New study into the effects of online on children .

[Script]

Or people hired to work on train platforms pushing people to help them squeeze into already packed train cars. (Not sure why I shared that, but a cultural difference you wouldn't see here).

That"s one of the many many famous 'images' of Japan.  Reality looks very different though. But indeed, one huge difference btw. J and US, purely geographically, is space confinement.

Imagine millions of people commuting into a megalopolis like Tokyo and everybody was fighting to be the first on the train. Therefore, they regulate traffic -- these days not by pushing more people in but stopping more / too many from entering, cos there are more people waiting at the next station. And trains come every two to three minutes anyway. Call it 'rules', I call it common sense.

In Japan, technology doesn't really separate people that much. On the contrary. What separates people is working conditions and the employment market. But massive landslide changes happening right now...

 

[JohnRoberts]

Sorry no insult intended, just seems odd to many Americans accustomed to our wide open spaces and relatively cheap land. We seem to be self-organizing into identifying as either country mice, or city mice...(I would be a country mouse).  8)


JR

PS: For another example of hollyweird proselytizing, I caught the first episode of new TV series last night. In the first episode they established the lead actor in prison with a very long sentence, falsely convicted of a drug crime. His gay female prison warden is married to a gay women running for office to replace the corrupt older white male prosecutor who put him in jail. This checked all the diversity boxes and flipped the script on old stereotypes about who the good guys and bad guys are. I worry that old white bad guys are quickly becoming cliches and the new stereotype.  BTW the prisoner lead actor also self taught himself law and won license to practice law from inside prison...  Surely the expected arc of the series is for him to win his own release from the corrupt system. The show was actually pretty well written but the sermon does not seem like a very good lesson for impressionable viewers IMO.  From reading the Cialdini book apparently we are all easily manipulated... we make many life decisions using a form of auto pilot, so must remain constantly alert for bad input data.  Of course opinions vary.

 

[living sounds]

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/feb/19/researchers-find-a-western-style-diet-can-impair-brain-function

 

[JohnRoberts]

It is human nature to desire magical answers (excuses?).... the diet/weight loss industry is a poster boy for this.  The book I mentioned recently (Psychology of eating and drinking, explains some of that behavior.)

I am currently reading another book about human decision making (Thinking fast and slow) written by a Nobel prize winner.  400+ pages that I haven't finished reading yet, but it looks promising.

JR

 

[living sounds]

It's not a good idea to allow corporations to exploit the science to lure people into buying their unhealthy products at will. Looking at the detrimental effects of sugary food obejctively the conclusion must be that it clearly deserves to be regulated just like cigarettes and alcohol.

 

[JohnRoberts]

It's not a good idea to allow corporations to exploit the science to lure people into buying their unhealthy products at will. Looking at the detrimental effects of sugary food obejctively the conclusion must be that it clearly deserves to be regulated just like cigarettes and alcohol.

Some people see government as the solution for everything, other people (like me) the problem.

You would love Mike Bloomberg, while mayor of NYC he attempted to reduce consumption of sugary drinks with taxes and regulations. He even restricted drink cup sizes available.

I have long been critical of the fast food industry. As I have shared before we are wired to eat as much as we can in times of plenty. We are now perpetually in that zone of food being plentiful. Even poor nations start to experience lifestyle diseases like metabolic syndrome (including type II diabetes) from over-eating almost as quickly as they escape poverty.

Education can help humans who tend to go through life on automatic pilot, so are not very thoughtful about specific food choices. I have struggled with weight my entire adult life, it is not easy. Increased government food regulation would have  zero benefit for me, and mostly irritate the heck out of me.  While you are at it, maybe get the government to mandate physical exercise. 

They (government) need to continue their focus on food safety and preventing widespread nutritional deficiencies (like iodized salt, enriched bread, vit D in milk, etc).  Perhaps include better nutrition education in schools, but the FDA food pyramid has been flawed (probably corrupted by commercial interests) forever. Magical dietary thinking alternates between painting single macronutrients as the lone bad guy...  Fat was (still is?) the bad guy, then sugar (or high glycemic index carbohydrates) became the new bad guy, the real answer is sensible energy balance, i.e. all macronutrients are OK in moderation. 

JR

 

[Script]

book about human decision making (Thinking fast and slow) ...

Sound interesting. What's it called? By who?
One of my various jobs requires me to make far-reaching decision literally within seconds...

 

[scott2000]

I think (that) is the name.... Everything else in a search seems to line up with it....

 

[JohnRoberts]

Sound interesting. What's it called?

Like I posted... "Thinking fast and slow"

By who?

Daniel Kahneman..

Did you try a search? NYT best seller...

One of my various jobs requires me to make far-reaching decision literally within seconds...

That does not seem like the best way to reach good decisions unless maybe you are an air traffic controller with no other alternative. AI might help that, computers are fast.
===
I just finished reading the introduction but don't think it helps us make decisions faster just explores the different ways our brain approaches decision making.

JR

 

[Script]

Thanks for pointing the way. And sorry for resorting to System 1 when asking for the title and author name -- or, in other terms, for allowing laziness to take over...

 

[living sounds]

Some people see government as the solution for everything, other people (like me) the problem.

You would love Mike Bloomberg, while mayor of NYC he attempted to reduce consumption of sugary drinks with taxes and regulations. He even restricted drink cup sizes available.

I have long been critical of the fast food industry. As I have shared before we are wired to eat as much as we can in times of plenty. We are now perpetually in that zone of food being plentiful. Even poor nations start to experience lifestyle diseases like metabolic syndrome (including type II diabetes) from over-eating almost as quickly as they escape poverty.

Education can help humans who tend to go through life on automatic pilot, so are not very thoughtful about specific food choices. I have struggled with weight my entire adult life, it is not easy. Increased government food regulation would have  zero benefit for me, and mostly irritate the heck out of me.  While you are at it, maybe get the government to mandate physical exercise. 

They (government) need to continue their focus on food safety and preventing widespread nutritional deficiencies (like iodized salt, enriched bread, vit D in milk, etc).  Perhaps include better nutrition education in schools, but the FDA food pyramid has been flawed (probably corrupted by commercial interests) forever. Magical dietary thinking alternates between painting single macronutrients as the lone bad guy...  Fat was (still is?) the bad guy, then sugar (or high glycemic index carbohydrates) became the new bad guy, the real answer is sensible energy balance, i.e. all macronutrients are OK in moderation. 

JR

Regulation was very sucessfull in Norway:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/20/norwegians-cut-sugar-intake-to-lowest-level-in-44-years

It would also be possible to mandate sugar free alternatives, which are to cost at least 30% less etc.

This is really easy, it's only ideology and lobbying that prevents us from fighting the problem.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Thanks for pointing the way. And sorry for resorting to System 1 when asking for the title and author name -- or, in other terms, for allowing laziness to take over...

System 1 and System 2 thinking allow us to more effectively allocate our cognitive resources without being overwhelmed by routine decision making.

System 1 may be appropriate for most brewery posts.  :

JR

 

[living sounds]

System 1 may be appropriate for most brewery posts.  :

JR

Speak for yourself. 

 

[fazer]

System 1 may be appropriate for most brewery posts.  :

All the post I wish I had not posted were from system 1 thought when system 2 would Have forced me to take more time or just not posted in the first place.

 

[Script]

Just ordered the book used from A.co.jp

Quite sure it will turn out to have been a System 2 decision

I'm not into air traffic control, more like time management including many micro decisions, which all NEED to be System 2, but sometimes have to be based purely on instinct. It's like continuous (re-)structuring by thinking in options.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Just ordered the book used from A.co.jp

Quite sure it will turn out to have been a System 2 decision

I'm not into air traffic control, more like time management including many micro decisions, which all NEED to be System 2, but sometimes have to be based purely on instinct. It's like continuous (re-)structuring by thinking in options.

System 2 decisions are "effortful"... Having to make too many without enough time must be exhausting.

I am only a couple chapters into it but I am learning stuff I did not know... always a good thing.

JR

 

[Script]

Yes, exhausting, but it makes 12 hours pass very quickly

 

[JohnRoberts]

Yes, exhausting, but it makes 12 hours pass very quickly

In an ironic coincidence as I finish reading early chapters in that book, sugary drinks help us perform effortful thinking by replenishing brain glucose, that gets depleted.  Don't tell Mayor Bloomberg. 

JR

 

[Script]

Concurred. It's a trick my Dad taught me when I entered primary school. I'm skinny, confirmed non-diabetic and have extremely low blood pressure (hence all the coffee).

The oldest people in Japan live in subtropical Okinawa (physical sluggishness), as well as in the very cold regions of the Japanese Alps (hybernation). Not much to be read about people inbetween, except that many are busy monitoring their diet.

This clearly is a System 1 post

 

[JohnRoberts]

Concurred. It's a trick my Dad taught me when I entered primary school. I'm skinny, confirmed non-diabetic and have extremely low blood pressure (hence all the coffee).

Sugary snacks are common fare for coffee breaks from work, perhaps a method to that madness...

The oldest people in Japan live in subtropical Okinawa (physical sluggishness), as well as in the very cold regions of the Japanese Alps (hybernation). Not much to be read about people inbetween, except that many are busy monitoring their diet.

Okinawa residents have been studied regarding their longevity attributed by some to a lower calorie diet than most populations.

The author has not addressed this yet, but it seems that practicing effortful dietary discipline to avoid excessive snacking, clearly system 2 thinking,  may conflict with the brain's glucose consumption and need for replenishment. 

This clearly is a System 1 post

Mixed...

JR