Oh dear, even people with neuroscience training believe an awful lot of brain myths

“[These findings] suggest that if educators were to take a class in
neuroscience that did not specifically address neuromyths, it would be
unlikely to help with dispelling the misconceptions that are most
closely related to learning and education,” they said.

They added that programmes intended to combat belief in neuromyths
might benefit from highlighting how many myths mistakenly imply that a
single factor is responsible for, or indicative of, a given outcome
(e.g. sugar causing bad behavior or letter reversals being a sign of
dyslexia) when in fact many factors are usually involved in learning and
cognition. Also, myth-busting programmes could emphasise how many of us
seem to have a bias to find explanations more credible when they
contain neuroscience references, no matter how gratuitous.

Oh dear, even people with neuroscience training believe an awful lot of brain myths

Europe opting for submission to Islam

It
is this dismal if inevitable reality that was seemingly guaranteed by
an European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decision two weeks before
Merkel’s speech. On Oct 25th, the ECHR, in a ruling mandatory
for 47 European countries, denied an Austrian petitioner and ruled that
the imperatives of “religious peace” and “mutual tolerance” are more
important than freedom of speech. In this particular case, the
petitioner had asked in a seminar whether Mohammad’s marriage to a six
year old  (consummated three years later), constituted a case of
pedophilia. In its ruling, the court decreed that denigration of
Muhammad is not protected speech, regardless of the factual evidence
with the clear implication of prohibiting  criticism of Islam. 

This
has the effect of overturning that same court’s 2001 ruling that sharia
is not compatible with democracy and making Islam exempt from any
questioning, even as attacks on Christianity and Judaism are
well-established and widely practiced.

Europe opting for submission to Islam

Why Nostalgia For The Lifetime Job Economy Is Dangerous

These are amazing benefits for many people the old economy could not
help. But the initial excitement for these companies has bent toward
viewing them as exploiters. They provide little to no retirement
benefits and it’s very hard to earn enough money working full-time to
live well, let alone raise a family. There have followed increasing
calls for legislation. Hillary Clinton in 2016 said as president she
would force gig companies to reclassify contractors as full-time
employees and provide them more benefits.

The tradeoff for this would be to destroy the opportunity to obtain a
middle-class lifestyle that our public policy purports to support.
Without the gig economy, millions of people would simply have to stop
working entirely or resort to less-optimal solutions, like finding less
flexible work, dropping out of school, or depending on government
benefits.

Also under attack are low-skilled jobs in retail and fast food, such
as Walmart or McDonald’s. The “Fight for $15” movement is a reaction to
the idea that companies like these are underpaying and exploiting their
workers. Enacting this policy in many places would force companies to
replace employees with robots and increase prices on their products.
Some McDonald’s locations in San Francisco, which already has a $15
minimum wage, already use touchscreen computers instead of human workers
to take orders.

…The idea that “one job should be enough” for a comfortable
middle-class life certainly sounds fair. But it came about in the 1950s
and ’60s, when the United States was the world’s sole economic
superpower and most households lived on one income alone. During that
time, the cost of education and health care was much lower than today.

Trying to force every new innovation in employment into this cultural
framework will inevitably create barriers for those who are most
vulnerable in society, and raise prices for them in other areas of the
economy. It’s not just the rich who will have to pay more for food,
transportation, lodging, and skilled help.

Why Nostalgia For The Lifetime Job Economy Is Dangerous