#3 Nerd Nite Hamilton – 13th November, 2023
Talk #1: Energy is a Place Description
The electricity we use every day comes from specific places — the remote hydroelectric dams of Quebec, the nuclear plants on the shore of the Great Lakes, gas-burning peaker plants — and paying attention to those places can be instructive as we think through transitioning away from fossil fuels. This talk traces the electrical grids in Ontario and Quebec, considering how our energy regimes have been shaped by our cultural values. Also, I will try to convince you that it’s a good idea to drive out into the middle of nowhere and visit power plants (or at least visit McMaster’s nuclear reactor).
Speaker Info: Hillary Predko, MES is a writer and researcher who is interested in infrastructure and society. Her work covers energy, waste, manufacturing, and industrial policy. She is the deputy general manager of Scope of Work (www.scopeofwork.net) and co-author of Extracting Reconciliation: Indigenous Lands, (In)human Wastes, and Colonial Reckoning with Dr. Myra Hird.
Talk #2: Tripping on nothing: How much of the psychedelic experience is caused by the placebo effect?
Can you have a psychedelic experience from a placebo alone? Are the benefits of microdosing mostly placebo effects? This talk will describe the first study focusing on placebo psychedelics, in which our team set up an elaborate (but fake) psychedelic party. Using confederates, security guards, a dozen research assistants, and deception techniques used by magicians, we convinced university students that the placebo pills they consumed actually contained a psychedelic drug. The majority of participants reported experiencing effects of the drug, including seeing paintings on the wall move on their own, feeling lighter or heavier in the head, and being unable to understand words or speak. These findings can help explain the effects of microdosing, inform psychedelic study design, and demonstrate the power of suggestion.
Speaker Info: Dr. Jay Olson is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto Mississauga. He studies a range of topics across psychology and medicine including smartphone addiction, placebo effects, sleep, creativity, and psychedelic drugs. He did his previous graduate and postdoctoral training at McGill University and Harvard University.
Talk #3: Moral Injury: An Existential Wound and Crisis of Meaning Description
Moral injury describes the set of psychological symptoms resulting from traumatic experiences that violate one’s moral presuppositions (e.g., anger, guilt, and shame). Such disruption occurs when an individual encounters information from the environment that cannot be reconciled with the fundamental beliefs about the world (e.g., that the world and the self are fundamentally good). Towards this end, we will consider moral injury as a form of “Existential Wound” leading to a disruption in one’s ability to make sense (or meaning) of the world. We will present two case studies from our pilot work, which examines moral injury in first responders and victims of torture. Our argument will adapt the writings of existential philosophers such as Kierkegaard, and current computational models (can be removed if you don’t think it’s appropriate), to understand and overcome moral injury.
Speaker Info: Konstantinos Xanthios is a doctoral candidate in Developmental Psychology and Education. He is based at a lab within University of Toronto, and studies progress in the science of wisdom. His research focuses on using qualitative methods of investigating theoretical change across wisdom research traditions. Pouria Saffaran is a doctoral candidate in Developmental Psychology and Education, and is interested in investigating the impacts of PTSD and moral injury on individuals’ fundamental beliefs about the world.