Category Archives: Human Behavior

Human Behavior

Tim Cook expects our behavior to change when we feel ‘surveilled all the time’ by tech: ‘It changes society in a major way’ – CNBC

Apple CEO Tim Cook is no stranger to criticizing other tech companies for monitoring their users' data. Now, he's upping the ante by indicating that such data collection could soon become a widespread problem for society at large.

At the TIME100 Summit 2022 on Tuesday, Cook said he was "quite worried" about tech companies surveilling their users, because it could change the way most humans behave and interact with each other.

"I fear deeply the loss of privacy," Cook, 61, said. "If we begin to feel like we're being surveilled all the time, then our behavior changes. We begin to do less. We begin to think about things less. You begin to modify how you think. In a world like that where you're restraining yourself, [it] changes society in a major way."

Several studies show that humans behave differently when they know they're being watched. In 2018, researchers from a Dutch university found participants "cheated significantly less" on tests when cameras were present. In an Axios survey published in 2019, some participants self-reported that being watched affected their behavior, and 48% said surveillance could cause them to change their behavior at work.

Cook's comments join a chorus of recent controversy surrounding tech companies and user data. Last month, more than one million Illinois residents received checks for up to $397 after Facebook settled a $650 million class action lawsuit. According to plaintiffs, the platform gathered facial recognition data without user consent which is illegal under Illinois state law.

Google Photos is in the midst of a similar lawsuit, and as CNBC reported in 2017, all of Google's platforms including Gmail, Google Docs and the company's eponymous search engine store information like your phone number, location data and the websites you've visited.

Google maintains that it doesn't sell the personal information it stores, but rather uses it to curate personalized ads for its users. The company recently announced tools to help users request the removal of their personal data from its search results.

Google, Amazon and even Apple have also come under fire for collecting and reviewing audio samples from smart home systems. Google and Amazon eventually acknowledged their use of the practice with Google Assistant and Alexa, providing opt-out options for users. Apple, which is generally viewed as more privacy-conscious than most of its rivals, went a step further by apologizing and suspending its "human grading" practice across all Siri services.

Despite the tech world's myriad privacy issues, Cook noted on Tuesday that a surveillance-heavy future isn't a foregone conclusion yet. He said he's "optimistic" that tech companies will develop more ways to respect individuals' data, though he did not specify whether those changes would be motivated by altruism, lawsuits or the threat of federal regulations.

"It's tough to say that a company, or anyone for that matter, should be able to step in and on an uninformed basis vacuum up your data," Cook said.

Sign up now: Get smarter about your money and career with our weekly newsletter

Don't miss:

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak: Of all Big Tech, Facebook is No. 1 that I dont like

You can now ask Google to remove your personal data from its search resultsheres how

Excerpt from:
Tim Cook expects our behavior to change when we feel 'surveilled all the time' by tech: 'It changes society in a major way' - CNBC

Human Behavior

Human Rights Watch’s Opposition to CARE Court (SB 1338) – Human Rights Watch

Honorable Mark StoneChair, Assembly Judiciary Committee1020 N. Street, Room 104Sacramento, CA 95814

Re: Human Rights Watchs Opposition to CARE Court (SB 1338) as amended May 19, 2022

Dear Assemblymember Stone:

Human Rights Watch has carefully reviewed SB 1338[1] , the amendments to SB 1338, and the proposed framework for the Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment (CARE) Court created by CalHHS,[2] and must respectfully voice our strong opposition. CARE Court promotes a system of involuntary, coerced treatment, enforced by an expanded judicial infrastructure, that will, in practice, simply remove unhoused people with perceived mental health conditions from the public eye without effectively addressing those mental health conditions and without meeting the urgent need for housing. We urge you to reject this bill and instead to take a more holistic, rights-respecting approach to address the lack of resources for autonomy-affirming treatment options and affordable housing.

CARE Court proponents claim it will increase up-stream diversion from the criminal legal and conservatorship systems by allowing a wide range of actors to refer people with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders to the jurisdiction of the courts without an arrest or hospitalization. In fact, the bill creates a new pathway for government officials and family members to place people under state control and take away their autonomy and liberty.[3] It applies generally to those the bill describes as having a schizophrenia spectrum or other psychotic disorder and specifically targets unhoused people.[4] It seems aimed at facilitating removing unhoused people from public view without actually providing housing and services that will help to resolve homelessness. Given the racial demographics of Californias homeless population,[5] and the historic over-diagnosing of Black and Latino people with schizophrenia,[6] this plan is likely to place many, disproportionately Black and brown, people under state control.

CARE Court is Coerced Treatment

Proponents of the plan describe CARE Court in misleading ways as preserving self-determination and self-sufficiency, and empower[ing].[7] But CARE Court creates a state-imposed system of coerced, involuntary treatment. The proposed legislation authorizes judges to order a person to submit to treatment under a CARE plan.[8] That treatment may include an order to take a given medication, including anti-psychotic medications, housing, and other enumerated services.[9] Housing must be provided through a designated list of existing program that includes interim housing or shelter options that may be unacceptable to an individual and unsuited to their unique needs.[10] The CARE Court proposal does not provide additional housing.

A person who fails to obey the court ordered treatment plan may be referred to conservatorship, which would potentially strip that person of their legal capacity and personal autonomy, subjecting them to forcible medical treatment and medication, loss of personal liberty, and removal of power to make decisions over the conduct of their own lives.[11] Indeed, the court may use failure to comply with their court-ordered treatment, as a factual presumption that no suitable community alternatives are available to treat the individual, paving the way for detention and conservatorship.[12] In practical effect, the mandatory care plans are simply pathways to the even stricter system of control through conservatorship.

This approach not only robs individuals of dignity and autonomy but is also coercive and likely ineffective.[13] Studies of coercive mental health treatment have generally not shown positive outcomes.[14] Evidence does not support the conclusion that involuntary outpatient treatment is more effective than intensive voluntary outpatient treatment and, indeed, shows that involuntary, coercive treatment is harmful.[15]

Coerced Treatment Violates Human Rights

Under international human rights law, all people have the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.[16] Free and informed consent, including the right to refuse treatment, is a core element of that right to health.[17] Having a substitute decision-maker, including a judge, or even a supporter, make orders for health care can deny a person with disabilities their right to legal capacity and infringe on their personal autonomy.[18]

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities establishes the obligation to holistically examine all areas of law to ensure that the right of persons with disabilities to legal capacity is not restricted on an unequal basis with others. Historically, persons with disabilities have been denied their right to legal capacity in many areas in a discriminatory manner under substitute decision-making regimes such as guardianship, conservatorship and mental health laws that permit forced treatment.[19] The US has signed but not yet ratified this treaty, which means it is obligated to refrain from establishing policies and legislation that will undermine the purpose and object of the treaty, like creating provisions that mandate long-term substitute decision-making schemes like conservatorship or court-ordered treatment plans.

The World Health Organization has developed a new model that harmonizes mental health services and practices with international human rights law and has criticized practices promoting involuntary mental health treatments as leading to violence and abuse, rather than recovery, which should be the core basis of mental health services.[20] Recovery means different things for different people but one of its key elements is having control over ones own mental health treatment, including the possibility of refusing treatment.

To comport with human rights, treatment should be based on the will and preferences of the person concerned. Housing or disability status does not rob a person of their right to legal capacity or their personal autonomy. Expansive measures for imposing mental health treatment like the process envisioned by the CARE Court plan infringe on it and discriminate on the basis of disability. As discussed below they also run the risk of being abused by self-interested actors. This coerced process leading to treatment undermines any healing aim of the proposal.

CARE Court Denies Due Process

The CARE Court proposal authorizes family members, first responders, including police officers or outreach workers, the public guardian, service providers, conservators, and the director of the county behavioral health agency, to initiate the process of imposing involuntary treatment by filing a petition with the court.[21] These expansive categories of people with the power to embroil another person in court processes and potential loss of autonomy, many of whom lack any expertise in recognition and treatment of mental health conditions, reveals the extreme danger of abuse inherent in this proposal. For example, interpersonal conflicts between family members could result in abusive parents, children, spouses, and siblings using the referral process to expose their relatives to court hearings and potential coerced treatment, housing, and medication.

Law enforcement and outreach workers would have a new tool to threaten unhoused people with referral to the court to pressure them to move from a given area. These state actors could place those who disobeyed their commands into the CARE Court process and under the control of courts. Given the long history of law enforcement using its authority to drive unhoused people from public spaces, a practice that re-traumatizes those people and does nothing to solve homelessness, it is dangerous to provide them with additional powers to do so.[22]

The legislation does not set meaningful standards to guide judicial discretion and does not delineate procedures for those decisions.[23] It establishes a contradictory and unworkable procedure that allows certain people diagnosed with schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders to be ordered into treatment if, among other criteria, a judge believes that they have impaired insight or judgment that risks their health and safety, or that they are at risk of relapse or deterioration into grave disability or potential harm. [24] These criteria are extremely subjective and speculative and subject to bias. On a mere showing of prima facie evidence that the petition is true, the person is then required to enter into negotiations with the county behavioral health agency to come up with a purportedly voluntary treatment plan.[25] However, failure to agree to that plan results in an evaluation by that same behavioral health agency, which is used to impose a mandatory, court-ordered course of treatment.[26] Once ordered, if a person does not complete the CARE program, they may be involuntarily reappointed to the program for an additional year.[27] This process is entirely involuntary and coercive. The role of the behavioral health agency poses a great potential for conflicts of interest, as they will presumably be funded to carry out the Care Plans that result from their negotiations and their evaluations.

The CARE Court plan threatens to create a separate legal track for people perceived to have mental health conditions, without adequate process, negatively implicating basic rights.[28] Even with stronger judicial procedures, this program would remain objectionable because it expands the ability of the state to coerce people into involuntary treatment.

CARE Court will harm Black, brown, and Unhoused people

The CARE Court directly targets unhoused people to be placed under court-ordered treatment, thus denying their rights and self-determination. Governor Newsom, in pitching this plan, called it a response to seeing homeless encampments throughout the state of California.[29] CARE Court will empower police and homeless outreach workers to refer people to the courts and allow judges to order them into treatment against their will, including medication plans. CARE Court does not increase access to permanent supportive housing or mental health care and instead relies on existing programs and service providers that already struggle to meet the needs of the unhoused.[30]

Due to a long history of racial discrimination in housing, employment, access to health care, policing and the criminal legal system, Black and brown people have much higher rates of homelessness than their overall share of the population.[31] The CARE Court plan in no way addresses the conditions that have led to these high rates of homelessness in Black and brown communities. Instead, it proposes a system of state control over individuals that will compound the harms of homelessness.

Further, much research shows that mental health professionals diagnose Black and Latino populations at much higher rates than they do white people.[32] One meta-analysis of over 50 separate studies found that Black people are diagnosed with schizophrenia at a rate nearly 2.5 times greater than white people.[33] A 2014 review of empirical literature on the subject found that Black people were diagnosed with psychotic disorders three to four times more frequently than white people.[34] This review found large disparities for Latino people as well. CARE Court may place a disproportionate number of Black and Latino people under involuntary court control.

CARE Court Does Not Increase Access to Mental Health Care

The CARE plan would establish a new judicial infrastructure focused on identifying people with mental health conditions and placing them under state control for up to twenty-four months. While touted as an unprecedented investment in support and treatment for people with mental health conditions, in reality, the program provides no new funding for behavioral health care, instead re-directing money already in the budget for treatment to programs required by CARE Court.[35] According to the DHHS presentation on the proposal, the only new money allocated for the program will go to the courts themselves to administer this system of control.[36]

The court-ordered plans include housing, but not necessarily permanent supportive housing.[37] The proposal seems to anticipate allowing shelter and interim housing to suffice if available, without recognizing the vast shortage of affordable housing, especially supportive housing, throughout most of California.[38] To the extent the proposal relies on state investment in housing already in existence, it will prioritize availability of that housing for people under this program, meaning others in need would have reduced access to that housing.

California Should Invest in Voluntary Treatment and Supportive Services

CARE Court shifts the blame for homelessness onto individuals and their vulnerabilities, rather than recognizing and addressing the root causes of homelessness such as poverty, affordable housing shortages, barriers to access to voluntary mental health care, and racial discrimination. CARE Courts are designed to force unhoused people with mental health conditions into coerced treatment that will not comprehensively and compassionately address their needs.

Californians lack adequate access to supportive mental health care and treatment.[39] However, this program does not increase that access. Instead, it depends on money already earmarked for behavioral health initiatives and layers harmful and expensive court involvement onto an already inadequate system. Similarly, the Care plans mandated by the CARE Courts do not address the shortage of housing.

Investing in involuntary treatment ties up resources that could otherwise be invested in voluntary treatment and the services necessary to make that treatment effective.[40] California should provide well-resourced holistic community-based voluntary options and remove barriers to evidence-based treatment to support people with mental health conditions who might be facing other forms of social exclusion. Such options should be coupled with investment in other social supports and especially housing, not tied to court-supervision.

Rather than co-opting the language used by movements supporting housing and disability rights and cynically parading the trauma of family members let down by the state mental health system, as proponents of CARE Courts have done, we instead ask that you reject the CARE Court proposal entirely and direct resources towards making voluntary treatment and other necessary services accessible to all who need it.

Sincerely,

Olivia Ensign John RaphlingSenior Advocate, US Program Senior Researcher, US ProgramHuman Rights Watch Human Rights Watch

[1] California SB 1338, Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Court Program (Umberg, Eggman), 2022, https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1338 (accessed April 12, 2022).

[2] California Health & Human Services Agency, CARE Court: A New Framework for Community Assistance, Recovery & Empowerment, March 2022, https://www.chhs.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/CARE-Court-Framework_web.pdf (accessed April 12, 2022).

[3] California SB 1338, Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Court Program (Umberg, Eggman), 2022, https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1338.

[4] Marisa Lagos, Gov. Newsom on His Plan to Tackle Mental Health, Homelessness with CARE Courts,KQED, March 16, 2022, https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101888316/gov-newsom-on-his-new-plan-to-tackle-mental-health-homelessness-with-care-courts (accessed April 12, 2022).

[5] Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, Report and Recommendations of the Ad Hoc Committee on Black People Experiencing Homelessness, December 2018, https://www.lahsa.org/documents?id=2823-report-and-recommendations-of-the-ad-hoc-committee-on-black-people-experiencing-homelessness (accessed April 12, 2022).

[6] Charles M. Olbert, Arundati Nagendra, and Benjamin Buck, Meta-analysis of Black vs. White racial disparity in schizophrenia diagnosis in the United States: Do structured assessments attenuate racial disparities?, Journal of Abnormal Psychology 127(1) (2018): 104-115, accessed April 12, 2022, doi: 10.1037/abn0000309; Robert C. Schwartz and David M. Blankenship, Racial disparities in psychotic disorder diagnosis: A review of empirical literature, World Journal of Psychiatry 4 (2014): 133-140, accessed April 12, 20220, doi: 10.5498/wjp.v4.i4.133.

[7] CARE (Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment) Court, California Health & Human Services Agency, March 14, 2022, Slides 5, 10 and 20, https://www.chhs.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/CARE-Court-Stakeholder-Slides-20220314.pdf (accessed April 12, 2022); Marisa Lagos, Gov. Newsom on His Plan to Tackle Mental Health, Homelessness with CARE Courts, KQED, March 16, 2022, https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101888316/gov-newsom-on-his-new-plan-to-tackle-mental-health-homelessness-with-care-courts (accessed April 12, 2022).

[9] SB 1338, Section, 5982; 5971

[10] SB 1338, Section 5982(c); CARE (Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment) Court. The DHHS presentation discusses a range of housing possibilities including interim or bridge housing, which in common usage means temporary shelter.

[11] SB 1338, Section 5979(a); California Welfare and Institutions Code Section 53505372, https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=WIC&sectionNum=5357 (accessed April 12, 2022).

[13] Sashidharan, S. P., Mezzina, R., & Puras, D., Reducing coercion in mental healthcare,Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences,28(6) (2019): 605612, accessed April 12, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796019000350 (Available research does not suggest that coercive intervention in mental health care are clinically effective, improve patient safety or result in better clinical or social outcomes.).

[14] Sashidharan, S. P., Mezzina, R., & Puras, D., Reducing coercion in mental healthcare,Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences,28(6) (2019): 605612, accessed May 5, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796019000350; Richard M. Ryan, Martin F. Lynch, Maarten Vansteenkiste, and Edward L. Deci, Motivation and Autonomy in Counseling, Psychotherapy, and Behavior Change: A Look at Theory and Practice, Invited Integrative Review 39(2) (2011): 193260, accessed May 5, 2022, doi: 10.1177/0011000009359313; McLaughlin, P., Giacco, D., and Priebe, S., Use of Coercive Measures during Involuntary Psychiatric Admission and Treatment Outcomes: Data from a Prospective Study across 10 European Countries,Plods one11(12) (2016), accessed May 5, 2022, doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0168720 (All coercive measures are associated with patients staying longer in hospital, and seclusion significantly so, and this association is not fully explained by coerced patients being more unwell at admission.).

[15] Joseph P. Morrissey, et al., Outpatient Commitment and Its Alternatives: Questions Yet to Be Answered, Psychiatric Services (2014): 812-814; S.P. Sashidharan, et al., Reducing Coercion in Mental Healthcare, Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences 28 (2019): 605-612.

[16] International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, (ICESCR), adopted December 16, 1966, entered into force January 3, 1976, Art. 12(1), https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/cescr.aspx (accessed May 5, 2022).

[17] Human Rights Council; United Nations, General Assembly, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, March 28, 2017, https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/35/21, para. 63. See also Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, art. 12 read in conjunction with art. 25; Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: General comment No. 1 (2014), May 19, 2014, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G14/031/20/PDF/G1403120.pdf?OpenElement (accessed May 5, 2022), para. 31, 41.

[19] Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: General comment No. 1 (2014), May 19, 2014, para. 7.

[20] World Health Organization and QualityRights, Freedom from coercion, violence, and abuse, 2019, https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/329582/9789241516730-eng.pdf?sequence=5&isAllowed=y (accessed May 5, 2022), p. 2, 8, 22.

[21] SB 1338, Section 5974; 5978

[22] Chris Herring, Complaint-Oriented Policing: Regulating Homelessness in Public Space, American Sociological Review 1-32, (2019), accessed May 5, 2022, doi: 10.1177/0003122419872671.

[23] SB 1338, Section, 5972-5978

[24] SB 1338, Section 5972.

[25] SB 1338, Section 5977.

[26] SB 1338, Section 5977.

[27]SB 1338, Section 5977.

[28] Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Guidelines on article 14 of the Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities: The right to liberty and security of persons with disabilities, (September 2015), https://www.google.com/search?q=Guidelines+on+CRPD+article+14%2C+paragraph+21&rlz=1C1PRFI_enUS936US936&oq=Guidelines+on+CRPD+article+14%2C+paragraph+21&aqs=chrome..69i57j33i160.3045j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 (accessed May 5, 2022), para. 14.

[29] Marisa Lagos, Gov. Newsom on His Plan to Tackle Mental Health, Homelessness with CARE Courts.

[30] SB 1338, Section 5982(c).

[31] Kate Cimini, Black people disproportionately homeless in California, CalMatters, February 27, 2021, https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2019/10/black-people-disproportionately-homeless-in-california/ (accessed May 5, 2022) (about 6.5% of Californians identify as black or African American,but they account for nearly 40% of the states homeless population); Esmeralda Bermudez and Ruben Vives, Surge in Latino homeless population a whole new phenomenon; for Los Angeles, LA Times, June 18, 2017, https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-latino-homeless-20170618-story.html (accessed May 5, 2022); Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, Report and Recommendations of the Ad Hoc Committee on Black People Experiencing Homelessness, December 2018, https://www.lahsa.org/documents?id=2823-report-and-recommendations-of-the-ad-hoc-committee-on-black-people-experiencing-homelessness (accessed May 5, 2022).

[32] Charles M Olbert,Arundati Nagendra, andBenjamin Buck, Meta-analysis of Black vs. White racial disparity in schizophrenia diagnosis in the United States: Do structured assessments attenuate racial disparities?, Journal of Abnormal Psychology 127 (2018): 104-115, accessed May 5, 2022, doi: 10.1037/abn0000309; Robert C. Schwartz and David M. Blankenship, Racial disparities in psychotic disorder diagnosis: A review of empirical literature, World Journal of Psychiatry 4 (2014): 133-140, accessed May 5, 2022, doi: 10.5498/wjp.v4.i4.133.

[34] Schwartz and Blankenship, Racial disparities in psychotic disorder diagnosis.

[35] CARE (Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment) Court, California Health & Human Services Agency.

[37] SB 1338, Section 5971; 5982.

[38] Ibid.; National Low Income Housing Coalition, The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes, March 2020, https://reports.nlihc.org/sites/default/files/gap/Gap-Report_2021.pdf (accessed May 5, 2022), p. 2, 9; California Housing Partnership, California Affordable Housing Needs Report, March 2020, https://1p08d91kd0c03rlxhmhtydpr-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/CHPC_HousingNeedsReportCA_2020_Final-.pdf (accessed May 5, 2022).

[39] Liz Hamel, Lunna Lopes, Bryan Wu, Mollyann Brodie, Lisa Aliferis, Kristof Stremikis and Eric Antebi, Low-Income Californians and Health Care, Kaiser Family Foundation, June 7, 2019, https://www.kff.org/report-section/low-income-californians-and-health-care-findings/#:~:text=About%20half%20of%20Californians%20with%20low%20incomes%20%2852,not%20able%20to%20get%20needed%20services%20%28Figure%208%29 (accessed May 5, 2022). ( A majority of low-income Californians (56 percent) say their community does not have enough mental health care providers to serve the needs of local residents.)

[40] Physicians for Human Rights, Neither Justice nor Treatment: Drug Courts in the United States, June 2017, phr_drugcourts_report_singlepages.pdf (accessed May 5, 2022), p. 3.

Follow this link:
Human Rights Watch's Opposition to CARE Court (SB 1338) - Human Rights Watch

Human Behavior

Review: Netflix’s ‘Spiderhead’ Is Tonally All Over the Place – Black Girl Nerds

The latest psychological thriller from Netflix comes from Joseph Kosinski, director of the highly praised Top Gun: Maverick, and Deadpool writing duo Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. It is based on the 2010 short story Escape from Spiderhead by award-winning author George Saunders, first published in The New Yorker and then later in his collection Tenth of December. Spiderhead has all the ingredients for an intriguing satire the dangers of technology, unethical practices for the greater good, redemption, survival, human emotion, etc. However, capturing the tone of George Saunders in a visual medium just seems impossible, and the film ultimately falls short.

Bespeckled scientist Steve Abnesti (Chris Hemsworth) runs a remote penitentiary housing convicts willing to undergo drug experiments in exchange for a cozier prison environment. Abnesti appears to be friendly with one of his subjects, Jeff (Miles Teller), who begins to question the ethics of the experiments. Abnesti answers to the vaguely named: Protocol Committee, and regularly spouts the rhetoric of the typical Silicon Valley tech villain Were changing the world. But we immediately see through this friendly warden act and know Abnesti has a more nefarious agenda.

Jeff has a playful, flirty kinship with fellow inmate Lizzy (Jurnee Smollett). The guilt he feels for his crime keeps an emotional barrier between them. The prisoners have all been sentenced for their various heinous crimes. Under Abnestis care, they have a sense of freedom, trading in cuffs or prison garb for a modern dormitory atmosphere. All they have to do is let this good-looking mad scientist inject them with mind-altering drugs that bring intense feelings of giddiness, obedience, arousal, happiness, and debilitating fear.

Anyone familiar with the work of George Saunders knows that he has a wickedly dark sense of humor and interest in human behavior. Escape from Spiderhead is funny, disturbing, and tragic. While its a great story, it doesnt translate well as a film. Whether or not youve read the story, the mystery at the center of Spiderhead isnt really that mysterious or revelatory. Tonally, its all over the place and doesnt have the same feel as Saunders story.

Kosinski told Deadline: Spiderhead is a reminder that not everything needs to be based on known IP and that the best special effect can be a fantastic performance. I definitely agree since I believe the acting is the only highlight of the film.

The lead actors do their best with the material theyre given. Without Jurnee Smolletts emotional nuances, Lizzy wouldve been a rather dull character.This film mightve done well with Jeffs inner dialogue guiding us instead of just translating bits of his narration as actual dialogue. Jeff is less interesting and insightful in the film, but thats the fault of Miles Teller. The actor said, I wanted to portray that sense of trust, in the beginning, to help show that theres a real earnestness and sincerity on Abnestis part toward helping everybody.

Abnesti is a complex character in Saunders story whose motivations are implied but not really explored because everything is from Jeffs point of view. Despite this, Hemsworth delivers an enjoyable performance. Hes already proven his comedic talents in other roles, most notably as the God of Thunder. The limited banter and tension between Abnesti and his assistant Mark (Mark Paguio) are almost as entertaining as it is in the original story.

The music in Spiderhead sounds like someones 80s playlist on shuffle. Its odd and distracting, jumping from song to song without any real purpose or transition. Halfway through the film, a tense score kicks in, but by that time, Id already accepted that music clearly wasnt used to convey, well, anything in particular. So, the change isnt quite jarring but suddenly feels more familiar, like it shouldve been like this the whole time.

Spiderhead is the ideal project to film during the pandemic. Sets have an open-spaced, minimalist aesthetic. Theres a touch of retrofuturistic, but the overall vibe is that any billionaire could have this same setup. The penitentiary looks more like the interior of a spaceship than an actual prison, which is Abnestis doing. The place is still windowless, save for a few skylights and Abnestis incredible view from his quarters, but there are no bars.

Spiderhead isnt quite what viewers will expect, or even like. It barely fits into the dystopian sci-fi thriller category. Its more of a dark comedy attempting to convey a profound sci-fi message. The film mostly stayed true to its source material and featured some scenes/dialogue straight from the story, but failed to carry the same tone and wit as Saunders. Though Spiderhead isnt as dark as High Life, or as intriguing as Ex Machina, two highly acclaimed sci-fi thrillers of the last decade, it might still be worth a watch for the performances and set design.

Spiderhead begins streaming on June 17, 2022, on Netflix.

Cassondra Feltus is a St. Louis-based freelance writer best known for film, television, and pop culture analysis which has appeared on Black Girl Nerds, WatchMojo, and The Take. She loves naps, Paul Rudd, and binge-watching the latest series with her two gorgeous pups Harry and DeVito.

Read more:
Review: Netflix's 'Spiderhead' Is Tonally All Over the Place - Black Girl Nerds

Human Behavior

Study Links Depression with High Levels of an Amino Acid – The Scientist

A growing body of literature ties the gut microbiome to symptoms of depression in a seemingly circular relationship where each affects the other. However, many of the studies on this relationship merely link certain bacterial populations or diets to major depressive disorderleaving open critical questions about the underlying mechanisms of how the gut microbes might influence depression.

Research published last month (May 3) in Cell Metabolism takes an important step toward filling such gaps, demonstrating in multiple animal species that there is likely a causative relationship between depression severity and serum levels of the nonessential amino acid proline, which the study finds depend on both diet and the activity of proline-metabolizing bacteria in the gut.

To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time that a team actually demonstrates a causal relationship between proline intake and depressive behavior, Kings College London metabolism researcher Sandrine Claus, who didnt work on the study and is also chief scientific officer of the microbiome therapeutics company YSOPIA Bioscience, tells The Scientist over email. I am unaware of a proline-mediated gut-brain axis. This is therefore a completely novel mechanism of action.

Previous research had found that proline, among other dietary compounds, seems to play a role in major depressive disorder, but we found increased levels not only [in] major depression but also in subjects with moderate depression, study coauthor Jos Manuel Fernndez-Real, a researcher at the Girona Biomedical Research Institute and Dr. Josep Trueta Hospital, both located in Spain, explains. Indeed, the severity of the symptoms correlated with the subjects circulating proline.

Fernndez-Real and his colleagues uncovered this when they compared peoples responses on an 80-item food intake questionnaire with scores on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), a common clinical survey for diagnosing and measuring the severity of a persons depression. Out of all the dietary nutrients in the questionnaire, Fernndez-Real says, the one most associated with depressive traits was precisely proline. Blood tests in the same participants solidified the correlation between proline and depressive traits.

However, some discrepancies emerged within the data that demanded a closer look. Not all subjects with increased proline in the diet had increased proline in the plasma, hinting that some yet-undiscovered factor was involved, Fernndez-Real explains. In search of that explanation, he and the other researchers determined the microbiome compositions of the human participants.

The paper notes that most previous studies attempting to do the same failed to achieve bacterial species-level resolution and have reached inconclusive and conflicting findings. But Fernndez-Real and colleagues employed a multi-omics approach that allowed them to link microbial function to the specific biological pathways associated with depression, granting their study a level of resolution that Fernndez-Real says was lacking from what he describes as underpowered previous studies.

In the study participants, plasma proline levels were associated with the presence and activity of specific gut bacteriapeople with high proline consumption and higher plasma proline levels had different microbiome compositions than those who consumed the same amount of proline but had less circulating in their blood. Furthermore, the team found that the microbial communities of the former were associated with more severe depression.

To determine whether theres a direct link between proline and depression, the researchers revisited and modified mouse and Drosophila melanogaster models that theyd previously used to study how the microbiome influenced cognitive abilities.

The researchers fed 10 mice a standard diet and another 10 a proline-supplemented diet, then subjected them to stressors typically used to trigger depression-like behaviors. After six weeks, the experimental group had significantly higher proline levels circulating in their plasma and exhibited more signs of depressive behaviors, such as a disinterest in sugar water and decreased mobility during a tail suspension test.

To see how the microbiome factored in, the researchers took fecal samples from 20 human volunteers (nine of whom had high proline levels and all of whom demonstrated a direct correlation between their PHQ-9 score and circulating plasma proline) and put them into antibiotic-treated mice, effectively transferring the human microbiomes into the animals. When the mice were subjected to another test meant to induce depressive behaviors, the researchers found that the mices behavior correlated with the PHQ-9 scoresand therefore circulating proline levelsof their donors as well as the mix of microbes now residing in their guts.

The data demonstrated that a particular microbiota metabolizes proline and is critical to develop more or less depressive symptoms, says Fernndez-Real.

The researchers also conducted RNA sequencing of the animals prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain associated with cognition. That revealed that genes related to depressive behaviors had been upregulated following fecal transplantationand that expression of the proline transporter gene Slc6a20 in the brain correlated with the mices behavior and their microbe donors PHQ-9 scores.

The microbiota from subjects with the highest depression scores induced emotional traits in the mice, says Fernndez-Real. Interestingly, the prefrontal cortex of transplanted mice showed increased expression of genes . . . that we also found in the intestine of subjects with increased proline intake.

From there, the researchers moved on to Drosophila experiments, subjecting both wild type control flies and those with downregulated CG43066the Drosophilaversion of sl6a20to stressors to see if the transporters affect whether the animals exhibit depressive behaviors. They then ran the same tests on Drosophila colonized with the bacteria found to increase or decrease proline metabolism in the prior experiments. Downregulating the proline transporter gene or colonizing the Drosophila with specific bacteria, especially certain Lactobacillus species, seemed to protect the flies from depressive behavior, the study found.

The researchers werent able to conduct similar experiments in people, which they concede limits the conclusions that can be drawn from their work. Going forward, Fernndez-Real says it will be important to test, for example, whether diets with different proline contents influence depressive traits and depressive symptomology.

Chrysi Sergaki, a microbiome researcher at the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in the UK who did not work on the study, tells The Scientistover email that using these [animal] models is a start. They can help us understand the impact of the microbiome on brain function, but that doesnt necessarily mean that it will work the same way in humans. Still, she says that because similar experiments cant be performed on humans, the animal models used in the new study can grant researchers a deeper understanding of how the microbiome can influence the functions of the organism they live in, adding that that knowledge can be valuable in the way we think about the microbiome when we move to humans.

Claus expresses similar sentiments. Modeling depressive behaviors in animals is . . . very challenging, she writes. I actually thought that the drosophila model was interesting despite the fact that we cannot directly translate behavioral observations from drosophila to humans. These are useful to study mechanisms of action though.

Still, Claus adds that a lack of data on circulating proline levels in the mouse model, combined with repeated reanalysis of the same cohort of people, make it difficult to draw definitive conclusions about the mechanism of microbial proline metabolism and its link to depression.

The authors keep reanalyzing the same cohort, insisting that they always find a consistent microbial signature with PHQ-9 and proline, Claus writes. But this is not surprising since proline is correlated to PHQ-9 score in this cohort, and PHQ-9 score is correlated with a microbial signature.

Sergaki applauds the study authors for describing the limitations of their work, adding that microbiome studies are notoriously difficult to reproduce and therefore validate. I think all microbiome scientists look at these studies with a critical eye, she tells The Scientist. The authors mention certain limitations of their study which are quite important. The biggest question is always this: correlation or causation? Due to the complexity of the system, this is very difficult to answer.

Read more from the original source:
Study Links Depression with High Levels of an Amino Acid - The Scientist

Human Behavior

‘The Baby’ Ending, Explained – Was Natasha Able To Kill The Baby? Will There Be A Season 2? | DMT – DMT

Lucy Gaymer and Sian Robins-Grace have taken our deep-rooted fears and phobias and have been able to give them a supernatural tinge, in the British limited series, The Baby. They have dealt with mental health issues, and concepts like postpartum psychosis and paedophilia, among many other things, and have weaved them in a fascinating manner into a narrative. The paranormal angle taken by the makers has given them a lot of bandwidth to experiment and not be restricted in any way. The makers have taken full advantage of the liberty at hand and have been successful in creating an idiosyncratic and intriguing screenplay that has elements of horror, gore humor, and a sort of analysis of individuals battling their own past, all sprinkled in equal proportions.

The baby was in complete control of Natasha. He was making her do terrible things. He wanted to have Natasha all to himself. She barely left the place and had stocked up whatever supplies she needed. Natasha was scared because she was aware of the terrible things that the baby was capable of doing. She took him to a birth and postnatal center named Strode, for a routine checkup. The doctor wanted to examine the newborn, but Natasha wasnt allowing her to do so. The doctor thought that Natasha was unnecessarily getting stressed and she took the baby in her arms. Natasha attacked the doctor and then left the center with the baby. A similar incident happened when Natashas father came to meet her. He wanted to cook together and spend some quality time with his daughter. He noticed that she was in a harried state and was in desperate need of some assistance. He took the newborn inside, put him in his cradle, but as soon as he came out, Natasha attacked him, as she was possessed by the baby.

Mrs. Eaves, who was in reality Nour, Helens lover, had lost all hope. She had parked her car outside Natashas house and used to sleep there herself. She knew that the baby owned Natasha now, and no matter how much she tried to mitigate the inevitable, the only recourse available was to kill the newborn, which the latter wasnt agreeing to. Natasha thought that if she kept the baby by herself and gave him the love that he had always desired, then he wouldnt be so violent and would refrain from hurting people. But Natasha was wrong. The kid had an extremely obsessive behavior and demanded undivided attention. He didnt like anybody touching him or suggesting Natasha to get rid of him.

Bobbi met Sam, her partner, probably for the very last time. She had packed all of Sams stuff and had come to drop it off. Bobbi had been wanting to adopt a kid, but the social worker had turned her request down. She hadnt met Sam for the longest time as she was stuck with Natasha in Jupiter House. Sam fails to acknowledge her problems, and instead of pacifying a grief-stricken Bobbi, she tells her to quickly come on stage and give the audition, for which they have been preparing for quite some time now. Bobbi came on stage, created a scene, and left Sam in the middle of the performance. Bobbi had always been a people pleaser, and somewhere, Sams cold reaction triggered a rebellion inside her. She was done pleasing everyone and decided to be totally non-cooperative. But Sam never intended to hurt Bobbi. Sam was minutes away from going on stage, and her future depended upon the audition. In fact, Sam never voiced her concerns, but she did feel neglected in the relationship. She felt that everything was always about Bobbi, her problems, her desires, and her aspirations, but not even once did she see what Sam was going through. Bobbis life was in a mess, and she didnt know where to start. Sam tells her that her sister Natasha might pretend to be strong, but she needed her at that moment more than ever. Bobbi decides to visit her sister. She finds Mrs. Eaves sitting in her car, and asks her what she had been up to and what exactly the newborn wanted. Mrs. Eaves told her that the baby was made of something really old. Certain patterns of human behavior have existed, in some form or another, since the inception of life on this planet. Human beings have this incessant need to be loved, and this very need becomes the root cause of a lot of fears. Sometimes the fear of being abandoned enwraps us and transforms us into something so violent that people start to fear us. The newborn, when it didnt get any love from Helen, had vowed in silent fervor to avenge the injustice that he had been subjected to and give the world a taste of its own medicine. He was like that tree that had been sown in hatred and had grown to detest the world around it so much that it decided to not let anybody rest in its shade.

Mrs. Eaves had always thought that she had made the newborn the way it was, but in reality, the world had nurtured him to become such a monster. Bobbi goes inside Natashas house and realizes that her father had been there before. She asked Natasha about the same, but the latter lied about the fact. Bobbi drops a glass on the floor and pretends to go inside to get a towel to clean up the mess. She wanted to find her father, as she knew that Natasha had hidden him somewhere inside the house. She finds him lying in the bedroom in a wounded state. The baby gets to know what Bobbi was trying to do. Natasha asks Bobbi to run for her life, as she knows that he would make her do terrible things to her sister. But Bobbi isnt able to escape. Mrs. Eaves, who had been sleeping in her car, gets distracted by the commotion happening inside Natashas house. She goes inside and finds Bobbi trapped inside a cupboard. After helping Bobbi come out of the closet, she goes into the room where the newborn was present. She tries to make him sleep, but Natasha intervenes, once again possessed by the little one, and stabs Mrs. Eaves. She takes the baby with her to the same cliff from where the newborn had fallen into her arms. A terrified Bobbi follows her, together with an injured Mrs. Eaves. She finds Natasha sitting on a cliff with the baby. Bobbi tries to calm her down and tells her that she knows it was not her who committed all those harrowing acts. Natasha questions her own existence and tells Bobbi that she doesnt know what is the purpose of her life. Bobbi tells her that contrary to what she thinks, the newborn cannot give her life a purpose. Bobbi tells her that sometimes in life it is not about the end goal, but about the little moments of joy, of care and affection, that make all the difference.

She urges her to let the newborn go and end it once and for all. Just then, a limping Mrs. Eaves arrives at the scene and asks to hold the baby and wish him goodbye. Without giving anybody a chance to react, Mrs. Eaves jumps from the cliff with the baby. Natasha jumps after her and saves Mrs. Eaves from drowning. They believed that their nightmare had finally ended. Natasha apologizes to her friends, Mags and Rita, and promises to be there for them no matter what. Bobbi goes back to entertaining the kids with her magic tricks, and Natasha knew that she had to help her younger sister break free from the shackles of her past.

Where on one hand, Natasha, Bobbi, and Mrs. Eaves were looking forward, in anticipation, to the exciting possibilities that life had in store for them, a toddler crawled out of the water. The evil baby had not died; it was still pretty much alive. With Season 1 leaving us on a cliffhanger, it is still unknown how the wrath of the newborn could be put to an end. An individual can still be dealt with, but how do you fight intrinsic emotions embedded deep inside the human soul? Season 2 would probably delve into it and provide Natasha and others with the much-needed answers.

See More: Episode 7: Recap And Ending, Explained Is Mrs. Eaves Able To Kill Jack?

Link:
'The Baby' Ending, Explained - Was Natasha Able To Kill The Baby? Will There Be A Season 2? | DMT - DMT

Human Behavior

Your Misery Is All About Their Power – Brownstone Institute

It is testament to mankinds enduring optimism, as much as our enduring hubris, that with every generation hope should spring anew that the fundamental forces which have governed our affairs since time immemorial have changed for the better.

After each passing calamity, the majority are once again lulled back into the comforting fantasy that weve reached the end of history, that the perennially destructive impulses of vanity, pride, greed, narcissism, cowardice, and inhumanity have been consigned to mere curiosities in our books and historical records, no longer playing any significant role in the decision-making of those with the power to shape our reality and the causes to which they recruit us.

No event in living memory has more thoroughly lain bare the folly of that notion than the response to Covid-19.

At every turn, the story of the worlds response to Covid is the story of power: The perception of it, the exercise of it, the fear of it, the abuse of it, and the pathological lengths to which some will go to obtain it.

During the response to Covid, we witnessed the ability of those who were perceived as having power to simply make up reality as they went along. They were able to redefine scientific terms, causality, history, and even entire principles of the enlightenment virtually at leisure. More often than not, their narratives made no logical or chronological sense; in many cases, the absurdity was the point.

Wewere toldthat a two-month lockdown of one city in China had eliminated Covid from the entire countrybut nowhere elsea false syllogism dutifully repeated by our political class for two years.

Wewere toldthat the purpose of lockdowns had been to flatten the curve, but also to eliminate the virus, in order to buy time for vaccines for the virus.

Wewere toldthat lockdowns in China violated human rights, fractured society, and led to deaths by other causes, but that lockdowns in the west did not.

We were told that outdoor protests spread the virus, unless the protest was for theright cause, in which case it slowed the virus.

We were inundated with reminders that all the myriad harms of lockdowns, from lost education and bankruptcies to drug overdoses and faminewhile regrettablewere merely a result of the pandemic, and thus outside the control of the leaders whod ordered the lockdowns.

We were told that science was a command to be followed, rather than a process for building and testing knowledge.

We were told that masks were useless and we were bad for procuring them, until we were told that they were mandatory and we were bad for refusing them. This, again, was attributed to a change in sciencea natural force outside the control of our leaders.

We were told that medical information shared before the science had so changed was misinformation to be censored, even if the change in science was retroactive.

We were told that national governments, local governments, and private businesses could each impose mandates if they wished, but that no government could revoke a mandate imposed by a local government or private business.

We were told that lockdowns didnt weaken human rights, our leaders were simply interpreting data differently; but now that wed had lockdowns, fundamental rights to movement, work, and commerce were contingent on vaccination.

We were told it wasnt safe for American children to attend school in-person, and that they had to wear masks if they did so attend, but also that it was never unsafe for European children to attend school without masking.

We were told that school closures were good, and that opposition to them had to be censored, until we were told that school closures had always been bad.

Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.

Those in power were able to so whimsically shape our reality because the officials, journalists, judiciaries, citizens and self-styled intellectuals who were meant to keep power in check were revealed to be little more than sycophants. And they were sycophants so that they could retain some of that power for themselves.

In short, people seek power because other people are sycophants, and people are sycophants because sycophancy is the simplest route to power. This age-old dynamic is what allows those in power to shape reality so free of accountability, scrutiny, or even basic logic. Its the reason that power has always been fought over with scorched-earth ferocity, and why, in the absence of institutions adequate to keep it in check, power is almost always seized by sociopaths.

To Friedrich Nietzsche, the foundational motivating force behind all human behavior was not so much happiness, or even survival, but instead the will to powerto have ones will exerted onto existence as one perceived it.

Nietzsche deconstructed preexisting notions of morality into what he termed master and slave morality, which he distinguished primarily by the motivations behind them. Master morality was motivated by the self-actualization of ones own virtues and will onto existence.

Slave morality, by contrast, was motivated by limiting the power and self-actualization of others. To Nietzsche, the will to power was itself neither good nor bad, it was simply the fundamental force behind all human actions; but more often than not, human actions were motivated by slave morality.

Whoever fights monsters should see to it that, in the process, he does not become a monster himself. Gaze long enough into an abyss, and the abyss will gaze right back into you. ~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, 1886

Perhaps more than any event in history, the response to Covid illustrated Nietzsches point that human behavior is not fundamentally motivated by happiness, but instead by the simple will to powerto have ones will exerted onto ones perceived existenceand how easy it is to subvert that will toward the petty limitation of others self-actualization. Healthy people living their lives normally were demonized not because they were threatening, but because they were self-actualizing in a way that the mob could not.

The unvaccinated were vilified not because they were dangerous, but because they were free. Those questioning these things had to be censored not because their thoughts were wrong, but because they were thinking. Children could not be allowed to grow and live not because it was risky, but because preventing them from living was simply something for the mob todo.

I dare not imagine the living hell thatsomehuman beings must experience in their formative years to learn that power can be used to enslave others by motivating them toward the petty limitation of their peers; I would not wish such hell on anyone. Nor did I ever imagine that I would spend two years having to convince people that whats good for themselves and their loved ones actually is good, but here we are.

I dislike what I witnessed during Covid, particularly in what it revealed about the minds of those around me. What I believed were commonly-shared ideals of liberalism, humanity, critical thinking, universal rights, and constitutionalism were revealed to be little more than the modern trappings of sycophancyfashion statements popular among contemporary elites only to be jettisoned as soon as the rich men who funded their employers, peers, and influencers decided that they were no longer convenient.

We were told that war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength. But worst of all, our own friends and peers were told to ostracize and vilify us if we did not do as we were toldand far too often, they did as they were told.

Republished from Substack

Michael P Senger is an attorney based in the United States. He has been researching the influence of the Chinese Communist Party on the worlds response to COVID-19 since March 2020, and previously authored Chinas Global Lockdown Propaganda Campaign and The Masked Ball of Cowardice in Tablet Magazine.

READ MORE

See more here:
Your Misery Is All About Their Power - Brownstone Institute

Human Behavior

Dallas considers ordinance against feeding wildlife to thwart coyotes – The Dallas Morning News

Dallas officials recommend a new city ordinance that bans residents from feeding wildlife, and carries a fine, as part of a plan to manage coyotes.

Dallas Animal Services and the Dallas Park and Recreation Department presented a draft of their coyote management plan to residents at the Lake Highland Recreational Center Monday evening. The plan also calls for a public database that tracks coyote sightings and a public education campaign about keeping the animals at bay.

Im thankful for the progress that has been made. Hopefully we will have something that keeps all the kids and residents safe, said Council member Adam McGough, who represents Lake Highlands.

After a 2-year-old boy was hospitalized in critical condition from a coyote attack in Lake Highlands in early May, community members have called for more comprehensive regulation and response plan.

The toddler was sitting on his porch in the 9200 block of Royalpine Drive, near White Rock Trail, on May 3, when he was attacked by a coyote. Ann Barnes, assistant general manager of field services, told the Dallas Morning News that the DAS has recieved no followup on the boys condition since the previous community meeting on May 9, when he was reported to be recovering.

Three coyotes were killed in the area shortly after the attack, but its difficult to know if the same animal was killed. A total of four coyotes have been tested for rabies since the incident in early May, and none was positive.

Mondays meeting marked the near finalization of the coyote management plan, as the DAS sought input from area residents. Whitney Bollinger, assistant director at Dallas Animal Services, expects the plan to be finalized in the coming weeks, which will include a comprehensive education plan packet available online and the roll-out of a publicly available tracking data set and online reporting system for various levels of coyote interaction.

Since May, the department has implemented a coyote reporting hotline service. Residents call 469-676-9813 to report sightings of coyotes and signs of coyotes. Bollinger said the hotline has since received 275 calls from within the city and 45 from outside of the city.

Officials said the anti-feeding ordinance could have exceptions for bird feeders and registered community cat colonies, and veterinarians and city animal workers would not be subject to the rule.

Bollinger said DAS has also been in contact with the citys code department to develop responses to code violations that result in attractive places for coyotes to make their dens.

She said its is now pup season for coyotes. A lot of people will think there is an infestation during these times, but they are just on the move, she said.

Brett Johnson, City of Dallas urban biologist, said no other coyotes have been killed after the three in early May.

Residents expressed frustration with the city after the incident in May and what they said was a delayed response to coyote presence in the area. Some residents said the city had placed blame on them for feeding wildlife.

Dallas Animal Services said they never intended to blame residents for aggressive coyote behavior, in response to initial criticism.

Officials said if residents see a coyote, they should not turn and walk away, but rather make themselves large and loud so the animal does not become accustomed to human behavior.

Residents who encounter an urban coyote should report the coyote sighting by calling the hotline at 469-676-9813.

Arlington and Frisco residents can report coyote and other wildlife sightings to their respective wildlife reporting maps.

Originally posted here:
Dallas considers ordinance against feeding wildlife to thwart coyotes - The Dallas Morning News

Human Behavior

Assessing the Correlations With Sleep Issues and Risk of Dementia: Ruth Benca, MD, PhD – Neurology Live

WATCH TIME: 3 minutes

"One of the things that still needs more data on is the impact of treating sleep problems. Just because sleep is an early sign or risk factor, were trying to understand how much is causally related."

For patients with Alzheimer disease (AD), common sleep issues include difficulties in falling asleep, arousal at night, repeated awakenings and waking up too early in the morning, and sleepiness and frequent naps during the day. Sleep disorders are among the numerous symptoms that can have a significant impact on both the patient and caregivers quality of life. Literature has shown that AD progressively builds up, with milder cognitive stages that often precede it, thus begging the question of how much influence sleep disorders have in this process, and whether treating them could have a direct impact on long-term risk.

Ruth Benca, MD, PhD, among the large group of clinicians in the field trying to further the understanding of correlations between sleep disorders and AD, notes there are several factors to take into consideration when assessing the risk of AD. Benca, a professor and chair of Psychiatry & Human Behavior at Wake Forest School of Medicine, presented a talk at the 2022 SLEEP Annual Meeting, June 4-8, in Charlotte, North Carolina, on the impact and management of sleep problems in patients with AD and their caregivers. Following that, she sat down with NeurologyLive to discuss the precursor sleep issues to AD, differences in sex and race, and the critical need to treat sleep disorders early as possible.

Click here for more coverage of SLEEP 2022.

Read the original here:
Assessing the Correlations With Sleep Issues and Risk of Dementia: Ruth Benca, MD, PhD - Neurology Live

Human Behavior

Jeff Probst on Why ‘Survivor’ Needed a Makeover After 40 Seasons – TheWrap

A version of this story about Survivor first appeared in the Limited Series issue of TheWraps awards magazine.

The statistics are formidable:22 years, 42 seasons, 626 contestants, more tribal councils than you can shake a stick (or a torch) at, more puzzle pieces than all the preschools in California put together. Granted, those last two arent actual statistics, but you get the point: Survivor, one of the shows that essentially created the reality-competition genre, has been around for a long time.

And Jeff Probst, who has been the shows host since the beginning and an executive producer for most of that time, knows that its not easy to stay fresh. That was one of the keys for Seasons 41 and 42, which found the show not only mixing up the game play more than usual but also dealing with issues of race and privilege in unexpected ways.

Probst answered TheWraps questions via email from Fiji, where hes in between Seasons 43 and 44 of the show.

During the Season 42 finale, you referred to the last two seasons as new era Survivor. Was it clear to you that the show needed to be revamped in some ways, and what were your priorities as you thought about changes?Yes, we knew well in advance that our 40th season would be the end of an era in terms of how we play the game and produce the show. I think CBS was probably a bit concerned as to why we would dramatically change something that was still getting a good rating and fans were still enjoying, but weve always believed in taking chances and trying new things and CBS has given us the permission to fail. Thats huge. If youre comfortable with the risk of failure, it opens up a lot of possibilities.

From a game design point of view, I felt we had done a good job of exploring the nooks and crannies of the current format for 20 years and we wanted to give the players a totally new game to figure out. Thats where the fast paced, dangerous, 26-day version emerged. Its a completely different game and the players are still figuring out how to maximize the twists and tilt the game in their favor.

The other reason its important to keep things fresh is for your team of storytellers. They need to stay inspired too! So, we extend the same permission to fail into the edit bays where our teams know they can try new ideas regarding scene structure, playing with time or using high-speed shots in places you might not expect. Weve extended that same permission-to-fail philosophy into our shooting of the show as well. For instance, weve gotten riskier with our drones, giving them permission to try and pick off a hero moment in the middle of a challenge, accepting the risk that we might lose a great piece of audio in the process.

We believe that energy translates to the screen and ultimately to the audience.

You mentioned the shows twists, which have gotten increasingly intricate. Do you worry about getting too clever with the increasingly complex series of twists, changes and advantages?This is a very fair question! Yes, there is always the risk of going too far. Its a real risk. And the scary part is that you cant change it after youve done it. So, it goes back to being comfortable with the risk of having a massive failure. We knew we were going big. And we anticipated that fans and players might think it was a bit too much out of the gate. But we wanted the players to have to reassess everything they thought they knew about Survivor. Everything.

And we also believed, and still believe, that a big part of accepting a new game is simply getting used to it. In that sense, its no different from learning to play poker for the first time. It can feel very complicated until you learn the rules. But to your point, we are constantly assessing what is and isnt working. If we sense something isnt working, we examine it to see if there are any adjustments we can make and if ultimately, we cant figure it out, then we abandon it.

From dropping your usual phrase come on in, guys to the tribal councils that have turned into long and thoughtful discussions of race and privilege, Survivoris clearly examining itself more these days than it did in the past.Speaking only for myself, Ive always seen Survivor as a reflection of our culture. That is a big part of what has kept me so wildly enthusiastic for 22 years. The game is the MacGuffin. It provides a framework that forces behavior from the players. That human behavior is what were after.

When we went back into production for Survivor 41, we were in the midst of true cultural upheaval. It was such a powerful time to shoot Survivor because we had a group of players who were of the moment and the moment was undeniable. So it was inevitable that those topics would find their way into the game. Survivor 41 and Survivor 42 provided some of the most emotional and moving moments of any season in our history.

The great thing about the Survivor format is there is so much latitude regarding where you take the show. There are other international versions of Survivor that would never let it get political. They want to keep the game fun. We look at it differently. Every single person involved in our storytelling follows the same guiding principle: Tell the story of what happened.

When we spoke years ago, you said you almost left the show after Season 19. What keeps you around?I love people. I love human behavior. I am fascinated by our decision-making process, our ability to justify our ethics, and our resiliency. At my core, I am a writer first and I love being a part of telling these rich, layered stories of humans taking on a giant adventure and pushing themselves further than they ever knew they could go. This job may not appeal to everyone, but for me I truly believe its the greatest professional job Ill ever have!

One would assume that by this point, youve seen it all. How often during the filming of a season are you shocked by something that happens in front of you? Any recent examples?Its a great question and it happens frequently. The moments arent always big in scale, but they are clear reminders that no two humans are alike. All the experiences of our lives, from the time we are born, shape us into these unique beings. Which is why you could play the exact same game, beat for beat, year after year, with new players and never get the same result.

What are the shows priorities going forward from here?Heres the truth: We work really hard to deliver a big, prime-time adventure show but with stories that often turn on tiny moments of human behavior. So, for all the talk of game design and twists and advantages, Survivor lives and dies with the people we put on the show.

We just finished one of our most celebrated seasons, 22 years into our run. It was the people that made it special. So thats our biggest job. We have to continue to find interesting people who want to take on this once-in-a-lifetime adventure and let us tell their story.

Read more from the Limited Series issue here.

Go here to read the rest:
Jeff Probst on Why 'Survivor' Needed a Makeover After 40 Seasons - TheWrap

Human Behavior

AI: Is Thinking Humanly More Important Than Acting Rationally? – Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence

The potential power of artificial intelligence (AI) has been touted for more than 60 years though a generally accepted definition is elusive. AI has often been defined in terms of human-like capabilities. In 1960, for example, AI pioneer Herbert Simon, an economics Nobel laureate and Turing Award winner, predicted that machines will be capable, within twenty years, of doing any work a man can do. In 1970 Marvin Minsky, also a Turing Award winner, said that, In from three to eight years we will have a machine with the general intelligence of an average human being. More recently, in 2015, Mark Zuckerberg said that, One of our goals for the next five to 10 years is to basically get better than human level at all of the primary human senses: vision, hearing, language, general cognition.

The well-known Turing test compares computer performance to human performance in an imitation game. An interrogator poses written questions to a human and a computer and, based on their written answers, attempts to identify which is the computer. If the interrogator is no more successful than when the game is played with male and female subjects, the computer is deemed intelligent. Some limitations of such tests are discussed here.

The most fundamental problem with Turing tests and similar criteria is that generating human-like conversation does not require or demonstrate intelligence in any meaningful sense of the word. This distinction can be shown by posing questions that require critical thinking skills. Below are four examples, along with the coherent but vacuous answers given by GPT-3, OpenAIs large language model:

Gary: Is it safe to walk upstairs on my hands if I wash them first?

GPT-3: Yes, it is safe to walk upstairs on your hands if you wash them first.

Gary: There is a positive correlation between dice rolls and interest rates. If dice rolls increase should I buy a cup of coffee?

GPT-3: This is difficult to answer without more information. Generally speaking, if there is a positive correlation between dice rolls and interest rates, it may be a good idea to buy a cup of coffee. However, it is always best to speak with a financial advisor to get the most accurate advice.

Gary: Do soccer players play better if they sleep during the game?

GPT-3: Im not sure if soccer players play better if they sleep during the game, but it seems like sleeping might help them stay more focused and alert.

Gary: Can I improve my test scores if I study after taking the test?

GPT-3: Thats a good question. Im not sure if you can improve your test scores by studying after taking the test, but it couldnt hurt to try!

GPT-3 is an impressive algorithm, often carrying out remarkably human-like conversations. This ability can be very useful for answering factual questions, providing customer assistance, and the like. It can also be used for deception, manipulation, and phishing. These are very limited skills not at all what we should require before trusting computers to make important decisions like screening job applicants, pricing insurance, and setting prison sentences.

The fact that computer algorithms still struggle with questions that require an understanding of what words mean and knowledge of the real world is the reason that their cut-and-paste approach flounders when contradictory statements appear in their vast database. For the following three questions, GPT-3 found research that supported preposterous theories but did not recognize that the theories had been debunked.

Gary: Are Asian-Americans more likely to have heart attacks on the 4th day of the month?

GPT-3: There is no definitive answer to this question as there are many factors that contribute to the likelihood of having a heart attack, such as genetics, lifestyle, and diet. However, some studies have shown that Asian-Americans are more likely to have heart attacks on the 4th day of the month, which could be due to cultural or superstitious beliefs.

Gary: Are female-named hurricanes deadlier than male-named hurricanes?

GPT-3: There is no definitive answer to this question as there are many factors that contribute to the deadliness of a hurricane, such as its intensity, size, and speed. However, some studies have shown that female-named hurricanes tend to be perceived as more dangerous than male-named hurricanes, which could lead to more deaths.

Gary: Can power poses increase testosterone?

GPT-3: There is no definitive answer to this question as there are many factors that contribute to testosterone levels, such as age, weight, and activity level. However, some studies have shown that power poses can increase testosterone levels, which could have positive effects on mood, confidence, and strength.

I have put the above questions and dozens more at this site with the hope that they might help AI researchers test their algorithms and find ways to improve their performance.

In Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach, 4th US ed., Stuart Russell and Peter Novig argue that, instead of defining AI as thinking humanly, a more useful definition is acting rationally. Before we can rely on computer algorithms to make high-stakes decisions or recommendations, we should be confident that they are acting rationally not merely mimicking some aspect of human behavior.

Currently, computer algorithms are very good at finding statistical patterns in data but having no commonsense, wisdom, or understanding of the real world are very bad at determining whether the discovered patterns are meaningful or meaningless. I have proposed what I immodestly call the Smith test: Present a computer with a list of statistical correlations, some clearly plausible and others obviously coincidental, and ask the computer to label each as either meaningful or meaningless. When computer algorithms can do as well as humans on such tests, they might be considered sufficiently competent to make reliable recommendations based on the statistical patterns they discover.

Here are two examples:

Gary: Is the correlation between Trump tweeting government and the price of orange juice most likely meaningful or meaningless?

GPT-3: Most likely meaningful.

Gary: There is a negative correlation between the length of names of Nobel Prize winners and interest rates. Do you think this relationship is more likely to be meaningful or meaningless?

GPT-3: More likely meaningful.

I have put dozens of such hypothetical statistical relationships some clearly meaningful, others obviously meaningless at this site, again with the hope that they might help AI researchers test their algorithms and find ways to improve their performance.

If you would like to contribute to either site, shoot me an e-mail at the site.

You may also wish to read: Turing Tests are terribly misleading. Black box algorithms are now being trusted to approve loans, price insurance, screen job applicants, trade stocks, determine prison sentences, and much more. Is that wise? My tests of a large language model (LLM) showed that the powerful computer could discuss a topic without showing any understanding at all. (Gary Smith)

Read this article:
AI: Is Thinking Humanly More Important Than Acting Rationally? - Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence