Cooler Dirt

According to a new study, happiness is more contagious than the ebola virus.

Well, not really.  But it is contagious, at least as far as social circles are concerned.

The study showed that people tend to be happier when they associate with people who are happy.  Essentially, if you have happy friends, you too will be happy.

And though the corollary didn’t show as strong a relationship (being around sad people doesn’t necessarily make you sad), there was a clear indication of an increase in happiness up to the third degree of separation.  How much? Look at these numbers:

• First degree of separation (Immediate contact): Increase your happiness chances by 15%.
• Second degree of separation (Friend of a friend): 10% increase.
• Third degree of separation:  (Friend of a friend of a friend): 6% increase.

And while having more friends also increased your chances, the deciding factor was whether or not you had happy friends.

Which brings us to our question:  Do you have a duty to be happy? If your happiness increases the happiness of others, and by inference, makes everyone’s life better, do you have an obligation to be happy?

If it isn’t a duty (ethical or moral), is it just a good idea to surround yourself with better (i.e. happier) friends? Quality over quantity seems to be the deciding factor in increasing your chances at happiness.   If you want to increase your chances at happiness, it seems like you’d be better off getting rid of the downers in your life.

And on that note, we’ll say:  Excelsior, True Believers!

(Photo courtesy Swami Stream’s Flickr page.  Thanks, Swami Stream!)

Uncategorized friends, happiness, study

We had a discussion the other day about encounters with the police.  (See this great series of YouTube Videos on the topic.)  Most of us get the occasional parking ticket, or traffic ticket, etc.  Occasionally, you might be involved in something else, like being around a bar fight or something like that.

When the police get involved, it is serious.  Always.  Why?

• They have guns.

• They can arrest you.

• They can detain you, intimidate you and make your life hell.

In short, the police have more power than you.  They are not your equals.   Because of that, we came up with the following reasons for why you should never, EVER talk to the police.  (At least in the Unites States.)

REASON 1:  IT NEVER HELPS: Lots of people like to think they can talk their way out of getting arrested.  Maybe you can.  But if you are charged with a crime, talking to the police hurts you.   What you say can be used against you, but it isn’t going to be used to help you.

REASON 2:  YOU CAN TALK LATER: If you are guilty and want to confess, wonderful.  You are a good person.  But confessing has consequences, and you need to be aware of them.  Not only that, but you only want to confess to what you did, and you need to be sure of what you say. Think first.  Talk later.

REASON 3:  NOTHING IS OFF THE RECORD: Nothing you say to the police is out of bounds.  Even if you agree to keep it ‘off the record’ or ‘just between us’, it isn’t.  It’s going to be used, recorded, remembered and used against you at every opportunity.

REASON 4:  COPS CAN LIE.  YOU CAN’T: If a cop lies to you, it’s fine. They can do that.  If you lie to the cops, you commit a crime: obstruction of justice.  Not only that, but you will be seen as a liar and the rest of what you say is worthless.

REASON 5:  EVEN AN HONEST MISTAKE IS BAD: Everything you tell to the police has to be true.  Even if you make a mistake, this can be construed as a lie.  If you have to testify and what you said to the cops is brought into court and it’s full of holes, you are going to look bad.  NOT something you want to happen.

REASON 6:  YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING: Did you know it’s illegal to own a lobster that is below a certain size, or that you can’t play dominoes on a Sunday in Georgia?  If you don’t already know every law on the books, you may admit to doing something you didn’t even know was illegal.  And yes, there are a lot of things that are illegal you don’t even know about it.   How many?  About 10,000 or more federal criminal statutes alone. And that doesn’t include local and state laws, and or regulatory rules.

REASON 7:  THE 5TH AMENDMENT PROTECTS THE INNOCENT: The Supreme Court has said this themselves.  The 5th Amendment is there so innocent people don’t get caught up in the very serious, stressful process of a criminal investigation.  Innocent people are worth protecting. That’s why the 5th Amendment is there.  Use it.

REASON 8: THE POLICE AND WITNESSES CAN BE WRONG: If the police get it wrong and you suddenly find yourself having to say X and the cop says Y, who is going to believe you?  You are accused of the crime.  Everyone expects you to lie, even if you are not lying and never did anything wrong.

REASON 9:  EVERYONE THINKS YOU DID IT: Innocent until proven guilty is a nice idea, but it isn’t quite real.  Think about it, how many times do you see or hear of someone being arrested and think “It has to be proven they’re guilty.”  Never. And everyone is just like you.   If you have to go in front of a jury, they already think “They’re probably guilty.”

REASON 10:  THE POLICE HAVE THE POWER: Let’s say you and a friend get into a scuffle.   Your friends says he won’t “press charges” and neither will you.  Super.  But your friend never could “press charges” even if they wanted to.  Only the police and prosecutors can, even if no one wants them to.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you should report a crime or not call 911 if you are in trouble.  But it does mean that if you get pulled over for a ticket or get into a car accident, you should probably just say “No thanks, I’ll get back to you later.’

(Photo courtesy pena2’s Flickr page, through creative commons license.  Thanks, pena2!)

Uncategorized book, books, friends, justice, law, life

Personality tests have been around for a while, and are widely used by businesses, schools and even religious groups.  A few friends of mine and I recently had a conversation about these tests and whether or not they are worth anything.

Some argue that many personality tests cater strongly to the Forer Effect, that tendency of people to view positive, yet vague, assessments of themselves as highly accurate.   This effect is often used by charlatans, astrologers and others of questionable scruples as their way to entice new victims.

The premise is simple: say something flattering about a person and they will believe you to be smart.  If you take it a step further and say the flattery is derived from a test or other diagnostic tool, they’ll believe that the tool is not only accurate, but useful for determining what that person would do, how they should act, etc.

Further confounding this is the evidence.  Many, if not most or even all, personality tests (even the widely used ones) have little reliability or predictive value.  Basically that means that if you take the test more than once, you’ll get a different result, and if you use it to try to predict your behavior, you won’t get it right.

So why take these tests at all? Why take a useless, or at best questionable test, if there is little reason to believe it is worth anything?

Well for one, because they are fun.  We all like to hear nice things about ourselves, and the promise of a test telling us what how great and special we are caters to our ego’s.  But it also allows us a moment of introspection.  Many of us spend the majority of our days in pursuit of something, we have little time to turn our attention towards less immediate tasks.  A little time spent thinking might do us some good.

So here is a basic personality test you can take that might allow you that moment of introspection.  It may prove useful, or it may be worthless.

But no matter how it turns out, it is fun to think about.

(Photo courtesy Thomas Hawk’s Flickr page through Creative Commons license.  Thanks, Thomas Hawk!)

Testing, Tuedsay, Testing conversation, friends, personal, personality, science, survey, testing

We were having a discussion several days ago, and the topic of arranged marriages arose, mostly because one of us was recently informed by his parents that they had found him a suitable, albeit potential, mate.  (He’s from India, where arranged marriages are much more common than they are in the United States and other western cultures.)

Everyone else in the group thought the idea was about as appealing as canine airline pilots, but after a brief discussion, several of us began seeing the potential upside of such practices.  Of course, none of us wanted to be set up for marriage, but the process itself seemed insightful.  Here’s why we thought it seemed interesting, and why it would make for a good conversation starter:

1.  Your Family Knows you Like Everyone Else:  We all see ourselves differently than everyone else does, simply because we are the only person living in our own heads.  We experience the world through our perceptions and our thoughts, while everyone else experiences us through only their perceptions.  They don’t have our thoughts to help/taint their observations.  Because of this, your view of yourself is necessarily different than how everyone else views you.  Since finding a partner requires you to be with someone else, you may be less better suited to determine who you are suited for (since you have your thoughts getting in the way) than those who, like your potential mate, can only judge you according to their perceptions.

2.  Your Family and Friends Know Your Strengths: Your family has known you all your life.  (Well, mostly.)  Your friends and coworkers have been around you as an adult.  Taken together, this group of people probably knows a good deal about how you behave, with whom you have rapport and what kind of people you get along with. They are in a good position to know who would be good for you, or what kind of person brings out your best side.

3.  Your Family and Friends Know Your Weaknesses : Conversely, your family and friends are also around you at your worst times. You may pride yourself on your even temper, but if you are temparamental and easy to anger, it is your family and friends who are better suited to judging you objectively.  We all harbor illusions about ourselves, but when someone else looks at us, they do so without the self interest involved.  Yes, your family and friends love you and don’t want to hurt you, but if you ask them to take the time and genuinely think about what kind of person would be good for you, your flaws will come into the picture.

Now, none of this makes us want to be set up for a blind marriage, only meeting the person on our wedding day.  But it does make us think.

How often do we tell ourselves something, or believe something about ourselves that isn’t accurate? When finding a mate, how can we get past these potential roadblocks and find someone that fits our real personality, and not just our ego.

If anything, family and friends telling you what kind of person you appear to them to be is valuable enough.  Forming the decision to marry on that kind of information has got to be at least somewhat helpful.

Doesn’t it?

(Photo courtesy Kumon’s Flickr page, rights granted through Creative Commons.  Thanks, Kumon!)

Relationships arranged marriage, conversation, conversation starter, family, friends, good conversation, life, love, marriage, personal, science, tech, wedding

Every Friday, we’re going to post a brain teaser of sorts. We don’t want to go so far as to call what we do philosophy, but we are going to ask the kinds of questions you usually only ask when under the influence of substances that aren’t exactly legal. (Which, by the way, is the only reason we ever wanted to go to grad school.)

So, consider the following hypothetical situation.

1. Last night, and unbeknownst to you, a group of mad scientists snuck into your bedroom and removed your brain.
2. Fortunately for you, they didn’t leave you hanging. Instead of letting you die, these scientists placed your brain in a vat of super-awesome science liquid that keeps your brain alive. (Ever seen that Steve Martin movie, The Man with Two Brains? It’s kind of like that. Here’s a clip.)
3. Further, in all the places where the nerves of your brain connected with your body, they placed microscopic radio transmitters. These allow your brain to communicate with your body even if it is no longer there. So even though you believe your brain is still there, it is really in a jar somewhere in the dark lair of the evil scientists.

So, here is the question: Where are you?
Though your body is currently where you are, your brain is in the hideout. It could be millions of miles away on a distant planet. And everything you think, feel, see, taste and perceive are going on in that hideout. So are you in the hideout, or are you where you are now?

Here’s another question. What if your body is destroyed? Are you dead? You would no longer be able to perceive anything, but you could still think. You’d still have all your memories, still dream, still have desires.

We’ll let you think about that one for a while. What do you think? What do your friends think?

If this question asks anything, doesn’t it ask what it means when we identify ourselves?

In other words: Who, or what, makes you, you?

(Photo courtesy sirtrentalot’s Flickr page, rights granted through Creative Commons license. Thanks, sirtrentalot!)

Foolosophy Friday blog, brain, friends, philosophy, science