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Curiosity Weekly

Blame Trolling on “Everyday Sadism,” How to Sleep Better During Lockdown, and a Breakthrough in Random Number Generation

Curiosity Weekly

Warner Bros. Discovery

Science

4.6964 Ratings

🗓️ 14 July 2020

⏱️ 12 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Learn about why “everyday sadism” might help explain trolling and bullying; why our quality of sleep is worse during lockdown (and how to fix it); and a breakthrough random number generation algorithm that could help researchers analyze complex systems. Plus: Cody nerds out about Games Done Quick and video game speed runs!

Blame "everyday sadism" for trolling, bullying, and violent crime by Kelsey Donk

Our sleep during lockdown is more regular, but lower quality (and there's a fix) by Kelsey Donk

New MIT algorithm can simulate a roll of loaded dice — and that could help analyze complex systems by Grant Currin

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Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/blame-trolling-on-everyday-sadism-how-to-sleep-better-during-lockdown-and-a-breakthrough-in-random-number-generation


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Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi, you're about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily.

0:04.7

From Curiosity.com.

0:05.9

I'm Cody Gough.

0:06.9

And I'm Ashley Hamer.

0:08.0

Today you learn about a psychological tendency that might explain trolling and bullying,

0:12.6

why our quality of sleep is worse during lockdown

0:15.2

and how to fix it,

0:16.4

and a breakthrough from computer scientists

0:18.6

that could help researchers predict the future

0:20.7

more accurately than ever.

0:22.7

Let's satisfy some curiosity.

0:25.2

Psychologists may have come up with an explanation for what motivates trolling,

0:29.6

bullying, and violence crime.

0:32.0

And believe it or not, it has to do with sadism. Now the word sadism might

0:36.6

make you think of serial killers or criminals who torture people for pleasure and

0:41.2

sure that's what we see in horror films and hear about in true crime

0:45.3

podcasts. But psychologists now recognize a milder version of sadism that lives in many of us that scientists call everyday sadism.

0:55.0

Everyday sadism is the capacity many people have

0:58.0

to feel pleasure from other people's pain and suffering.

1:01.0

Just less than someone with clinically diagnosed sadism.

1:05.6

And it's not as rare as you might think.

1:08.1

For example, you might have cheered on a fight in the school yard when you were a kid.

...

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