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Tag Archives: Cognitive Humility
Mistakes, I’ve made a few, but then again, too many to mention #Dewey #mistakes
But socially as well as scientifically the great thing is not to avoid mistakes but to have them take place under conditions such that they can be utilised to increase intelligence in the future.” Reconstruction in Philosophy John Dewey Why … Continue reading
Posted in a little self-knowledge, competence, fear
Tagged Cognitive Humility, cognitive limitations
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“Blind spots”? Nah, that’s all arse-backwards… #cognitivehumility
I was sat at a lovely Indian restaurant with a good friend last week.* And we were riffing on how little anyone really knows about their own behaviours, their own motivations and drives. It occurred to me that the term … Continue reading
Normalcy bias; completely unrelated to #climate change
From the Financial Times March 3rd/4th 2012 For David Alexander, a professor and specialist in disaster management who has tracked the case of the Costa Concordia, the captain appears to have succumbed to “normalcy bias”, where disbelief and overconfidence obscure … Continue reading
Posted in a little self-knowledge, apocalypse, climate
Tagged Cognitive Humility, normalcy bias
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Won’t get fooled again? Course I will. By myself. Again and again and again. Science notwithstanding…
Saw this recently – “Philosophy is a battle against the bewitching of our intelligence by means of language.” Wittgenstein. which reminded me of that Feynman quote – “Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle … Continue reading
“It is better to know nothing than to keep in mind fixed ideas…”
“based on theories whose confirmation we continually seek.” So said Claude “homeostasis” Bernard, in his “An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine” (1865) Seems about right to me… This from “Treat obesity as physiology, not physics”, an opinion piece … Continue reading
Posted in a little self-knowledge
Tagged Claude Bernard, Cognitive Humility, confirmation bias, Gary Taubes, homeostasis, nature
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When it matters about which lies we tell ourselves, and when it doesn’t…
The whole article is fascinating, but this bit leapt out at me… “There is a school of thought in biology — and don’t ask me how widely this is accepted—that evolution favors Type II errors (“failing to reject a falsehood”) … Continue reading
“Skin in the Game”, or “What the HELL are you climate activist breeders waiting for?”
Disclaimer: Am semi-smashed on G and T, and missing the wondrous Mrs Towers. Now, this. What in Gaia’s name are you waiting for, you climate activists with kids? Do you think they will forgive you your cowardice, ten years hence? … Continue reading
Imagine any mix up and the lot would go – Able Archer and “the spy who saved the world”
So, this below is from the rather excellent “EXBERLINER” magazine (“Berlin in English since 2002). It appeared in the December 2012 issue.Comments – and the inevitable embedded song – afterwards. The wikipedia entry on Able Archer is silent on Rainer … Continue reading
Posted in apocalypse, competence, fear
Tagged Able Archer, Cognitive Humility, EXBERLINER, nuclear war
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How do you make the gods laugh?
You tell them your plans. You don’t plan to get flat tires/punctures/broken axles (literal or metaphorical), but when they come, boy do they knock you sideways. It comes back to the planning fallacy – when we are judging how long … Continue reading
Posted in a little self-knowledge, activism
Tagged Cognitive Humility, planning fallacy
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F.O.C.U.S, Dwight. Which part of “focus” don’t you get, numbnuts?
“Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not.” Thomas Huxley And others would consider me … Continue reading
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