Category Archives: psychology

exporting transcendence

Posted on Thursday, 2017 January 05 by Anton

In the film and TV series Limitless, a drug makes the protagonist temporarily super-intelligent. In the episodes I’ve seen, it’s not established whether any skills learned with the drug remain when it wears off. I imagine that you’d want to … Continue reading →

Posted in cinema, psychology | Leave a comment

uncanny tedium

Posted on Thursday, 2016 November 17 by Anton

A month or two ago, the load of junkmail intercepted for me by Pobox suddenly jumped from about one hundred pieces a day to well over two hundred. (The difference, to judge by titles, consists of repeated pleadings from alleged … Continue reading →

Posted in psychology, spam | Leave a comment

how {e|p}lastic was my valley?

Posted on Thursday, 2015 April 30 by Anton

If you had never seen a nonhuman mammal, would a dog’s face fall in your uncanny valley?

Posted in psychology | Leave a comment

dream geography

Posted on Sunday, 2014 March 09 by Anton

In a dream, while strolling among bookshops and the like, I chance to meet someone who hates me but is constrained to be polite. With a venomous smile that person asks, the better to avoid them, on what streets one … Continue reading →

Posted in psychology | Leave a comment

what didn’t happen in Juneau didn’t stay in Juneau

Posted on Friday, 2013 March 29 by Anton

In “It Happened in Juneau”, near the end of the third season of Northern Exposure (one of very few TV series of which I’ve seen every episode twice), Maggie flies Joel to Juneau for a conference; they both get lonely, … Continue reading →

Posted in cinema, ethics, psychology | Leave a comment

awkward expectations

Posted on Sunday, 2011 February 20 by Anton

Many of the anecdotes at Not Always Right concern customers who expect someone to know, without being told anything, what they seek. It crosses my mind that, if you’re stupid enough, you frequently encounter someone who accurately infers things that … Continue reading →

Posted in psychology | Leave a comment

a guilt-trip down memory lane

Posted on Wednesday, 2009 July 29 by Anton

When I lived in Oakland, I was twice approached after sunset by a panhandler who announced, “I’m black but I’m not a mugger!” Both times I flinched and, of course, felt guilty. It now occurs to me belatedly that, if … Continue reading →

Posted in California, psychology, race | Leave a comment