Study Proves Power corrupts even the honest - Video

When appointing a new leader, selectors base their choice on several factors and typically look for leaders with desirable characteristics such as honesty and trustworthiness.

However once leaders are in power, can we trust them to exercise it in a prosocial manner?

New research published in The Leadership Quarterly looked to discover whether power corrupts leaders. Study author John Antonakis and his colleagues from the University of Lausanne explain,

"We looked to examine what Lord Acton said over 100 years ago, that 'Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.'"

To investigate this the authors used experimental methods to distinguish between the situational and individual component; and determine if power corrupts or if corrupt individuals are drawn to power.

After completing psychometric tests to measure various individual differences, including honesty, participants played the 'dictator game' where they were given complete control over deciding pay-outs to themselves and their followers.

The leaders had the choice of making prosocial or antisocial decisions, the latter of which resulted in reduced total pay-outs to the group but increased the leader's own earnings.

The findings showed that those who measured as less honest exhibited more corrupt behaviour, at least initially; however, over time, even those who initially scored high on honesty were not shielded from the corruptive effects of power.

"We think that strong governance mechanisms and strong institutions are the key to keeping leaders in check," concludes Antonakis. "Organisations should limit how much leaders can drink from the seductive chalice of power."

More information: This article is "Leader corruption depends on power and testosterone" DOI: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2014.07.010 and appears in The Leadership Quarterly, published by Elsevier.

Barry Schwartz: TED Talk on Our Loss of Wisdom - Video

A wise person knows when and how to make the exception to every rule…

A wise person knows how to improvise…

Real-world problems are often ambiguous and ill-defined and the context is always changing. A wise person is like a jazz musician, using the notes on the page, but dancing around them, inventing combinations that are appropriate for the situation and the people at hand.

A wise person knows how to use these moral skills in the service of the right aims. To serve other people, not to manipulate other people.

And finally, perhaps most important, a wise person is made, not born. Wisdom depends on experience, and not just any experience.

You need the time to get to know the people that you’re serving. You need permission to be allowed to improvise, try new things, occasionally to fail and to learn from your failures. And you need to be mentored by wise teachers.

Are people willing to take orders from a non-human, robotic boss? - Video

A study conducted by a team of researchers at Human Computer Interaction (MCI) Lab in Manitoba Canada, has revealed evidence that suggests that people can be prodded into doing something they don't want to do, by a robot.

They've posted a blog entry on their web site describing an experiment they carried out to learn more about how people might respond to a robot boss, versus a human one, and the results they found.

The experiment consisted of asking volunteers to complete different tasks, some fun (singing songs they liked), some tedious and boring (changing file name extensions for a very large number of files).

Some of the volunteers were asked to perform the tasks by a human being, others were asked to do the same tasks by a small friendly-looking Aldebaran Nao humanoid robot.

The volunteers and their taskmasters were set up in an office-type environment, with desks set apart from one another.

The participants were filmed as they carried out the experiment and the researchers analyzed the results afterwards.

All of the volunteers were told repeatedly before the experiment that they could stop any task they chose at any time, with no negative consequences.

In studying the video, the researchers found that 46 percent of the volunteers (both male and female) complied with a request to perform a task (which took 80 minutes) they didn't want to do, when asked to do so by the robot, compared to 86 percent compliance when asked by a human "boss."

The researchers note the lower percentage but also point out that nearly half of those who participated complied when asked to do something they didn't want to do, when asked by a robot.

The research is being carried out to learn more about how future humans might interact with future robots in real workplace environments.

The team's initial findings indicate that humans will not summarily dismiss a robot authority figure, and many will do as it asks.

The team plans to continue with its research, no doubt, looking to find the limits of such interactions.

Prof. Daniel Kahneman: "Thinking, Fast and Slow" - Video

Public Lecture by Prof. Daniel Kahneman

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Aula, University of Zurich

Explore: Stephen Fry explains Cloud Computing - Animated Video

Stephen Fry explains the history of computer thinking and the revolution of utility in cloud computing in this 5 minute animation.

This is a paid advert from Databarracks a UK company who provide Infrastructure, Disaster Recovery and Backup services from some of the most secure data centres in the world.

This video re-iterates the belief that an English person 'invented' or 'created' the internet. This, of course is a matter of conjecture and is unlikely to be the case.

TED Ed Video: The Higgs Boson Field explained - Don Lincoln

One of the most significant scientific discoveries of the early 21st century is surely the Higgs boson, but the boson and the Higgs Field that allows for that magic particle are extremely difficult to grasp.

Fermilab's Don Lincoln outlines an analogy (originally conceived by David Miller) that all of us can appreciate, starring a large dinner party, a raucous group of physicists, and Peter Higgs himself.

Lesson by Don Lincoln, animation by Powerhouse Animation Studios Inc.

Other informative animated videos are available here

Cognitive Productivity in a Knowledge Overload World - Video

To harness rather than drown in the ocean of knowledge that swamps us daily via the media and the Internet, we've got to become more cognitively productive, says Luc Beaudoin.

The Simon Fraser University adjunct education professor drives home that message in his new book Cognitive Productivity.

Released on Leanpub, a Vancouver-based online bookstore, it's the first research-based book to explain how marrying learning strategies that underlie cognitive science with learner-friendly technology can make us more cognitively productive.

Drawing on concepts in cognitive science, an interdisciplinary field that encompasses linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology and artificial intelligence, Beaudoin defines cognitive productivity as our mind's ultimate goal.

He explains how the artificial intelligence-like makeup of not just our brain, but also our mind, inspires that goal.

"The mind is like a sophisticated software program. It is engineered to cognitively process information, turning it into knowledge that we use to solve problems, develop marketable products or better our own lives," explains Beaudoin.

"If we, however, inundate it with information in varying formats, such as PDF files, audiobooks and Ted Talks, without meaningfully encoding and using it, then it will be quickly forgotten and the potential benefits of learning will be lost."

Enlightened by what his own varied career path has taught him about what fosters learning, Beaudoin cites examples of how information overload and learner-unfriendly technology are combining to break down our cognitive productivity.

"Merely skimming and archiving information, which most of us do to try to stay afloat on our sea of information, stymies cognitive productivity," says Beaudoin.

"There's not enough active reading, annotating and harvesting of information gems, which we must then practise recognizing and using if we're to become expert with the knowledge."

Referencing cognitive science-based learning strategies, Beaudoin demonstrates how conveying information in a synced knowledge-environment that incorporates learner-friendly technologies can enhance cognitive productivity.

Some examples of this he says are: "allowing users to annotate all content in the same way, whether it be ebooks, podcasts, web pages, audiobooks or videos, and enabling users to easily create productive practice challenges from any content they read."

Going To The Cloud In Stages - YouTube

Racker Joseph Palumbo answers the question, "Do I have to move everything to the cloud in order to take advantage of it?" in the second video in our series, Cloud Questions You Didn't Even Know You Had

David Foster Wallace on Ambition - Video

Like Neil Gaiman, who famously admonished, "Perfection is like chasing the horizon. Keep moving," Wallace cautions against the lose-lose mindset of perfectionism:

"You know, the whole thing about perfectionism. The perfectionism is very dangerous, because of course if your fidelity to perfectionism is too high, you never do anything. Because doing anything results in failure. It’s actually kind of tragic because it means you sacrifice how gorgeous and perfect it is in your head for what it really is."

Wallace also sees learning and teaching as intertwined:

"I was a very difficult person to teach when I was a student and I thought I was smarter than my teachers and they told me a lot of things that I thought were retrograde or outdated or B.S. And I’ve learned more teaching in the last three years than I ever learned as a student."

Security holes in Android Smartphone apps - Videos

Zhendong Su and his students at the UC Davis computer science department have found serious security flaws in popular apps for Android smartphones.

Popular texting, messaging and microblog apps developed for the Android smartphone have security flaws that could expose private information or allow forged fraudulent messages to be posted, according to researchers at the University of California, Davis.

The security flaws were identified by graduate student Dennis (Liang) Xu, who collected about 120,000 free apps from the Android marketplace.

The researchers focused initially on the Android platform, which has about a half-billion users worldwide.

Android is quite different from Apple's iOS platform, but there may well be similar problems with iPhone apps, Xu said. The victim would first have to download a piece of malicious code onto their phone.

This could be disguised as or hidden in a useful app, or attached to a "phishing" e-mail or Web link. The malicious code would then invade the vulnerable programs.

The programs were left vulnerable because their developers inadvertently left parts of the code public that should have been locked up, Xu said.

"It's a developer error," Xu said. "This code was intended to be private but they left it public."



The researchers have submitted a paper on the work to the Systems, Programming, Languages and Applications: Software for Humanity (SPLASH) 2013 conference to be held in Indianapolis this October.

TED Talk: Amanda Palmer - The Art of Asking - Video

Don't make people pay for music, says Amanda Palmer. Let them. In a passionate talk that begins in her days as a street performer (drop a dollar in the hat for the Eight-Foot Bride!), she examines the new relationship between artist and fan.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less).

Windows Sysinternals Primer: Process Explorer, Process Monitor, and More

The Sysinternals utilities are vital tools for any computer professional on the Windows platform. Mark Russinovich's popular "Case Of The Unexplained" demonstrates some of their capabilities in advanced troubleshooting scenarios.

This complementary tutorial session focuses primarily on the utilities, deep-diving into as many features as time will allow. Learn tips and tricks that will make you more effective with the Sysinternals utilities.

How to Manage and Deploy video

The case of the Unexplained video

More Videos here

Online Child protection : CEOP UK Video

'The Parents' and Carers' Guide to the Internet', from CEOP, is a light hearted and realistic look at what it takes to be a better online parent. The show covers topics such as, talking to your child about the technologies they use and the things they might see, such as pornography.

With interviews from leading experts such as, Professor Tanya Byron, Dr Linda Papadopoulos and Reg Bailey, as well as key industry players from Facebook, Club Penguin and Moshi Monsters , this online guide aims to equip you with the tools to have those tricky conversations with your children and keep your family safe online.

Change: Can Money Buy Happiness?

Humans are very sensitive to change: When we get a raise or commission, we really enjoy it — but we adapt at incredible speeds to our new wealth.

Some studies have shown that in North America additional income beyond $75,000 a year ceases to impact day-to-day happiness.

“Money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more of it one has the more one wants,” Ben Franklin — who was born 307 years ago today — is often (mis-)quoted as having proclaimed. 

In asking what you would do if money were no object, Alan Watts echoed Franklin as he advocated for liberating creative purpose from money-work.

Martin Seligman: The new era of positive psychology

Martin Seligman talks about psychology, as a field of study and as it works one-on-one with each patient and each practitioner. As it moves beyond a focus on disease, what can modern psychology help us to become?

Martin Seligman is the founder of positive psychology, a field of study that examines healthy states, such as happiness, strength of character and optimism. Full bio »

Plug-In Hybrid Retrofit Kit designed for mileage savings - YouTube

Powered by at least nine MTSU students' work since 2008, Dr. Charles Perry continues driving toward success in the development of the plug-in hybrid retrofit kit for any car.

Perry, who holds the Russell Chair of Manufacturing Excellence, and a five-member team saw gas mileage increase anywhere from 50 to 100 percent on a 1994 Honda station wagon retrofitted with laboratory prototype plug-in hybrid capability.

Learn more about the project.

Words: The Importance of

Words, a fantastic new episode of WNYC’s always-excellent Radiolab, examines the importance of words by imagining a world without them.

From a look at Shakespeare’s linguistic chemistry to a first-hand account of what it’s like to have the language center of your brain wiped out by a stroke (yep, we’re talking about Jill Bolte Taylor of blockbuster TED Talk fame) to a woman who taught a 27-year-old man the first words of his life and revealed the worldview-changing insight that everything has a name, the hour-long program offers a profound perspective shift in this currency of our day-to-day that we take for granted.

Richard Dawkins - Your 185 Millionth Great Grandfather Was A Fish - YouTube Video

Richard Dawkins : The Magic Of Reality

Your 185 Millionth Great Grandfather Was A Fish

David Erdal in Director: Humanity Working

Here's a thought: your company is the most productive in its industry. The people in the business care deeply about it; they understand how it works; they contribute energetically and are constantly coming up with ideas to transform it.

They have the lowest rates of absence and turnover in the sector, and they share a desire to keep the company independent. As for customers, this is a business not just appreciated but loved by them.

Just a pipe dream? Not at all – this description is true of many companies owned by all their employees. There is one proviso: employee-owners must be treated not as mere employees, but as partners.

They must share comprehensively in the rights that ownership confers: information, influence and the wealth created.

In any business, employees are partners. They are not under anyone's control, like robots or hire cars. Employees are people: they choose to co-operate – or not, as the case may be.

When they own the company, the stage is set to arouse the instincts for committed effort and innovation. When people own a business, it follows that they work harder, think actively about the organisation and stick with it through thick and thin. It's common sense. Ownership as the driver of performance? That's capitalism.

Read the full Article in Director Magazine: David Erdal

Optimise Social Media, Search, Content. Video interview of Lee Odden by Jay Baer - YouTube

Optimise your social media, search engine optimisation (SEO), and content marketing.

Combining these three critical elements into one strategic program is the key to success, says Lee Odden, author of Optimize.

Lee is interviewed about his book and content optimization by Jay Baer of Convince & Convert.