Ehzen

The gray fog-filled bank perfectly framed the waves as they crashed unto the rocks creating rich roaring white foam. The wet sand crunched under shoes as he approached a suitable clearing where he can sit and contemplate. The salty breeze brushed his skin in soothing intervals.

“Schrödingers cat” he thought, “Schrödingers cat”. If he could delay finding out, he could perhaps time it so the result he wanted occurs in this reality. Then again was he actually applying what he learned about quantum mechanics correctly? or was it self-delusion? Does it apply to the real world? It’s supposed to describe the true working of our reality so why wouldn’t it? Although the majestic scene of rushed waves slamming against dark sharp rock beautifully played in front of him, his mind travelled back to class (of all places). Schrödingers cat was a theoretical experiment that was supposed to reduce the many theories and revelations of quantum physics into a meaningful soundbite. 

A cat is placed in a box with a device that can release a gas that will kill it based on a random event. There is no way of knowing whether the cat is dead or alive without looking inside the box. Contrary to classic physics the new physics postulates that without anyone looking inside, the cat is a dynamic wavelength (literally, as in a clothesline that is being shaken vigorously) of possibility. This is agreed on. It got even crazier once someone finally opened the box. One theory suggests that once someone looks inside the box that by virtue of that person’s observation a possibility vanishes (the clothesline is halted) and is left with one possibility: either a dead or living cat. Another theory- the one that will is putting his bets on - is that the two possibilities occur but branch out into two different realities. There is a cat who died because of that damned device and a cat who wasn’t poisoned by gas. However, the person who opens that box experiences a branching out of possibility as well. One is split into the same realm of the living cat and the other is split into the world of the dead cat. Neither are aware of each other. All that quantum physics tells us is that this occurs and the observer actually has an affect on the observation (person opening the box on the cat) but can the observer WILL a particular affect? The textbook doesn’t bother with such silly suggestions. 

Charismatic behavior consists of three magical ingredients: Presence, Power, Warmth.

Presence 

That feeling of zen. Being in the moment, perceptive, and aware. 

There are several ways to improve presence such as mindfulness meditation.

pg.16 Gilbert study on “mind wandering”

- Tara Brach

Power

The ability to command respect. If not balance with warmth it comes off as arrogance/ cold/ standoffish

- William Gladstone displayed power but lacked warmth

Warmth

If not balanced with power comes off as too eager, subservient, desperate to please.

The Serial position effect comprises of two effects that affect recall. Woah. Let’s break this down. 

Recall: The ability to accurately pull information from long term memory. 

Primacy effect: The tendency to remember an item or a fact that has been presented earlier than others. (i.e; first item on a list or a first impression)

Recency effect: The tendency to remember an item or a fact that has been presented most recently than others. (i.e; last item on a list or last commercial you saw).

Serial Position Effect: The tendency for the recall of an item in a series to be dependent on the position of that item in the series. Translation: The tendency for the first and last thing on a list to be remembered easier while everything in the middle gets fucked. 

Murdock (1962) Experiment - Captured the Primacy and recency effect by giving participants lists of words to read and tested their recall of that list. He found that the position of a word on the list changed the probability of its recall thus making the serial position effect a scientific theory. In his conclusion Murdock theorized that the reason the Primacy effect occurs is because the observer has enough time to rehearse the word to move it from short term memory to Long term memory. The recency effect occurs because the observer has enough time to store the item in short term memory. 

       Interesting. Although you might probably have guessed “well that’s common sense” ( the feeling attributed to affirmation bias), lets take a moment to appreciate the genius of differentiating how these two effects, although similar, come from two different memory stores. Ok. appreciation over. lets fast-forward to

What is it: Write down the 3 best things about your day

When: right before sleep.