|Stumbling with words| Recommendation N.07

Movies:

• Experimenter (2015) My teacher introduced the movie to me when raising questions on ethics. The movie concerns infamous Stanley Milgram's experiments on obedience to answer why the Nazi can coerce punishment to the Jews

In a psych lab, one man will be called “Learner” and will try to memorize answers to standardized tests. The other man, “Teacher,” will monitor the responses given by "Learner" (who’s out of sight). When the learner gives wrong answers, the "Teacher" gives him a series of increasingly strong electric shocks. The highest degree of punishment was 450V.

The nominal experiment here is a sham. In reality, Learner is not being shocked; an actor, he plays audiotapes of his voice screaming and protesting as the shocks supposedly mount in intensity. The one being tested is Teacher. 65% "Teacher" (26/40) exercised the deadly 450V on "Learner" as instructions:

"He constantly pulled on his earlobe, and twisted his hands. At one point he pushed his fist into his forehead and muttered: "Oh God, let's stop it." And yet he continued to respond to every word of the experimenter, and obeyed to the end."

Why Teachers listen to man in charge instead of the man in pain ?

• Miracle in Cell No. 7 (2013) This is another movie on ethics. I cried a lot watching this. When an innocent man is mentally challenged, can justice be served to him? The answer in this movie was NO. The police officer who had his daughter die tricked this innocent man to death sentence. Once you see someone in pain, will it make your pain sufferable?

Articles

• How to Use Behavioral Economics for Social Impact: very interesting and comprehensive read on how behavior economics can help policy enforcement. You can read the Vietnamese version HERE

• Are Older Men’s Sperm Really Any Worse? Economist Emily Oster attempts to explain the matter using casual inference framework. Very refreshing read!

• Tín Nguyễn - Tù Nhân Người Việt Ở Bang California The American dream through the stories of a prisoner. The read reminds me the importance of education to oneself.

Podcast

• Policymaking Is Not a Science (Yet): An excellent discussion on why promising solutions failed to scale up. This also explain why researchers should pay more attention on execution along with solutions.

Music