Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 507

The Neuroscience of Creativity, Perception, and Confirmation Bias

'To ensure your survival, your brain evolved to avoid one thing: uncertainty. As neuroscientist Beau Lotto points out, if your ancestors wondered for too long whether that noise was a predator or not, you wouldn't be here right now. Our brains are geared to make fast assumptions, and questioning them in many cases quite literally equates to death.  To be creative, we have to unlearn millions of years of evolution. Creativity asks us to do that which is hardest: to question our assumptions, to doubt what we believe to be true. That is the only way to see differently. And if you think creativity is a chaotic and wild force, think again, says Beau Lotto. It just looks that way from the outside. Creativity, it seems, is another (highly sophisticated) form of logic. Beau Lotto is the author of Deviate: The Science of Seeing Differently .' -- Big Think
 

Tiny Desk Concert: Chance the Rapper

'Chance The Rapper, fresh from a 23,000-strong, sold-out show the night before, brought a thoughtful and fresh take to his Tiny Desk concert.' -- NPR Music

The 'Thumbprint Of The Culture': Implicit Bias And Police Shootings

'In a shooting involving a police officer, there's often a familiar blame game: Was the cop was racist? Was the person shot threatening? Or maybe, the bias that leads cops to shoot affects us all. This episode of NPR's Hidden Brain includes references to research by Mahzarin Banaji, Eric Hehman, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, and Joshua Correll. You'll also hear from Philip Tetlock.'

Duke Historian Nancy MacLean Discusses New Book 'Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America'

'Nancy MacLean, Duke's William H. Chafe Professor of History and Public Policy, describes her new book Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America .' -- Duke University 

Tiny Grey-Garcia: "The U.S. Makes It Illegal to be Poor"

'Tiny Grey-Garcia, editor of POOR magazine talks about living on the streets and what it's like to make media by and for low-income and no-income people.' -- Bitch Media 

Busting The Myth Of The American Dream: Economist William Darity Talks Inequality

'Why are some people rich and others poor? Answering this elusive question has been the lifelong work of economist William (Sandy) Darity, who studied economics at MIT and the London School of Economics and Political Science, and later pioneered the subfield of stratification economics, an interdisciplinary approach to understanding economic inequality. State of Things's host Frank Stasio talks with Darity, director of the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University and Professor of African and African American Studies about his life and work.' 

NBA Free Agency Madness & the Strength of Kaepernick's Silence

'Edge of Sports podcast speaks to NBA.com's Sekou Smith about Phil Jackson's tenure with the Knicks and the trade which sent Chris Paul to the Houston Rockets. Smith shares his advice for young sports journalists. Plus, Edge of Sports podcast breaks down the historic partnership between the Seattle Storm and Planned Parenthood. Finally, Dave Zirin  calls out the NFL and journalists who want Colin Kaepernick to beg for a job.'-- Edge of Sports  

Dick Gregory: The Serious Life of a Humorist

'The standup comic, whose acerbic wit and political topics helped break new ground in the 1950s and '60s, used humor as part of his activism, and taught his children by his example on and off the stage. Erin Moriarty talks with Dick Gregory about how he used comedy to tell harsh truth about civil rights and American society.' -- CBS Sunday Morning

Is Race Genetic or Socially Constructed?

'How many different races are there? Pick a number, any number, says philosophy professor Philip Kitcher. Wherever there is an agenda there is a division to be made; race is a social construct with scientific levers. "If there’s one thing that we’ve learned from biological science and psychological science over the last century, it’s that there’s an enormous amount of variation within the groups that we’ve traditionally thought of as races, far more than there is between the groups we’ve traditionally thought of as races." This makes sense; historically, we've drawn the line wherever it has suited the mainstream agenda.  Philip Kitcher is the co-author of The Seasons Alter: How to Save Our Planet in Six Acts.' -- Big Think
 

Tracy K. Smith in the Woods

'Tracy K. Smith’s first poem to appear in The New Yorker, in 2009, was “Alternate Take: Levon Helm,” about the great musician and member of the Band. Smith was recently named the Poet Laureate of the United States, so the demands on her time have increased. She takes us into the woods around her home to describe the “effortless sense of clarity” she seeks in her work, and meets up with the local fauna along the way.'  -- The New Yorker Radio Hour