62: False Memories & House Plants
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Exploring the History and Significance of Houseplants
Exploring the origins of houseplants in ancient civilizations like Egypt, India, and China, and their role beyond aesthetics as sources of sustenance, offerings, and cultural significance. The chapter also delves into the complexities of potting plants, environmental impacts, and socio-political implications in the context of misogyny and colonialism.
How much real science is there to the Mandela Effect, and how much should we be worried about our faulty memories? And what's the science and history behind our long love for house plants?
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:03:31) False Memories
(00:57:30) House Plants
(01:37:47) Outro
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Yes Ella my favorite host of Let’s Learn Everything, Fiona Broome - Paranormal Researcher, Ella is shocked to learn the Mandela Effect was a conspiracy first, repressed memories, the McMcartin Preschool Trial again, the concept of memories at all is bonkers, we shoudl do more experiments, flashbulb memories aren’t as “unchanging as the slumbering rhinegold”, the original study didn’t even check if the memories were accurate they just assumed, flash bulb memories only Feel more accurate, the concept of false memories can make people believe in the mandela effect MORE, don’t have an existential crisis, rebunking your memories, most memory recalls aren’t adversarial like mandeal effect questions, Metamemory effects, just like memory isn’t so simple false memories aren’t so simple either, “I wish I hadn’t said yay when you said racism”, does anyone remember the 2 president Obamas? we gave false memories to bees, having false memories makes bees MORE complex not less, false memories aren’t flaws they’re just part of memory, classic meatbrain, “my brain is a beautiful and complex thing”, movies can exist, The Four Legged Chairs, the art of putting a plant into a pot, egyptians used plants for a ton of stuff, portable plants, gillyflowers for bad breath and paying rent, peppercorn payment, (ayyy), Wes Anderson’s The Winter Hotel for Plants, renting plants for a party, the illegal orchid trade, plant hunters, pteridomania, the World War 2 potted plant boom, the millenial urge to care for plants is more of a historic urge, guilting your cohosts into talking about your plants, you’d need 10 potted plant per square foot in the home to clean the air, just imagine yourself as a Sim you need art and plants, hot or not for plants, there aren’t really huge health benefits from plants, it feels like studies are asking “why do we like plants so much??”, just enjoy plants for the sake of enjoying them, office plants are nice but I feel like work life balance will do better for my health, I just think they’re neat!
Sources:
Snopes: The Mandela Effect
The Wiley Handbook on The Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory
Ethan Watters: The Forgotten Lessons of the Recovered Memory Movement
The False Memory Syndrome: Experimental studies and comparison to confabulations
The Fallibility of Memory in Judicial Processes
UCLA Med on Memory
Implanting False Memories
Hirst and Phelps Amazing Review of Flashbulb Memories
Predicting Confidence in Flashbulb Memories (re: Michael Jackson)
Fiona Broome: The Mandela Effect is Not False Memories
False memory and COVID-19: How people fall for fake news about COVID-19 in digital contexts
BBC on Mandela Effect
False Memory in Bees Study
Analysis of False Bee Memory Study
Don Hertzfeldt On Memory
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National Museums Liverpool: Gardens in Ancient Egypt
Britannica: Houseplants
National Trust: A Potted History of Houseplants
Horticultural Reviews, Volume 31, The Foliage Plant Industry
Grace and Thorn: The History of Houseplants
Cobham Museum: Windlesham- Peppercorn Payment
The Plant Runner: A History of Houseplants
The Scotsman: Our Fascination With Indoor Potted Plants has a Long and Colourful History
Architectural Digest: The Most Iconic Houseplant Trends Through the Decades
The Guardian: Indoor Plant Sales Boom, Reflecting Urbanisation and Design Trends
The Telegraph: Houseplant Sales Soar
2019 Paper: Potted Plants Do Not Improve Indoor Air Quality: A Review and Analysis of Reported VOC Removal Efficiencies
University of Reading: Owning Houseplants Can Boost Your Mental Health – Here’s How to Pick the Right One
2022 Paper: The Appearance of Indoor Plants and their Effect on People's Perceptions of Indoor Air Puality and Subjective Well-Being
RHS: Houseplants: To Support Human Health
2022 Paper: Effects of Indoor Plants on Human Functions: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analyses
BBC: Are Your Houseplants Bad for the Environment?
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