Culture

KYLIE’S ROOM | What Are We Celebrating on Valentine’s Day?

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I painted my nails red for Valentine’s Day. Very cliché, I know. This is shocking and out of character for me for two reasons: 1) I painted my nails — which I almost never do, and 2) I have spent the last 21.5 years (yes, even as a small infant) vehemently opposed to Valentine’s Day. When I was in elementary school, I would symbolically wear black (or whatever black clothing my mother let my nine-year-old self-wear — I definitely didn’t buy my own clothes) to make a statement. My mother would give me “love gifts” the day AFTER Valentine’s Day to respect my cause, and I even wrote a poem entitled “I Hated Valentine’s Day” in fifth grade and got in trouble with a teacher.

Office Hours

AKABAS | Podcast with Psychology Professor David Pizarro

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David Pizarro has taught Introduction to Psychology and a number of other seminars since becoming an associate professor in 2012, and his research on moral judgement and emotion has been published in countless places, including an article for The Guardian that he co-wrote last month. He was nice enough to be the guest for my first Cornell Daily Sun podcast, during which he discussed his research, shared his thoughts on robots, and answered ten “Speed Round” questions. Listen to the full podcast and check out the complete list of topics below. Moral Judgement
1:30 – “The Trolley Problem” and its relation to robots making moral judgements
10:55 – Why humans don’t trust others who make calculating moral decisions
15:00 – A fun variant of “The Trolley Problem”
19:10 – How close are robots to taking over decision-making roles in society? 23:10 – Robots replacing referees in sports
Disgust and Political Orientation
28:15 – The relationship between disgust sensitivity and political orientation
35:00 – Could political orientation be biological?

Blogs

KYLIE’S ROOM | How to be a Detective, as a Chicken

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I’ve always been a bit of a chicken. I’m easily startled and I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m afraid of the dark. The amount of things that I’m afraid of is endless. I’ve always been so afraid of heights that even when going up an escalator, I refuse to look down, or I shut my eyes. But despite my fear for heights, and despite my being afraid of the dark, I have always been interested in crime.

Politics

KYLIE’S ROOM | A PRACTICAL PODCAST

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As a college student, sometimes I feel like I am in a bubble, or have blinders on. Here at Cornell, and probably at many other schools, you can go through your daily life focusing on nothing but school, those around you and whatever is happening on campus. With this, you can find yourself being unaware of what is going on outside of the boundaries of the campus, or the community where your college is located. With the incredible amount of work that undergraduates have and the vast amount of material you are supposed to learn and retain in order to succeed in your coursework, it is easy to let watching the news or reading the paper slide. But it can become a habit, and once it becomes habitual, it becomes a new norm.

Culture

SUIT DU JOUR | Behind the Seams

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Do you know what happens behind the seams? Think about the very T-shirt you are wearing, the socks that keep your feet warm, even the backpack that you just shrugged off your shoulder. Do you know where these products were made, who made them and how it is possible for them to be in your hands at this very moment? Unfortunately, fashion (like other industries), is a dirty business because the answers to certain questions we ought to know are inexplicit. In fact, the answers we ought to know are often ignored because consumerism gets the best of us.

Life

Kylie’s Room | On [unsolicited] Advice, Indecisiveness and the Dear Sugar Podcast

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Where would I be without advice? I am frustratingly indecisive when it comes to making decisions regarding my own personal life; often, I find myself going in circles trying to make a decision. From the classes I should take next semester, the clothing I should wear, career decisions, where and what I should eat for my next meal-  I often find myself sending out a quick “HELP/What should I do?” text out to friends, or dialing my mother during the middle of the work day or the wee hours of the night when I fail to make a decision. The advice that I’ve gathered through the years from friends and family has made an impactful impression upon me.