EFTA02595836.pdf

From: John Brockman < > Sent: Sunday, November 9, 2014 4:40 AM To: Epstein Jeffrey Subject: Re: » remind =e, is this the event that the 50k helped fund? talk =ues Exactly. =he second of two. The first, in September, HeadCon'14, is now ready for =ublication. Here's draft of the announcement and links to the six hours =f video and 55,000 word manuscript. JB PRESS EMBARGO: PUBLICATION DATE TO BE =NNOUNCED HEADCON '14 In =eptember a group of social scientists gathered at Eastover Farm for =eadCon'14, an EDGE Seminar on the questions that social scientists are =sking themselves. The speakers and their topics were Sarah-Jayne Blakemore: =The Teenager's Sense Of Social Self"; Lawrence Ian Reed: "The Face Of =motion"; Molly Crockett: "The Neuroscience of Decision-Making"; Hugo =ercier: "Toward The Seamless Integration Of The Sciences"; Jennifer =acquet: "Shaming At Scale"; Simone Schnall: "Moral Intuitions, =eplication, and the Scientific Study of Human Nature"; David Rand: "How =o You Change People's Minds About What Is Right And Wrong?"; L.A. Paul: =The Transformative Experience"; Michael McCullough: "Two Cheers For =alsification". Also =articipating were four speakers from HeadCon '13, the previous year's event: Fiery Cushman, =oshua Knobe, David Pizarro, and Laurie Santos. We are now pleased =o present the program in its entirety, nearly six hours of Edge Video =nd a downloadable PDF of the 55,000-word transcript. Permalink:http://edge.org/event/headcon-14 =nbsp;user id: edge_access password: =dgeaccess John =rockman Editor, =DGE HEADCON =14 Sarah-Jayne Blakemore: "The =eenager's Sense Of Social Self" EFTA_R1_01780649 EFTA02595836 "The reason why that letter is nice is =ecause it illustrates what's important to that girl at that particular =oment in her life. Less important that man landed on moon than things =ike what she was wearing, what clothes she was into, who she liked, who =he didn't like. This is the period of life where that sense of self, =nd particularly sense of social self, undergoes profound transition. =ust think back to when you were a teenager. It's not that before then =ou don't have a sense of self, of course you do. A sense of self =evelops very early. What happens during the teenage years is that your =ense of who you are—your moral beliefs, your political beliefs, =hat music you're into, fashion, what social group you're into—tha='s what undergoes profound change." SARAH-JAYNE BLAKEMORE is a Royal =ociety University Research Fellow and Professor of Cognitive =euroscience, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College =ondon. EDGE Bio Page: http://edge.orememberbio/sarah_jayne_blakemore Permalink: http://edge.org/conversation/sarahjayne_blakemore Lawrence Ian Reed: "The =ace Of Emotion" "What can we tell from the face? There's some mixed =ata, but data out that there's a pretty strong coherence =etween what is felt and what's expressed on the face. =appiness, sadness, disgust, contempt, fear, anger, all have prototypic =r characteristic facial expressions. In addition to that, you can tell =hether two emotions are blended together. You can tell the difference =etween surprise and happiness, and surprise and anger, or surprise and =adness. You can also tell the strength of an emotion. There seems to be = relationship between the strength of the emotion and the strength of =he contraction of the associated facial muscles." LAWRENCE IAN REED is a =oyal Society University Research Fellow and Professor of Cognitive =euroscience, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College =ondon. EDGE Bio Page: http://edge.orememberbio/lawrence_ian_reed Permalink: http://edge.org/conversation/lawrence_ian_reed Molly Crockett: "The =euroscience of Decision-Making" "Imagine we could develop a precise =rug that amplifies people's aversion to harming others; you =on't hurt a fly, everyone becomes Buddhist monks or something. =ho should take this drug? Only convicted criminals—people who =ave committed violent crimes? Should we put it in the water supply? =hese are normative questions. These are questions about what should be =one. I feel grossly unprepared to answer these questions with the =raining that I have, but these are important conversations to have =etween disciplines. Psychologists and neuroscientists need to be =alking to philosophers about this and these are conversations that we =eed to have because we don't want to get to the point where we =ave the technology and then we haven't had this conversation =ecause then terrible things could happen." MOLLY CROCKETT is Associate Professor, =epartment of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford; Wellcome =rust Postdoctoral Fellow, Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging. EDGE =io Page: http://edge.org/memberbio/molly_crockett Permalink: http://edge.org/conversation/molly_crockett Hugo Mercier: "Toward =he Seamless Integration Of The Sciences" 2 EFTA_R1_01780650 EFTA02595837 "One of the great things about =ognitive science is that it allowed us to continue that seamless =ntegration of the sciences, from physics, to chemistry, to biology, and =hen to the mind sciences, and it's been quite successful at doing this =n a relatively short time. But on the whole, I feel there's still a =ailure to continue this thing towards some of the social sciences such =s, anthropology, to some extent, and sociology or history that still =emain very much shut off from what some would see as progress, and as =urther integration." HUGO MERCIER, a Cognitive Scientist, is an Ambizione Fellow =t the Cognitive Science Center at the University of Neuchatel. =DGE Bio Page: http://edge.org/memberbio/hugo_mercier Permalink: http://edge.org/conversation/hugo_mercier Jennifer Jacquet: =Shaming At Scale" "Shaming, in this case, was a fairly low-cost form of =unishment that had high reputational impact on the U.S. government, and =ed to a change in behavior. It worked at scale—one group of =eople using it against another group of people at the group level. This =s the kind of scale that interests me. And the other thing that it =oints to, which is interesting, is the question of when shaming works. =n part, it's when there's an absence of any other option. Shaming is a =ittle bit like antibiotics. We can overuse it and actually dilute its =ffectiveness, because it's linked to attention, and attention is =inite. With punishment, in general, using it sparingly is best. But in =he international arena, and in cases in which there is no other option, =here is no formalized institution, or no formal legislation, shaming =ight be the only tool that we have, and that's why it interests =e." JENNIFER =ACQUET is Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, NYU; =esearching cooperation and the tragedy of the commons; Author, Is Shame =ecessary? EDGE Bio Page: http://edge.orememberbio/jenniferjacquet Permalink: http://edge.org/conversation/jenniferJacquet Simone Schnall: "Moral =ntuitions, Replication, and the Scientific Study of Human =ature" "In =he end, it's about admissible evidence and ultimately, we need to hold =11 scientific evidence to the same high standard. Right now we're using = lower standard for the replications involving negative findings when =n fact this standard needs to be higher. To establish the absence of an =ffect is much more difficult than the presence of an =ffect." SIMONE SCHNALL is a University Senior Lecturer and Director =f the Cambridge Embodied Cognition and Emotion Laboratory at Cambridge =niversity. EDGE Bio Page: http://edge.org/memberbio/simone_schnall Permalink: http://edge.org/conversation/simone_schnall David Rand: "How Do You =hange People's Minds About What Is Right And Wrong?" a "What all these =ifferent things boil down to is the idea that there are future =onsequences for your current behavior. You can't just do whatever you =ant because if you are selfish now, it'll come back to bite you. I =hould say that there are lots of theoretical models, math models, =omputational models, lab experiments, and also real world field data =rom field experiments showing the power of these reputation =bservability effects for getting people to cooperate." 3 EFTA_R1_01780651 EFTA02595838 DAVID RAND is Assistant =rofessor of Psychology, Economics, and Management at Yale University, =nd the Director of Yale University's Human Cooperation Laboratory. Edge =io page: http://edge.org/memberbio/david_rand Permalink: http://edge.org/conversation/david_rand L.A. Paul: "The =ransformative Experience" "'We're going to pretend that modern-day vampires don't drink =he blood of humans; they're vegetarian vampires, which means they only =rink the blood of humanely-farmed animals. You have a one-time-only =hance to become a modern-day vampire. You think, "This is a pretty =mazing opportunity, but do I want to gain immortality, amazing speed, =trength, and power? Do I want to become undead, become an immortal =onster and have to drink blood? It's a tough call.' Then you go around =sking people for their advice and you discover that all of your friends =nd family members have already become vampires. They tell you, 'It is =mazing. It is the best thing ever. It's absolutely fabulous. It's =ncredible. You get these new sensory capacities. You should definitely =ecome a vampire.' Then you say, 'Can you tell me a little more about =t?' And they say, 'You have to become a vampire to know what it's like. =ou can't, as a mere human, understand what it's like to become a =ampire just by hearing me talk about it. Until you're a vampire, you're =ust not going to know what it's going to be like.— L.A. PAUL is Professor =f Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and =rofessorial Fellow in the Arche Research Centre at the University =f St. Andrews. EDGE Bio Page: http://edge.org/memberbio/la_paul Permalink: http://edge.org/conversation/la_paul Michael McCullough: "Two =heers For Falsification" "What I want to do today is raise one cheer for =alsification, maybe two cheers for falsification. Maybe it's =ot philosophical falsificationism I'm calling for, but maybe =omething more like methodological falsificationism. It has an important =ole to play in theory development that maybe we have turned our backs =n in some areas of this racket we're in, particularly the part =f it that I do—Ev Psych—more than we should =ave." MICHAEL =CCULLOUGH is Director, Evolution and Human Behavior Laboratory, =rofessor of Psychology, Cooper Fellow, University of Miami; Author, =eyond Revenge. EDGE Bio Page: http://edge.org/memberbio/michael_mccullough Permalink: http://edge.org/conversation/michael_mccullough Also =articipating: FIERY CUSHMAN is Assistant Professor, Cognitive, Linguistic, =ocial Science, Brown University. EDGE Bio Page: http://edge.org/memberbio/fiery_cushman JOSHUA KNOBE is an =xperimental Philosopher; Associate Professor of Philosophy and =ognitive Science, Yale University. EDGE Bio Page: http://edge.org/memberbio/joshua_knobe DAVID PIZARRO is =ssociate Professor of Psychology, Cornell University, specializing in =oral judgment. EDGE Bio Page: http://edge.org/memberbio/david_pizarro 4 EFTA_R1_01780652 EFTA02595839 LAURIE SANTOS is =ssociate Professor, Department of Psychology; Director, Comparative =ognition Laboratory, Yale University. EDGE Bio Page: http://edge.org/memberbio/laurie_r_santos FURTHER READING: HeadCon '13: WHAT'S NEW IN SOCIAL =CIENCE? http://edge.org/event/headcon-13-whats-new-in-social-science 5 EFTA_R1_01780653 EFTA02595840