Sergio Parra

He said Walter Benjamin that “He who pays attention to manners but rejects lying is similar to someone who, although he dresses in fashion, does not wear a shirt.”

Therefore, in complex societies it is very difficult not to lie. Because if you always tell the truth, you go naked. And that is precisely why it is so difficult to know what is normal.

Because what we consider normal is what we identify as habitual, But our perception is not always capable of capturing all of reality, much less what remains in darkness, what others hide from themselves.. Therefore, behaviors become more common as they become more and more public.

Lies as a way to lubricate society

Erving Goffman was a Canadian sociologist and anthropologist who developed the so-called theory of impression management or control, that is, dramatized performances of social being with the purpose of controlling the impressions of others. As he himself said:

It is probably no mere historical accident that the original meaning of the word person is mask. It is rather a recognition of the fact that, more or less consciously, always and everywhere, each of us plays a role... It is in these roles that we know each other; It is in these roles where we know ourselves.

In the end, it turns out that lying is wrong, but not always, and we can also lie and even lie to ourselves if it is not noticed, if it goes unnoticed. This arms escalation of the sophistication of sincerity and Lies are the result of an increasingly complex interaction with other people, with the community.. You can expand on all this in the following video:

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What is normal is only what others let you see about themselves: that is, you don't know what is normal.

was originally published in

Xataka Science

by
Sergio Parra

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The world is full of statements like “there is a study that says that…” or “according to a study…”. Added to this is a large number of statements that traditionally have been taken for granted but have never been replicated. Welcome to the replicability crisis galloping that you have been suffering from recently.

This problem is particularly insidious in the field of soft sciences, such as psychology, sociology, etc. That is, sciences where there are too many variables and the complexity is so high that stating anything It should be done with care that you are moving through a terrain full of mines.

Studies in doubt

In short, it is possible that the number of false positives in the scientific literature is much higher than desirable due to a combination of low statistical power, publication bias, and flexibility in analyzing the data. And that is why we are experiencing this great replication crisis.

Next, I am going to present to you some of the most popular statements in psychology and sociology that, however, have not been able to be replicated. This does not mean that they are necessarily false, but rather that the evidence we have of their veracity is very weak.:

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24 statements supported by psychology studies that have not been satisfactorily replicated

was originally published in

Xataka Science

by
Sergio Parra

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Whoever you are, however you behave, whatever ideas you have, you are probably or have been the enemy, the bad guy, the villain of someone else's story. It doesn't matter who you are or what you think. Of course, serial killers and Hitlers are still evil, but most of us are not, despite the fact that people immediately call each other a Nazi or a fascist on Twitter.

How is it possible that there are so many villains? There have always been evil people, toxic people, but now it seems there are more than ever. Which is the reason? The reason, paradoxically, is that now there are more evil people because... people are becoming less evil. We see that the world is going to hell precisely because the world is getting better.

Concept creep

A psychology professor at the University of Melbourne, Nick Haslam, has dedicated himself to researching how the use of concepts such as abuse, addiction, mental illness, trauma, bullying and prejudice has increased. Historically, the meanings of each of these words were relatively limited, but over time they have expanded to include less serious phenomena under their umbrella. Haslam referred to this semantic change as the concept creep.

In Xataka Science

Taller men and thinner women earn more money: artificial intelligence confirms this wage gap

That is, what concept creep tells us is that, to some extent, problems never go away, because people keep changing the way they define them. It is something that has happened in recent years with the word "machismo." Now there are many more machismo things than before, so it seems that there are more sexists than before, when in reality there are fewer. When the semantic umbrella of “machismo” begins to become too large and one wants to encompass even more, then subdivisions are created, such as “micromachismos.” Or you can even be an ally who is indirectly sexist because you do not criticize certain micro-machism enough..

Haslam argues that concept creep occurs both vertically to include less severe examples than before (for example, bullying no longer only includes physical violence but also teasing) and horizontally to include categorically different phenomena ( first only children can be bullied, now adults too, and it can happen in all contexts).

All of this should not be used to trivialize concerns about advancing harm or other modern social problems, but rather to highlight that what you consider threatening or harmful is relative. The more confident you feel, the easier it will be to see the slightest events and trends as harmful, and this is the key to understanding why concept creep occurs. You can expand on all this in the following video:

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The proof that the world is getting better is that now you seem to see people who are more horrible, offensive and evil than before.

was originally published in

Xataka Science

by
Sergio Parra

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Men, compared to women, value more same-sex friends who are physically striking or stereotypically attractive, they have high status and wealth and have, in addition, greater access to potential partners.

On the contrary, women, compared to men, value friends who provide emotional support, intimacy and useful social information (gossip), as suggested this recent study from January 2022.

Sexual differences and discriminations

The findings of the aforementioned study suggest that the specific friendship qualities that men and women preferred differed by sex in a consistent manner. with a functional description of friendship.

In other words, men and women have different ways of conceptualizing the world and different strategies for approaching the opposite sex and their own. For this reason, it is utopian to aspire to equality between the sexes or non-discrimination (due to sex or any other factor). For example, Ugliness is a condition that causes the wage gap, greater probability of going to prison, social exclusion, childhood rejection, less probability of being helped, greater propensity to commit crimes...

Legal equality can be aspired to, but social equality would require interventionism in which freedom would be totally or partially annulled. Seeking equality between the sexes and not discrimination is as much as searching through the prism of other conditions: height, beauty, stuttering, strabismus, and even sympathy. You can elaborate a little on this in the following interview.:

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Men value other attractive men more, but women do not.

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Xataka Science

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Sergio Parra

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Music can commonly be heard in operating rooms. Music has been shown to reduce stress in the surgical team and reduces patient anxiety before surgery.

On the other hand, it has been revealed that music can generate negative effects of divided attention that cause distraction in surgical routines, as this study suggests.

Radiohead and tumors

73 different studies with almost 7,000 patients show that music It also contributes to recovery after surgery. Pain, the need for analgesics, anxiety, patient satisfaction and length of stay are factors that are positively influenced when music is played, according to this systematic review of studies on the subject.

And if all this were not enough, it is not unusual for some brain surgeons who operate near parts of the brain that control important functions, such as speech or movement, to keep patients awake. to better determine where the tumor gives way to some vital part.

In the following video, you can hear a patient playing the violin and, finally, another patient playing a very popular musical song on his guitar while he is undergoing surgery: Creep, by Radiohead:

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Music helps surgery be done better (and also helps to know if a tumor is being operated correctly)

was originally published in

Xataka Science

by
Sergio Parra

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Household air pollution, driven largely by indoor stoves, caused 700,000 deaths in Africa, while increased outdoor air pollution claimed 400,000 lives. It is just one of the latest examples of how humans have altered ecosystems..

That's what it's about The primate that changed the world, of Alex Richter-Boix. A text punctuated by findings, curiosities and stories, especially interwoven stories about everyday aspects that, from this new point of view, are no longer so. What the hell: Alex makes the everyday become epic. Rats, pigeons, a piece of gum...

Ecosystems

There are two hypotheses to approach the Earth's ecosystem from a holistic point of view. On the one hand we have the Gaia hypothesis, popularized by James Lovelock. In contrast to this kind vision of the biosphere is the so-called Medea Hypothesis, popularized by paleontologist and astrobiologist Peter Ward, from the University of Washington. The two sides of the coin. Alex reveals to us how the human being is a primate that changed the world, but also that the world has not stopped changing.

Not in vain, Álex not only has theoretical training, but also practical, because after obtaining a doctorate in Biology from the University of Barcelona, He has worked chasing frogs in swamps in several countries, lifting rocks in search of newts, counting insects, photographing thousands of tadpoles and diving into the world of population genetics and amphibian microbiomes in order to understand microevolutionary processes and the responsiveness of organisms to fluctuations environmental issues, climate change and emerging diseases.

The primate that changed the world: Our relationship with nature from the caves to today (geoPlaneta Ciencia)

Today on Amazon for €18.95

We have been interacting with the environment for thousands of years, altering plant and animal communities, domesticating species and landscapes for our needs, even altering atmospheric and geological cycles. Biodiversity is escaping us without our being barely aware. What becomes extinct, what disappears, is forgotten in less than a generation. This book attempts to combat this great ecological amnesia by looking back to 300,000 years ago, when a new species of primate appeared that would be capable of shaping its environment to unsuspected limits. This capacity defines us as human beings, but it is also responsible for the ecological crisis that our planet is suffering today. We can only face it if we know where we come from.

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Books that inspire us: 'The primate that changed the world' by Alex Richter-Boix

was originally published in

Xataka Science

by
Sergio Parra

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Although surveys on sexual tastes or paraphilias are often carried out, in reality such surveys have limitations: the sincerity of the respondent.

Another thing is the big data that we can extract from the searches made by men and women on pornographic video platforms, such as PonrHub. Through these searches we also have limitations, but there are advantages other than surveys: scrutinize a certain intimacy in greater depth.

Humiliating sex: more for them than them

Violence against women remains devastatingly pervasive and starts alarmingly young, according to new data from the WHO. However, the majority of rapes occur in the domestic environment or by family members or close friends. as is also the case with homicides.

In Xataka Science

There may be involuntary orgasms during rape and it is important to record this

Rape statistics do not reflect the truth about the number of sexual assaults or rapes, but rather tell us about the difference in perception, attitudes and general awareness towards sexual offenders. And, of course, just because someone disapproves of sexual violence does not mean that, in their privacy, may harbor morbid fantasies related to forced or humiliating sex.

As explained Seth Stephens-Davidowitz in his book on big data Everybody lies Regarding the searches made by users of platforms such as PornHub, 25% of the searches have to do with sex with violence, humiliation or pain. Double that in the case of men. You can see more data from these searches and other similar studies in the following video:

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These are the strangest searches that men and women make for porn videos

was originally published in

Xataka Science

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Sergio Parra

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In Ancient Egypt, if a family cat died, all family members plucked their eyebrows as a sign of mourning. Cats, throughout history, have acquired an enviable status.

However, beyond the human devotion, it is also true that cats present some truly surprising characteristics. Especially when it comes to sounds..

Meowing and music for cats

Cats are capable of producing almost 100 different sounds, while dogs only 10. A cat, in fact, has the ability to change its meow to get what it wants. It can even imitate a baby's cry to get food.

In Xataka Science

Many new college students report having separation anxiety from pets (especially dogs).

Cats also have 36 muscles in each ear and they function like satellite dishes, directing them towards the source of the sound, so they are able to pick up sounds very accurately, extracting nuances that we are probably not capable of extracting ourselves.

Therefore, by combining their ability to produce sounds with the ability to record them, it has been possible to compose music specifically designed for cats that is capable of calming them. Which is a real advantage when the cat is stressed because he has to go to the vet or undergo surgery.

You can listen to this song designed specifically for cats, and tested by A study scientific study carried out by researchers at Louisiana State University (LSU), in the following video:

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Cats have a great ability to create sounds and also to hear them.

was originally published in

Xataka Science

by
Sergio Parra

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Despite the doomsaying discourses, which have always been the hegemonic ones in all periods of history, it is enough to take a look at a few decades in advance to, simply, feel very proud of how we have improved the world in all areas, from social to environmental.

Every time someone comes to you with the refrain that the world is going to the abyss and that values have been lost, send it to them.

Reasons for optimism

1. Hunger can disappear from our planet by 2030 if current improvements are maintained.
2. More than one billion people have escaped extreme poverty since 1990.
3. The number of children out of school has been divided by two in 20 years.
4. The human development index (health, longevity, level of education, standard of living) has progressed in all regions of the world between 1990 and 2014.
5. The fertility rate has gone from 5 births per woman in 1960 to 2.5 births in 2014.
6. In 1900 very few people benefited from a social security system. Today it is the norm.
7. Since 2001, people are more generous every year than the year before.
8. The amount allocated to international public development aid has increased steadily for 50 years.
9. Most states in the world are democracies. Two centuries ago they were only 5 %.
10. In 2016, Burma emerged from an authoritarian regime of more than 50 years through democratic means.

In the following video you can see the 40 extra reasons, in case you still have any doubts that each time, in general, we live in a little better world:

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50 reasons to be optimistic with objective data about various areas of life and society

was originally published in

Xataka Science

by
Sergio Parra

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You wanted a second part of the 40 key concepts to understand the world. Here you have it. Another 40 more. With much more information and sources.

In your life you will have received so much counterintuitive information in such a short time. 15 minutes equal to a year. Guaranteed. Welcome to this hyper-mega-compressed pill for your brain.

1. Look for causes, not villains

When something goes wrong, don't try to find one person or group to blame for everything. Bad things can happen even if no one wants them to happen.. It is more productive to dedicate your energy to understanding the multiple interrelated causes or system that has created the situation.

2. Glorify systems, not heroes

What makes the world a better place are the systems, the procedures, the regulations, the firewalls, the checklists, the ecosystems. However, we prefer to look for geniuses, heroes or charismatic politicians because our brain understands the world better by individualizing. Don't let him do it. Even the best innovations are the result of a system, not an isolated brain.

In Xataka Science

40 key concepts to improve your understanding of the world

3. Be careful with popular culture

Sentences, proverbs, apothegms... even these same concepts can be reviewed, challenged and questioned. Getting carried away by them is a bad idea. TOOtherwise, we will almost always find another equally popular idea that contradicts the first one..

Also be careful with what everyone says without checking it. Because no, Napoleon was not shorter than average. No, Frankenstein's monster was not green. No, in the Sherlock Holmes novels he never dressed like that, nor did he smoke a pipe, nor did he say "elementary dear Watson."

Nor has it been documented that a real pirate ever drew a treasure map (let alone marked the location of the treasure with an X). Oh, and the pirates didn't have a peg leg or a parrot on their shoulder either. The Vikings' helmets also did not have horns. Chastity belts have never existed. Brown sugar is usually worse than white, orange juice is as harmful as soda...

In the following video you can see the rest of the key concepts to improve your understanding of this very complex world:

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40 other key concepts to improve your understanding of the world

was originally published in

Xataka Science

by
Sergio Parra

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