Learn about why people do things because they’re popular; how “Star Wars”-style holograms are becoming a reality; and, how you can avoid four productivity pitfalls and assess how productive you actually are. In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes: The Bandwagon Effect Is Why People Do Things Because They're Popular — https://curiosity.im/2Gs9z7f "Star Wars"–Style Holograms Are Becoming a Reality — https://curiosity.im/2GrDdd0 How Productive Are You? This Research-Backed Quiz Can Shed Some Light — https://curiosity.im/2GsSkCP If you love our show and you're interested in hearing full-length interviews, then please consider supporting us on Patreon. You'll get exclusive episodes and access to our archives as soon as you become a Patron! https://www.patreon.com/curiositydotcom Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Learn about why people do things because they’re popular; how “Star Wars”-style holograms are becoming a reality; and, how you can avoid four productivity pitfalls and assess how productive you actually are.
In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes:
If you love our show and you're interested in hearing full-length interviews, then please consider supporting us on Patreon. You'll get exclusive episodes and access to our archives as soon as you become a Patron! https://www.patreon.com/curiositydotcom
Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/avoid-productivity-pitfalls-the-bandwagon-effect-and-how-holograms-are-becoming-a-reality
CODY: Hi! We’re here from curiosity-dot-com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about why people do things because they’re popular; how “Star Wars”-style holograms are becoming a reality; and, how you can avoid four productivity pitfalls and assess how productive you actually are.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
The Bandwagon Effect Is Why People Do Things Because They're Popular — https://curiosity.im/2Gs9z7f (Ashley)
Have you noticed all your friends suddently watching Game of Thrones lately? Or your friends who never cared about sports are now showing up to parties wearing T-shirts of your favorite team now that they’re in the playoffs? Well there’s a psychological phenomenon you can thank for this, and it’s literally called the bandwagon effect. It’s why people do things because they’re popular, and understanding it can help you avoid it. So let’s get into it! The bandwagon effect has its roots in politics. The idiom actually comes from the 1848 U.S. presidential election, when people literally jumped on a bandwagon to parade through town in support of the Whig Party's presidential candidate, Zachary Taylor. These days, the phrase usually refers to someone who supports the popular political candidate regardless of their own beliefs. And a 2015 study by researchers at the University of Munich shows that it might happen more often than you’d think. In the study, 765 participants were shown a fictional political campaign for a mayoral election in a small German town. They were given a fake history of both candidates, including whether or not they had won previous elections. Then, the volunteers were split into three groups. The first group was shown a poll where one candidate was losing by a large margin, and the second group was shown that he was winning by a lot. The third group wasn't presented with a poll. The results should make you think twice the next time you read a poll. Not only did large margins affect votes, but participants were even more likely to consider a candidate as more competent if they thought he was winning. If a candidate has fared well in previous elections, or they seem to have majority support on polls, then uncommitted voters are likely to hop on board. After all: nobody wants to be on the losing side? So how do you avoid it? Well the first step is knowing you're susceptible. That means, the next time you're making a decision, stop and ask yourself this question: Are you doing this because you want to, or because it's popular?
"Star Wars"–Style Holograms Are Becoming a Reality — https://curiosity.im/2GrDdd0 (from Saturday) (Cody)
Speaking of popular things, have you heard about holograms going on tour? Billboard has reported that Roy Orbison and Buddy Holly will tour together as holograms this year, among other musicians looking into the concept, and even political candidates are starting to talk about using holograms for virtual campaigning.
Holograms like the “Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi” image of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars are really starting to become a reality. So today, we figured we’d get into ONE way we’re able to actually do this — although there are a few different ways to make a hologram. Right now I want to focus on a breakthrough in 2018, when researchers at Brigham-Young University developed an incredibly advanced method for creating holograms. The technology not only makes them both solid and animated, but it's also surprisingly cheap. And the secret is a device called an Optical Trap Display. It traps an opaque particle (a particle you can’t see through) in an invisible laser beam. Then, it moves that particle around in a pre-set path while illuminating it in red, green, or blue light. The result is an illusion floating in mid-air that engineers can animate by making slight modifications to the programmed path. The developers of these new holograms aren’t just thinking about projecting musicians, though: they think they have the potential to dramatically change how we interact with technology. As in, we could end up with something like those holographic displays from the 2002 film “Minority Report” that surround the user. But that kind of technology is probably a long way off: so far, they've only been able to create a thumbnail-sized butterfly flapping its wings. In order to create a larger hologram, they'll need to be able to manipulate more than one particle at a time. But still, this is a huge step towards projecting real, Star Wars-style holograms using lasers, not just reflecting light using glass like we’ve done in the past. The future is here! Are you ready for your first holographic selfie?
How Productive Are You? This Research-Backed Quiz Can Shed Some Light — https://curiosity.im/2GsSkCP (Ashley)
Productivity is a major focus of this podcast, and usually, you can kinda tell if you’re doing a good or bad job of being productive. But if there’s any doubt in your mind, then I’ve got some good news: there’s a quiz you can take to find out if all those life hacks you learned about on this podcast are really making you more productive. But first, let’s talk about some common pitfalls that prevent productivity. And this is important because American’s aren’t necessarily super great at being productive. An international Harvard Business Review survey of roughly 20,000 people recently found that North Americans work longer hours than people in other countries, but get only average scores on productivity. Typical European, Asian, and Australian workers in the survey were all more productive. And that productivity problem has its roots in four basic pitfalls. At least, that’s according to Robert C. Pozen, a lecturer at MIT's Sloan School of Management. Here’s what he says they are, along with some tips on how to avoid them: first, there’s aimlessness. A productive person devotes most of their time to essential projects. So if you put something like a meeting on your calendar, try jotting down the objective it serves. If you can’t think of one, then you might want to think twice about committing your time to it. It’ll also help if you can streamline or delegate low-priority tasks. Just remember to delegate in a smart way, because the second pitfall is micromanaging. Productive people delegate everything they can, but IMPORTANTLY, they also give their subordinates space to make mistakes — and learn from them. The third pitfall is overscheduling. If you jam your schedule with so many meetings and projects that one bout of food poisoning could derail your entire career, you might look productive — but you're actually setting yourself up for missing deadlines and important meetings. To avoid this, block out some time for unforseen crises, and even more for thinking quietly. And the fourth pitfall? Email. Most emails don't deserve a read, let alone a reply. Try to check your email once an hour or so, and only reply when you have to. Once you’ve fixed your aimlessness, micromanaging, overscheduling, and email problems, you can take a productivity assessment from Pozen on the Harvard Business Review’s website. We’ve got a link to the assessment in our full write-up on this, which you can find on curiosity-dot-com and on our free Curiosity app for Android and iOS. But you might want to bookmark the assessment, too, because Pozen recommends taking it every year. You know — just to make sure you’re not slipping.
CODY: Today’s ad-free episode was brought to you by our Patrons. Thank you so much, Gautam Ankam, Jairus Durnett, Dan Paterniti, John Friesen, Min Zye, Brach Hendrickson, Reid, and Chase for your support on Patreon. We really appreciate it!
ASHLEY: Join us again tomorrow for the award-winning Curiosity Daily and learn something new in just a few minutes. I’m [NAME] and I’m [NAME]. Stay curious!