A psychological analysis of how Thomas Erikson fooled Sweden into believing his pseudoscientific “four-colour personality” theory—the idea that personalities can be divided into red, blue, yellow, and green archetypes. Dan Katz suggests that it may have gained popularity due to the “snowball effect,” wherein people jumped on the bandwagon because many of their friends discussed the book’s contents. Or, perhaps it was due to sunk costs, wherein those who “spent time reading it… don’t want to lose face by admitting that they got it wrong.” Read full article here
Research
Researcher uses AI to make texts that are thousands of years old readable
The Gilgamesh Epic, the oldest work of world literature, has been brought back to life by LMU researchers in the Electronic Babylonian Literature project. Using their new Fragmentarium tool, they have discovered hundreds of manuscripts, including the most recent tablet of the Gilgamesh Epic which dates from 130 BC – thousands of years after the earliest known version. This shows how highly valued the Epic was, even at a late period. With the public release of the Fragmentarium, anyone can now explore the thousands of cuneiform fragments and explore the ancient Babylonian literature. Read full article here
Merv
March 12, 2023
