Latest thinking

Twitter is to humans as....grooming is to primates?

Blog

27 Feb 2012

Jonathan Rowson

As I argued in Transforming Behaviour Change (see 'attention' in chp 5) I think new technologies pose important questions about how we regulate our attention. However, I also think the issue is important enough to tread cautiously about one's claims....there may be complex things to understand that might be lost if we lash out too generically, without grounding our concerns in evidence, or (even) arguiing from our own personal experience.

This new escapism

Blog

26 Feb 2012

Benedict Dellot

Are we increasingly berating others to escape from the grim reality of an unjust social and economic system? A couple of recent events indicate that such a phenomenon may indeed be taking place.

Maonomics

Video

23 Feb 2012

Loretta Napoleoni is an economist and author

Williams to Dawkins: if consciousness is an illusion, what isn't?

Blog

23 Feb 2012

Jonathan Rowson

I wish I was back in Oxford. If you are struggling to work or play, and bored of email and twitter, perhaps you need a dose of some good heavy chat... in which case go to the live debate between Neoatheist icon Richard Dawkins and The Archbishop of Cantebury Rowan Williams, chaired by Philosopher Anthony Kenny.

The caring future of British business?

Press release

23 Feb 2012

Businesses should act as 'community hubs', helping promote social interaction amongst their customers and developing local action plans to create happier, more resilient communities according to a new report published by the RSA.

Social Norms(1): Breastfeeding in Public

Blog

22 Feb 2012

Jonathan Rowson

I was slightly shocked to learn that Facebook have banned photographs of women breastfeeding. I know it can't be easy controlling 845 million users, but this particular decision strikes me as wrong on a number of levels.

Can anyone help me defend social engineering?

Blog

22 Feb 2012

Matthew Taylor

Appearing on Moral Maze (tonight at eight on Radio 4) I have noticed an inverse correlation between how well I perform and the strength of my opinions on the subject under discussion. So I may need to raise my game this evening as I am arguing in favour of making it easier for children from poor background to get into top universities than privileged children.

The Spirit of Cities

Video

22 Feb 2012

Avner de-Shalit is professor of democracy and human rights and dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

As easy as A,B,C

Blog

21 Feb 2012

Matthew Taylor

Michelle who tweets as ms215 has kindly complimented me on my chairing of a session on social enterprise at the National Housing Federation's Leaders' Forum earlier today. I guess it's as true of 'a list' performers as of an 'f list' hired hand like me that we are sometimes at our best when otherwise rather morose. The platform and microphone offer an opportunity to burst briefly away from introspection and release pent up exuberance.