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I never would have thought Bezos was a Stalinist…
I'd really like to know what in this image relates to Stalin.
I was thinking they don't remember what Lysenkoism is, but do remember Stalin was involved somewhere.
Then they started talking about classical conditioning
The old Soviet system was enthralled with classic conditioning, and Stalin tended to use it to shape society, although Lenin was more appreciative of Pavlov. 1984 is Orwell’s critique of Stalinism. It seems Bezos didn’t object to a classic conditioning editorial and it shows in his treatment of Amazon workers.
Ok, I'd really like to know what this image has to do with classical conditioning then.
This pathway from A to B is so full of twists and turns, I never know what's going to come next.
A conditioned non-response as a response? The frog that’s gradually boiled so as not to notice its impending fate?
It's not a trained response. The story goes that frogs won't jump out of a pot of water as long as the heat is raised gradually. There's no classical conditioning involved at all (and the connection of "classical conditioning is Stalinist" is also quite a leap).
As an aside, I've heard that story isn't actually true, but it makes for a decent metaphor. There are other examples of similar things in nature, like weasels will hunt rabbits by doing a "dance" full of confusing motions all over the place as they gradually inch closer to the rabbit, avoiding the rabbit's flight of flight response.