22 November 2014

trying not to fool ourselves ...

The scientific method is our best hack so far for building knowledge around some seemingly built-in and hard human problems:
1. We trust authority.

2. There is social reward for compliant thinking.

3. There is social reward for innovative thinking.

4. There is social reward for being believed to be right.

5. There is internal reward in believing yourself to be right.

6. Repetition and exposure to ideas in our formative years exaggerate the value of those ideas. 

7. We over-value our personal experience. The things we have experienced and have spent time thinking about influence our thinking.

8. Our beliefs influence our thinking - we over-value that which we already think to be true.

9. Our senses and intuitions restrict our thinking.
10. Profit, power and other reward affect our thinking and beliefs.
...
"Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself."
― Richard Feynman

"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts"
― again, Richard Feynman

 “The real purpose of the scientific method is to make sure Nature hasn't misled you into thinking you know something you don't actually know."
― Robert M. Pirsig