Interesting Links for 06-11-2021

[andrewducker]

Pfizer pill cuts Covid deaths by nearly 90%, study finds

(tags:Pandemic medicine GoodNews )

There Is No Such Thing as Unconscious Thought

(tags:thinking )

There Is No Such Thing as Conscious Thought

(tags:thinking )

IAB Europe cookie consent pop-ups to be found in breach of GDPR

(tags:UK privacy dataprotection cookies )

When you get offered an interview for the job you just got fired from - and decide to accept...

(tags:Jobs interview funny )

How were video games from the 90s so efficient?

(tags:games history programming )

HIV patient denied life-saving medication in UK detention centre

(tags:UK migration OhForFucksSake hiv Jamaica )

High Fructose Corn Syrup-Moderate Fat Diet Potentiates Anxio-Depressive Behavior (in mice)

(tags:diet anxiety depression mice )

Adding sad violin music to your ex's terrible apology text

(tags:viaJennieRigg music funny relationships apology )

Do *you* need a distraction log?

(tags:distraction adhd advice )

Lawyer, 41, Who Sued His University Over His Grade Sues His Parents to Pay Him $500 a Week, Loses Appeal

(tags:wtf money law UK )

Comments

[cmcmck]

So we have to conclude that there's no such thing as thought? :o)

I suspect that 'Lawyer, 41' is what we in the trade call an overprivileged bag of horse shit!

[andrewducker]

The juxtaposition was delightful.

And yes, I totally agree

[calimac]

2) Um - the argument here seems to be that what we think is unconscious thought is actually conscious thought, we're just not aware of it. But isn't "thought we aren't aware of" the definition of unconscious thought?

3) Pfui. I was hoping this would be somebody arguing that consciousness is an illusion. But he doesn't say that; instead his claim that there's no such thing as conscious thought is based on narrowing the definition of "thought".

5) What I cannot imagine is taking an interview as a lark. Interviewing for a competitive job is such a horribly painful, degrading process that I only do it when I'm desperate for the job. (I say "for a competitive job" because I've also had the experience of going in under the expectation of being hired unless some real problem crops up, and that can be quite pleasant.)

11) I follow a rule of thumb about tales of stupid lawsuits: either the tale is leaving out some important info which makes the lawsuit not stupid after all, or else the suit was thrown out of court at the first opportunity. This is an example of the second case.

[andrewducker]

I agree that neither article is great. I admit I was just amused at the thought of ruling out both conscious and unconscious thought.

[doubtingmichael]

I think you're being a bit unfair on the first article. Obviously, the title is clickbaity, but it goes on to lay out a specific claim ("If you think about task A, and then think about task B for a while, you are not actually making progress on task A while unware of it"), and then gives an experiment in support of that. They then theorise that the breakthrough happens when you return to task A.

I don't think you're so wrong on the second article, which seems to be a good example of my opinion that many articles about consciousness approach Zen Buddhism:
"That which can be spoken of is not the Way."
"That which can be thought about is not consciousness."