Interesting Links for 09-11-2018

[andrewducker]

The spotlight of attention is more like a strobe, say researchers

(tags: psychology attention perception )

Dyson wins ruling over vacuum cleaner tests

(tags: vacuum testing europe )

"Don't Call Yourself A Programmer" , And Other Career Advice | Kalzumeus Software

(tags: programming business )

Plan to ban cars along Edinburgh's George Street

(tags: Edinburgh cars )

Scots curriculum to include focus on LGBTI issues

(tags: lgbt school Scotland GoodNews )

To deter crime, don't increase sentences, increase certainty of punishment

(tags: crime effectiveness )

Disney's new Netflix rival will be called Disney+ and launch late 2019

(tags: Disney marvel Pixar streaming )

China's 'AI newsreader': Which of these isn't real?

Spoilers - it's the one which sounds like a robot. Bonus points to whoever at the BBC referred to it as a "programme".
(tags: china ai news tv )

Comments

To deter crime, don't increase sentences, increase certainty of punishment

[jack]

This is one of those things where I feel like, the conclusion is pretty natural for anyone who's met people (or animals, or children, or plants...) but there's so much momentum in the status quo, we keep reverting to assuming that oh, but surely draconian punishments are useful somehow? :(

And I know, hammering the point repeatedly, and with actual science studies not guessing, is needed, but I always get depressed thinking about it.

(I also acknowledge, it's not ALWAYS true. The difference between "probably a fine" and "probably prison" probably matters to people, even if the magnitude doesn't make much difference because people just gamble on not getting caught even if that's not sensible.)

Re: To deter crime, don't increase sentences, increase certainty of punishment

[birguslatro]

NY's crime dropped dramatically a while back. This is an analysis of why...

https://www.nber.org/digest/jan03/w9061.html

It's the probability of getting caught that affects the crime rate. But so does income. So make getting caught more likely as well as increase the incomes of those at the bottom.

Robot newsreaders

[birguslatro]

I like the robot voice-overs that are common on YouTube now. And was amused by one comment that asked what nationality the channel's owner was. Choose a non-English accent and they can sound very like an English-as-a-second-language speaker.