Can you really think at all?
Watch these. Rational? Important. Do we Care? Complex? Don't know what to do? Experts vs. Novices? TED.com Talks to be listed here soon. Or go do your own searches...
Commitment Device
Ted.COM about commitment devices, future vs. present. Tie yourself to the mast, lock your credit cards away, etc.
Sheena Lyengar on the Art of Choosing
Ape Genius by NOVA
Demonstrating that mimicry beats understanding, evolutionarily.
Given an example of getting a "goody" a treat, out of a box, a child will faithfullly mimic functionless steps where as an ape will "cut through the chase" to the minimum operations requied to obtain the treat. It would seem that the ape is the smarter. It demonstrates that people are inclined to be able to take advantage of the advancements of other people, through blind obedience, and obtain the advantage of operations beyound the understanding of the performer, where as apes are limited to performance at the level of each individual's understanding. Thus, dumber but ritual tolerant or inclined people are more useful to the society than smarter but "busy work" adverse people. Sorry smart people, but the dumber mimics are worth more to the society than an entire boat load of very smart people impatient with those who run about all day doing things without understanding why they do them, or how it works. Watch Ape Genius 52:46 Aired July 6, 2011 on PBS |
Viscog Productions, Inc.
This video demonstrates the effectiveness of directed attention. Watch from the following page please. Watch viscog video here.
Staged Purse Snatching
An excellent indictment of eyewitness testimony (see here). So what do we do if we want better results from our perceptions?
Teller and 7 Steps in a Good Trick
Smithsonian's Article with Teller:
1. Exploit pattern Recognition 2. Make the secret a lot more trouble than the trick is worth. 3. It's hard to think critically if you're laughing. [or otherwise strongly emotionally stimulated... ed.] 4) Keep the trickery outside the frame. 5) To fool the mind, combine at least two tricks. 6) Nothing fools you better than the lie you tell yourself. 7) If you are given a choice, you believe you have acted freely. |