Has the Earth Lost Weight?
Curiosity Weekly
Warner Bros. Discovery
4.6 • 964 Ratings
🗓️ 16 April 2021
⏱️ 14 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Learn about a new computer model that may have gotten us closer to figuring out how we choose our mates; why Meno’s paradox says you can’t ever learn anything new; and whether the Earth weighs the same as it did billions of years ago.
How do we choose our mates? A new computer model may have gotten us closer to the answer by Cameron Duke
- Computer love. (2021). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/uoc--cl021221.php
- Conroy-Beam, D. (2021). Couple Simulation: A Novel Approach for Evaluating Models of Human Mate Choice. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 108886832097125. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868320971258
Meno's Paradox Says You Can't Ever Learn Anything New by Reuben Westmaas
- S. Marc Cohen (2006). Meno’s Paradox. Washington.edu. https://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/320/menopar.htm
- False equivalence and false balance – logical fallacies. (2017, December 17). Skeptical Raptor. https://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/logical-fallacies/false-equivalence-logical-fallacies/
LISTENER Q: Does the Earth weigh the same as it did billions of years ago? by Ashley Hamer (Listener question from Rob in Cedar Falls)
- Is Earth Getting Bigger Over Time? (Published 2019). (2021). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/10/science/earth-size-mass.html
- McDonald, C. (2012, January 31). Who, What, Why: Is the Earth getting lighter? BBC News; BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16787636
- Is Earth getting heavier or lighter? (2018, August 31). CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/sept-1-2018-gene-editing-in-dogs-wildfire-prediction-zika-fizzles-and-more-1.4804892/is-earth-getting-heavier-or-lighter-1.4804900
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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 from |
| 0:04.8 | Curiosity.com. I'm Cody Goff, and I'm Ashley Hamer. Today you learn about a new |
| 0:09.2 | computer model that may have gotten us closer to figuring out how we choose our mates, and a paradox that says |
| 0:15.1 | you can't ever learn anything new. We'll also answer a listener question about whether the |
| 0:19.6 | Earth weighs the same as it did billions of years ago. |
| 0:23.0 | Let's satisfy some curiosity. |
| 0:25.0 | Are computers capable of love? |
| 0:28.0 | Probably not. |
| 0:30.0 | Can they help us understand human love? |
| 0:32.0 | Maybe. To find out how we choose our special |
| 0:35.7 | someone's, a psychologist has created computer avatars of real people to |
| 0:40.9 | simulate the dirty work of finding a totally human mate. |
| 0:45.8 | To create his simulation, psychology researcher Dan Conroy Beam began by recruiting several |
| 0:50.9 | hundred real-world couples. They filled out surveys about their romantic |
| 0:54.9 | preferences and the personality traits of themselves and their partners. Then Conroy Beam created |
| 1:00.2 | computer avatars from that data. |
| 1:02.8 | The avatars represented their coupled human counterparts as closely as possible, with one exception. |
| 1:09.6 | These avatars were single and ready to mingle. |
| 1:13.0 | Next, Conroy Beam ran a series of simulations, |
| 1:16.0 | each based on a different model of mate selection. |
| 1:20.0 | That way, he could determine which theory of how we choose our mates actually leads these single avatars back to their real world partners. |
| 1:28.0 | The algorithms set rules for how the avatars should interact and behave with one another. |
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