Want your employees or consumers to finish something? Give them a decent head start. It sounds too simple to be true, but it is. People are more likely to complete a task if they are given a jump start at the beginning. This behavioral phenomenon is called “endowed progress.” We all [Keep reading]
What should computer science students — all college students — learn about the intersection of ethics and technology? @ethicaltechorg, founded by two Duke university students, (I’m an adviser) is crowd sourcing the curriculum for Tech Ethics 101. Thoughts here, or at the link: https://ethical-tech.org/request-for-collaboration/ Algorithms run our lives today. They [Keep reading]
I’m not really one for anniversary stories — they tend to be pretty artificial news hooks. But one year after what many think is the most significant hack of U.S. consumer data in history, it’s certainly worth taking stock of what’s happened since. For starters, Equifax has increased the amount [Keep reading]
It’s Labor Day, and America is facing a labor crisis that no one is talking about. It’s simple: There isn’t much labor to do; Many of the jobs people do have are bullshit jobs; Because of this, the most common way to get ahead in America right now is to [Keep reading]
The federal official in charge of handling complaints against the student loan industry resigned in fury on Monday, leveling a series of accusations against his agency — including suppression of a report showing lenders were ripping off college students with “legally dubious account fees.” The step was not a surprise. Seth [Keep reading]
How is the economy doing? Sounds like a simple question; it’s not. Many of the proxies we tend to use as a gauge — say, the Dow Jones industrial average, or GDP, or the top-line unemployment rate or the national debt — are nearly meaningless, or even misleading. At a [Keep reading]
Oklahoma City finds its way onto lots of “most affordable” lists — it was the 7th-cheapest large city in American for rentals last year, for example, when one bedroom apartments averaged $631. There’s plenty of reasons why. An important one: It’s in Oklahoma. And people think Oklahoma is hot, and [Keep reading]
End on a high note! Hit your last shot before leaving the basketball court. Make sure you say good-bye when you leave. And yes, all’s well that ends well. In my continuing series for PeopleScience.com on cognitive biases, I recently took on the Peak-End rule. It’s a simple concept that [Keep reading]
Recent college graduates get a lot of advice from a lot of directions. Mom, Dad, school friends, crazy Uncle Harry, the Internet, Instagram. Get a job, take a European vacation, don’t buy a car, move somewhere new, buy a professional wardrobe, go to grad school, follow your dreams, take that [Keep reading]
The hottest place to move in America is….Boise? Folks who live there seem to think so, and plenty of Americans agree with them. Idaho’s population climbed 2.2 % last year, the fastest-growing state in the nation. Employment is growing at the fastest clip in the nation, too. So it shouldn’t [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan