BOOK AND FILM REVIEWS: The Character of Physical Law

Feynman, Richard P.; Hutchisson, Elmer

doi:10.1119/1.2351260

Cited by 63 publications

(85 citation statements)

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“…Although the experiments reported in these papers are elegant, it is my view that the most reasonable and simplest conclusion from what we know about astrocytes is that they perform a supportive role. It is not impossible that astrocytes have an active role in information-processing but, as the well-regarded physicist Richard Feynman pointed out, the role of science is to determine what is less or more likely and not what is possible or impossible (Feynman, 1965).…”

Section: Evidence In Support Of An Instructional Information-processmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supportive or information-processing functions of the mature protoplasmic astrocyte in the mammalian CNS? A critical appraisal

Kimelberg

2007

Neuron Glia Biol.

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It has been proposed that astrocytes should no longer be viewed purely as support cells for neurons, such as providing a constant environment and metabolic substrates, but that they should also be viewed as being involved in affecting synaptic activity in an active way and, therefore, an integral part of the information-processing properties of the brain. This essay discusses the possible differences between a support and an instructive role, and concludes that any distinction has to be blurred. In view of this, and a brief overview of the nature of the data, the new evidence seems insufficient to conclude that the physiological roles of mature astrocytes go beyond a general support role. I propose a model of mature protoplasmic astrocyte function that is drawn from the most recent data on their structure, the domain concept and their syncytial characteristics, of an independent rather than integrative functioning of the ends of each process where the activities that affect synaptic activity and blood vessel diameter will be concentrated.

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Section: Evidence In Support Of An Instructional Information-processmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supportive or information-processing functions of the mature protoplasmic astrocyte in the mammalian CNS? A critical appraisal

Kimelberg

2007

Neuron Glia Biol.

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“…Gigerenzer also charges that our research "has consistently neglected Feynman's (1967) insight that mathematically equivalent information formats need not be psychologically equivalent" (Gigerenzer & Hoffrage, 1995, p. 697). Nothing could be further from the truth: The recognition that different framings of the same problem of decision or judgment can give rise to different mental processes has been a hallmark of our approach in both domains.…”

Section: Scope and Accuracymentioning

confidence: 99%

On the reality of cognitive illusions.

Kahneman

Tversky²

1996

Psychological Review

1,126

452

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The study of heuristics and biases in judgment has been criticized in several publications by G. Gigerenzer, who argues that "biases are not biases" and "heuristics are meant to explain what does not exist" (1991, p. 102). This article responds to Gigerenzer's critique and shows that it misrepresents the authors' theoretical position and ignores critical evidence. Contrary to Gigerenzer's central empirical claim, judgments of frequency-not only subjective probabilities-are susceptible to large and systematic biases. A postscript responds to Gigerenzer's (1996) reply.

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“…As physicist and Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman (1994) advised, “Do not keep saying to yourself... ‘but how can it be like that?’ because you will get...into a blind alley from which nobody has yet escaped. Nobody knows how it can be like that (p. 123).”…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feeling the future: A meta-analysis of 90 experiments on the anomalous anticipation of random future events

et al. 2015

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In 2011, one of the authors (DJB) published a report of nine experiments in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology purporting to demonstrate that an individual’s cognitive and affective responses can be influenced by randomly selected stimulus events that do not occur until after his or her responses have already been made and recorded, a generalized variant of the phenomenon traditionally denoted by the term precognition. To encourage replications, all materials needed to conduct them were made available on request. We here report a meta-analysis of 90 experiments from 33 laboratories in 14 countries which yielded an overall effect greater than 6 sigma, z = 6.40, p = 1.2 × 10-10 with an effect size (Hedges’ g) of 0.09. A Bayesian analysis yielded a Bayes Factor of 1.4 × 109, greatly exceeding the criterion value of 100 for “decisive evidence” in support of the experimental hypothesis. When DJB’s original experiments are excluded, the combined effect size for replications by independent investigators is 0.06, z = 4.16, p = 1.1 × 10-5, and the BF value is 3,853, again exceeding the criterion for “decisive evidence.” The number of potentially unretrieved experiments required to reduce the overall effect size of the complete database to a trivial value of 0.01 is 544, and seven of eight additional statistical tests support the conclusion that the database is not significantly compromised by either selection bias or by “p-hacking”—the selective suppression of findings or analyses that failed to yield statistical significance. P-curve analysis, a recently introduced statistical technique, estimates the true effect size of our database to be 0.20, virtually identical to the effect size of DJB’s original experiments (0.22) and the closely related “presentiment” experiments (0.21). We discuss the controversial status of precognition and other anomalous effects collectively known as psi.

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BOOK AND FILM REVIEWS: The Character of Physical Law

Cited by 63 publications

References 0 publications

Supportive or information-processing functions of the mature protoplasmic astrocyte in the mammalian CNS? A critical appraisal

Supportive or information-processing functions of the mature protoplasmic astrocyte in the mammalian CNS? A critical appraisal

On the reality of cognitive illusions.

Feeling the future: A meta-analysis of 90 experiments on the anomalous anticipation of random future events

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