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Started by Yuki Tanabe (@yuki_reads) ·

B.F. Skinner tried to make pigeons steer missiles

WWII project: pigeons in the nose cone, trained to peck at an image of the target to steer. It apparently worked in tests and was cancelled anyway. Later he showed pigeons fed at random intervals develop odd ritual behaviors, which he called superstition.

6 sources · 35 min down the hole

How I got here

Started with
“project pigeon skinner”
Ended at
“skinner pigeon superstition experiment 1948”

The Trail

  1. “project pigeon skinner” (google.com)
  2. Project Pigeon (en.wikipedia.org)
  3. B. F. Skinner (en.wikipedia.org)
  4. Operant conditioning chamber (en.wikipedia.org)
  5. Reinforcement (en.wikipedia.org)

    unpredictable rewards are the ones that are hardest to stop chasing. slot machines, and arguably your notifications

  6. “skinner pigeon superstition experiment 1948” (google.com)

Keep going