We’re Morbidly Curious About What “Might Have Been”
Curiosity Weekly
Warner Bros. Discovery
4.6 • 963 Ratings
🗓️ 1 June 2021
⏱️ 12 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Learn about counterfactual curiosity; the first entanglement-based quantum network; and Rome’s remarkable Cloaca Maxima.
We're morbidly curious to discover what "might have been," even though it can cause regret by Kelsey Donk
- We Have A Strong Urge To Find Out What Might Have Been — Even When This Leads To Feelings Of Regret. (2021, April 8). Research Digest. https://digest.bps.org.uk/2021/04/08/we-have-a-strong-urge-to-find-out-what-might-have-been-even-when-this-leads-to-feelings-of-regret/
- FitzGibbon, L., Komiya, A., & Murayama, K. (2021). The lure of counterfactual curiosity: People incur a cost to experience regret. Psychological science, 32(2), 241-255. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0956797620963615
Researchers have created the first entanglement-based quantum network by Briana Brownell
- Researchers establish the first entanglement-based quantum network. (2021, April 15). Phys.org. https://phys.org/news/2021-04-entanglement-based-quantum-network.html
- Castelvecchi, D. (2021). Quantum network is step towards ultrasecure internet. Nature, 590(7847), 540–541. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00420-5
- Malewar, A. (2021, April 16). First entanglement-based quantum network established. Tech Explorist. https://www.techexplorist.com/first-entanglement-based-quantum-network-established/38724/
- Caddy, B. (2021, April 19). Quantum internet: A revolution in knowledge is almost a reality. Inverse; Inverse. https://www.inverse.com/innovation/quantum-internet-is-coming
- Neven, H. (2015, December 8). When can Quantum Annealing win? Google AI Blog. https://ai.googleblog.com/2015/12/when-can-quantum-annealing-win.html
- Dutch researchers establish the first entanglement-based quantum network. (2021). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/duot-dre040921.php
- Pompili, M., Hermans, S. L. N., Baier, S., Beukers, H. K. C., Humphreys, P. C., Schouten, R. N., Vermeulen, R. F. L., Tiggelman, M. J., dos Santos Martins, L., Dirkse, B., Wehner, S., & Hanson, R. (2021). Realization of a multinode quantum network of remote solid-state qubits. Science, 372(6539), 259–264. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abg1919
One Of Rome’s Oldest Monuments Is One Of The First Sewer Systems In The World by Reuben Westmaas
- Squires, N. (2012, November 14). Ancient Rome sewer tunnels “in danger of collapsing.” The Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/9677683/Ancient-Rome-sewer-tunnels-in-danger-of-collapsing.html
- Function and Significance. (2021). Cloaca Maxima. https://cloacamaxima.weebly.com/function-and-significance.html
- Rome, Cloaca Maxima - Livius. (2020). Livius.org. https://www.livius.org/articles/place/rome/rome-photos/rome-cloaca-maxima/
- The “Greatest Sewer” of Ancient Rome. (2017, April 11). Atlas Obscura. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cloaca-maxima
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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 Curiosity.com. |
| 0:06.0 | I'm Cody Gough. |
| 0:07.0 | And I'm Ashley Hamer. |
| 0:08.0 | Today you learn about a kind of curiosity we can't resist, even when it makes us feel bad, how researchers created the first ever |
| 0:15.2 | entanglement-based quantum network, and how one of Rome's oldest monuments is still in use today. |
| 0:21.6 | What's satisfy some curiosity. |
| 0:24.0 | Have you ever looked at airfare prices after you already bought your ticket? |
| 0:29.0 | Or looked up an X on social media just to see how life would be if you had stayed together. |
| 0:34.1 | Well finding out what might have been often leads to pain and regret but it can be hard |
| 0:39.9 | to resist and now a new study published in psychological science shows just how common that |
| 0:46.2 | need really is. Researchers call the desire to find out what could have then counterfactual |
| 0:52.4 | curiosity. We come to a fork in the road and we have to go down |
| 0:56.5 | one path or the other. We're often curious to know what life would have been like if we had chosen |
| 1:02.0 | the other path instead. |
| 1:04.0 | That's what researchers wanted to look into for this study. |
| 1:07.0 | How much sadness and regret were people willing to experience to know what might have been. |
| 1:13.0 | On a series of six experiments, |
| 1:16.0 | participants saw a computer animation of a balloon that they had to pump with air. |
| 1:20.0 | The more they inflated the balloon, the more money they got as a reward. But if they |
| 1:26.0 | pumped the balloon past its randomly assigned safe limit and it popped, they got no money at all. |
| 1:32.4 | After the task, participants could and it popped, they got no money at all. |
| 1:33.2 | After the task, participants could choose to find out how much more they could have |
... |
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