Philosophy
Like it or not, decisions are both ubiquitous and inescapable. If you think about it for a second or two, the outcome of our own lives, the welfare of our society, the fulfillment of our relationships and the success of our careers, ultimately depend to a very large degree on the quality of the choices we make. It's a huge responsibility...
In our everyday lives, we may think from time to time about the choices we have to make, but we very seldom think about the process of decision-making itself. What drives it? Are we really in charge of our decisions, or is it ultimately just an illusion? Is there some heuristic we can use in order to consistently reach better decisions? Should we follow our gut or our reason?
Combining the hard-earned wisdom learned from various scientific disciplines, best-selling author Jonah Lehrer explains in the following fascinating lecture (based on his latest book, How We Decide) the evolutionary insight that the brain is composed of different and highly specialized modules, and that learning how to make better decisions requires metacognition: the process of thinking about thinking, and learning when to deploy some modules while restricting others.
In other words, it's not simply a question of emotions vs reason, but of when each is appropriate, given the circumstances and the general nature of the case, and there is a fascinating logic to this apparent madness and chaos. Here is a brief intro:
And here is the entire lecture:
And if you want to see some hilarious footage of the marshmallow test, you've got to check this out.
.
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A few posts back there was an interesting discussion about the utilitarian concerns about Democracy that go all the way back to Plato -- if you leave the power to make decisions in the hands of the people, how do you know they won't completely screw...
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There has been a great debate over who is best to fundamental issues that affect the basic principles that we live by. The youth population argues that they have the sharpest minds, while the elders say that they have the experience necessary to see the...
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In our everyday experience, it seems as though perception is simply a matter of information hitting your sense organs and going straight to our brain. In reality, however, perception turns out to be an incredibly sophisticated and complex concatenation...
Philosophy
Jonah Lehrer - How We Decide
Like it or not, decisions are both ubiquitous and inescapable. If you think about it for a second or two, the outcome of our own lives, the welfare of our society, the fulfillment of our relationships and the success of our careers, ultimately depend to a very large degree on the quality of the choices we make. It's a huge responsibility...In our everyday lives, we may think from time to time about the choices we have to make, but we very seldom think about the process of decision-making itself. What drives it? Are we really in charge of our decisions, or is it ultimately just an illusion? Is there some heuristic we can use in order to consistently reach better decisions? Should we follow our gut or our reason?
Combining the hard-earned wisdom learned from various scientific disciplines, best-selling author Jonah Lehrer explains in the following fascinating lecture (based on his latest book, How We Decide) the evolutionary insight that the brain is composed of different and highly specialized modules, and that learning how to make better decisions requires metacognition: the process of thinking about thinking, and learning when to deploy some modules while restricting others.In other words, it's not simply a question of emotions vs reason, but of when each is appropriate, given the circumstances and the general nature of the case, and there is a fascinating logic to this apparent madness and chaos. Here is a brief intro:
And here is the entire lecture:
And if you want to see some hilarious footage of the marshmallow test, you've got to check this out.
.
- Privacy, Democracy, And Deliberation
This week marked the 40th anniversary of the release of the Pentagon Papers. Daniel Ellsberg leaked the classified, massive report outlining the full history of American involvement in Vietnam to the New York Times who ran portions of it. It was the act...
- Hanno On The Virtues And Vices Of Democracy
A few posts back there was an interesting discussion about the utilitarian concerns about Democracy that go all the way back to Plato -- if you leave the power to make decisions in the hands of the people, how do you know they won't completely screw...
- Ian Johnson: Youth Vs. Age
There has been a great debate over who is best to fundamental issues that affect the basic principles that we live by. The youth population argues that they have the sharpest minds, while the elders say that they have the experience necessary to see the...
- Philosophy Versus Science
Julian Baggini interviewed physicist Lawrence Krauss in the Guardian on ?Philosophy v. Science: Which Can Answer the Big Questions of Life?. Baggini suggested that "We have no reason to think that one day science will make it unnecessary for us to ask...
- Einstein Mask Optical Illusion
In our everyday experience, it seems as though perception is simply a matter of information hitting your sense organs and going straight to our brain. In reality, however, perception turns out to be an incredibly sophisticated and complex concatenation...