Summaries – cfriery

https://www.npr.org/2011/05/12/135598390/mind-reading-technology-turns-thought-into-action&sc=nl&cc=nh-20110512

It seems counterintuitive that a person with no ability to provide their input, is able to be put through an invasive surgery so that we may attempt to read their mind. Through the use of ECoG (electrocorticography), which, “detects signals coming from the brain itself,” we are able to, essentially, read peoples minds. For example, John Doe was in a car accident and is now paralyzed permanently; however, his brain is still transmitting electronic signals. Therefore, Mr. Doe is deemed alive, even in such a vegetative state. Now, in order to implement the ECoG into the brain, surgery in required where a large section of the skull is removed, and a grid of electrodes are then placed onto the surface of the brain. In recent studies the ECoG was utilized to translate brain waves into a word that someone, such as Mr. Doe, was imagining. This could be the first step, of many, into realizing the capabilities the human brain possesses (such as Artificial Intelligence capabilities). More research to come.

https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-02-04/vancouver-combats-heroin-giving-its-addicts-best-smack-world

(this article contained several grammatical errors so the authenticity and credibility I question)

It seems counterintuitive that you would give heroin to a heroin addict. In a town of Vancouver known as Downtown Eastside heroin addiction is rampant. Through the program Insite, addicts can shoot up under the watchful eye of a nurse without the repercussions brought on by the illegal (and deadly) drug. Doctors describe this as treatment, and only 26 people are entered into this program. Patients within Insite are only the worst, of the worst, addicts who cannot live without heroin. It is considered harm reduction. Instead of being menaces to society and stealing or committing crimes for their next fix, they are safely being given, what is considered, the best dope on the planet in a safe location. However, many consider it a form of blackmail for these addicts. The doctors believe that these people are definitively heroin addicts and that there is no hope of a return. Therefore, these doctors believe in prescribing the safest heroin in a safe, supervised location. It was noted that, “It’s a very odd, very odd moral line to walk.”

Opposition Notes: They are killing addicts with kindness. That we might as well put a bullet in their head because we are still killing them anyway.

It seems counterintuitive that people can synthesize happiness, or, in other words, create happiness. However, it is quite possible. More often than not as a matter of fact. Whether you obtain wealth, power and prestige and then lose it, spend an eternity in prison, or simply make someone else (instead of yourself) very wealthy failure cannot lead to unhappiness. While there is synthesized happiness, there is also natural happiness through, simply put, getting what we wanted. Whereas, synthetic happiness is what we choose to make of our situations when we don’t get what we wanted. Through numerous case studies, it is proven that freedom is the enemy of synthetic happiness. We can choose what we want and what we don’t want (preferences); therefore synthetic happiness is dependent and enemies of freedom. There are most certainly some things that are better than others but when we overrate failures we lose sight of our future. When our preferences, ambition, and fears are blown out of proportion we are unhappy. When we take our preferences, ambition and fears equally we receive then receive happiness. Therefore, we have the ability to create our own happiness that we are so desperate to achieve.

(This was quite difficult to summarize but I did the best that I think I could. Please critique this one a bit more harshly (if you have viewed the video that is))

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Summaries – l8tersk8ter

1.Do Multivitamins Really Work?

It seems counterintuitive that a product full of essential nutrients is in fact found to be more harmful than beneficial. Multivitamins are marketed towards both children and adults to provide them with the vitamins they may be lacking from their daily diet.

There is an appeal towards multivitamins that look like candy, such as gummy bears, which further influences people to purchase them for themselves and/or their children. As long with that marketing tactic, companies advertise the vitamins and preventative of chronic diseases, such as cancers and heart disease, which has been found to not be true at all.

The whole basis of multivitamins is sold to an audience that doesn’t really need them. Most diets that people consume allow them to receive their essential vitamins in one way or another, even if theres unhealthy sugars and such going along with them. The consumption of the vitamins is actually harming the consumers that are already healthy. Vitamins have upper limits that are dangerous when crossed, and for people that eat/drink their fair share of vitamins, the extra supplement is pushing them over that limit.

2. Free Heroin to Battle Addiction

It seems counterintuitive that heroin addicts are given heroin for free by health officials in order to control their addiction. These addicts are failed attempts to become clean using other programs and combative drugs. Their heroin addiction has proven it is not going anywhere and despite efforts they lose their fight.

Instead of letting these addicts fend for themselves and wrecking havoc on the city, Insite is a safe zone for them to go shoot up. They nurture their cravings in a clean environment with pure heroin rather than buying it from the streets and using needles from who knows where. Addicts have unpredictable behaviors, but one thing that is predictable is that without drugs they will be dangerous to themselves and others. One way or another they will get drugs eventually no matter what they have to do for money. The free heroin avoids their need to do unlawful or dangerous acts for money.

If the heroin addicts were just left to the street they would have a poor quality of life until the day they die of most likely an overdose or a bad batch. By providing them with some stability they can lead somewhat normal lives and do things such as work a steady job. Without the constant craving and wondering where the drugs will come from next they can focus on other things. Even though the drugs are still harmful to them, the risk of them being harmful to society is minimized.

3. Surviving The Shower

It seems counterintuitive that that a low risk task performed on a daily basis is actually something we should be careful about doing. You never give much thought to what you do in your everyday routine and leave much of it to habit. When the odds of a freak accident and something going wrong are so low you tend not to worry about because you’re not going to be who makes the odds true.

But doing something often increases your odds of something going terribly wrong. If you drive once a month your risk of an accident is low, despite a lack of driving skill and experience that would come with that. If you drive everyday you may be a more experienced driver, but you’re exposing yourself to the chance of an accident many more times. This is how your every day tasks become risky.

For someone that is young and can recover from injury quicker the risk that comes with showering is still low. If they were to fall it might hurt but for the most part they would be fine. For someone that is older in age and has a more fragile body falling in the shower can do serious damage. So not only do you need to be worried about simple everyday tasks, but depending on your age (and possibly health), some tasks may be even more riskier than you could’ve imagine.

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Summaries- cardinal

Is PTSD Contagious?

It seems counterintuitive that Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, which can be debilitating to the hundreds of thousands of people who suffer from it, is widely misunderstood and often goes without proper treatment. Many veterans return home from war with symptoms of PTSD that can make everyday life a living Hell. Things as simple as the news or the sound of a car door closing can be a trigger, causing reactions such as flashbacks and angry outbursts. PTSD can cause a person to be hypervigilant and anxious at all times, as if in imminent danger. On top of this, there is evidence that the families of people with PTSD also develop symptoms without experiencing a traumatic event. Despite this, PTSD is often undiagnosed or misdiagnosed, and there is a lack of professional research explaining why PTSD affects the brain in the specific ways it does. It can even be a struggle to get support from VA systems, which should be the one place where veterans and their families can count on getting support.

There is not only a lack of professional support for victims of this condition, but there is a social stigma against it, as well. PTSD sufferers are often told that they need to simply get over their trauma. Their pain is waved off by others because the general public is uninformed about the disease, even though many people suffer from it.

In many cases, it falls to those who experience PTSD to educate and support each other. Even though having PTSD is an immense emotional strain, its sufferers have to take matters into their own hands due to the lack of support from science and general awareness.

Ultimately, more money needs to go into PTSD research and treatment, and it’s an amount so large for each individual veteran that VA systems aren’t willing to spend it despite the havoc PTSD wreaks on a life. That leaves the situation at a stalemate, and it’s hard to say how much hope there really is for the future of treatment for PTSD.

Clean Girls Get Sicker?

It seems counterintuitive that women are more likely to get sick than men, despite being cleaner as children. Research shows that exposure to germs and bacteria in childhood actually makes a child less likely to develop allergies, asthma, or autoimmune disorders after puberty. Gender roles dictate that young girls should be cleaner than young boys, so while little boys are playing in the dirt and getting exposed to many different kinds of germs, little girls are less likely to do so.

While our culture is changing and normalizing girls doing activities, like going outside or playing sports, that are historically “masculine”, this phenomenon is not changing. It seems that the crucial time for exposing children to bacteria is during infant or toddler years, in which most girls are still being held to “feminine” standards by their parents.

Are Multivitamins Dangerous?

It seems counterintuitive that multivitamins don’t actually promote health. Multiple studies have looked into whether multivitamins prevented diseases such as heart disease and various cancers and came up with negative results.

Multivitamins may be more than just ineffective, though. They could actually be harmful. Most people who take multivitamins are likely already getting the nutrients they need from their diets, and getting too much of certain vitamins and minerals can hurt a person’s health, leading to conditions such as cancer, heart disease, and birth defects.

In addition to that, supplement companies aren’t required to label vitamins as being a health risk, even if they are one. The health risks of multivitamins are kept as quiet as possible, so users don’t know the danger they could potentially be in and supplement companies continue to thrive off of their money.

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Summaries—612119d

It seems counterintuitive that heroin  addicts are being given free herion 2-3 times a day, but it actually improves the situation for everyone. While doing this it will help Regulate the addicts’ use and supply them with all they need. The program is not designed to cure addiction, it is designed specifically to prevent these people from ending up dead in an alley or committing a felony or selling their bodies away. So while heroin will still affect their life it won’t kill them or put others in danger, so in all reality it’s a smart plan. The 26 people who are currently on this plan didn’t want to get clean anyway.

It is counterintuitive that strict parents who aim for their children’s success can end up being the cause of a child’s anxiety, wild party life , and could push them to death. Not letting your child experience things for themselves and learning from their mistakes could harm them in big ways. One the child could be so locked up once he goes to college he just goes wild because the child never has freedom or it can fall the other way as well it could make them scared and not want to leave do anything without their parents.  This rings even more in Chinese culture. There is a  pressure to push children to be the best and to strive for a professional career that meets above satisfactory standards.  This parenting style will help the kids do better in school but it takes away them from growing on their own. 

It seems counterintuitive that guns in the United States aren’t banned but drugs are illegal yet many people do them and end up dying by drugs every year. People are going to do what they want anyway. Too many illegal guns already in the country will make the citizens who already follow them continue to follow it but the criminals will still break the law. So it comes down to whether you want people buying legal guns that you are able to track or illegal guns.

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Summaries – dayzur

1.) Polio Vaccinators Assassinated

It seems counterintuitive that groups of vaccinators, backed by the UN, attempting to rid the world of a horrible virus are being killed in the process by other means. In 2012, Pakistan was the second leading country in number of cases of the Polio virus, falling short to Nigeria. Just like Nigeria, the Pakistani opposed this. Most militants thought this was a means to be spied on. Something like this had happened before which made them feel this way. In 2011, a fake CIA Hepatitis vaccination was used as a means to locate and kill Osama Bin Laden.

Fast forward one year, in 2012, there was to be a three-day nationwide Polio drive for vaccination in the countries largest city consisting of 5.2 million vaccinations. Until it was cut short. A group of people, whom have not stepped forward, killed a group of 5 women backed by the UN attempting to give Polio vaccinations. A police spokesperson has stepped up and claimed that this was not just an act of spontaneous aggression, but a fully planned out attack.

2.) Gun Regulation

It seems counterintuitive that owning a gun to make a person feel safer typically leads to the opposite intention, and threatens their very lives. Studies have shown that owning a gun increases the risk of being shot by either, an accident, homicide, or suicide.

States that have more guns, typically have a higher suicide rate, much by gun suicide, while other kinds of suicide don’t show too much difference. Some deaths are not intentional, and this is in the case of accidents. It is 11 times more likely for children to die in the presence of a gun in a home in America, than in other developed countries.

The chances of you needing to keep a concealed weapon on you in case of a home invasion are very slim. Just keeping a gun in your home has also shown to lead to more attacks on family or acquaintances, and not by someone breaking into your home.

3.) Clean Girls Get Sicker

It seems counterintuitive that even though, little girls tend to be much cleaner than boys, they are also more prone to getting sick. Boys at a young age are encouraged to play outside, and get dirty, because that is just what boys “do”. On the other hand, girls at a young age, are taught to be cleaner, typically do not play outside as much, and supervised by parents leading to a different outcome.

As you are exposed to germs when you are younger you grow more immune to them as you grow. The dirt that these boys are playing in contain massive amounts of bacteria. This exposure leads the boys to build up a greater immunity than their female counterparts. On the side of the girls, this exposure is much less, leading to a higher chance of sickness than the boys.

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Summaries-oaktree1234

Clean Girls Get Sicker?

It seems counterintuitive that the less cleanthly little girls are, the healthier they may be in the future. Studies suggest that due to society’s standards of cleanliness for young girls being much higher than that of young boys, girls never acquire immunity to certain pathogens. 

To challenge this, it’s been observed that men have a higher rate of asthma than women. The belief is that women are more likely to develop conditions such as asthma, allergies, and autoimmune related disorders, later in life. Meanwhile, men are more likely to experience, for example, asthma early on in their childhood, but outgrow it later on. There isn’t enough evidence to prove this is necessarily true. 

Despite the normalization of reverse gender roles, young girls probably still experience this phenomena due to the fact that much of what you do at this age is controlled by a parent. Although more girls are playing sports, much of their earlier years are spent dolled up in pink outfits. 

Illnesses such as autoimmune disease are being seen more frequently among both men and women. Possibly, as technology and medicine advance, parents are more proactive about keeping their children cleanthly, regardless of gender. 

Free Heroin To Battle Addiction

It seems counterintuitive that you would give heroin addicts heroin, as a form of treatment. Vancouver has implemented this plan in its most drug-prevalent part of town and seen relatively positive outcomes. 

At an institution called Insite, addicts can have access to heroin in a safe, controlled environment. The goal is to get heroin addicts off the streets and back functioning in society (as best they can while high). The program only includes addicts who did not respond well to any heroine alternatives. In other words, this is a last resort for heroin addicts who will never be able to come off the drug. 

Many individuals, especially those working in the rehabilitation industry, question the morality of this program. By supplying addicts with heroin, it’s inevitable that they will never recover. Also it demonstrates to society that one is not expected to recover from drug addiction and almost encourages the opposite. Although it is a good quick fix, it may not be positive for the community in the long run. 

Do Toms Shoes Help Anybody?

It seems counterintuitive that donating shoes to a developing country would do more harm than good. Toms shoe brand claims to donate one pair of shoes to a person in a developing world, for every pair sold. 

This is a seemingly useful donation, considering the children need shoes to attend school. Sarika Bansal, with the New York Times explains that many of the children being distributed these shoes already have shoes. Also, Toms are often inadequate for the activities the children are doing.

More importantly, the buy one give one program is not in any way helping the economy of these developing countries. The Toms bogo system only creates more competition for local shoe vendors, while providing a short-term solution to the problem. The same concept applies to other large-quantity donations such as food, materials, ect. 

A better alternative would be providing the local businesses with the materials needed to be successful. This would, in return, help build a stronger economy and target the source of the problem. Toms is surely making a good effort but there are much more effective ways of aiding these countries.

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Summaries–SmilingDogTheProfWants

1)Pizza Hut at the Pyramids

It seems counterintuitive that Pizza Hut and KFC wouldn’t be by the pyramids. Any developed nation that gives the opportunity for the people to consume their wants over their needs will have businesses move there. It’s natural for multiple billion dollar industries to try to make as much money as they can so they will put their locations around populated areas and hope people consume.

The Pyramids are a wonder of the world and a huge tourist attraction, so it should make sense that every cmopany or small buisness would want to get a prime location like near the pyramids.

People act as if this is a bad thing. Fast food is just a pleasure and the only issue it brings with it is health problems in those that eat the food on a weekly basis. There is no reason to believe that America is expanding its businesses to take over the world and corrupt the minds of people in foreign places, it’s only a business with a purpose of making profit.

2) Free Heroin to Battle Addiction

It seems counterintuitive that addicts are being giving a safe and “legal” place to do heroin, but it actually improves the situation for everyone. Regulating the addicts use and supplying them with all the needles, bands, and of course, the heroin, which allows them to focus on their life rather than just “finding their next fix.”

The program is discribed as blackmail and generally disliked by proffesionals in the rehab field whom say, “we might as well put a bullet in their head.” Perhaps they are blinded by the fact that giving a heroin addict heroin is a bad thing and ignoring the psoitvces that come from it or maybe they do know better than the people in charge of the program, but regardless it’s a great step to fixing the problem. To have the argument of the morals on which the progam lies we may see change in the system that reduces the intake of heroin over time to slowly get them off the drug.

To say that these people aren’t worth helping is a moral dilemma of it’s own but to supply the addicts and keep them high means that they are much less likely to break a car window for spare change or rob a convenience store. It makes the area safer, maybe still crazy, but still safer than what it has been and every step like that will help them amend the problem.

3) Do Tom’s Shoes Help Anybody?

It seems counterintuitive to “help” out a region by giving people who already own shoes more. It also doesn’t help from an economic standpoint. How is a tailor suppose to make money off shoes if everybody is given free ones? This issue floods markets with literal free stuff when the people who live in these areas may make their living off selling the products that are now received for free.

The buy-one-give-one motto can be skewed and warped for good or bad. Corporations could severely downgrade their product they donate or may even donate to an unknown source that is hard to track, but it also means that other companies can base what they donate off what the people need. The risk behind the buy-one-give-one is very high as most companies won’t want to donate a good portion of their product and production time so they will find ways to make it more efficient and costly because the product is free, you get what you paid for. What seems to be a simple generous offer is actually harmful to the areas they help and it makes you question whether the motto is for peoples benefit or just to make the company look better.

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Summaries–Jeffbezos

Are We Happy? 

It is counterintuitive to believe that humans will never be happy if we don’t get what we want. There was an experiment tested to see happiness levels. They asked a lottery winner a year after they won and a parapoligic a year after he lost his legs. No one would have ever guessed they both felt equally happy. You could fail or pass a test, lose a sports game, lose an election and even win or lose that bet and it still will have no outcome on your long term happiness. 

Little do we all know that in our brain we all have this system. This system changes the world as we see it. We think that it is a thing that needs to be found. People synthesize these feelings of happiness. Look at this example of Jim Wright. He was a democratic chong rosman who had everything he wanted. When a negative situation came out of the dark, he lost everything. Years later they asked him how he felt he told us that he did not need those things he was happier now. 

To understand this all you need to know the difference between Natural happiness and synthetic happiness. Natural happiness happens when you get what you want. Synthetic happiness is what happens when you don’t get what you want. Then you say to yourself, or eventually realize that you never needed that thing in the first place. Simple enough right? 

Let’s say you win  that sports game, you get a rush of natural happiness. This cannot be hidden, you let all your emotions out. Then on the other hand let’s say you have a crush on a boy or girl and they reject you. At that moment you’re going to feel heartbroken. Then days, maybe months down the line you get into a new relationship, or stay single. You are going to look back and say that you never needed her anyway, it was for the better. This is synthetic happiness such as the example earlier. 

You will never be unhappy. Your brain always adapts and changes to what is going on in your life now. Everything that has happened in your past make you happy today, yesterday and or even last month.

Student wealth and achievement 

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pisa-wealth_n_4641669

It seems counterintuitive that students who are richer test better than the rich. They give the PISA test to about 60 counties with the same answers. You see on a worldwide level, weath does make a difference, but does it in United states 

In the United States you see the opposite, the wealthy scores are significantly better. Joy Resmovits, a reporter for The Huffington Post, states, “the poorest kids scored around a 433 out of 700 on the math portion of PISA, while the wealthiest ones netted about a 547.” This result is over a 100 point differential. 

Extreme parenting

It’s counterintuitive to believe that extreme parenting is best for our children. In a study, you see that some households don’t let their child go on playdates, join extracurricular activities, and even get grades lower than an A. There are theories saying that this type of parent style leads to greater success later in life but do they miss out on being a Kid? 

We find out in this that children with a more stick childhood tend to grow up with more discipline, and self control. This does not mean that they will be more successful in life. On the other hand, kids who work harder, and put more effort into something usually see better results. In some instances, kids who are pushed harder and with higher standards in school usually get the better outcomes. 

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Purposeful Summaries-Profs22

It is counterintuitive that strict parents who aim for their children’s success can end up being the cause a a child’s anxiety, bad behavior, and can push them to suicide. In Chinese culture there is a social pressure to push children to be the best in every field and to strive for a professional career that meets above satisfactory standards. The authoritarian parenting style can help students excel in certain areas, but when children lose their freedom is also takes away their individuality. Despite customary beliefs parents are beginning to change the way they teach and find a balance between education and individuality.

It is counterintuitive that multivitamins are supposed to be beneficial to our health when in reality they are actually shown to not have any health benefits at all. In some cases people with underlying health issues are at higher risk for disease. People are more likely to get the nutrition they need from a healthy diet. To take it a step further, companies even market these vitamins in the form of gummies to appeal more to children. No only do the vitamins not have any positive benefits, but they were found to exceed the maximum daily limits of vitamins that could potentially cause health issues. People can not just assume that something is healthy just because a name brand corporation says it is so think twice the next time you reach for those tasty gummy vitamins.

It is counterintuitive that a program in Vancouver provides addicts with free heroin in order to keep the community safe. The program provides addicts with clean supplies, supervision, and of course, heroin. The program is not designed to cure addiction, it is designed specifically to prevent these people from ending up dead, or commit a felony. If they are able to get there fix legally by a doctor they are more likely to be able to contribute as an active member of the community. It seems very immoral to most citizens but there no denying that free heroin is a safer Vancouver.

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Summaries-rowanstudent24

The Cruelest Show On Earth

It seems counterintuitive that circus’ would treat their show animals with cruelty, however it is more common than people think. These animals are constantly chained up and are not taken care of when they are ill. They are even shocked and whipped constantly. They are even put on 3 day train rides without any breaks.

For example, an elephant named Kenny was a show animal in “The Greatest Show on Earth” put on by the Ringling Bros. but unfortunately one day he had fallen sick. He had stomach problems after the morning show and after the afternoon show, he began bleeding from his bottom. He also started to struggle to even stand up. Under law, animals are supposed to get medical attention and a veterinarian’s approval before performing again. After looking at Kenny, the Vet said that he was not able to perform the evening show and prescribed him antibiotics. Unfortunately, they made Kenny perform anyway but he couldn’t do any stunts because he was too weak. After the show, they gave him some fluids and put him in his stall. Hours later, they sadly found his body in his stall. The U.S. Department of Agriculture charged Feld Entertainment with 2 violations for making Kenny perform when he was sick and could barely stand.

This was just one of many examples of how elephants are mistreated. There are tons of videos showing them being shocked and whipped. It takes a lot for the USDA to do something about it. Even that isn’t much by just fining them tons of money.

The Daily Shower Can Be a Killer

It seems counterintuitive that a daily shower could be thought as a very dangerous situation. For the elderly, if they slip and fall anywhere, it could hurt them a lot more than someone younger because of how fragile they are in their old age.

Thinking with paranoia is actually a very smart way to go through life. Pitching a tent under a dead tree seems like an okay thing however that tree could fall on you while you’re sleeping. It is a one n a million chance but it is definitely something that could happen. Driving is another situation since you have to watch for your own mistakes as well as other drivers mistakes. Even an uneven sidewalk could cause someone to slip and fall as their walking. Thinking with constructive paranoia can help people be aware of possible accidents and live their full lives.

Won’t You Be My Wireless Neighbor?

It seems counterintuitive that you would use your neighbor’s wifi networks as your way to get internet access. In a Brooklyn apartment complex, it’s an easy thing todo especially if all your neighbors have no password protect networks.

Paying for internet almost seems pointless if the neighbors have internet access in the next room. It should be set up where one neighbor on that floor pays for the wifi and everyone that lives on that floor chips in for it. It would save a lot of time and doesn’t require a technician to come out and install it a bunch of times. Hopping on to your neighbors network doesn’t have to be as bad a thing as people think.

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