“There is relatively little respected academic work about a science of social prediction, but in the late 1940s to early 1950s science fiction authors Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov (who were often ahead of their time) wrote speculative stories about the concept, Heinlein referring to ‘social psychodynamics’ (Heinlein 1941, 1953) and Asimov calling it ‘Psychohistory’ (Asimov 1951, 1952, 1953). (‘Psychohistory’ has a more recent use that has nothing to do with social prediction.)

In ‘Memetics and the Modular Mind’ (Henson 1987) I wrote about memetics as a path to social prediction, but while memetics provided an epidemic model for the spread of memes (that is, elements of culture), it didn’t develop as a science of social prediction. In retrospect, the focus was too narrow. The scope had to be widened to include the evolved psychology of a meme’s host in order to predict–given particular environmental circumstances–which memes would flourish and which would die out.

The present article proposes an evolutionary psychology based model of social prediction, particularly for wars and related social disruption such as riots and suicide bombers.” (kuro5hin)

“Cosmologists claim to have found evidence that yet another fundamental constant of nature, called mu, may have changed over the last 12 billion years. If confirmed, the result could force some physicists to radically rethink their theories. It would also provide support for string theory, which predicts extra spatial dimensions.” (New Scientist)

“Welcome to the disturbing world of implicit bias, where people’s preferences for racial, ethnic, and other groups lie outside their awareness and often clash with their professed beliefs about those groups. In the past 15 years, most social psychologists have come to agree that implicit biases, also known as unconscious attitudes, play an often-unnoticed role in our lives. Researchers study implicit biases using any of several techniques, such as tracking participants’ feelings and behaviors after subliminally showing them pictures of black or old people.

However, one measure—the Implicit Association Test, or IAT—has proved especially popular.” (Science News)

“Some might call this multitasking. Others regard it as just plain rude. Either way, it’s a sign of the electronic times, raising questions about workplace behavior in a wired world. From iPods to hand-held devices, cell phones, and e-mail, ‘tech-etiquette’ remains an unresolved issue for many bosses and workers. ” (CBS)

Electric spectacles could aid aging eyes: “A new type of eyeglasses with electrically adjustable focus might someday render bifocals and reading glasses obsolete, the device’s inventors say. So far, the researchers have made a battery-powered prototype with close-up focus that flicks on and off with a switch.

Future versions of the eyeglasses may incorporate a distance sensor to automatically adjust the focus as the viewer’s gaze changes between far and near viewing, says one of the inventors…” (Science News)

“The Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques Act is powerful indeed, but rarely enforced. Passed after India realised that modern medical techniques such as ultrasound scans and amniocenteses were frequently being used to identify female foetuses – which are then aborted – the PNDT Act requires the registration of all ultrasound machines, and bans doctors from revealing the sex of the foetus to expectant parents. The 1994 law was an attempt to reverse India’s rampant use of sex-selective abortion, and the lopsided sex ratio this has produced. India’s 2001 census showed that there were 927 girls to every 1,000 boys, down from 945:1,000 in 1991 and 962:1,000 in 1981. Until recently, no doctors had been put in prison under the PNDT Act. But late last month a doctor was jailed for three years after telling an undercover investigator that her foetus was female, and hinting that she could abort it.

…In 1991, not a single district in India had a child sex ratio of less than 800:1,000. By 2001, there were 14. “What we’re dealing with,” says Sabu George, India’s leading activist, “is a genocide.”

…If such trends continue, the future could be nightmarish. In their 2004 book Bare Branches: the security implications of Asia’s surplus male population, the political scientists Andrea den Boer and Valerie Hudson argue that the existence of all these millions of frustrated Asian bachelors will boost crime and lawlessness. They speculate that, to find an outlet for the continent’s sex-starved males, Asian governments might even need to resort to fomenting wars. Indian activists also fear that the girl shortage will create a hyper-macho society.

Spiralling numbers of rapes and rates of violence will lead to the increasing sequestration of women. Men with money will be able to afford wives, who will quickly become a status symbol. “Powerful men would maintain zanankhanas [harems] to demonstrate their power and influence,” writes the activist R P Ravindra. Poorer men, “finding no companions, might resort to any means to force a woman into a sexual/ marital relationship”.

In pockets of India, this has already begun.” (New Statesman )

“Few patients realize how deeply they can affect their doctors. That is a big secret in medicine–one doctors hate to admit. We think about, talk about, dream about our patients. We went into clinical medicine because we like dealing on a personal, even intimate level with people who have chosen to put their bodies in our hands. Our patients make or break our days.

Take the compliment. Our career choice means we really do think that you–with your aches and pains–are more interesting than trading hot securities, more fun than a courtroom full of lawyers. Massaging the ego is the key to manipulating responsible types like doctors. When we feel your trust, you have us.

The most compelling reasons to be a good patient are selfish ones. You will get more than free drug samples if your doctor is comfortable and communicates easily with you. You’ll get more of the mind that you came for, a mind working better because it’s relaxed–recalling and associating freely, more receptive to small, even subliminal clues. That means better medical care. But you should try to be a good patient for unselfish reasons too…” (Time)