Paul Bloom
Psychologist at the University of Toronto and professor emeritus at Yale, author of Against Empathy and The Sweet Spot. He writes the newsletter Small Potatoes.
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Their wordsBut it does suggest that the popularity of despair can’t be taken as good evidence that this despair is warranted.
↗Kids These Dayssmallpotatoes.paulbloom.net 1st of 3 in this piece
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Their wordsI think it’s entirely plausible that screens have a real negative effect on teenagers, but studies can’t find them because (a) the effects need not be dose-dependent (maybe two hours on your phone isn’t worse than one hour), and (b) given that everyone else is on social media, giving it up can have a negative effect.
↗Kids These Dayssmallpotatoes.paulbloom.net 2nd of 3 in this piece
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Their wordsthe claim here is that arguments about smartphones, bullying, and homework are arguments about values, often moral values
↗Kids These Dayssmallpotatoes.paulbloom.net 3rd of 3 in this piece
- 4 weeks earlier
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Their wordsAre parents better people? Not really. Parental love directs enormous concern toward a few particular people, leaving less for everyone else.
- 2 weeks earlier
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Their wordsI agree with Koopman that people really are swayed by such cases. I also think it’s a dumb-ass gut response that we should try our best to get over.
↗Death by AIsmallpotatoes.paulbloom.net 1st of 2 in this piece
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Their wordsThe second failure of rationality is a status quo bias: an unseemly attachment to the way things currently are; an irrational overweighing of the cost of the new. We effectively end up comparing a new technology to perfection, so it’s no wonder it comes up short.
↗Death by AIsmallpotatoes.paulbloom.net 2nd of 2 in this piece
- 5 weeks earlier
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Our reading
Living for as long as possible is worth wanting: if you enjoy life now, more of it is simply better.
Their wordsThis seems like an easy yes. If you enjoy life right now, why not get more of it?
↗Immortality Sounds Pretty Good, Actuallysmallpotatoes.paulbloom.net 1st of 4 in this piece
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Our reading
A very long life would not grow boring, because pleasures spaced far enough apart do not wear out.
Their wordsThere are things that we naturally take pleasure in—such as friendship, sex, and Italian food—and while we can become sick of anything if continually exposed to it in large doses, we don’t get tired of these things if they are properly distributed in time.
↗Immortality Sounds Pretty Good, Actuallysmallpotatoes.paulbloom.net 2nd of 4 in this piece
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Their wordsBut when I think about all the goals I have in my life right now—finish this Substack, get the house ready for some visitors, prepare a course for next year, write a paper, etc.—none of it is driven by an appreciation of my mortality.
↗Immortality Sounds Pretty Good, Actuallysmallpotatoes.paulbloom.net 3rd of 4 in this piece
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Their wordsBut there’s no overall narrative arc—it’s just been one thing after another.
↗Immortality Sounds Pretty Good, Actuallysmallpotatoes.paulbloom.net 4th of 4 in this piece