Ever come across one of your old angry Internet comments and cringed with disbelief? There's a reason for that. While good feelings still feel immediate over time, negative ones tend to fade away quickly, leaving only angry tweets behind.

Buridan's Ass is one of the oldest insults in existence. It has been consistently used to make fun of a particular worldview — one that doesn't allow for free will. But this notion gained new relevance, when we started making little electronic Buridan's Asses, which had to come to terms with the problem on more than…

Or, to be more precise, practical spoon-melting. Do you know about a de-lite-ful little trick that some scientists like to play on one another that causes a spoon to melt in hot liquids? Did you know that once it caused the victims to fill themselves with mercury?

What's the best way to get people to do what you want them to do? Make them believe that they're the kind of person who would do what you want to do.