
A Dramatic Demonstration of the Power of Mental Frames by Simon Singh [video] - bd
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bG7EFhMw8w
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MindTwister
Very interesting video, and I really like the practical demonstration of how
the same "dataset" can mean something completely different depending on what
you expect from it.

Its a nice way to show that even though you might consider yourself
"completely unbiased" and taking the scientific approach, you might get the
wrong result anyways.

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jgamman
FYI Simon Singh has lost the last couple years of his life being sued by the
UK's chiropractic association for telling the truth - ie, it's a load of
codswallop.

~~~
petercooper
Further info on that: [http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/mar/12/simon-
singh-go...](http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/mar/12/simon-singh-
goodbye-libel-reform)

~~~
webaddict
Hi everyone,

Off topic, but this reminded me of this petition:

<http://www.libelreform.org/sign>

Please, if you are not satisfied with the present state of things, sign it. If
you are unaware, perhaps have a quick read, and see what you think? They have
a report here,

<http://www.libelreform.org/our-report>

but do have a read around the net too. Simon has even come up with a pyramid
scheme (for a good cause) in order to get 100 000 petitions. I have included
his email below (verbatim). Please give this some consideration, thanks.

==============================

Dear Friends,

I’ve had an idea – an unusual idea, but I think it might just work.

As you know, England’s chilling libel laws need to be reformed. One way to
help achieve this is for 100,000 people to sign the petition for libel reform
before the political parties write their manifestos for the election. We have
17,000 signatures, but we really need 100,000, and we need your help to get
there.

My idea

My idea is simple: if everyone who has already signed up persuades just one
more person each week to sign the petition then we will reach our goal within
a month!

One person per week is all we need, but please spread the word as much as you
can. In fact, if you persuade 10 people to sign up then email me (simon <<at>>
simonsingh.net) and I promise to thank you by printing your name in my next
book … which I will start writing as soon as I have put my own libel case
behind me. I cannot say when this will be, but it is a very real promise. My
only caveat is that I will limit this to the first thousand people who recruit
ten supporters.

When persuading your friends remember to tell them:

(a) English libel laws have been condemned by the UN Human Rights Committee.

(b) These laws gag scientists, bloggers and journalists who want to discuss
matters of genuine public interest (and public health!).

(c) Our laws give rise to libel tourism, whereby the rich and the powerful
(Saudi billionaires, Russian oligarchs and overseas corporations) come to
London to sue writers because English libel laws are so hostile to responsible
journalism. (In fact, it is exactly because English libel laws have this
global impact that we welcome signatories to the petition from around the
world.)

(d) Vested interests can use their resources to bully and intimidate those who
seek to question them. The cost of a libel trial in England is 100 times more
expensive than the European average and typically runs to over £1 million.

(e) Three separate ongoing libel cases involve myself and two medical
researchers raising concerns about three medical treatments. We face losing £1
million each. In future, why would anyone else raise similar concerns? If
these health matters are not reported, then the public is put at risk.

My experience has been sobering. I’ve had to spend £100,000 to defend my
writing and have put my life on hold for almost two years. However, the
prospect of reforming our libel laws keeps me cheerful.

Thanks so much for your support. We’ve only got one shot at this – so I hope
you can persuade 1 (or maybe 10) friends, family and colleagues to sign.

Massive thanks,

Simon

The Libel Reform Campaign is a coalition of English PEN, Index on Censorship
and Sense About Science.

So far, 188 MPs have signed our Parliamentary Early Day Motion calling for
libel reform and the Justice Secretary Jack Straw has formed a working party
that the Libel Reform Coalition is represented on.

Please also considering donating to keep our campaign going:
[http://libelreform.indiemedium.com/lt.php?id=ZkQFWw8KBlcYDEg...](http://libelreform.indiemedium.com/lt.php?id=ZkQFWw8KBlcYDEgHBgsBUw%3D%3D)

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yurisagalov
There's a great book by Joseph O'Connor called "Introducing NLP: Psychological
Skills for Understanding and Influencing People " Which deals a great bit with
"framing", as well as other concepts that really open up the understanding of
human communication and perception. It was initially intended for
psychologists/psychatrists/etc.. (I believe, based on the numerous references
to using this in "sessions"), but it is really appropriate for just about
every person who wants to understand human communication a little better.

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Aron
This is a great subject. Framing is essentially manipulating our bayesian
priors. I am interested in the variation of this thought line that we can
consciously vary our prior. I can do this with, for instance, a Necker cube. I
can deliberately switch my anticipated model and have the rest of my
experience line up with this switch. Although curiously, it has a rather slow
switching time.

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Jach
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases>

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makmanalp
It's not _just_ the fact that he's compelling us to hear something, he's also
pointing out what words we're going to hear on the screen. If he just promised
we'd hear something and then not show them as it's playing, a lot of people
would hear much less meaningful stuff still.

~~~
arantius
He specifically talked about the fact that when the brain has a "strong
enough" bias, that's when it ends up telling you that its false error
correction data is indeed fact.

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wedesoft
Amazing how the mind locks on to the given pattern. Maybe that's related to
the psychological fact that people tend to overestimate the control they have
over the physical world. You could also call it optimism.

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dopkew
But, could the demonstrator have given any other lines and still caused the
audience to observe them in the song? Those lines were deliberately designed
from careful study of the song.

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Cyndre
Really liked this demonstration. I wonder what the effects of this are on
investors when evaluating a unique idea.

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evaryont
Isn't this the same reason why optical illusions work? The brain finds
patterns and holds on to them.

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gojomo
Yes, but I think the interesting part of this (and similar) demonstrations is
that it shows illusions that cross more than one sense. It's not just tricking
your eyes; it's using your eyes to trick your hearing.

See also 'the McGurk Effect':

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFPtc8BVdJk>

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtsfidRq2tw>

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McGurk_effect>

It would be neat to find reverse examples -- where sound changes visual
perception. (Perhaps the typical dramatic false-punch is one; the added sound
of contact makes an otherwise implausibly short or off-center strike seem much
more realistic.)

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mtrimpe
I'm still pretty sure this specific example got put there on purpose though
...

