Your Stone Age Brain in the Screen Age

Your Stone Age Brain in the Screen Age PDF Author: Richard E. Cytowic
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262379112
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
An award-winning neurologist on the Stone-Age roots of our screen addictions, and what to do about them. The human brain hasn’t changed much since the Stone Age, let alone in the mere thirty years of the Screen Age. That’s why, according to neurologist Richard Cytowic—who, Oliver Sacks observed, “changed the way we think of the human brain”—our brains are so poorly equipped to resist the incursions of Big Tech: They are programmed for the wildly different needs of a prehistoric world. In Your Stone Age Brain in the Screen Age, Cytowic explains exactly how this programming works—from the brain’s point of view. What he reveals in this book shows why we are easily addicted to screen devices; why young, developing brains are particularly vulnerable; why we need silence; and what we can do to push back. In the engaging storytelling style of his popular TED Talk, Cytowic draws an easily comprehensible picture of the Stone Age brain’s workings—the function of neurotransmitters like dopamine in basic instincts for survival such as desire and reward; the role of comparison in emotion, and emotion in competition; and, most significantly, the orienting reflex, one of the unconscious circuits that automatically focus, shift, and sustain attention. Given this picture, the nature of our susceptibility to digital devices becomes clear, along with the possibility of how to break their spell. Full of practical actions that we can start taking right away, Your Stone Age Brain in the Screen Age offers compelling evidence that we can change the way we use technology, resist its addictive power over us, and take back the control we have lost.

Your Stone Age Brain in the Screen Age

Your Stone Age Brain in the Screen Age PDF Author: Richard E. Cytowic
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262379112
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Get Book Here

Book Description
An award-winning neurologist on the Stone-Age roots of our screen addictions, and what to do about them. The human brain hasn’t changed much since the Stone Age, let alone in the mere thirty years of the Screen Age. That’s why, according to neurologist Richard Cytowic—who, Oliver Sacks observed, “changed the way we think of the human brain”—our brains are so poorly equipped to resist the incursions of Big Tech: They are programmed for the wildly different needs of a prehistoric world. In Your Stone Age Brain in the Screen Age, Cytowic explains exactly how this programming works—from the brain’s point of view. What he reveals in this book shows why we are easily addicted to screen devices; why young, developing brains are particularly vulnerable; why we need silence; and what we can do to push back. In the engaging storytelling style of his popular TED Talk, Cytowic draws an easily comprehensible picture of the Stone Age brain’s workings—the function of neurotransmitters like dopamine in basic instincts for survival such as desire and reward; the role of comparison in emotion, and emotion in competition; and, most significantly, the orienting reflex, one of the unconscious circuits that automatically focus, shift, and sustain attention. Given this picture, the nature of our susceptibility to digital devices becomes clear, along with the possibility of how to break their spell. Full of practical actions that we can start taking right away, Your Stone Age Brain in the Screen Age offers compelling evidence that we can change the way we use technology, resist its addictive power over us, and take back the control we have lost.

Solving Modern Problems With a Stone-Age Brain

Solving Modern Problems With a Stone-Age Brain PDF Author: Douglas T. Kenrick
Publisher: American Psychological Association
ISBN: 1433834790
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
Like our ancestors, we must do our best to survive, form friendships, win respect, attract mates, and care for our families. In the 21st century, however, the threats to our survival are sometimes hidden. This book presents evolutionary science-based advice for fending off our modern attackers and learning how to be happy in the modern world.

The Man Who Tasted Shapes, revised edition

The Man Who Tasted Shapes, revised edition PDF Author: Richard E. Cytowic
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262250446
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
In this medical detective adventure, Cytowic shows how synesthesia, or "joined sensation," illuminates a wide swath of mental life and leads to a new view of what it means to be human. Richard Cytowic's dinner host apologized, "There aren't enough points on the chicken!" He felt flavor also as a physical shape in his hands, and the chicken had come out "too round." This offbeat comment in 1980 launched Cytowic's exploration into the oddity called synesthesia. He is one of the few world authorities on the subject. Sharing a root with anesthesia ("no sensation"), synesthesia means "joined sensation," whereby a voice, for example, is not only heard but also seen, felt, or tasted. The trait is involuntary, hereditary, and fairly common. It stayed a scientific mystery for two centuries until Cytowic's original experiments led to a neurological explanation—and to a new concept of brain organization that accentuates emotion over reason. That chicken dinner two decades ago led Cytowic to explore a deeper reality that, he argues, exists in everyone but is often just below the surface of awareness (which is why finding meaning in our lives can be elusive). In this medical detective adventure, Cytowic shows how synesthesia, far from being a mere curiosity, illuminates a wide swath of mental life and leads to a new view of what is means to be human—a view that turns upside down conventional ideas about reason, emotional knowledge, and self-understanding. This 2003 edition features a new afterword.

Wednesday Is Indigo Blue

Wednesday Is Indigo Blue PDF Author: Richard E. Cytowic
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262516705
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
How the extraordinary multisensory phenomenon of synesthesia has changed our traditional view of the brain. A person with synesthesia might feel the flavor of food on her fingertips, sense the letter “J” as shimmering magenta or the number “5” as emerald green, hear and taste her husband's voice as buttery golden brown. Synesthetes rarely talk about their peculiar sensory gift—believing either that everyone else senses the world exactly as they do, or that no one else does. Yet synesthesia occurs in one in twenty people, and is even more common among artists. One famous synesthete was novelist Vladimir Nabokov, who insisted as a toddler that the colors on his wooden alphabet blocks were “all wrong.” His mother understood exactly what he meant because she, too, had synesthesia. Nabokov's son Dmitri, who recounts this tale in the afterword to this book, is also a synesthete—further illustrating how synesthesia runs in families. In Wednesday Is Indigo Blue, pioneering researcher Richard Cytowic and distinguished neuroscientist David Eagleman explain the neuroscience and genetics behind synesthesia's multisensory experiences. Because synesthesia contradicted existing theory, Cytowic spent twenty years persuading colleagues that it was a real—and important—brain phenomenon rather than a mere curiosity. Today scientists in fifteen countries are exploring synesthesia and how it is changing the traditional view of how the brain works. Cytowic and Eagleman argue that perception is already multisensory, though for most of us its multiple dimensions exist beyond the reach of consciousness. Reality, they point out, is more subjective than most people realize. No mere curiosity, synesthesia is a window on the mind and brain, highlighting the amazing differences in the way people see the world.

A Million Years in a Day

A Million Years in a Day PDF Author: Greg Jenner
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 125008945X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
Who invented beds? When did we start cleaning our teeth? How old are wine and beer? Which came first: the toilet seat or toilet paper? What was the first clock? Every day, from the moment our alarm clock wakes us in the morning until our head hits our pillow at night, we all take part in rituals that are millennia old. Structured around one ordinary day, A Million Years in a Day reveals the astonishing origins and development of the daily practices we take for granted. In this gloriously entertaining romp through human history, Greg Jenner explores the gradual—and often unexpected—evolution of our daily routines. This is not a story of wars, politics, or great events. Instead, Jenner has scoured Roman rubbish bins, Egyptian tombs, and Victorian sewers to bring us the most intriguing, surprising, and sometimes downright silly historical nuggets from our past. Drawn from across the world, spanning a million years of humanity, this book is a smorgasbord of historical delights. It is a history of all those things you always wondered about—and many you have never considered. It is the story of your life, one million years in the making.

The Winning Mindset

The Winning Mindset PDF Author: Damian Hughes
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 1509804382
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
In The Winning Mindset, Professor Damian Hughes, the acclaimed author of Liquid Thinking and How to Think Like Sir Alex Ferguson, draws on both his lifetime experience and academic background within sport, organization and change psychology to reveal the best ways to create a winning mindset in both personal and professional life. Having worked with some of the top teams in the UK, and watched some of the best coaches in the country at work, Hughes distils the five keys principles that separate the best coaches and teams from the rest: Simplicity; Tripwires; Emotions; Practical; Stories: STEPS. The role of a sports-team leader is fascinating, complex and tough. Fantasy football leagues may convince us that success is all about buying players and selecting a team. In reality, it is about creating winning environments – recruiting, developing and nurturing talent, effectively communicating a shared vision with a diverse collection of individuals, delivering on enormous expectations from a range of stakeholders, overcoming significant challenges, handling pressure and staying focused throughout: a set of challenges familiar to leaders in all sectors.

Yahoo! SiteBuilder For Dummies

Yahoo! SiteBuilder For Dummies PDF Author: Richard Wagner
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0471772216
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
Save up to $75 on Yahoo! Web Hosting! Choose the right graphics, include links and feedback forms, and add "wow" You too can develop cool Web sites with Yahoo! SiteBuilder and this handy, easy-to-follow guide! All the basics of good site design are here, plus step-by-step directions for creating your site with text, links, pictures, and animation. Once you're finished building your site, cash in a special offer from Yahoo! for discounted Web hosting and share your work with the world. Discover how to Create and publish a basic site in minutes Use SiteBuilder templates Design a site that?s easy to navigate Avoid common mistakes amateurs make Offer maps and searches on your site

The Ophelia Cut

The Ophelia Cut PDF Author: John Lescroart
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476709173
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
In this riveting New York Times bestselling novel from the “master of the legal thriller” (Chicago Sun-Times) John Lescroart, defense attorney Dismas Hardy tackles his most personal and complex case yet—defending his brother-in-law against murder charges. When Moses McGuire becomes the prime suspect in the murder of his own daughter’s rapist, attorney Dismas Hardy—Moses’s brother-in-law—agrees to defend him. But McGuire has fallen off the wagon, and his stay in prison could bring to light old secrets that would destroy Hardy and his closest colleagues’ careers. As the overwhelming evidence against McGuire piles up, Hardy focuses on planting doubt in the minds of the jurors—until, in a feat of legal ingenuity that is staggering in both its implications and its simplicity, he sees a new way forward that might just save them all. But at what price?

The Smarter Screen

The Smarter Screen PDF Author: Shlomo Benartzi
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0698194306
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
A leading behavioral economist reveals the tools that will improve our decision making on screens Office workers spend the majority of their waking hours staring at screens. Unfortunately, few of us are aware of the visual biases and behavioral patterns that influence our thinking when we’re on our laptops, iPads, smartphones, or smartwatches. The sheer volume of information and choices available online, combined with the ease of tapping "buy," often make for poor decision making on screens. In The Smarter Screen, behavioral economist Shlomo Benartzi reveals a tool kit of interventions for the digital age. Using engaging reader exercises and provocative case studies, Benartzi shows how digital designs can influence our decision making on screens in all sorts of surprising ways. For example: • You’re more likely to add bacon to your pizza if you order online. • If you read this book on a screen, you’re less likely to remember its content. • You might buy an item just because it’s located in a screen hot spot, even if better options are available. • If you shop using a touch screen, you’ll probably overvalue the product you’re considering. • You’re more likely to remember a factoid like this one if it’s displayed in an ugly, difficult-to-read font. Drawing on the latest research on digital nudging, Benartzi reveals how we can create an online world that helps us think better, not worse.

Ducoboo - Volume 3 - Your Answers or your Life

Ducoboo - Volume 3 - Your Answers or your Life PDF Author: Zidrou
Publisher: Cinebook
ISBN: 1849185778
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 49

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Book Description
What would a class be without a dunce? A bit like a curry without spice. And Ducoboo sure spices up his fellow pupils' days. Not one lesson goes by without flavour--with him, school is an endless string of break-times. Of course, there’s always Leonie, the terribly gifted girl who doesn't put up with Ducoboo's messing and doesn't believe in sharing knowledge. Of course, there’s also the teacher, whose index finger turns out to be more threatening than ever... No, school life isn’t one long, smooth ride: For some, the school year is perhaps the most dangerous time of all!