Thursday, March 2, 2006

Overstimulation and overconfidence 43Folders blogs Annalee on overstimulation, bad soccer calls, and the new currencies that comprise 'the attention economy:' But the researchers found something far more interesting. Subjects who made incorrect decisions under 'noisy' conditions tended to have extremely high confidence that their decisions were right. They were far more confident than the subjects dealing with a noncluttered image. 'These results have practical implications for perceptual decisions in everyday life,' wrote the authors in their paper. 'They predict an increase in high-confidence errors when decisions are made in cluttered environments[sigma].' As in: almost everywhere these days. 7:20:46 PM    comment []  trackback []

Selling global warming Seth Godin brings his considerable marketing talents to bear on the challenge of global warming -- actually, on the challenge of getting people riled up about what might be the greatest threat ever to the future of mankind. The muted reaction to our impending disaster comes down to two things: 1. the name. Global is good. Warm is good. Even greenhouses are good places. How can "global warming" be bad? I'm not being facetious. If the problem were called "Atmosphere cancer" or "Pollution death" the entire conversation would be framed in a different way. 2. the pace and the images. [Read more...] 7:07:21 PM    comment []  trackback []

New York moves to hybrid taxis Stop  Global Warming reports: Already operating the nation's largest fleet of hybrid buses, New York is beginning to convert its massive taxi fleet to hybrid vehicles. Learn more about our New York stop. From the Bronx to the Battery, those big old yellow Crown Victorias will gradually be replaced with Ford Escapes, Mercury Mariners, as well as the Toyota Prius and other hybrid vehicles that will get three times the gas mileage while cutting emissions by two thirds. It all adds up to a 50% reduction in the release of gases that cause global warming. Each New York taxi averages nearly 100,000 miles of driving annually, so pretty soon we're talking about real money. 6:59:32 PM    comment []  trackback []