https://cosmoinnit.bandcamp.com/album/cop-this-the-album
Principali città della scienza in base ai numeri
Beijing and Shanghai have made considerable progress since 2015, gaining on and overtaking some of the United States’ top science cities. Boston, New York and San Francisco have meanwhile fallen slightly in their output of science papers within the Nature Index. Changes to each of the leading five science cities’ adjusted Share since 2015 are shown below, along with a breakdown of the top collaborating institutions within each city. Because large network organizations, such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences, span multiple cities, we have counted their constituent bodies instead when calculating the number of institutions in the top 500 of the Index. All population statistics date from 2020. GDP per capita figures in Chinese cities date from 2021 and in US cities date from 2019. All currency data expressed in US dollars.
DOESN’T MATTER
Perché i social media rendono le persone infelici
La ricerca suggerisce che il design delle piattaforme ci fanno perdere la cognizione del tempo trascorso su di loro e quindi ci sentiamo arrabbiati con noi stessi
Disrupted sleep, lower life satisfaction and poor self-esteem are just a few of the negative mental health consequences that researchers have linked to social media. Somehow the same platforms that can help people feel more connected and knowledgeable also contribute to loneliness and disinformation. What succeeds and fails, scientists say, is a function of how these platforms are designed. Amanda Baughan, a graduate student specializing in human-computer interaction at the University of Washington, studies how social media triggers what psychologists call dissociation, or a state of reduced self-reflection and narrowed attention. She presented results at the 2022 Association for Computing Machinery Computer-Human Interaction Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Baughan spoke with Mind Matters editor Daisy Yuhas to explain how and why apps need to change to give the people who use them greater power.
[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]
You’ve shown how changing social media cues and presentations could improve well-being, even when people strongly disagree on issues. Can you give an example?
The design of social media can have a lot of power in how people interact with one another and how they feel about their online experiences. For example, we’ve found that social media design can actually help people feel more supportive and kind in moments of online conflict, provided there’s a little bit of a nudge to behave that way. In one study, we designed an intervention that encouraged people who start talking about something contentious in a comment thread to switch to direct messaging. People really liked it. It helped to resolve their conflict and replicated a solution we use in-person: people having a public argument move to a private space to work things out.
You’ve also tackled a different problem coming out of social media usage called the 30-Minute Ick Factor. What is that?
We very quickly lose ourselves on social media. When people encounter a platform where they can infinitely scroll for more information, it can trigger a similar neurocognitive reward system as in anticipating a winning lottery ticket or getting food. It’s a powerful way that these apps are designed to keep us checking and scrolling.
The 30-Minute Ick Factor is when people mean to check their social media briefly but then find that 30 minutes have passed, and when they realize how much time they have spent, they have this sense of disgust and disappointment in themselves. Research has shown that people are dissatisfied with this habitual social media use. A lot of people frame it as meaningless, unproductive or addictive.
You’ve argued this experience is less a matter of addiction and more an issue of dissociation. Why?
Dissociation is a psychological process that comes in many forms. In the most common, everyday dissociation, your mind is so absorbed that you are disconnected from your actions. You could be doing the dishes, start daydreaming and not pay attention to how you are doing the dishes. Or you might seek immersive experiences—watching a movie, reading a book or playing a game—that pass the time and cause you to forget where you are.
During these activities, your sense of reflective self-consciousness and the passage of time is reduced. People only realize that they dissociated in hindsight. Attention is restored with the sense of “What just happened?” or “My leg fell asleep while we were watching that movie!”
Dissociation can be a positive thing, especially if it’s an absorbing experience, meaningful activity or a needed break. But it can also be harmful in certain cases, as in gambling, or come in conflict with people’s time-management goals, as with social media scrolling.
How do you measure people’s dissociation on social media?
We worked with 43 participants who used a custom mobile app that we created called Chirp to access their Twitter accounts. The app let people interact with Twitter content while allowing us to ask them questions and test interventions. So when people were using Chirp, after a given number of minutes, we would send them a questionnaire based on a psychological scale for measuring dissociation. We asked how much they agreed with the statement “I am currently using Chirp without really paying attention to what I’m doing” on a scale of 1 to 5. We also did interviews with 11 people to learn more. The results showed dissociation occurred in 42 percent of our participants, and they regularly reported losing track of time or feeling “all-consumed.”
You designed four interventions that modified people’s Twitter experience on Chirp to reduce dissociation. What worked?
The most successful were custom lists and reading history labels. In custom lists, we forced users to categorize the content they followed, such as “sports” or “news” or “friends.” Then, instead of interacting with Twitter’s main feed, they engaged only with content on these lists. This approach was coupled with a reading history intervention in which people received a message when they were caught up on the newest tweets. Rather than continuing to scroll, they were alerted to what they had already seen, and so they focused on just the newest content. Those interventions reduced dissociation, and when we did interviews, people said they felt safer checking their social media accounts when these modifications were present.
In another design, people received timed messages letting them know how long they had been on Chirp and suggesting they leave. They also had the option of viewing a usage page that showed them statistics such as how much time they’d spent on Chirp in the past seven days. These two solutions were effective if people opted to use them. Many people ignored them, however. Also, they thought the timed messages were annoying. Those findings are interesting because a lot of the popular time-management tools available to people look like these time-out and usage notifications.
So what could social media companies be doing differently? And is there any incentive for them to change?
Right now there is a lot working against people who use social media. It’s impossible to ever fully catch up on a social media feed, especially when you consider the algorithmically inserted content such as Twitter’s trending tweets or TikTok’s “For You” page. But I think that there is hope that relatively simple tweaks to social media design, such as custom lists, can make a difference. It’s important to note that the custom lists significantly reduced dissociation for people—but they did not significantly affect time spent using the app. To me, that points out that reducing people’s dissociation may not be as antithetical to social media companies’ revenue goals as we might intuitively think.
What’s most important for people using social media now to know?
First, don’t pile a bunch of shame onto your social media habits. Thousands of people are employed to make you swipe your thumb up on that screen and keep you doing what you’re doing. Let’s shift the responsibility of designing safe and fulfilling experiences from users to the companies.
Second, get familiar with the well-being tools that are already offered. TikTok has a feature that, every hour, will tell you that you’ve been scrolling for a while and should consider a break. On Twitter, custom lists are a feature that already exists; it’s just not the default option. If more people start using these tools, it could convince these companies to refine them.
Most important, vote for people who are interested in regulating technology because I think that’s where we’re going to see the biggest changes made.
KURT VONNEGUT
Facultad de Humanidades se une al júbilo por premio concedido a Rafael Cadenas
El poeta Rafael Cadenas y profesor jubilado de la Escuela de Letras de la Facultad de Humanidades y Educación de la Universidad Central de Venezuela, fue galardonado por el “Premio de Literatura en Lengua Castellana Miguel de Cervantes”, concedido por el Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte del Reino de España.
Facultad de Humanidades se une al júbilo por premio concedido a Rafael Cadenas
Venezuela Joins the Great Climate Con
Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro
showed up at the annual United Nations climate
summit in the Egyptian seaside resort of
Sharm El-Sheikh last
week blaming capitalism for
environmental degradation in
the developing world. Natu-
rally Mr. Maduro’s solution is
for rich countries to hand
over money to poor ones—like his.
It’s tempting to dismiss the
27th Conference of the Par-
ties, or COP27, as little more
than an international conven-
tion of John Kerry-type gas
bags letting off hot air. Not
good for the world’s emis-
sions score but otherwise
meaningless.
Nevertheless, those who
work for a living in the devel-
oped world might want to
pay attention. Mr. Maduro,
who is an egregious polluter,
is asking the U.N. to help him
and his fellow socialists in
Colombia and Brazil pick
your pocket in the name of
the environment. As he put it
in comments to journalists on
his arrival in Egypt, he wants
the “powerful” nations to
commit to a plan “to finance
the recuperation of the Ama-
zon.”
Mr. Maduro had already
left the gathering of global
grifters when President Bi-
den—who wants the U.S. to
buy Venezuelan oil—arrived
on Friday. But video circulat-
Venezuela Joins the Great Climate Con
ing on social media showed
Mr. Kerry shaking hands and
politely engaging, via a trans-
lator, with the Venezuelan
earlier in the week.
French President Emman-
uel Macron not only greeted
Mr. Maduro warmly but chat-
ted with him briefly about
France’s interest in helping
the region. Mr. Macron came
off looking small and, frankly,
foolish.
If human lives matter at all
to the international commu-
nity, Mr. Maduro ought to be
barred from its meetings. Un-
der his rule, dissidents are
imprisoned in dungeons, stu-
dent protesters are beaten
and sometimes killed, and
food supplies, controlled by
the government, are used as a
political weapon.
A U.N. human-rights report
released in July 2019 found
that detainees were subjected
to torture, including “asphyxi-
ation, electric shock, broken
bones, being hung by their
limbs, and being forced to
spend hours on their knees.”
They are frequently denied
medical care, it said.
In March 2020 the Justice
Department charged Mr. Ma-
duro and 14 other current and
former high-ranking Venezue-
lan officials with having
“partnered with the FARC to
use cocaine as a weapon to
‘flood’ ” the U.S. The U.S. is
offering a reward of up to $15
million for “information lead-
ing to the arrest and/or con-
viction of” Mr. Maduro.
Nevertheless, the Venezue-
lan gangster flitted around
COP27 with an air of legiti-
macy. This was all the more
surprising because Mr. Ma-
duro’s criminality extends to
the environment.
In Canaima National Park,
a designated World Heritage
site, mining is prohibited, as
it is in all of Venezuela’s na-
tional parks. Yet according to
World Heritage Watch Report
2022, the Maduro regime is
promoting resource extrac-
tion there, “within the frame-
work of a strategic policy
known as the Orinoco Mining
Arc.”
The mining operations, the
report says, use poisonous
mercury “during crushing,
grinding, and washing the gold
ore.” It adds: “Washing with
mercury is the most polluting
stage, since more than 90% of
it ends up released directly to
the ground.” The report esti-
mates that “the dragging ef-
fect and accumulation of mer-
cury in water bodies can reach
distances of up to 120 km from
the site of use.”
Communities, wildlife, soil
and the wider ecosystem
throughout the area are af-
fected. So is the rest of the
nation. The effects of the
mining “seriously endanger
the operation of the Guri hy-
droelectric plant, the major
provider of electricity for
most of the country” as “sedi-
ments cause a decrease in the
incoming flow and have a
high erosive power on the
blades and other components
of the hydropower turbines.”
This sounds downright
evil. But with the state-owned
oil and natural gas company—
known by its initials as
PdVSA—in ruins and energy
prices off their peak until this
year, gold has become a new
source of income and a way
to launder drug-trafficking
profits. Far from trying to
stop the criminal mining
groups in the Orinoco that
use mercury and destroy the
environment, the Maduro re-
gime—which took over in
2013—has encouraged them.
Environmental disaster is
the hallmark of Venezuelan
socialism. Residents increas-
ingly burn their household
rubbish or leave it on public
roads. Rodents and unsani-
tary conditions are pullulat-
ing. Water-treatment systems
have collapsed, sending
wastewater running into
streams, rivers and the sea.
Once beautiful Lake Mara-
caibo is a dumping ground for
trash and untreated water.
Hugo Chávez made things
worse in May 2009 when he
expropriated 76 transporta-
tion and oil-service compa-
nies (yes, capitalists!) that did
work on the lake. Since then
the pipes below the water in-
creasingly break, leak and
spill, turning the lake black,
killing fish and producing a
miasma of petroleum.
If the U.N. wants its envi-
ronmental confabs to be
taken seriously, it should dis-
invite clowns like Mr. Maduro.
AUTONOMIA
Bozza
di
DISEGNO DI LEGGE
Disposizioni per l’attuazione dell’autonomia differenziata di cui
all’articolo 116, terzo comma, della Costituzione
Europa Unita?Jan-Werner Müller vede segni di tensione
RAFAEL CARDENAS
POESIAS
Cada Encuentro
Cada encuentro nos protege de la memoria,
Entre nosotros, ningún momento es rey.
Todos nacen, resuenan y desaparecen.
Eres tú la que le dice a la inmovilidad detente.
Escoges el mejor vino, el que transporta la intensidad.
El vino de los atentos.
Oigo los ayes de la quimera.
Alguien sitiado se aferra al antiguo arroyo,
Tiempo. Transpiras olor a tormenta.
Del reino solo quedan escombros.
Vuelve a los pozos donde nunca en verdad estuviste.
Busca el secreto para regresar.
No te pierdas en la cámara de las preguntas.
‘Derrota’ (1963)
Yo que no he tenido nunca un oficio
que ante todo competidor me he sentido débil
que perdí los mejores títulos para la vida
que apenas llego a un sitio ya quiero irme (creyendo que mudarme es una solución)
que he sido negado anticipadamente y escarnecido por los más aptos
que me arrimo a las paredes para no caer del todo
que soy objeto de risa para mí mismo
que creí que mi padre era eterno
que he sido humillado por profesores de literatura
que un día pregunté en qué podía ayudar y la respuesta fue una risotada
que no podré nunca formar un hogar, ni ser brillante, ni triunfar en la vida
que he sido abandonado por muchas personas porque casi no hablo
que tengo vergüenza por actos que no he cometido
que poco me ha faltado para echar a correr por la calle
que he perdido un centro que nunca tuve
que me he vuelto el hazmerreír de mucha gente por vivir en el limbo
que no encontraré nunca quién me soporte
que fui preterido en aras de personas más miserables que yo
que seguiré toda la vida así y que el año entrante seré muchas veces más burlado en mi ridícula ambición
que estoy cansado de recibir consejos de otros más aletargados que yo
(«Ud. es muy quedado, avíspese despierte»)
que nunca podré viajar a la India
que he recibido favores sin dar nada a cambio
que ando por la ciudad de un lado a otro como una pluma
que me dejo llevar por los otros
que no tengo personalidad ni quiero tenerla
que todo el día tapo mi rebelión
que no me he ido a las guerrillas
que no he hecho nada por mi pueblo
que no soy de las FALN y me desespero por todas esas cosas y por otras
cuya enumeración sería interminable
que no puedo salir de mi prisión
que he sido dado de baja en todas partes por inútil
que en realidad no he podido casarme ni ir a París ni tener un día sereno
que me niego a reconocer los hechos
que siempre babeo sobre mi historia
que soy imbécil y más que imbécil de nacimiento
que perdí el hilo del discurso que se ejecutaba en mí y no he podido encontrarlo
que no lloro cuando siento deseos de hacerlo
que llego tarde a todo
que he sido arruinado por tantas marchas y contramarchas
que ansío la inmovilidad perfecta y la prisa impecable
que no soy lo que soy ni lo que no soy
que a pesar de todo tengo un orgullo satánico aunque a ciertas horas
haya sido humilde hasta igualarme a las piedras
que he vivido quince años en el mismo círculo
que me creí predestinado para algo fuera de lo común y nada he logrado
que nunca usaré corbata
que no encuentro mi cuerpo
que he percibido por relámpagos mi falsedad y no he podido derribarme,
barrer todo y crear de mi indolencia, mi flotación,
mi extravío una frescura nueva, y obstinadamente
me suicido al alcance de la mano
me levantaré del suelo más ridículo todavía para seguir burlándome de los otros
y de mí hasta el día del juicio final.
Fracaso
Cuanto he tomado por victoria es sólo humo.
Fracaso, lenguaje del fondo, pista de otro espacio más exigente,
difícil de entreleer es tu letra.
Cuando ponías tu marca en mi frente, jamás pensé en el mensaje
que traías, más precioso que todos los triunfos.
Tu llameante rostro me ha perseguido y yo no supe que era para
salvarme.
Por mi bien me has relegado a los rincones, me negaste fáciles
éxitos, me has quitado salidas.
Era a mí a quien querías defender no otorgándome brillo.
De puro amor por mí has manejado el vacío que tantas noches
me ha hecho hablar afiebrado a una ausente.
Por protegerme cediste el paso a otros, has hecho que una mujer
prefiera a alguien más resuelto, me desplazaste de oficios suicidas.
Tú siempre has venido al quite.
Sí, tu cuerpo llagado, escupido, odioso, me ha recibido en mi más
pura forma para entregarme a la nitidez del desierto.
Por locura te maldije, te he maltratado, blasfemé contra tí.
Tú no existes.
Has sido inventado por la delirante soberbia.
¡Cuánto te debo!
Me levantaste a un nuevo rango limpiándome con una esponja
áspera, lanzándome a mi verdadero campo de batalla,
cediéndome las armas que el triunfo abandona.
Me has conducido de la mano a la única agua me refleja.
Por ti yo no conozco la angustia de representar un papel,
mantenerme a la fuerza en un escalón, trepar con esfuerzos propios,
reñir las jerarquías, inflarme hasta reventar.
Me has hecho humilde, silencioso y rebelde.
Yo no te canto por lo que eres, sino por lo que no me has dejado
ser. Por no darme otra vida. Por haberme ceñido.
Me has brindado sólo desnudez.
Cierto que me enseñaste con dureza ¡y tú misma traías el cauterio!,
pero también me diste la alegría de no temerte.
Gracias por quitarme espesor a cambio de una letra gruesa.
Gracias a ti, que me has privado de hinchazones.
Gracias por la riqueza a que me has obligado.
Gracias por construir con barro mi morada.
Gracias por apartarme.
Gracias.
ricardo ottocento 