Self-awareness – knowing what you believe and why

In my self-awareness posts I write about our brains as seen through the lenses of evolutionary and social psychology, neuroscience, and beyond. Only by understanding ourselves can we improve ourselves. Worldviews are a useful tool here for mapping out our beliefs, and then critiquing them and improving them.

Some specific topics covered are: evolutionary & social psychology, neuroscience, biases, heuristics, clarity, values, history, culture, worldviews, beliefs

Evidently That Isn’t Evidence

Self-awareness

Back in my high school days I struggled with the issue of the existence of God. At one point I determined there was little evidence that God, if he existed, was actively involved in our lives. So I ended up with belief in a non-interventionist God – a God that existed, perhaps did the initial […]

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Best of Rationality Quotes, 2011 Edition – lesswrong.com

Self-awareness
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Less Wrong has semi-monthly open threads for user to post quotes about rationality. DanielVarga recently compiled a collection of the best quotes from 2011. Below are a few that stood out to me. Check out the full list here. Warning: Procrastination opportunities ahead! From MinibearRex: The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance – it is […]

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The Straw Vulcan: Hollywood’s illogical view of logical decision-making

Self-awareness

What is rationality? What do people think it is? Many people misunderstand what the word ‘rationality’ really means, in large part because of its confused portrayal in movies, on TV, and in the media. How exactly do they get it wrong? Julia Galef gave a presentation at Skepticon 4 on Hollywood rationality. It does a great job of […]

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The Cognitive Science of Rationality – lesswrong.com

Self-awareness
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“The last 40 years of cognitive science have taught us a great deal about how our brains produce errors in thinking and decision making, and about how we can overcome those errors. These methods can help us form more accurate beliefs and make better decisions.” (from the introduction). This article should be required reading! Written […]

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