free Time
A forthcoming study finds that keeping busy with selfless tasks greatly expands our perception of how much time we have. Christie Nicholson reports
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=if-we-feel-too-busy-its-probably-du-12-04-22
Mind Wandering Is Linked to Your Working Memory
A new study has found a strong correlation between how much your mind wanders and your working memory capacity
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=mind-wandering-is-linked-to-your-wo-12-03-17
How to Gain Self-Control
New research finds a relatively simple method to increase your capacity for self-control. Christie Nicholson report
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=how-to-gain-self-control-12-03-10
So we can increase our capacity for self-control. And the way we do that doesn?t have to be as drastic as using your non-dominant hand. The researchers say even committing to keeping your posture straight can make a difference
.
Workers who turned off their e-mail had lower stress and did less multitasking compared with co-workers who left their in-boxes open. Sophie Bushwick reports
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=shut-off-e-mail-to-ease-work-stress-12-05-07
If We Feel Too Busy, It's Probably Due to Having Too Much Free Time
A forthcoming study finds that keeping busy with selfless tasks greatly expands our perception of how much time we have. Christie Nicholson reports
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=if-we-feel-too-busy-its-probably-du-12-04-22
Mind Wandering Is Linked to Your Working Memory
A new study has found a strong correlation between how much your mind wanders and your working memory capacity
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=mind-wandering-is-linked-to-your-wo-12-03-17
How to Gain Self-Control
New research finds a relatively simple method to increase your capacity for self-control. Christie Nicholson report
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=how-to-gain-self-control-12-03-10
So we can increase our capacity for self-control. And the way we do that doesn?t have to be as drastic as using your non-dominant hand. The researchers say even committing to keeping your posture straight can make a difference
.
My day doing everything the internet told me to | Technology | The Guardian
"the wise web at work: bored by being a facilitator, it wants to second-guess us at every turn. Log on, read more, email this to a friend, like, buy, click, click, click. But how good is its advice? There is only one way to find out. For one day, I will aim to do what the internet tells me, and wherever it points me, I will follow."
My day doing everything the internet told me to | Technology | The Guardian
My day doing everything the internet told me to | Technology | The Guardian
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Populism in Europe
European elections: the false promises of populism | Jan-Werner Mueller | Comment is free | The Guardian
Abstract:
"
- Here's the key characteristic of populism: populists contrast an image of a pure, homogeneous people with that of a corrupt or at least, uncaring elite that colludes with those who are not properly part of the national body politic. That can mean both those at the very top of the social ladder and those at the very bottom: in the populist imagination, elites work hand in hand with "global finance capitalism" but also pay too much attention (and money) to the poor who do not really belong to us and yet somehow live off us.
- They do not think they are the 99%. They think they're the 100%.
- So how to relate to populists? Pandering never works in the long run: Sarkozy took votes from the Front National in 2007, but also legitimated the LePeniste perspective. And that perspective is ultimately always more credibly embodied by a Le Pen. But neither will it do for elites to dismiss populists with a Thatcherite (and now Merkelite) claim that "there is no alternative" to what they are doing. In fact, technocracy curiously mirrors populism: only one possible policy here, only one possible voice of the people there; nothing really to talk about.
- In fact, technocracy and populism reinforce each other: liberal elites become ever more distrustful of democracy; illiberal people seek to defy them. Instead, politicians need to acknowledge that there are alternatives, justify the one they have chosen as best they can and argue that ultimately politics is about issues and institutions – not about pure identity, as populists insist."
Friday, May 4, 2012
What should we pay MPs? You won't like the answer | Polly Toynbee
What should we pay MPs? You won't like the answer | Polly Toynbee | Comment is free | The Guardian
Extract :
When asked what motivates MPs, as many think it's "their own personal gain" as "to help people in their local area". But social class DE is twice as likely as ABs to think MPs self-serving. To a DE, an MP's salary of £65,738 is a fortune, two and a half times more than the median. Half the population earns under that £26,000, DEs a lot less – and they vote less. High earners may sympathise more with Hansard's finding that a third of new-intake MPs took a salary cut of £30,000 or more. Earners in the top tenth, on more than £52,400, mistakenly think their pay more ordinary than it is.
Who would you compare an MP with? An average primary head gets less, £52,000, but a secondary head gets more – £73,000. Financial managers average £59,000, personnel managers get £43,000. Some say an MP should earn the same as the average voter. Yet set pay too low and good professionals will be deterred, leaving only the wealthy, such as the Tory front bench, to stand. It was Chartists, not toffs, who demanded MPs be fairly paid. We need MPs from more varied social backgrounds: few now start out from manual jobs, with too many thinktankers and researchers. But would lower pay diversify the intake?
Extract :
When asked what motivates MPs, as many think it's "their own personal gain" as "to help people in their local area". But social class DE is twice as likely as ABs to think MPs self-serving. To a DE, an MP's salary of £65,738 is a fortune, two and a half times more than the median. Half the population earns under that £26,000, DEs a lot less – and they vote less. High earners may sympathise more with Hansard's finding that a third of new-intake MPs took a salary cut of £30,000 or more. Earners in the top tenth, on more than £52,400, mistakenly think their pay more ordinary than it is.
Who would you compare an MP with? An average primary head gets less, £52,000, but a secondary head gets more – £73,000. Financial managers average £59,000, personnel managers get £43,000. Some say an MP should earn the same as the average voter. Yet set pay too low and good professionals will be deterred, leaving only the wealthy, such as the Tory front bench, to stand. It was Chartists, not toffs, who demanded MPs be fairly paid. We need MPs from more varied social backgrounds: few now start out from manual jobs, with too many thinktankers and researchers. But would lower pay diversify the intake?
Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone unveiled
Samsung has unveiled its latest flagship smartphone - the Galaxy S3.
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-17935684
Another shiny-shiny new piece of gadgetry on the market, with the Galaxy S3 marking the next round of smartphone generations - quad-cores, super displays, mega megapixels etc.
Despite my fawning interest in the latest gadgets, I admit I do think that when it comes to smartphones I'm nearing 'feature-saturation'; while for years always had a personal wishlist of things I'd like to see on my phone, being honest currently in my tablet and phone I think I have pretty much all the things I'd really use (tho not of course all the things that would be nice to have). This is not to say all the generations have just been pointless gimickry, things like wifi tethering, good multitasking, media streaming and copious memory were all in my view valueable new elements, but overall I've suspected that the latest range of was due to include mere improvements on such existing funcitons, rather than additions of new really useful ones. In particular I thought quad-cores weren't something I really needed on a phone. However, having looked at the latest S3 features, I think I might actually be proved wrong:
The most notable (to me) features :
And of course while happy enough with my current phone camera, 12MP plus flash,plus processing features while not a quantum step (and already probably in plenty of recent phones) does bring this area to perhaps it's final level.
So all in all surprisingly impressed by the latest Galaxy, and just hope that large screen fits in my Christmas stocking (and budget) :-)
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-17935684
Another shiny-shiny new piece of gadgetry on the market, with the Galaxy S3 marking the next round of smartphone generations - quad-cores, super displays, mega megapixels etc.
Despite my fawning interest in the latest gadgets, I admit I do think that when it comes to smartphones I'm nearing 'feature-saturation'; while for years always had a personal wishlist of things I'd like to see on my phone, being honest currently in my tablet and phone I think I have pretty much all the things I'd really use (tho not of course all the things that would be nice to have). This is not to say all the generations have just been pointless gimickry, things like wifi tethering, good multitasking, media streaming and copious memory were all in my view valueable new elements, but overall I've suspected that the latest range of was due to include mere improvements on such existing funcitons, rather than additions of new really useful ones. In particular I thought quad-cores weren't something I really needed on a phone. However, having looked at the latest S3 features, I think I might actually be proved wrong:
The most notable (to me) features :
- 4.8 screen with 309ppi Super AMOLED display. Probably about as large and detailed as need get in my view (maybe too large, will have to hold to decide)
- 1.4 GHz quad-core with 1GB of RAM
- smart power system whereby front camera tracks eyes and dims screen if detects you're not looking at it. Could be a nice feature if works seamlessly.
- video-in-corner to allow do other tasks in parallel. While might seem pretty useless, personally have often been watching a documentary or something and want to scribble a note, thought etc. in parallel.
- streaming to TV, streaming from PC
- 50 GB of dropbox space
- mirror function : send screen output to another device. Very cool for gaming (and reminds me of the main reason I broke with Apple: because on my IPOD touch the TV out was disabled by fiat - but supported by hardware as evidenced by jailbreaked versions - from outputting games to TV)
- 8MP camera with flash. Probably nearing as good as one can get with the squashed optics on a phone (at least without some new step change in technology)
- voice control seems to be the big new thing, and Samsung has it's own version S voice (to rival Apple's Siri) but I'm still not convinced this will really work out - tho admittedly have yet to try the latest systems
- some deal with renting movies via the phone (good when coupled with stream to tv option)
And of course while happy enough with my current phone camera, 12MP plus flash,plus processing features while not a quantum step (and already probably in plenty of recent phones) does bring this area to perhaps it's final level.
So all in all surprisingly impressed by the latest Galaxy, and just hope that large screen fits in my Christmas stocking (and budget) :-)
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Markets can't magic up good teachers. Nor can bonuses | Zoe Williams | Comment is free | The Guardian
Markets can't magic up good teachers. Nor can bonuses | Zoe Williams | Comment is free | The Guardian
Extract :
Extract :
- the argument for payment by results is as follows: the Sutton Trust found that good teachers are the single greatest factor in improving social mobility. Therefore if you raise teaching standards you stimulate social mobility. The flaw here is that it doesn't follow that good teaching is engendered by specific financial rewards. It's quite possible that teachers entered the field in the first place because they weren't that interested in competing for money.
- In the US, they've been experimenting with payment-by-result systems for years. And mainly the outcomes are poor; occasionally, a state might throw up a programme that works (Texas's system seems to work in a modest way). But my main reservation is that America is a stupid country to be looking to in the first place, when it has the worst results for state-educated pupils, which correlates neatly with its status as one of the most unequal countries in the OECD. It is absolutely nonsensical to be trying to pick apart the US system to find the bits that work slightly better than all the bits that don't work at all.
- Why can't we take as our starting point a nation whose 15 year-olds have maths and literacy scores we'd actually want to emulate? Countries where inequality is very high tend to be the same as the ones who think that everything will get better once you put a price on it. Then when things don't improve, they think the problem is their bonuses weren't sufficiently well designed. It never seems to occur to them that there are mines deeper than silver and gold.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Google's problem is that it now believes itself above others – even governments | Technology | guardian.co.uk
The FCC revelations showing that Google's engineer knew that Street View would collect data, followed by the company's obstructive behaviour to the investigation, show that it has grown too big for its management
Google's problem is that it now believes itself above others – even governments | Technology | guardian.co.uk
[a problem with the 'dont do evil' motto is] it can draw people into thinking that because that's the company motto, they can't be evil. That's the real mistake. Google's staff are just as capable of being evil, through omission or commission, as anyone else. And now that the company is so gigantic, it becomes easier for bad practices to slip through at a low level and because everyone trusts everyone, because nobody thinks that they're the bad one, bad things can in fact happen
Google's problem is that it now believes itself above others – even governments | Technology | guardian.co.uk
[a problem with the 'dont do evil' motto is] it can draw people into thinking that because that's the company motto, they can't be evil. That's the real mistake. Google's staff are just as capable of being evil, through omission or commission, as anyone else. And now that the company is so gigantic, it becomes easier for bad practices to slip through at a low level and because everyone trusts everyone, because nobody thinks that they're the bad one, bad things can in fact happen
Time to stop wasting the minds of a whole generation | Paul Krugman
They always used say that Ireland never knew whether it wanted to follow Boston or Berlin. The irony this time is that it is Berlin which seems to be pursuing the conservative economic agenda, while the US seems more Keynesian.
Time to stop wasting the minds of a whole generation | The Irish Times
Time to stop wasting the minds of a whole generation | The Irish Times
Mark Zuckerberg: You know what's cool? A billion organ donors
"Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's CEO, announced today that the social network is making it easier for its one billion users to register to donate and broadcast their organ donor status to their networks.
The hope is that the viral effect of do-gooder peer pressure will move thousands of people to become donors to one of the more than 114,000 Americans waiting for livers, hearts, kidneys or other organs."
Mark Zuckerberg: You know what's cool? A billion organ donors | Technology | guardian.co.uk
While I have an initial instinctive negative reaction to any new Facebook 'scheme' (they've definitely lost the branding war with me - I admit a similar headline from Google would have the opposite gut reflex) this is actually a great idea. Organ donation is an area which needs improvement, and the main barrier is the fact that people have to make a conscious decision to donate, and it is more the depressing and negative feeling when considering one's own death and body parts that puts them off, rather than a rational objection (hence if there was assumed consent, and people could opt-out if they wanted, studies show few people actually would). So putting it out in the open, and tapping into the viral power of online peer relations, has to be a good thing. Also will mean that quite literally, people will actually have to put their heart into it, when they click 'like'.
The hope is that the viral effect of do-gooder peer pressure will move thousands of people to become donors to one of the more than 114,000 Americans waiting for livers, hearts, kidneys or other organs."
Mark Zuckerberg: You know what's cool? A billion organ donors | Technology | guardian.co.uk
While I have an initial instinctive negative reaction to any new Facebook 'scheme' (they've definitely lost the branding war with me - I admit a similar headline from Google would have the opposite gut reflex) this is actually a great idea. Organ donation is an area which needs improvement, and the main barrier is the fact that people have to make a conscious decision to donate, and it is more the depressing and negative feeling when considering one's own death and body parts that puts them off, rather than a rational objection (hence if there was assumed consent, and people could opt-out if they wanted, studies show few people actually would). So putting it out in the open, and tapping into the viral power of online peer relations, has to be a good thing. Also will mean that quite literally, people will actually have to put their heart into it, when they click 'like'.
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