Deric Bownds

LATEST ARTICLES ( 2661 )

• For a Tranquil Start to Your Week, Debussy with Flowers

  In my slow cruising through old MindBlog posts, I just came across the following post from Monday, March 2, 2009.....perhaps a faintly calming antidote to our... Read more

  Posted on 06 July 2020 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Some Rambling on "Selves" and "Purpose"

  I've decided to re-post the following text from a MindBlog post of Oct. 9, 2007, which I found while cruising old posts. A bit terse and disjointed, but I like... Read more

  Posted on 06 July 2020 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Which Way Are You Wagging Your Tail?

  

  Blakeslee writes a review (PDF here) of work by Vallortigara et al (PDF here) on emotional asymmetric tail wagging by dogs that is a further reflection of... Read more

  Posted on 03 July 2020 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Response to Climate change...."Managed Retreat"

  This PNAS Core Concepts article by John Carey is worth a read. Here is its beginning: As climate change causes seas to rise and fuels ever-stronger storms and... Read more

  Posted on 02 July 2020 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Five Epic Crises All at Once - David Brooks

  I've been preparing a few summaries for a meeting this coming Sunday of The Austin Rainbow Forum, a senior group that discusses current topics and ideas. Read more

  Posted on 01 July 2020 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Feeling Bad is Not Bad.

  MindBlog is passing on the link to each of Arthur Brooks' biweekly articles in his series "How to Build a Life". This latest installment deals with negative... Read more

  Posted on 30 June 2020 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• MindBlog's Half-sour Pickle Recipe

  

  This posting falls under the "random curious stuff" category mentioned in the title box of this blog. At the social/musical at my Twin Valley home on June 29*,... Read more

  Posted on 30 June 2020 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Pandemic Has Put History on Fast-forward.

  Edited clips from Ross Douthat's NYTimes Op-Ed piece, suggesting that: ...when the coronavirus era finally ends, there will be a Rip Van Winkle feeling — a sens... Read more

  Posted on 29 June 2020 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Vote-by-mail Has No Impact on Partisan Turnout Or Vote Share

  Some factual data from Thompson et al. which we can be sure will be ignored by those trying to suppress voting by opposing mail in ballots: Significance In... Read more

  Posted on 26 June 2020 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• MindBlog Statistics.

  

  I'm a complete dunce at paying attention to or understanding the number of people who make use of Deric's Mindblog, which started in 2006. Read more

  Posted on 25 June 2020 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The University Is Like a CD in the Streaming Age

  Having lectured in university classrooms for about 40 years, but not since 2005, I am blown away by changes in the academy that technology has wrought since... Read more

  Posted on 25 June 2020 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Stephen Wolfram - Computation All the Way Down

  I not sure I really grok this, but if you want big thinking, here you go...... This edge.org link takes you to Wolfram's whole essay. Read more

  Posted on 24 June 2020 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• 10 Reasons Why a 'Greater Depression' for the 2020s is Inevitable.

  Try to hang on to any threads of optimism you might still have as I summarize,from an article in The Guardian by Nouriel Roubini, 10 ominous and risky trends:... Read more

  Posted on 23 June 2020 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Why Have Stocks Been Rising.?

  I pass on clips the cook down the main points from Derek Thompson's recent article that makes several clarifying points: The COVID-19 crisis is simultaneously... Read more

  Posted on 22 June 2020 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Molecular Choreography of Acute Exercise

  Reynolds points to work of Contrepois et al, who had 36 volunteers, age range 40-75, complete a standard treadmill endurance test, running at an increasing... Read more

  Posted on 19 June 2020 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Nostalgia... Remember Disco??

  On my current tour through old MindBlog posts I came across this one from Jan 24, 2018, done during my early snowbird years in Fort Lauderdale, good energy to... Read more

  Posted on 18 June 2020 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Jon Stewart Weighs Back In.....

  I was struck by bits of clarity in David Marchese's interview of Jon Stewart. The interview was occasioned by the upcoming release of Stewart's satirical new... Read more

  Posted on 17 June 2020 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• As Diversity Increases, People Paradoxically Perceive Social Groups as More...

  From Bai et al.: Significance Globalization and immigration expose people to increased diversity, challenging them to think in new ways about new people. Read more

  Posted on 15 June 2020 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• The Psyche is Not Inside Us but Between Us.

  I want to pass on a few clips from an article by psychotherapist James Barnes on the work and ideas of Donald Winnicott (1896-1971), a central figure in... Read more

  Posted on 12 June 2020 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE

• Making Us/Them Dichotomies More Benign.

  

  I'm reposting this item from 2016 as particularly relevant to the present.... Interesting thoughts from Robert Sapolsky: A truly discouraging thing to me is... Read more

  Posted on 11 June 2020 PSYCHOLOGY, SCIENCE