७ जून, २०१९

NPR people are way too jazzed up about a "transcranial direct current stimulation" device.

This is a very cutesy video that sort of acts like these characters are doing a scientific test, while also admitting — twice — that it's "unscientific":



What is NPR for? This seems like a 10 minute ad for a dicey product. The NPR reporter, Elise Hu, purports to want to know how an actual athlete would respond to the product, and then we get to hear from an athlete who is sponsored by the manufacturer! The athlete says, "To me, like, all of a sudden, it was just like everything was a lot easier for me." Later, Hu interviews the co-founder of the company, who, we're told, thinks his product could "actually increase our life span." She invites us to worry about the inequities that might emerge if humans get "upgraded too much."

I watched this so you don't have to. It's 9 minutes, so I'm not recommending it. Maybe scroll to the part I think is most ridiculous, the interview with the co-founder, which begins at 5:50.

This style of ultra-perky video is just atrocious, but it must work on someone. And I'm sending hits their way, so I'm probably encouraging it.

४२ टिप्पण्या:

pious agnostic म्हणाले...

"What is NPR for?"

Their descent from publicly-paid-for political propaganda to privately-paid-for corporate advertising was so gradual I hardly noticed.

JAORE म्हणाले...

Quackery.

Now crystals, that's the ticket.....

Might need a Hyde amendment for broadcasting.

bgates म्हणाले...

What is NPR for?

I'd say using cutesiness and the illusion of science to sell people on things we'd be better off without covers it.

Darrell म्हणाले...

Next--Try trepanation with a 3/4 bit.

Quaestor म्हणाले...

What is NPR for?

Offhand I'd say NPR exists to make radio as enjoyable and as informative as any visit to your local DMV office.

Government does a reasonably good job of making war, but then it's had nearly ten thousand years of practice. At the lively arts, it sucks donkeys.

stlcdr म्हणाले...

Electric shock therapy? Strap yourself down, crank up the volts.

Leland म्हणाले...

To be fair to NPR, they are hardly the only "major news" organization that simply copies a corporation press release as headline news and then spends time in editorials discussing the evils of corporations.

Quaestor म्हणाले...

Next--Try trepanation with a 3/4 bit.

Today's web-winner.

tim maguire म्हणाले...

I enjoy some NPR programming. I'm glad it’s there, but there’s no reason for it to be supported with government subsidies.

Fernandinande म्हणाले...

All you expert neurologists might want to let the goofballs at Johns Hopkins know that they're wasting their time on this quackery.

narciso म्हणाले...

Meanwhile:


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2019/06/06/youtube-deletes-award-winning-history-teachers-videos-hate-speech/?fbclid=IwAR0bRryxox_voNDagS7FFkQf5qYXFSnSTfSX25Yl0dqU8PQZXR8KNxjzKC8

Ignorance is Bliss म्हणाले...

Transcranial direct current stimulation is for pikers.

Using transcranial lasers to detect neural activity is what the cool kids are working on. Including my daughter.

rhhardin म्हणाले...

I use carpet shuffling doorknob sparks.

Lucid-Ideas म्हणाले...

Pearls before swine. The thing that's between her ears isn't up to the challenge.

(Insert ditzy wind-tunnel joke here)

BudBrown म्हणाले...

Kinda reminds me of a guy in High School. His chair was back against the wall and he was banging the back of his head against the wall. Teacher asked why and he said because it felt so good when he stopped.

Infinite Monkeys म्हणाले...

Fernandistein said...
All you expert neurologists might want to let the goofballs at Johns Hopkins know that they're wasting their time on this quackery.

6/7/19, 8:04 AM


That page talks about improvement when there is impairment. The NPR piece is about making a healthy brain/body better. Just because something may help healing doesn't mean that it can help you become superhuman.

Michael K म्हणाले...

I don't care what NPR does as I never listen but I do wish the CPB would get off the Dole.

AZ Bob म्हणाले...

You can get the same benefit by sleeping with a book of crossword puzzles tucked under your pillow at night.

Heartless Aztec म्हणाले...

Bad science nothing. Bad NPR.

CJinPA म्हणाले...

This style of ultra-perky video is just atrocious, but it must work on someone.

Works on their donors. NPR is non-commercial, which provides a sheen of respectability, but all it means is that rather than tailoring programming to get ratings (which attracts ad dollars) it just shapes content to extract money directly from listeners.

In the 1990s, NPR was caught sharing donor lists with the DNC and not one person was surprised. It is a taxpayer-supported arm of the Democratic Party. As I tell my liberal friends, "What do you think of FOX News? Now imagine giving your tax dollars to it."

Howard म्हणाले...

You Cucks should like it because Special Operation troops train with it

Sebastian म्हणाले...

"What is NPR for?"

National Progressive Radio is for disseminating prog propaganda.

Including when they report what "science" says.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne म्हणाले...

What is NPR for?

Keeping that Hillary! worshiping bastard Steve Innskeep off the streets?

Fernandinande म्हणाले...

Just because something may help healing doesn't mean that it can help you become superhuman.

You introduced the word "superhuman", but NPR's claims are irrelevant, correct? So statements based on NPR's claims, e.g. trepanation, are also irrelevant.

Improvement of cognitive control [in healthy male participants] and stabilization of affect by prefrontal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)

Richard म्हणाले...

Too much brain stimulation? :)

Its alive! Its alive! Its alive!!!

mikee म्हणाले...

I, for one, await the SQUID (Superconducting Quantum Interference Device) headset that allows you to relive memories, in all their sensations, recorded off someone else's brain.

Strange Days, one of many movies celebrating the millennium, explained the concept well.

Amadeus 48 म्हणाले...

I watched ten seconds of it and I feel better already.

Caligula म्हणाले...

"Their descent from publicly-paid-for political propaganda to privately-paid-for corporate advertising was so gradual I hardly noticed."

One should not assume venality when mere laziness is sufficient.

It's not as if anyone at NPR understands science, or the methods science uses to evaluate claims. Therefore, the only method available to NPR to evaluate a claim supposedly supported by science is, "find an expert."

Or at least someone who can pass as an expert. And how would an NPR "math is hard" journalist even know the difference?

Infinite Monkeys म्हणाले...

You introduced the word "superhuman"

Did I?

From the NPR video at the part with the interview with the co-founder: "First I asked him what sort of superhuman power neurostimulation could give us."

Tina Trent म्हणाले...

What is NPR for? I play a car game where I turn NPR on and see how long it takes to hear something about race, transgenders, diversity, 'migrants,' Muslims, global warming, income inequality or oppression.

It rarely takes more than 30 seconds. Kind of like "I spy" but with nasal elitist pickpockets.

Jaq म्हणाले...

I think that Josey Wales pretty much had the perfect response for this. Spit tobacco juice on him and ask him how it does for stains.

Jaq म्हणाले...

(Superconducting Quantum Interference Device

You forgot to say entanglement. Whenever you are doing something mystical with QM, you have to put in “entanglement.”

Fen म्हणाले...

I keep saying - Madison Ave is an illuminate front group - no one listened :)

They're EVERYWHERE

Protect yourself now! Buy Triple Layer Aluminum Foil through the Althouse-Amazon portal today!

Free drone delivery to your back yard! (we know where you live)

Nichevo म्हणाले...

Howard said...


Hey Stu!

I call you Stu because you're beginning to remind me of this guy.

https://youtu.be/fmlg43aH7q8

You piping up with your Insult! Insult! Insult! is like the overgrown helmet-head and his Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! routine.

What is your major malfunction, Private Howie?

Sigivald म्हणाले...

"Why is my tax money being wasted on this?"

("But NPR hardly gets any tax money!"

Good, then it can survive without it.)

cassandra lite म्हणाले...

Spock's Brain episode of classic ST.

YoungHegelian म्हणाले...

Much of what passes for "news stories" are in reality press releases. The advantage of a press release for a reporter is that someone else does all the work & the reporter takes the credit. The advantage to the writer of the press release is that his story gets to the public pretty much the way he wants it slanted.

Rule of thumb -- if you hear a news story & it only features one side of a question, it's a press release.

Darrell म्हणाले...

Rule of thumb -- if you hear a news story & it only features one side of a question, it's a press release.

Or you're watching CNN. Or MSNBC. Or NBC. Or CBS. Or ABC. Or . . .

Char Char Binks, Esq. म्हणाले...

Unlike those knuckle draggers at FOX, NPR believes in science, praise Gaia!

YoungHegelian म्हणाले...

@Darrell,

Or you're watching CNN. Or MSNBC. Or NBC. Or CBS. Or ABC.

Which, when they feature a talking head on just one side of a question are doing press releases. It's just it's the spokesperson reciting the release.

And, yes, often even just straight-up news delivered by an anchor is press release. Do you ever wonder how it is that identical party-line same headline, same wording stories just spread across the media? Some group or groups have the job of pushing the story to their press contacts. This is basically what (e.g.) Media Matters does for a living.

Darrell म्हणाले...

CNN, et. al.. employ propaganda which is designed to tell people what to think. Nothing contrary is given viewers to reach their own conclusions. That's why millions of people think that everyone in the Trump administration is guilty of dozens of crimes. This has nothing to do with press releases--although sometimes the narratives come from the Democrats/Left.

madAsHell म्हणाले...

This is Transcendental Meditation, but now with new improved electronic gadget. Back in the 1970's TM would take your $150, and in return you acquired a personal mantra that would balance your aural energy. It's amazing how not having money keeps you from doing stupid shit!!

My money says that gadget is nothing more than a noise cancelling headphone.

White noise, and noise cancellation. That talking head looks like someone that might be stimulated by silence.