You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
'Original, thought-provoking and a joy to read' Tim Harford Winner of best smart thinking book (Business Book Awards) and a Guardian best books of 2021 When it comes to what we believe, humans see what they want to see. In other words, we have what Julia Galef calls a 'soldier' mindset. From tribalism and wishful thinking, to rationalising in our personal lives and everything in between, we are driven to defend the ideas we most want to believe - and shoot down those we don't. But if we want to get things right more often we should train ourselves to think more like a scout. Unlike the soldier, a scout's goal isn't to defend one side over the other. It's to go out, survey the territory, and ...
A collection of essays by Professor Massimo Pigliucci (currently at Stony Brook University in new York), on topics ranging from science to philosophy, from politics to religion. Rationally Speaking originated in 2000 as a monthly online column, eventually to be syndicated on more than 50 web sites worldwide. It was the beginning of a regular online presence, which evolved in 2006 into the more agile and open-ended form of a blog (rationallyspeaking.org). Why would a professional scientist who spends most of his time working on fairly specific scientific puzzles concerning gene-environment interactions (what is often referred to as "nature-nurture" questions) spend a considerable amount of ...
Computers and Society explores the history and impact of modern technology on everyday human life, considering its benefits, drawbacks, and repercussions. Particular attention is paid to new developments in artificial intelligence and machine learning, and the issues that have arisen from our complex relationship with AI.
Human beings are primates, and primates are political animals. Our brains, therefore, are designed not just to hunt and gather, but also to help us get ahead socially, often via deception and self-deception. But while we may be self-interested schemers, we benefit by pretending otherwise. The less we know about our own ugly motives, the better - and thus we don't like to talk or even think about the extent of our selfishness. This is "the elephant in the brain." Such an introspective taboo makes it hard for us to think clearly about our nature and the explanations for our behavior. The aim of this book, then, is to confront our hidden motives directly - to track down the darker, unexamined c...
Learn how to combat biases and make smarter decisions. In The Scout Mindset, Julia Galef explores two different modes of thinking, the 'soldier' and the 'scout' mindset. Unfortunately, most of us naturally have a 'soldier' mindset, were we protect our beliefs aggressively and ignore any evidence that we might be wrong. But to be right more often, we need to approach ideas more like a scout. A scout surveys the land, seeking accuracy and understanding to find all the available information - good and bad - to gain a more truthful picture. To help you make better decisions, this book will show you how to- - gather information from multiple sources - weigh up short and long term gains - overcome inherent biases - transcend tribal thinking - avoid self-deception Drawing on fascinating stories from Warren Buffett's investing strategies to subreddit threads and modern partisan politics, Galef explores why our brains try to deceive us and how to see things more clearly so we make the right decision more often.
A radical reassessment of how we can most effectively help others by a rising star of philosophy and leading social entrepreneur. 'A surprising and often counterintuitive look at the best ways to make a difference . . . MacAskill is that rarest of beasts: a do-gooder who uses his head more than his heart.' SUNDAY TIMES Most of us want to make a difference. We donate to charity, buy Fairtrade coffee, or try to cut down on our carbon emissions. Rarely do we know if we're really helping, and despite our best intentions, our actions can have ineffective - and sometimes downright harmful - outcomes. Confronting this problem, William MacAskill developed the concept of effective altruism, a practic...
Why we don't live in a post-truth society but rather a myside society: what science tells us about the bias that poisons our politics. In The Bias That Divides Us, psychologist Keith Stanovich argues provocatively that we don't live in a post-truth society, as has been claimed, but rather a myside society. Our problem is not that we are unable to value and respect truth and facts, but that we are unable to agree on commonly accepted truth and facts. We believe that our side knows the truth. Post-truth? That describes the other side. The inevitable result is political polarization. Stanovich shows what science can tell us about myside bias: how common it is, how to avoid it, and what purposes...
The answers to our daily worries and anxieties – big or small – lie at the heart of Stoic philosophy. Live Like a Stoic is the essential guide to help us live the good life. It offers a year-long programme of 52 weekly exercises aimed at mastering an array of real-life troubles. Full of practical lessons and sections for journaling, it provides all the tools needed to overcome any life obstacles we might face. Massimo Pigliucci and Gregory Lopez have created a unique, personalised Stoic curriculum for a lifetime of practice, showing how relevant this ancient philosophy is to modern life.
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ‘Sean Carroll has achieved something I thought impossible: a bridge between popular science and the mathematical universe of working physicists. Magnificent!’ Brian Clegg, author of Ten Days in Physics that Shook the World Immense, strange and infinite, the world of modern physics often feels impenetrable to the undiscerning eye – a jumble of muons, gluons and quarks, impossible to explain without several degrees and a research position at CERN. But it doesn’t have to be this way! Allow world-renowned theoretical physicist and bestselling author Sean Carroll to guide you through the biggest ideas in the universe. Elegant and simple, Carroll unravels this web of theories and formulae equation by equation, getting to the heart of the truths they represent. — In Space, Time and Motion, the first book of this landmark trilogy, Carroll delves into the core of classical physics. From Euclid to Einstein, Space, Time and Motion explores the ideas which revolutionised science and forever changed our understanding of our place in the cosmos.