the btrmt. lectures

A brain scientist talking about patterns of thought, of feeling, and of action.
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There's no instruction manual for this device in our head. But there are patterns. Patterns of thought, of feeling, and of action. That's what brains do. So let me teach you. One pattern, one podcast. You see if it works for you. substack.btr.mt

  1. The Scientific Ritual

    4 DAYS AGO

    The Scientific Ritual

    Further reading ·      The Scientific Ritual — the article this lecture is based on ·      Problems with p-values — the technical companion: Fisher, Neyman-Pearson, the hybrid mess ·      The trap of scientific evidence — on the “no evidence” tension and the homeopathy/parachute paradox ·      Everything is ideology — science as one belief system among several ·      In praise of the sage — other ways of knowing; the MD/PhD distinction ·      Scientific fact — on what science actually does ·      The value of ritual — ritual as a knowledge-production strategy ·      Meditation — on the dinner-table meditation example ·      Beyond System 1 and System 2 — on Kahneman’s dual-process framework ·      The placebo effect — on why “works for some, not for others” is a feature, not a bug ·      Grit — positive-psychology critique ·      Overengineering calming down (lecture) — the broader positive-psychology audit ·      Bias is good (lecture) — the cognitive-bias series ·      Life is worse (lecture) — the previous episode; a worked example of reading a literature References The replication crisis itself ·      Open Science Collaboration (2015), Estimating the reproducibility of psychological science, Science 349 (6251) ·      Wikipedia: replication crisis ·      American Statistical Association: Wasserstein, Schirm & Lazar (2019), Moving to a World Beyond “p Statistical ritualism ·      Gerd Gigerenzer (2018), Statistical Rituals: The Replication Delusion and How We Got There, Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science ·      Philip B. Stark & Andrea Saltelli (2018), Cargo-cult statistics and scientific crisis, Significance 15 (4) ·      Andrew Gelman & Eric Loken (2014), The Statistical Crisis in Science — the “garden of forking paths” paper ·      Andrew Gelman, Why I don’t like so-called Bayesian hypothesis testing p-values, Bayes factors, and software ·      Wikipedia: p-value, Bayes factor ·      Ronald A. Fisher (1925), Statistical Methods for Research Workers — where the 5% threshold appears as an illustrative example ·      Harold Jeffreys (1939), Theory of Probability — where the Bayes-factor thresholds (BF > 3 substantial, BF > 10 strong) come from ·      JASP — the open-source Bayesian statistics software with default priors Specific replication-crisis casualties ·      Cuddy, Wilmuth & Carney (2010) original power posing paper; Carney’s later statement withdrawing support ·      Hagger et al. (2016), A Multilab Preregistered Replication of the Ego-Depletion Effect ·      Bargh, Chen & Burrows (1996) original elderly priming paper; failed Doyen et al. (2012) replication ·      Brown, Sokal & Friedman (2013), The Complex Dynamics of Wishful Thinking — demolishing the 3:1 positivity ratio ·      Carol Dweck, growth mindset — replication concerns documented in Sisk et al. (2018) and Bahník & Vranka (2017) ·      Angela Duckworth, grit — meta-analytic critique in Credé, Tynan & Harms (2017) Books cited in the lecture ·      Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow ·      Stephen J. Gould, Adam’s Navel and Other Essays ·      Yann Martel, Life of Pi ·      Bill Mollison, Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual Other ·      Richard Dawkins on militant atheism (TED) — the “evidence vs. faith” framing ·      Reform efforts: preregistration, open data, multi-lab replication consortia (e.g. ManyLabs) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit substack.btr.mt

    37 min
  2. It’s Not Social Media, Life Is Just Worse

    17 APR

    It’s Not Social Media, Life Is Just Worse

    Further reading ·      It’s Not Social Media, Life Is Just Worse—the article that inspired this lecture ·      Amusing Ourselves to Death—on Neil Postman and the information overload problem ·      Why Do People Kill Themselves—on what structural decline does to the most vulnerable ·      Atavism Isn’t the Answer—the lecture on why “go back to the old ways” rarely works ·      The Trap of Scientific Evidence—on the two forms of “no evidence” ·      Why Being Sad Isn’t Always a Bad Thing—on situation–symptom congruence ·      The Loneliness Epidemic ·      Models of Psychopathology—on diagnostic quality and what counts as mental illness ·      The Scientific Ritual—on the replication crisis and lazy application of the scientific method ·      The True Meaning of Family Ties—on changing family structures and social fragmentation ·      Creating a Digital Home—on digital selfhood and why we don’t treat our digital lives with care References ·      Amy Orben’s research group, University of Cambridge ·      Ferguson, C. J. et al. (2024). Social media use and youth mental health: A meta-analysis. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. doi:10.1037/pro0000589 ·      Fassi, L., Orben, A. et al. (2024). Social media and adolescent mental health: A meta-analysis of 143 studies. JAMA Pediatrics. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2024.2078 ·      Tolboll, K. B. (2026). Social media use and mental health in children and adolescents: An umbrella review. Child and Adolescent Mental Health. doi:10.1111/camh.70071 ·      Fassi, L., Orben, A. et al. (2025). Digital technology use and adolescent mental health: A registered report. Nature Human Behaviour. doi:10.1038/s41562-025-02134-4 ·      Broadbent, P. et al. (2023). The public health implications of the cost-of-living crisis. The Lancet Regional Health – Europe. doi:10.1016/j.lanepe.2023.100585 ·      Arundel, R. et al. (2022). Housing unaffordability and mental health. International Journal of Housing Policy. doi:10.1080/19491247.2022.2106541 ·      McGorry, P. D. et al. (2025). The youth mental health crisis: A paradigm shift. Frontiers in Psychiatry. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1517533 ·      Kirkbride, J. B. et al. (2024). The social determinants of mental health and disorder. World Psychiatry. doi:10.1002/wps.21160 ·      Plackett, R. et al. (2022). Digital technology and mental health of young people: A scoping review. JMIR Mental Health. doi:10.2196/43213 ·      Garcia-Manglano, J. et al. (2024). Escapism, social media, and internalising symptoms in adolescents. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. doi:10.1177/02654075241230248 ·      Maheux, A. J. et al. (2024). Social media use and adolescent mental health: An annual research review. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. doi:10.1111/jcpp.14085 ·      Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985). Wikipedia ·      Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation (2024). Wikipedia ·      Stuart Ritchie, Science Fictions (2020). Publisher This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit substack.btr.mt

    29 min
  3. Bias is Good

    21 MAR

    Bias is Good

    Further reading: ·      The btrmt. article that inspired this ·      Confirmation bias is all there is — fundamental beliefs and belief-consistent processing ·      Bias vs Bias — heuristics vs biases, and why the distinction matters ·      Stress and the Yerkes-Dodson Law — bias vs noise in the stress response ·      Stress is Good (Lecture 1) — the stress lecture ·      The Amygdala is Not the Fear Centre (Lecture 2) — the amygdala lecture ·      Everything is Ideology — why biases are adaptive ·      Pop Neuroscience is Just a Fancy Way of Saying “Calm Down” References: ·      Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011) ·      List of cognitive biases (Wikipedia) — the 200+ biases ·      Rational-actor model (Wikipedia) ·      Milkman et al. (2021): Megastudy on behavioural nudges for vaccination ·      Oeberst & Imhoff (2023): Toward Parsimony in Bias Research — the fundamental beliefs paper ·      Robert Axelrod’s iterated prisoner’s dilemma tournaments ·      Bias–variance tradeoff (Wikipedia) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit substack.btr.mt

    26 min
  4. The Amygdala is Not the Fear Centre

    7 MAR

    The Amygdala is Not the Fear Centre

    Further reading: ·      The btrmt. article that inspired this ·      Stress is Good (Lecture 1) — the stress lecture that set this up ·      More on stress and the Yerkes-Dodson Law ·      Why fight-or-flight isn’t what you think ·      Pop Neuroscience is Just a Fancy Way of Saying “Calm Down” — the next lecture in this thread ·      How we make meaning in the brain References: ·      The Atlantic article — the management professor’s piece on stress and the amygdala ·      Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence (1995) ·      Amygdala hijack (Wikipedia) — note the lack of academic citations ·      Amygdala (Wikipedia) — particularly the section on emotional learning ·      Pessoa (2010): Emotion and cognition (PDF) — reappraisal evidence, pg 44 ·      Janak & Tye (2015): From circuits to behaviour in the amygdala — the complexity of amygdala function ·      Adolphs (2015): “The unsolved problems of neuroscience” — on the amygdala and emotional significance This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit substack.btr.mt

    18 min
  5. Hydraulic Despotism

    21 FEB

    Hydraulic Despotism

    Further reading: ·      The btrmt. article that inspired this ·      From Zero: on recreating systems from scratch ·      Digital Selves: taking control of your digital presence ·      True Family Ties: on the erosion of our communities ·      Education is Entertainment: on why some ideas stick References: ·      Karl Wittfogel and Hydraulic civilisations on Wikipedia ·      Wittfogel, Oriental Despotism (1957) ·      Thames Water’s debt crisis (BBC) ·      Russia-Ukraine food insecurity (European Council) ·      Nvidia valuation (BBC) ·      Mann’s Infrastructural Power on Wikipedia ·      Platform Capitalism and its dynamics ·      Callon’s Obligatory Passage Points and Latour’s Actor-Network Theory on Wikipedia ·      Essential Facilities Doctrine on Wikipedia ·      EU Digital Markets Act on Wikipedia ·      Cory Doctorow, “The Post-American Internet” (39C3 talk) — on the new coalition, anticircumvention law, and Eurostack ·      Cory Doctorow on enshittification and adversarial interoperability ·      Elinor Ostrom, Governing the Commons (1990) ·      Selye’s Eustress — the distinction between good stress and bad stress This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit substack.btr.mt

    17 min
  6. Atavism Isn’t the Answer

    7 FEB

    Atavism Isn’t the Answer

    Further reading: ·      The btrmt. article that inspired this ·      Evolution is Overrated ·      All Food is Toxic ·      Hydraulic Despotism ·      Nature vs Nurture Just Isn’t That Interesting ·      Tinbergen’s Four Questions ·      Education is Entertainment: on why some ideas stick ·      Mundane Cults References: ·      MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) on Wikipedia ·      Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wikipedia ·      Butter and Plant-Based Oils Intake and Mortality, JAMA Internal Medicine (2025) ·      The Evidence Behind Seed Oils’ Health Effects, Johns Hopkins (2025) ·      Paul Saladino, The Carnivore Code ·      Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation ·      Candice Odgers, Nature review on smartphones and mental health ·      Ferguson (2025): Do Social Media Experiments Prove a Link With Mental Health ·      Liver King on Wikipedia ·      Andrew Huberman on Wikipedia ·      Ballerina Farm / Hannah Neeleman on Wikipedia ·      Tradwife on Wikipedia ·      Tradwife: Between Myths and Realities, King’s College London ·      MAHA, Means, Money, Public Citizen This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit substack.btr.mt

    28 min
  7. Values Don’t Matter

    24 JAN

    Values Don’t Matter

    Further reading: ·      The btrmt. article that inspired this ·      Overview of the ethical landscape ·      On catastrophic leadership failure ·      Everything is choice architecture ·      Making strong group dynamics ·      On motivation ·      Belief-consistent information processing References: ·      MacIntyre’s After Virtue ·      Situationist critique of virtue ethics ·      Person-situation debate ·      Milgram’s obedience experiments ·      Stanford Prison Experiment ·      John Doris on the ecological approach to ethics ·      Maria Merritt on “humility ethics” ·      Moore and Beadle on organisations as MacIntyrean practices ·      The invisible gorilla test This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit substack.btr.mt

    30 min
  8. The Hard Problem of Consciousness Isn’t a Problem

    10 JAN

    The Hard Problem of Consciousness Isn’t a Problem

    Further reading ·      Panpsychism ·      AI Consciousness ·      Consciousness vs Conscious Access ·      Mundane Cults ·      The Placebo Effect ·      Spirituality of the Mind References ·      John Locke: Primary-Secondary Quality Distinction ·      Mary’s Room (Knowledge Argument) ·      Qualia on Wikipedia ·      Thomas Nagel: “What Is It Like to Be a Bat?” ·      Animal Echolocation ·      Hard Problem of Consciousness ·      Philosophical Zombie ·      Sam Harris: The Moral Landscape ·      Sam Harris TED Talk: Science Can Answer Moral Questions ·      New Mysterianism ·      Brian Key: Fish Cannot Feel Pain ·      Do Honey Bees Have Conscious Experience? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit substack.btr.mt

    15 min
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About

There's no instruction manual for this device in our head. But there are patterns. Patterns of thought, of feeling, and of action. That's what brains do. So let me teach you. One pattern, one podcast. You see if it works for you. substack.btr.mt

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    A brain scientist talking about patterns of thought, of feeling, and of action.
  • Years Active
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  • Episodes
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    © Dorian Minors
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    the btrmt. lectures