Links - 18th July 2020 (2)

BBC Radio 4 - Best of Today, Wednesday's business with Dharshini David - "‘You talk about the brand names, you talk about the marketing through social media, these are all important factors in promoting vaping, as long as they're done in a responsible way. And we are marketing thing only to adult consumers, which is exactly what our marketing Code of Practice suggests we should do’
‘Would you accept though that using platforms like Instagram, they do have appeal to younger people?’
‘Well, that's not actually the case. If you think about, for instance, paid social media, we’re able to segment through age, cohort data. So I would actually argue that social media is a more closed environment. It's a more age restricted environment than probably some of the marketing practices from many years ago. For instance, billboards, TV commercials, and so on. So I actually think there's a very responsible side of social media that we will do well to leverage to accelerate our transforming tobacco journey.’"

BBC Radio 4 - Best of Today, Is Iran a threat? - "‘You talking about the Americans, let's just look at the pattern of behavior from Iran and the actions it has taken in, in recent weeks. Apparently, attacking commercial vessels. Shooting down an unmanned US surveillance drone. Saying that it's going to boost uranium enrichment above a cap set under the deal, confronting merchant vessels as we have just seen’
‘Yeah. On, on enriching, I mean, these are child play, frankly. I mean, these are just a symbolic reaction by a country that cannot import medicine right now, because of the gruesome sanction by the US. So they are trying to scream for help, as I see it. I mean, all what they are doing is increasing the risk... They are a country under absolute distress, that the people have no access to food and medicine. And if any country in their position, they will just, to me, it just somebody who is crying for help’"
Maybe when jihadists kill people that's a 'cry for help' too

BBC Radio 4 - Moral Maze, Moral Character - "Politics is a tough business. Boris Johnson may be just one step away from Downing Street, but he's currently homeless having been forced to flee his girlfriend's flat after last week's all too public bust up made it the focus of left wing demonstrations. It could be worse. His great grandfather, also an ex minister and journalist, bidding for power in post First world war Turkey was kidnapped at his barber’s, handed over to the mob, strung up in a tree and stoned to death... A long list of famous philanderers, we regard as great statesman. Lloyd George, Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Nelson Mandela. Leadership is not an ethical beauty contest. It's about effectiveness, not virtue, they say...
‘Something can be a vice in the private life and a virtue in the public life. And I think that might be the case, because we require, we lie to ourselves about this all the time., but we require often our politicians do our dirty work for us, and why I dislike the self righteousness about this so much. It's like, we vote for them. And then we pretend that we can all be so clean about it and often the case is, this is just a way of protecting ourselves from the fact that we sort of subcontract some of the sort of rather nasty business that running a state has to involve to other people and then pretend that that we have no part in it.’
‘But people, especially at this level, in public life have huge privileges that go with that status. Surely the public has a right to, to hold them accountable. It's not a matter of being self righteous, the public aren’t saying that we’re morally clean, and that we don't make mistakes. But the higher up you go, and all the privileges that come with that office, surely you should be accountable’…
‘I was slightly confused by the whole nature of a different moral universe. But I think that what I want to question is this idea that a prime minister, a figure of high political office, is somehow supposed to be a moral role model. I mean, God help you if you're looking to politicians for your, for moral advice, because they're usually not very good at it’"

Rationally Speaking | Official Podcast of New York City Skeptics - Current Episodes - RS130 - The Atheists Own 10 Commandments - "‘This is often cited as the problem with objectification. Like the problem with ogling a stripper or whatever, that you're, in objectifying that stripper, you are valuing her only for her sexual appeal and not for, you know, her other values and features as a human being right. Not just qua stripper. But there's so many other examples that most of us find completely unproblematic, in which, you know, I'm valuing my barista in that moment only for her ability to provide me with the drink that I bought. And no one seems to find that problematic. So never quite understood how that principle applied. But if the way you're interpreting it is, you know, even if you're not thinking about that person's essential humanity, at the same time as you're buying a coffee or you know, watching a strip dance, as long as like you, on some level, recognize and value that humanity such that if there ever came to be some kind of trade off that needed to be made you would like not ignore the person's humanity. That seems good. Like that seems like a good rule to follow... Kant cited this principle as justification to prohibit masturbation’...
‘Kant was a prude, very well known’...
There are some philosophers and certain a number of scientists, prominent scientists who think that even if the world behaved according to supernatural principles, you could still do science about it. Now, I actually happen to be fairly skeptical of that idea. But I don't think it's a closed, you know, it's an open shut case. That the idea you know, Jerry Coyne’s famous, I think it was 30 feet tall Jesus or something like that. If a 30 feet tall Jesus started walking the streets or if the stars rearranged themselves all of a sudden, and said, you know, here's your God, or something like that. Well, that will clearly be very obvious empirical evidence for the existence of the supernatural. And presumably, as long as the supernatural follows some kind of logic, the idea goes, it would be actually possible to investigate it scientifically. So I'm not so sure that bringing up science as a way as the best way to understand the natural world is necessarily endorsing mythological naturalism...
We can write hundreds and thousands of laws, there's always going to be some exceptional situation that clearly, technically speaking, falls within a certain certain description of the law, but in fact if you actually acted accordingly, you would be doing an unjust thing, which is why the law needs to be interpreted. It's why, you know, there has to be latitude about things. And that's why also, by the way, laws are changed over time. They're dynamic documents. I mean, if there is one thing, that I would object to this project, although I realized what word the term is coming from, is precisely the term commandment. Because the term commandment implies, especially of course, to the religious minded, but in general implies that sort of an absolute rule where there are no objections and no possibilities of alteration in the future"

Rationally Speaking | Official Podcast of New York City Skeptics - Current Episodes - RS118 - Live From Baruch College With Dr. Steven Novella - "'People who are very intelligent and very committed will never, almost never change their mind even though they are presented with the evidence that clearly they are wrong about whatever the specifics was.Because they're - the reasoning there is that apparently they are not only very ideologically committed, but they're also very intelligent, so they can come up with all very smart ways of rationalising what they're *something*, which is perhaps not surprising but disturbing.'
'Yeah, intelligence actually doesn't predict whether you're going to stick to your guns or bend to the evidence. It's the passion with which you hold the ideological position.'
'It's how much you are invested emotionally'...
We all have a limited amount of energy and, you know, and resources and time available. And so the issue might be well, you know, you have to pick your fights. As they were saying earlier, you know, which is probably astrology at this point is not exactly the top of my list, even though I'm completely befuddled by every time that I walk in the village and see how many psychic shops there are there. And you know, they only charge $10 a session. And if you do the calculations from and have any idea of how much it cost them probably, to rent that shop is like, how many people do these people see. You know, the consulation must last a microsecond for them to be viable, but it's not. Like I'm not too concerned about that. I am concerned about things like climate change, or vaccine denial, and that sort of stuff. So I think it's more of a matter in my mind, it's more about picking your fights, where both the topic is important, because it has consequences. And also where you may be more able to make some leeway...
If you take on issues that are politically or ideologically dominated… if there is a, an ideological aspect to what you're promoting, the risk is, is that you will confuse your value judgments for objective skeptical analysis or critical thinking analysis. And I do see this happen within the movement, you know, is that you have people at one end of the political spectrum think that that approach, that political approach to skepticism is the correct approach. And they kind of mix in their political ideology with the skepticism and critical thinking… I try to not get into issues of my own political value system. And I consider myself successful if people like don't know where I fall on the political spectrum. And I think most people don't, because you shouldn't be able to infer my personal politics from my skeptical activism, if I'm doing my job the way I want to do it, I'm saying that's the way you should do it. And that's the way I personally choose to do it. And I certainly, you know, see what I feel are a lot of examples of people who are promoting critical thinking and skepticism, but they're doing it from a very particular ideological point of view, which unnecessarily narrows their audience. And then they eventually get to the point where they're confusing their values, with empirical objective claims. And I think that's counterproductive... What's important to do as skeptics is to be sort of the neutral, politically neutral arbiter of the evidence and the empirical claims in the logic, rather than aligning the critical thinking science with a political value, because then you're actually, first of all, you're you're giving a reason for half of your audience to dismiss your opinion. And and I don't think we should be trying to disconnect empirical claims from value judgments. ,And but the hardest thing to do is to separate it from your own values, especially when it seems reasonable to you, you know"

Skittles released white candies for Pride. Now, the Internet is accusing them of white supremacy. - "Since the dawn of delicious tarty candies, Skittles’ motto has been “Taste The Rainbow,” except when it comes to honoring Pride month.To commemorate the occasion, the candy company decided to ditch their usual Roy G. Biv color palette, opting instead for all-white pellets of sugary goodness...
“During Pride, only one rainbow matters. So we have given up ours to show support.”"
When you virtue signal - but other people virtue signal back

Man stabs teenager for killing computer character - "Mr Daniel Tan Thiam Soon (21) stabbed a fellow player in the back after the 16-year-old stabbed his character to death in the game.District Judge Rahim Jalil has sentenced Tan to six years in prison and six strokes of the cane. Unemployed Tan was playing Counterstrike in a computer gaming centre at Tampines."

I tried 5 signature burgers from major chains. This meaty beast was the winner. - "I taste-tested signature burgers from McDonald’s, Burger King, Five Guys, Wendy’s, and Shake Shack to see how they compared.Each burger brought something unique to the table, but Five Guys won out overall.Its juicy meat and fresh, flavorful toppings contributed to a classic burger taste that demolished its competition."

Class 95 DJs The Muttons’ Restaurant Fook Kin Caught Fire, 40 Diners Safely Evacuated - "Fook Kin’s post also reminisced about Da Shi Jia helping them out when they ran out of pork lard: “This good neighbour of ours offered to give us a big container of it and gave us great advice that we definitely kept in mind.”"

Jesse Singal on Twitter - "So I get on the train and this white woman immediately covers her mouth with a scarf when she sees me. I thought it would be interesting to fake cough and see how she reacts. The racism is showing Jan! (Too bad we couldn’t hear her mumbling under that racism!)"
"Why in the name of God do people help stuff like this go viral??? You have no idea who the tweeter is, you have no idea if she's telling the truth, you have no idea what the context is, you have no idea about anything. You're trying to ruin someone's life... why???"
"When someone posts "Twitter, do your thing," they mean, "Strangers, ruin this other stranger's day/week/life."

Positive fantasies about idealized futures sap energy - "Positive fantasies allow people to mentally indulge in a desired future. Whereas previous research found that spontaneously generated positive fantasies about the future predict poor achievement, we examined the effect of experimentally induced positive fantasies about the future. The present four experiments identify low energy, measured by physiological and behavioral indicators, as a mechanism by which positive fantasies translate into poor achievement. Induced positive fantasies resulted in less energy than fantasies that questioned the desired future (Study 1), negative fantasies (Study 2), or neutral fantasies (Study 3). Additionally, positive fantasies yielded a larger decrease in energy when they pertained to a more rather than a less pressing need (Study 4). Results indicate that one reason positive fantasies predict poor achievement is because they do not generate energy to pursue the desired future."
i.e. Motivational bullshit is self-defeating and so is The Secret