Weekly Reads for 22 October 2014
This week’s articles include questions about the role of video games and mental decline, dehumanization, feminism in Star Trek, and more. Enjoy!
Can Video Games Fend Off Mental Decline? – – “The big question about brain games is whether they sharpen everyday skills. If you regularly play a memory game — like Lumosity’s version of the old classic Concentration — you’ll get better at playing the game. But does it help you recall where you left your reading glasses? Does it improve your brain overall? Research has shown scant evidence of that. Even crossword puzzles — often touted as a pen-and-paper form of brain training — seem to suffer from this problem. All they do is make you better at doing crosswords.” New York Times Magazine
Dehumanisation is a human universal – David Livingstone Smith – – “What is the common element in all these stories? It is, of course, the phenomenon of dehumanisation. But this is neither recent nor peculiar to Western civilisation. We find it in the writings from the ancient civilisations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece and China, and in indigenous cultures all over the planet. At all these times and in all these places, it has promoted violence and oppression. And so it would seem to be a matter of considerable urgency to understand exactly what goes on when people dehumanise one another. Yet we still know remarkably little about it.” Aeon
Star Trek’s Underappreciated Feminist History by Shannon Mizzi | – “Despite airing for only three seasons — from 1966 to 1969 — Star Trek is widely considered one of the most culturally influential series in American television history. In many ways it was a progressive offering, featuring a multi-racial cast, and male and female characters who worked together as equals. In the years since it went off the air, one criticism it has been repeatedly charged with repeatedly is sexism. In a recent article in Frontiers, Patricia Vettel-Becker contextualizes the position of female characters on the show and examines not whether Star Trek was sexist, but why it portrayed women the way it did.” Wilson Quarterly
Inside the Ebola Wars – “The virus is extremely infectious. Experiments suggest that if one particle of Ebola enters a person’s bloodstream it can cause a fatal infection. This may explain why many of the medical workers who came down with Ebola couldn’t remember making any mistakes that might have exposed them. One common route of entry is thought to be the wet membrane on the inner surface of the eyelid, which a person might touch with a contaminated fingertip. The virus is believed to be transmitted, in particular, through contact with sweat and blood, which contain high concentrations of Ebola particles. People with Ebola sweat profusely, and in some instances they have internal hemorrhages, along with effusions of vomit and diarrhea containing blood.” The New Yorker
How Did Cool Become Such a Big Deal? | – “But starting around the 1930s, cool began appearing in American English as an extremely casual expression to mean something like ‘intensely good.’ This usage also distinguished the speaker, italicizing their apartness from mainstream culture. As its popularity grew, cool’s range of possible meanings exploded. Pity the lexicographer who now has to enumerate all the qualities collecting in the hidden folds of cool: self-possessed, disengaged, quietly disdainful, morally good, intellectually assured, aesthetically rewarding, physically attractive, fashionable, and on and on.” Humanities
Political Polarization & Media Habits | – “When it comes to getting news about politics and government, liberals and conservatives inhabit different worlds. There is little overlap in the news sources they turn to and trust. And whether discussing politics online or with friends, they are more likely than others to interact with like-minded individuals, according to a new Pew Research Center study.” Pew Research Center’s Journalism Project
