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You make decisions quicker and based on less information than you think

by Nadav Klein

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You’re probably wrong about how long it would take you to know they’re ‘the one.’ rawpixel/Unsplash, CC BY

We live in an age of information. In theory, we can learn everything about anyone or anything at the touch of a button. All this information should allow us to make super-informed, data-driven decisions all the time.

But the widespread availability of information does not mean that you actually use it even if you have it. In fact, decades of research in psychology and behavioral science find that people readily make data-poor snap judgments in a variety of instances. People form lasting impressions of others in the span of milliseconds, evaluators judge teachers in less than a minute and consumers make shopping decisions based on little deliberation. Even voting decisions can seemingly be predicted from preliminary impressions formed during incredibly brief time periods.

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Refugee comics: personal stories of forced migration illustrated in a powerful new way

by Emma Parker

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When a work of art called the “The List” was installed in July 2018 at the Liverpool Biennial in the UK, it contained the names of 34,361 refugees and migrants who died crossing the borders of Europe since 1996. By September, it had been defaced with the words “invaders not refugees”.

While local officials condemned the culprits as “fascist thugs”, rhetoric which portrays refugees as nameless “invaders” has been used repeatedly by European leaders and politicians in recent years. Such language deliberately dehumanises the estimated 65m people caught up in a global refugee crisis.

Against this backdrop, a recent flurry of comics have begun to tell the individual stories of the refugees and migrants behind these overwhelming statistics. Responding to the near-constant media coverage of border crossings and refugees during 2015 and 2016, they explore personal journeys, experiences of detention and attempts to make new lives in strange lands.

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RIP Stan Lee 1922- 2018

scifigeneration:

by Daryle Lockhart

Not many of us get to see the worlds we create turn into worldwide blockbusters. Not many of us can say that we were part of the creation of a cinematic universe. One that has those achievements on their resume? Stanley Martin Lieber - known to the galaxy as Stan Lee, the name synonymous with Marvel Comics. Stan died today at 95.

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Before becoming the best-known cameo actor in Hollywood, Stan was a comic-book writer, editor, and publisher. He was formerly editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics, and later its publisher and chairman before leaving the company to become its chairman emeritus.

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Being born in the wrong ZIP code can shorten your life

by Jessica Young

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Babies born 10 miles apart could represent a life expectancy difference of almost 33 years. Ana Prego/shutterstock.com

Newly released data on life expectancy across the U.S. shows that where we live matters for how long we live.

A person in the U.S. can expect to live an average of 78.8 years, according to the most recent numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

However, life expectancy varies widely across geography. A child born in Mississippi today could expect to never reach his or her 75th birthday. But a child born in California, Hawaii or New York could expect to reach their expect to live into the early 80s.

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You already know. Standing room only. See you upstairs.
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Knowledge can take many forms – one of them is art

by Clive Cazeaux

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ESB Professional/Shutterstock

Knowledge can take many forms. There is “knowledge by acquaintance”, as in knowing a person or place. There is propositional knowledge, or “knowledge that” – for example, knowing that the UK voted to leave the EU in June 2016. There is also “knowledge how”, as in knowing how to ride a bicycle.

But can something as subjective and open to interpretation as art be knowledge? Art certainly involves knowledge. An artist may know how to draw using charcoal on paper, or know how to stretch a canvas. But what about an actual artwork? Can it be a type of knowledge? I think it can, and as I argue in my new book, philosophy can help.

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