The One-Inch Frame Two friends argue heatedly about whether a hot dog is a sandwich. One insists it is—bread on both sides, filling in the middle. The other insists it isn't—ask any deli. After twenty minutes, neither has moved an inch. How to Disagree About Categories In March 2008, Paul Graham published "How to Disagree," … Continue reading Frame-Switching: The Hidden Pattern in Pointless Arguments
Tag: rationality
Cast Reason Aside
"You can tell time by the cry of 'Never again'...The future is obvious. Escalating suicide, the 20-year real-terms recession, the blackout, the plagues, those people falling onto the tracks, microhomes and governments' continued abuse of 'emergencies', are obvious. Yet many feel it a duty to portray shock of surprise when it comes along...Human beings aren't … Continue reading Cast Reason Aside
Tragedy of the Commons After 50 Years & A New Model of the Rational Actor
"[Elinor Ostrom] then developed a 'second-generation model of rationality' in which humans are 'complex, fallible learners who seek to do as well as they can given the constraints that they face and who are able to learn heuristics, norms, rules, and how to craft rules to improve achieved outcomes' (E. Ostrom 1998, p. 9). The … Continue reading Tragedy of the Commons After 50 Years & A New Model of the Rational Actor
Amazon.com: Out of Your Mind (Audible Audio Edition)
"In order to come to your senses, Alan Watts often said, you sometimes need to go out of your mind. Perhaps more than any other teacher in the West, this celebrated author, former Anglican priest, and self-described spiritual entertainer was responsible for igniting the passion of countless wisdom seekers to the spiritual and philosophical delights … Continue reading Amazon.com: Out of Your Mind (Audible Audio Edition)
Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds
"'Once formed,' the researchers observed dryly, 'impressions are remarkably perseverant.'" —Elizabeth Kolbert, "Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds." The New Yorker. February 19, 2017. Be careful what you believe.
Dissection of Life
Cutting concepts, time, our perspective into fragments can help us understand some things. But, even so, the life of the frog cannot be fully explained with the dissection scalpel.
How Not to Be Stupid
"...stupidity is the cost of intelligence operating in a complex environment...[Stupidity:] overlooking or dismissing conspicuously crucial information...When it comes to overloading our cognitive brains, the seven factors are: being outside of your circle of competence, stress, rushing or urgency, fixation on an outcome, information overload, and being in the presence of an “authority.” Acting alone any of … Continue reading How Not to Be Stupid
Really Reading Means Being Open to Change
To really read any discursive text, whether a philosophical tract or a legal contract, is a disturbing and cognitively disorienting experience, because it means allowing another person’s thoughts to intrude into your own and rearrange your beliefs and assumptions — often not in ways to which you would consent if warned in advance. Even when … Continue reading Really Reading Means Being Open to Change
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