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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 9, 2024

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Pardon me for thinking that that is probably complete nonsense. E.g. it's well known that open spaces are shit for people who need to concentrate, yet almost everyone uses them.

It's probably same for utter majority of workplace and recruiting psychology. Just trash that exists so managers can justify their decisions.

People don’t automatically or naturally do what is best for them. For instance, the “natural” way that people often study is by rereading or highlighting. But these are unequivocally the poorest ways of learning according to many studies. By many I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s 5000 studies related to this. Or if you consider exercise science, people don’t automatically rest or exercise in the optimal way. It’s not intuitive that active rest would be superior than inactive rest. It’s not intuitive that HIIT would be so efficient. For nutrition, we had no idea the optimal way to eat to retain vitamins, cooking in lead and so on, or overcooking vegetables and throwing out the broths.

I think the reason people study in open areas and with a show in the background is because it makes it fun. Quiet studying may be too boring for someone to do all the time.