How We Really Think

Watched a recording of the Horizon episode last night and I found it absolutely fascinating.

It started with a psychiatrist in New York city who observed that the taxi drivers would work short days on rainy days when fairs were plentiful and long days on sunny days when fairs were few and far between.  He realised that this behaviour is not logical.

Logically, a New York taxi driver would be better off working long a days on rainy days when fairs are plentiful, which would make them extra, and clocking off earlier on sunny days when fairs are hard to come by, which would save them fuel.

However, New York taxi drivers are apparently ruled by their quotas.  On rainy days they work short hours and clock off when they have made their quotas, instead of carrying on to make some extra money.  Whereas on sunny days they work really long hours because they don't want to make a loss of their quotas.  Logically, this does not work but apparently ninety nine per cent of taxi drivers do it in New York.

As the psychiatrist put it:

"If only one or two did it then it is a random happening.  When so many do it then it is a cognitive bias."

In this case it is 'loss adversion' bias.  We worry more about loss than celebrate about gain and as the tests he's come up with show, we are willing to risk more to avoid loss than we are willing to risk to gain.  What is more this even affects the professionals in the shock and shares market.  It was proving this that won the psychiatrist a Noble Prize.

However, what I found the most interesting was his discovery that the human brain has two methods or systems of thinking.  System One is the fast, instinctive, intuitive system that sees a shape and says 'that's a car', or hears something and says 'that's a dog' and goes 'two plus two is four'.  Fast, instinctive and intuitive.  And sometimes wrong.

Where as System Two is the slower, logical, rational system that can count backwards from a hundred in lots of seven, put a puzzle together and weigh up cause and effects.  However, this system is slow and takes a lot of energy.  An example of this is trying to walk and do the counting backwards.  The number of people that not only slow down but actually stop entirely is amazing.  You would think that counting backwards is fairly simple but it takes that much thought that it interferrs with co-ordination.

Because of this, the brain is lazy and uses System One for decisions that it should really use System Two for, such as deciding which days you are going to clock off earlier from your taxi job.

What is more these cognitive bias can actually blind you.  Take for instance the New York cop who chased a murder suspect passed two other officers beating another suspect and then pleaded that he hadn't seen them doing it.  He was prosecuted for preverting the course of duty because none of the jury could believe that he didn't see it.  However, the tests the psychiatrist has come up has proved that if you are concentrating on a moving object ahead of you then you can pass a fight happening not twenty feet from you and you will not see it.  He calls this attention bias.  I call it tunnel visioning because that is what it is called among the professionals that study Autism.

I was really surprised to find that something I thought of as an 'Autistic problem' is actually shared by the whole human race, it is just that we Autistics can take it to absolute extremes.

However, the research into these cognitive bias has given me an entirely new view upon many of the 'Autistic Problems' and some of our gifts.  Take, of instance, the gift that some Autistics have for numbers.  I'm wondering if the Autistics that can do the amazing Rain Man style sums have had the mathematical, logical area of their brain wired into the System One.  So they are using the fast, instinctive system to do things that neuro-typical people have to use System Two for, hence why they seem so amazing when it comes to numbers.

But in wiring the mathematical, logical area of the brain into System One, has it displaced the things that neuro-typical people have there?  Is this why Autistic people struggle so much with our social skills?  Are we using slow, logical System Two for something that typical people use System One for?

In short, is Temple Grandin absolutely right when she says that having Autism is like having all our brains wiring and programing all muddled up?  Are we running on System Two what is usually done on System One and stuff that is normally handled by System Two is being handled by System One?

Personally I'd say that they need to do a little more research into this because right now it is throwing up more questions than answers.  It is certainly something to think about.

The After Effects

It has been a year since my Mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer.  The course of treatment was the hardest that any form of cancer has and was so intensive if the cancer ever comes back they will not be able to treat her any further.  However, I have found the time since the new year the hardest to deal with.

Because her treatment included the removal of most of her lymph system from the chest down, her immunity system is just about shot.  This resulted an infection that has damaged the tubes between her kidney and her bladder.  In turn this has caused her kidney problem and she is right now downstairs with yet another major kidney infection.

She was sent home from the hospital yesterday after two lots of antibiotics in the vein with oral antibiotics but she has been slipping in and out of true wakefulness today so I am continually worried that I am going to go downstairs to find a stiff.  However, I have been reassured that going back into hospital will not make much difference in her care.  How come that doesn't really reassure?

I'm beginning to wonder what is worse - the cancer, which would have killed her, or the after effects of the treatment, which seem to be in the process of killing her.  Everyone seems to know that cancer will kill you, nobody tells you that the treatment for said cancer can kill you just as painfully as the disease that it is meant to fight.

How can you feel that you have so many words in your head you cannot think them into a straight line but when it comes to putting them down on the page your mind suddenly goes blank?

I suppose the main purpose of this blog post is to say that if my posts are as not as regular or up to quality as they were over the last year then this is why - I'm stressed out, over worked and over whelmed.

I thought that once the treatment was over and the cancer diagnosed as being in full remission life was meant to start to getting better, not worse but it is most definitely getting worse.  You can tell because I can't even use this blog to escape my own troubles at the moment.  Not a good sign.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership - Corporations Attacking Government

It's a corporate lobbyist's wildest dream - a huge global trade deal that would let corporations like Monsanto sue our governments if they passed laws to protect the environment or keep life-saving medicine affordable.  In short it's the legalisation of the law suit that Bayer is trying to bring against the European Union.

 

The Trans-Pacific Partnership has to be stopped.

 

This month, tens of thousands of American SumOfUs members and friends have called Congress to demand it rejects a bill to give President Obama "fast track" authority to sign the TPP -- and support is starting to fall away.  In the US, corporate lobbyists are pushing hard for Congress to approve of this bill so they can get on with screwing up our world with no possible reprimand. Elsewhere, governments are facing no scrutiny as they get ready to sign away our democratic rights to make laws that protect the public interest. Unless we do more, we may lose this fight.

 

That's why the SumofUs community is stepping up. This week, they are getting ready to launch a major effort to stop the TPP in its tracks -- and with support, they are not going to stop fighting until they have won.

 

If 5,000 of us give just $10 each, we can launch the first steps of our campaign and start working together to stop the TPP and save our democracy.

 

The plans can't be revealed just yet, but they are already looking to:

• Target key countries that can stop the TPP -- like Australia and Canada -- and make sure that citizens hear about the TPP before it's too late
• Call out consumer companies who have access to the negotiations and are helping write the deal -- rights our elected representatives don't even have -- and demand they come clean on what they know
• Organise constituents to contact their representatives -- to make sure the TPP is something that governments have to answer for
• Work with lawyers to submit Freedom of Information requests for governments to come clean on the deal
• Offer rewards for officials who are willing to do the right thing and let the public know what's in the TPP
• Take out advertisements in key national media highlighting the threats the TPP poses to our democracies

The corporations behind the TPP know the public won't like what's in the deal, which is why the full contents are still secret - only high-level government negotiators and the 600 corporate lobbyists have access.  But enough is known to know that the TPP has to be stopped -- and enough to know how it can be stop if enough people step up to the base plate and call for this destruction of democracy to be stopped.

 

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is called a trade deal, but it is really a corporate wish-list aimed at attacking everything from environmental protections to affordable medicines to Internet freedoms. Worst, it gives corporations impunity from governments or citizens that want to reign in their power. So if it is passed then even our most powerful governments will not be able to get it revoked.  I'd say 'Wake up America, they are about to sign away that freedom for which you have fought for so long!'

 

In fact, it is probably the most important international treaty you’ve never heard of. The TPP is being negotiated between the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and other Pacific countries -- making it nearly global in scope.

 

There's lots wrong with the TPP, but the unaccountable systems it would set up to allow corporations to sue governments are one of the most frightening. If it is signed, future laws designed to protect consumers, our health, and our environment could be overturned in secret courts by corporations that claim the laws harm their profits -- and there is nothing we or our elected governments could do to stop them.

 

We need to do a lot more to make sure we stop this treaty 'cause if we don't then there won't be a leg that campaigners will be able to stand on and all the charities, such as the WWF, Green Peace and Band Aid will no longer be able to call for change to defend those that cannot defend themselves if it 'harms corporate profit'.

 

I wonder if it will be said in the future - 'where were you when they took over the world?  We weren't.  We didn't fight, we just stood by and let them do it.'

Proof of People Power

Some of the readers will remember a post I put up back in January about the two will orcas that were captured by White Sphere to be displayed at the Russian Winter Games.  Well, we have some great news! The President of the Sochi Olympic Committee has just confirmed that the two wild orcas captured by White Sphere will not be displayed during the Sochi Olympics.

However, the battle isn't over.  It is believed that White Sphere is responsible for the capture of 8 wild orcas in the past year.  What is more the two orcas that were bound for the Sochi Olympics are still in Moscow and sources have stated that they are going to be shipped of the another dolphinarium in Russia or China, where they will be force to participate in live shows and be kept in stupidly tiny metal tanks.  Is it only me or does this remind you of the film Free Willie?  I wonder if that is on the banned list of Russia.

With the physical and mental health of these orcas is in danger and more pressure on White Sphere is needed if they are to have any chance of being returned to the wild and the way how has recently come to light.

White Sphere is a member of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IIAPA), the world's largest trade association for amusement parks and aquariums.  The IIAPA provides White Sphere with links to suppliers and partners around the world, as well as advice on how to improve efficiency, marketing, safety, and profitability. Above all, the IIAPA gives White Sphere a veneer of credibility. Without IIAPA membership, White Sphere could be exposed as the fraudulent outfit it really is.  Being booted out of the IIAPA would be a serious wake-up call for White Sphere and there is a possibility of an ally in this goal.

SeaWorld is another member of the IIAPA and it has good reason to speak out about what White Sphere is up to.  SeaWorld has been facing increasing pressure after the documentary Blackfish came out last year, alleging troublesome practises involving its captive killer whales.  So now is the perfect time for SeaWorld to stand up and demonstrate the ethics it says it stands for, by refusing to be associated with White Sphere - a company that has captured 8 orcas from the wild in one year alone.

If this angers you as much as it angers me then you can:
Demand that the IIAPA and SeaWorld stop working with White Sphere, unless it returns the wild orcas to the ocean.

Russia issues the permits for wild orca capture, but just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s right. The US hasn’t issued a permit for the capture of a wild orca since 1989. That’s how dated this practise truly is.

Hundreds of thousands of us have protested the display of the wild orcas at the Sochi Olympics, and we won. Now let's aim higher, and stand up for all the wild orcas at risk by White Sphere's despicable behaviour.  Every path starts with one stepping stone and we've already crossed the first one.  Are we brave enough to tackle the next?

Selling Off the NHS Information

So not only has the NHS been privatised by breaking it up into so called 'Trust Funds' Jeremy Hunt now wants to sell off our medical records to the highest bidder.

Starting this year, private companies will be able to buy information on us from the NHS’s new universal patient database -- including everything from mental health conditions, sexually transmitted infections and diseases like cancer -- all linked to your postcode, gender and ethnicity.  How's that for not keeping our private information private.  And we are worried about MI5 and the FBI having access to our personal records.  Well it looks like within a couple of weeks all they will have to do is out bid everybody else who has access to a computer.

We’ve all been opted into the scheme by the government without our knowledge. And the clock is running down - the government has said they will upload our data in a matter of just a few weeks. If we’re going to stop this, we have to act now.

It doesn’t really get more personal than what you discuss with your doctor. They know the most personal things about us -- like whether we’ve ever been depressed, had an embarrassing infection or struggled with drug & alcohol problems.

The government claims that individuals won’t be able to be identified. However, many experts have warned that under the current plans, we could easily be singled out through simple cross-referencing of other databases -- especially if you have a rare or unusual condition. Imagine your employer finding that you might have had an abortion when you were a teenager. Or your insurance company finding out you are HIV positive. The consequences for us as individuals could be huge, in short a total lose of our privacy.  I don't know about you but I'm not really comfortable with the idea that anybody could find out what the medical skeletons I have in my wardrobe.

We know that when we act together, we can bring about real change. When we fought to get High Street names like River Island and Edinburgh Woollen Mill to sign up to protect Bangladeshi factory workers, we won! Now we need to step up to defend something precious -- our right to privacy.  Perhaps if we can win this one we might be able reverse the degrading of our Nation Health Service.

Tell Jeremy Hunt to stop the sale of our personalised patient data to big corporations.

Coca-Cola as a... HEALTH Drink?

O.K. O.K. dig this.  Apparently under new EU regulation on using fructose Coca-Cola will be able to claim that it's drinks are healthier that those of it's competition.  There's only one small problem with this and that is that consuming high levels of fructose is a leading cause of obesity in most of the known world.

In fact, if you stop and think about it, then anyone who has a basic knowledge of nutrition knows that consuming excessive amounts of sugar without doing the exercise to work it off leads to weigh gain.  However, when the food companies can bamboozle us with misleading labelling it becomes more difficult to know what is the healthy option and what is not.

The decision to label fructose as a 'healthy' food was made by the EU Food Standards Agency in Parma, Italy.  The EU Food Standards Agency is meant to serve and protect the people that consume food within the EU but this is the Agency that refuses to challenge the Food Industry over the use of MSG (banned in the USA as a health risk) in our food.

Fructose is used as a cheap alternative to other forms of sugar. In moderation, it can be better than some other sugars. But some forms are considered so bad for your health that they are banned in many countries. So it seems bizarre that the EU will allow the likes of Coca-Cola, Nestle and others to claim that their soft drinks, chocolate bars and sugary cereals are healthier for us.

When the Agency that is meant to protect us is powerless then it is up to the consumer to make the food industry listen to us and stop trying to pull the wool over our eyes.  What is more, this isn't the first time when the consumer has had to stand up and tell the food industry that it was going to take responsibility for its actions. When Nestle tried to suck a Canadian town dry of its natural water, hundreds of thousands of us came together and forced Nestle to drop its plans. Now it seems that we need to step up and protect consumers across Europe from food industry lobbying and tell the EU Food Standards Agency to think again about how it label fructose.

If you want here's the link to add your name to the petition that is already running.
Tell the EU Food Standards Agency to protect consumers and stand up to food industry lobbying on fructose.