Christopher X J. Jensen
Professor, Pratt Institute

Can playing games make the world a better place?

Posted 27 Sep 2012 / 1

One of the very talented students I work with in the Envirolutions club, Rhett Bradbury, pointed me towards the work of Jane McGonigal, a game designer and evangelist for the idea that games can save the world. For Rhett, her work is important to his Master’s thesis in graphic design, as he is considering how to move Read More

A Major Post, Cooperation, Cultural Evolution, Development, Emotion, Evolutionary Psychology, Happiness, Health & Medicine, Human Evolution, Mismatch theory, Phenotypic Plasticity, Play, Psychological Adaptation, Psychology, Radio & Podcasts, Social Networks, Subsistence, Web

Some conservatives actually see the public health and economic dilemmas posed by greenhouse gas emissions

Posted 26 Sep 2012 / 0

All Things Considered “New Groups Make A Conservative Argument On Climate Change“

A Minor Post, Climate Change, Economics, Political Science, Public Policy, Radio & Podcasts

Rebranding global warming as a health threat

Posted 10 Sep 2012 / 1

All Things Considered “When Heat Kills: Global Warming As Public Health Threat“

A Minor Post, Anthropogenic Change, Climate Change, Environmental Justice, Health & Medicine, Human limits, Radio & Podcasts, Survival

“School of Life” acknowledges the values in religion worth preserving

Posted 10 Sep 2012 / 0

On Being “Alain de Botton on a School of Life for Atheists” Religion for Atheists What I find very interesting about this philosopher’s approach are his implicit memetic assumptions: that religions have nested within their complex cultural structure extractable “ways of living” that are valuable to believers and non-believers alike.

A Minor Post, Altruism, Behavior, Belief, Cultural Evolution, Ethics, Evolutionary Psychology, Memetic Fitness, Philosophy, Radio & Podcasts, Religion

Robert Krulwich on the value of telling stories about science

Posted 26 Jun 2012 / 0

RadioLab “Tell Me a Story“

A Minor Post, Public Outreach, Radio & Podcasts

On Being features David Sloan Wilson

Posted 26 Jun 2012 / 0

On Being “Evolving a City” Fascinating stuff here about the degree to which evolutionary science serves society. Wilson’s idea of “managing the evolutionary process” is valuable, and needs to be taken up more often.

A Minor Post, Cultural Evolution, Evolution, Gene-Culture Coevolution, Human Evolution, Radio & Podcasts

Can “muppet theory” help explain behavioral heterogeneity in human social groups?

Posted 16 Jun 2012 / 0

National Public Radio “Explaining Muppet Theory: Are You An Ernie Or A Bert?” I have to admit that I am an “order Muppet”, but I also believe that human societies function in part because of their heterogeneity: we need the optimal mix of different behavioral types in order to realize the full potential of our Read More

A Minor Post, Radio & Podcasts, Social Diversity

On the Media takes on the problem of scientific integrity in scientific journals and the popular media

Posted 09 Jun 2012 / 0

On the Media “How British science journalists are secretly undermining the American media” On the Media “Scientific retractions on the rise” On the Media “Retraction watch“

A Minor Post, Publication, Radio & Podcasts, Scientific Fraud

Don’t mistake having a better map for knowing where you are: new technology for sequencing fetal DNA will not lead to serious trait selection

Posted 07 Jun 2012 / 0

The Takeaway “New Developments in DNA Sequencing” The problem with this kind of story is that it confuses listeners. While it may be a technological advance to be able to perform complete genetic sequencing of a fetus without risky invasive procedures, this new ability does not necessarily lead to the kind of “baby selection” that Read More

A Minor Post, Genetic Engineering, Genetics, Radio & Podcasts

Joseph E. Stiglitz discusses the economically destabilizing impact of rent-seeking

Posted 06 Jun 2012 / 0

WNYC The Leonard Lopate Show “Joseph Stiglitz Explains the Price of Inequality” As I have suggested before [1, 2], in order to stabilize our economy, we have to incentivize the generation of income from actual labor — not simply owning resources.

A Minor Post, Economic sustainability, Economics, Ethics, Public Policy, Radio & Podcasts