Years ago, an anonymous poll of NFL players showed that many would be willing to shave years or decades off their lifespan if it meant they could win a Super Bowl. If that sounds crazy, consider this: The fans might care even more than the players. Elif Batuman recently wrote about Turkish soccer fans in The New Yorker: "The athletes are competing in play," Umberto Eco writes in an essay about soccer, "but the voyeurs compete seriously and, in fact, they beat one another or die of heart failure in the grandstands." I heard a similar view from a Carsi member. "The players only play the ... Read More
Clarity Not Always the Best for Learning
April 18, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
I had a physics teacher in college whose lectures were so amazing that I often felt like I already knew everything he was saying. It was so clear and organized it almost seemed like common sense. It seems pretty obvious that utter clarity is a hallmark of truly excellent teaching. There's just one problem: It may not be true. In my case, I had trouble remembering the lectures after they were over. And that’s part of the problem with clarity: According to growing mountain of research, understanding isn't enough. It's the struggle that makes us learn. By making things too clear, teachers ... Read More
American Idolatry: So Bad You Just Gotta Be Good
March 16, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Here in Williamstown, Mass., where I live, there is a contractor who won’t work with you if you watch shows about construction on HGTV. He simply got fed up with being told how to do his job by people who think they know what they’re talking about but haven’t got a clue. Being unskilled is an obvious problem. But when we truly lack skill, we suffer a dual burden: We do not have the skills to perform well, and we don't even have the skill required to tell whether we're performing well or not. This problem affects us everywhere, in education, crime, politics, construction, government, ... Read More
Artificial Intelligence: It’s For Real
February 18, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
We all know artificial intelligence is dangerous. The machines got too smart and took over in the Terminator movies. In War Games the computer almost initiated thermonuclear war (until it realized that mutually assured destruction was pointless via cinema’s most suspenseful tic-tac-toe session). And, of course, in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books, Eddie the shipboard computer was dangerously chipper and Marvin was depressingly depressed. What does the future of artificial intelligence hold? I hope to be able to use a computer to store and retrieve my memories. I want be able to ... Read More
Ray Allen Scores in the Nature-Nurture Debate
February 11, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Michael Jordan is the greatest player in NBA history. You see his image everywhere, eight years after he retired. He even graces the pages of the introductory psychology textbook that I use — but not because of his outlandish skills. Midway through his career, Jordan decided to switch sports and try his hand at major league baseball. Although he clearly had substantial baseball skills, he wasn't ready for the big leagues, so his foray was considered a failure. Then he switched back and resumed his reign as the king of basketball. The lesson of Jordan's career in sports is that talent ... Read More