Hire hackers + BrainWaves +Genomics (deadly)

First the ones that I really thought are important


Misha Glenny: Hire the hackers!, Sept 2011

For tomorrow's business leaders/politicians it's important you have good contacts with hackers. These would be ppl who would be give u the edge or save you edge.

Tan Le: A headset that reads your brainwaves

A device that could be used to read your brain waves and your expressions. Ppl are building games, utilities and tools for ppl with disorders.

New Concepts

(Genomics)Harvey Fineberg: Are we ready for neo-evolution?

What if human being could be changed by changing their genes.

Bart Weetjens: How I taught rats to sniff out land mines

Use of animals for Human Beings. Rats were trained for smelling mines and then used in Mozambique to find out mines in a cost effective manner.

Other Talks

Sasha Dichter: The Generosity Experiment, Sept 2011

VC doing generosity experiment, explaining we have to be patient for getting rewards from generosity.

Marco Tempest: The magic of truth and lies (and iPods)

Digital Magician of todays world.

Watched a lot of them together

1. Matt Cutts: Try something new for 30 days

Normal. He'z just asking to do something difft for 30 days.

2. Camille Seaman: Haunting photos of polar ice

Nice pics of Polar Ice. Iceberg revolving is the best video clip.

3. Janet Echelman: Taking imagination seriously

Of this is something really awesome. Art taken to a different level. How can one make such an awesome thing from nothing is amazing.

4. Louie Schwartzberg: The hidden beauty of pollination

Pollination is something i.e. awesome.

5. Anil Ananthaswamy: What it takes to do extreme astrophysics

It was really great. How ppl are putting efforts for AstroPhysics.

Watched a lot of them together

Psychology - My stance on Motivation

My Stance
Motivation is combination of Masalow stage of person vis-a-vis type of personality vis-a-vis type of work.

For Mechanical work and labor workers “The Carrot and the Stick Approach” is good. Give them reward and they will work better. Labour fall in physiological stage of Masalow.

For Cognitive Work - Give them decent environment and then give them challenges and tools to complete them as per type of personality.

Motivation according to type of person.

Need for Power 

Need for Affiliation 

Need for Achievement 

Change notion of agents who execute the work i.e rather thinking on parameters of Theory X vis-a-vis Y. They should think on the above said lines.

Context 

Hygiene factors; (e.g. status, job security, salary and fringe benefits) that do not motivate if present, but, if absent, result in demotivation.

Maslow -physiological -) Safety -) Love -) Esteem -) Actualization(creativity, problem solving)

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Theories on Motivation

Theory 1

Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation that is driven by an interest or enjoyment in the task itself, and exists within the individual rather than relying on any external pressure.

Extrinsic motivation comes from outside of the individual. Common extrinsic motivations are rewards like money and grades, coercion and threat of punishment. Competition is in general extrinsic.

Theory 2

Abraham Maslow's theory is one of the most widely discussed theories of motivation.

Desires which influence them

physiological -) Safety -) Love -) Esteem -) Actualization(creativity, problem solving)

Theory 3

Frederick Herzberg

He distinguished between:

Motivators; (e.g. challenging work, recognition, responsibility) which give positive satisfaction, and

Hygiene factors; (e.g. status, job security, salary and fringe benefits) that do not motivate if present, but, if absent, result in demotivation.

Theory 4

Carl Dunker - Candle Problem

Theory 5

David McClelland has developed a theory on three types of motivating needs :

1.Need for Power - Basically people for high need for power are inclined towards influence and control. They like to be at the center and are good orators. They are demanding in nature, forceful in manners and ambitious in life. They can be motivated to perform if they are given key positions or power positions.

2.Need for Affiliation - In the second category are the people who are social in nature. They try to affiliate themselves with individuals and groups. They are driven by love and faith. They like to build a friendly environment around themselves. Social recognition and affiliation with others provides them motivation.

3.Need for Achievement - People in the third area are driven by the challenge of success and the fear of failure. Their need for achievement is moderate and they set for themselves moderately difficult tasks. They are analytical in nature and take calculated risks. Such people are motivated to perform when they see atleast some chances of success.

Theory 6

Mc Gregor's Motivation theory - Theory X vs Y

Theory X

In this theory, which has been proven counter-effective in most modern practice, management assumes employees are inherently lazy and will avoid work if they can and that they inherently dislike work. As a result of this, management believes that workers need to be closely supervised and comprehensive systems of controls developed. 

Theory Y

In this theory, management assumes employees may be ambitious and self-motivated and exercise self-control. It is believed that employees enjoy their mental and physical work duties. 

Theory 7

Jeremy Bentham’s “The Carrot and the Stick Approach” whose ideas were also developed in the early years of the Industrial Revolution.

Psychology - New Terms

1. Gestalt Principles -

beer-) fear -) run
show beer -) run-) u'll fear.

U see what u perceive rather what is actually there.

2. Different types of individuals -Type A vis-a-vis Type B

Type A - high strung

The theory describes a Type A individual as ambitious, aggressive, business-like, controlling, highly competitive, impatient, preoccupied with his or her status, time-conscious, and tightly-wound.

Type B - Easy Going

People with Type B personalities are generally patient, relaxed, easy-going, and at times lacking an overriding sense of urgency.

3. The Rashomon Effect --- Subjectivity vs objectivity

The Rashomon effect is the “effect of the subjectivity of perception on recollection, by which observers of an event are able to produce substantially different but equally plausible accounts of it.”

All three are saying a truth in different ways n u think only one of them is right n other two r wrong.

In team meetings Rashomon effect is normally present. There are two simple strategies to prevent the Rashomon effect from undermining a team’s agreement

First, replace verbal with written agreement.

Second, replace casual with explicit agreement. Once the agreement’s details are displayed, survey the team to test publicly each member’s understanding of and support for the final agreement. 

4. Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability, capacity, skill; or, in the case of the trait EI model, a self-perceived ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups. 

Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to perceive, control, and evaluate emotions. 

EQ > IQ better for managers

5. Stanley Milgram Experiment
Experiment which states that how obedience can cause good people to do evil. 15V to 450V experiment where 65% of ppl gave shock upto 450 V because they were asked to do.


"It may be that we are puppets-puppets controlled by the strings of society. But at least we are puppets with perception, with awareness. And perhaps our awareness is the first step to our liberation."

Psychology - Evolution

Read Sigmund Freud

Freud redefined sexual desire as the primary motivational energy of human life, developed therapeutic techniques such as the use of free association, created the theory of transference in the therapeutic relationship, and interpreted dreams as sources of insight into unconscious desires.


He theorized that personality is developed by a person's childhood experiences.

In 1905, Freud published Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality in which he laid out his discovery of so-called psychosexual phases: oral (ages 0–2), anal (2-4), phallic-oedipal (today called 1st genital) (3-6), latency (6-puberty), and mature genital (puberty-onward). 

In 1923, he presented his new "structural theory" of an id, ego, and superego in a book entitled, The Ego and the Id.Therein, he revised the whole theory of mental functioning, now considering that repression was only one of many defense mechanisms, and that it occurred to reduce anxiety. Note that repression, for Freud, is both a cause of anxiety and a response to anxiety

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Maslow theory
Abraham Maslow's theory is one of the most widely discussed theories. Desires which influence them
physiological -) Safety -) Love -) Esteem -) Actualization(creativity, problem solving)

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Psychology - Motivation

Watched Few TED talks
1. Clifford_Stoll__18_minutes_with_an_agile_mind
2. Daniel_Pink_on_the_surprising_science_of_motivation
3. Simon_Sinek__How_great_leaders_inspire_action

In Simon_Sinek__How_great_leaders_inspire_action the speaker says normally people follow What --) how --) why approach n succesful people follow Why --) how --) What approach.

In Daniel_Pink_on_the_surprising_science_of_motivation speaker give's example of Candle Problem in terms of motivation vis-a-vis results. It came out till the time task is mechanical approach would work. But once task called for rudimentary cognitive skill reward led to poor performance i.e. higher incentive led to worse performance. Candle problem is also referred to as functional fixedness.

Google gives 20% time do whatever u want to do.
ROWE - Result on Working Environment. Ppl dont have scheduled. They just have to get their work done.
Time at the hand of employee. But its considered as utopian.

Then author gives example of Microsoft failed attempt of online encyclopedia vis-a-vis wikipedia as an example of intrinsic vis-a-vis extrinsic motivators.

Overall a good watch.

Psychology - Difference between Good/Evil

Read/watched a lot of articles to get slight  knowledge in Psychology

First thing that I have grasped is there's not much difference between a person doing good/evil. In the sense any person can do good or evil depending on situation/circumstances. I think it's also explained beautifully in the film "Raavan".


Philip Zimbardo has explained the concept in his term Lucifer effect i.e. how good people become evil.
He attributes it to three factors
1. Internal - Inside of Individual
2. Situation
3. Context i.e. system i.e. political, economic and legal.


The Lucifer Effect raises a fundamental question about the nature of human nature: How is it possible for ordinary, average, even good people to become perpetrators of evil?

He review's classic and current research on:
Authority Side - conformity, obedience to authority, role-playing,
The other Side - dehumanization, deindividuation and moral disengagement.

Obedience to authority - Milgram experiment

General of Gyna – Jim Jones – 912 killed people 


Simple experiment at Yale University to test how much pain an ordinary citizen would inflict on another person simply because he was ordered to by an experimental scientist.
(15 Volt to 450 Volt)


How authorities/government can seduce anyone
Ideology to justify anything
Start- A small step, just do this
Increase small proportion
Justify authority
Leader becomes monster
Rules are vague
Situation
Social Models of compliance
Allow verbal dissent, insist on behavior
Make exiting difficult


Dehumanization, deindividuation - Stanford Prison Experiment, Good apple in bad barrels
1.  “Lord of the flies” in exp situation – Changing ones external appearance triggers violence in good boys
2.   Stanford Prison Experiment - Prisoners and Guards all normal people. And how guards did cruelty on prisoners.


How can we understand the heroism ?

How do we encourage heroism?

Heroic Imagination

Ordinary ppl whose social action are extra ordinary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsFEV35tWsg&feature=autoplay&list=PL5DB53AE5AF89CFDD&index=15&playnext=2
http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/459