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Cognitive
Nexus Causality, Moral Warfare and Misattribution Arbitrage
September 12, 2013
Here are three simple conceptual tools that might help us see in front of our noses: nexus causality, moral warfare, and misattribution arbitrage. Causality itself is an evolved conceptual tool that simplifies, schematizes, and focuses our representation of situations. This cognitive machinery guides us to think in terms of the cause — of an outcome having a single cause. Yet for enlarged understanding, it is more accurate to represent outcomes as caused by an intersection or nexus of factors...
September 12, 2013
Here are three simple conceptual tools that might help us see in front of our noses: nexus causality, moral warfare, and misattribution arbitrage. Causality itself is an evolved conceptual tool that simplifies, schematizes, and focuses our representation of situations. This cognitive machinery guides us to think in terms of the cause — of an outcome having a single cause. Yet for enlarged understanding, it is more accurate to represent outcomes as caused by an intersection or nexus of factors...
Bring in the Robots
September 12, 2013
Not quite a decade ago, an experienced British Airways captain publicly complained about his airline's orders banning manual thrust control by its Airbus crews in normal flight. Captain Malcolm Scott feared pilots would end up less prepared to fly the aircraft manually. He wrote in a pilots' publication: "This ban is likely to lead to further deskilling and further increase in errors. Without a significant change in the airline's policy, the inevitable response will be a complete ban on manual...
September 12, 2013
Not quite a decade ago, an experienced British Airways captain publicly complained about his airline's orders banning manual thrust control by its Airbus crews in normal flight. Captain Malcolm Scott feared pilots would end up less prepared to fly the aircraft manually. He wrote in a pilots' publication: "This ban is likely to lead to further deskilling and further increase in errors. Without a significant change in the airline's policy, the inevitable response will be a complete ban on manual...
The Trolley Problem
September 12, 2013
The trolley problem is a thought experiment in ethics, first introduced by Philippa Foot in 1967, but also extensively analysed by Judith Jarvis Thomson, Peter Unger, and Frances Kamm as recently as 1996. Outside of the domain of traditional philosophical discussion, the trolley problem has been a significant feature in the fields of cognitive science and, more recently, of neuroethics. It has also been a topic on various TV shows dealing with human psychology. The general form...
September 12, 2013
The trolley problem is a thought experiment in ethics, first introduced by Philippa Foot in 1967, but also extensively analysed by Judith Jarvis Thomson, Peter Unger, and Frances Kamm as recently as 1996. Outside of the domain of traditional philosophical discussion, the trolley problem has been a significant feature in the fields of cognitive science and, more recently, of neuroethics. It has also been a topic on various TV shows dealing with human psychology. The general form...
IBM’s Cognitive Computing Software May Serve As Architecture For Brain-Like Computer
September 12, 2013
A computer that works like the human brain? It may not be that far off. IBM cognitive computing researchers are one step closer to making a brain-like computer a reality. The team on Thursday unveiled a "breakthrough software ecosystem" that has the ability to program microchips with architecture based on the human brain. The framework, which includes new programming language and algorithms, is just part of the process that principal investigator Dr. Dharmendra S. Modha hopes will lead...
September 12, 2013
A computer that works like the human brain? It may not be that far off. IBM cognitive computing researchers are one step closer to making a brain-like computer a reality. The team on Thursday unveiled a "breakthrough software ecosystem" that has the ability to program microchips with architecture based on the human brain. The framework, which includes new programming language and algorithms, is just part of the process that principal investigator Dr. Dharmendra S. Modha hopes will lead...
How ‘Tomorrow’s Lawyers’ Are Using Technology Now to Improve Outcomes
September 12, 2013
Remember the runaway bestseller Megatrends in 1983? Author John Naisbitt captivated his audience by identifying 10 themes...
September 12, 2013
Remember the runaway bestseller Megatrends in 1983? Author John Naisbitt captivated his audience by identifying 10 themes...
The Pessimistic Meta-Induction from the History of Science
September 11, 2013
The rest of us, by contrast, often engage in a kind of tacit chronological exceptionalism. Unlike all those suckers who fell for the flat earth or the geocentric universe or cold fusion or the cosmological constant, we ourselves have the great good luck to be alive during the very apex of accurate human thought. The literary critic Harry Levin put this nicely: "The habit of equating one's age with the apogee of civilization, one's town with the hub of the universe, one's horizons with the limits...
September 11, 2013
The rest of us, by contrast, often engage in a kind of tacit chronological exceptionalism. Unlike all those suckers who fell for the flat earth or the geocentric universe or cold fusion or the cosmological constant, we ourselves have the great good luck to be alive during the very apex of accurate human thought. The literary critic Harry Levin put this nicely: "The habit of equating one's age with the apogee of civilization, one's town with the hub of the universe, one's horizons with the limits...
Understanding Overconfidence (video)
September 10, 2013
In early 2000 I got to study a very interesting Italian company called Ducati Corse. And what this company does is racing motorcycles. It’s a very important business for them because what they do during the races actually translates in sales of commercial bikes. What is interesting is that in 2003 this company entered a new type of competition called MotoGP. And they decided that this was gonna be a learning season where they would collect a lot of data to try to understand how to make...
September 10, 2013
In early 2000 I got to study a very interesting Italian company called Ducati Corse. And what this company does is racing motorcycles. It’s a very important business for them because what they do during the races actually translates in sales of commercial bikes. What is interesting is that in 2003 this company entered a new type of competition called MotoGP. And they decided that this was gonna be a learning season where they would collect a lot of data to try to understand how to make...
Neuroscience Helps Explain Why Mediation Techniques Work
September 9, 2013
While some remain skeptical, many value neuroscience to help explain why mediation techniques work and to provide insights into what may be most helpful to address challenging situations. In a brief overview of neuroscience, examples such as priming and framing show how standard mediation moves can be understood in a neuroscience framework. Daily Report (June 24, 2013).
September 9, 2013
While some remain skeptical, many value neuroscience to help explain why mediation techniques work and to provide insights into what may be most helpful to address challenging situations. In a brief overview of neuroscience, examples such as priming and framing show how standard mediation moves can be understood in a neuroscience framework. Daily Report (June 24, 2013).
How To Make Choosing Easier
September 9, 2013
We all think we're good at making choices; many of us even enjoy making them. Sheena Iyengar looks deeply at choosing and has discovered...
September 9, 2013
We all think we're good at making choices; many of us even enjoy making them. Sheena Iyengar looks deeply at choosing and has discovered...
Extraneous Factors in Judicial Decisions: What Did the Judge Have for Breakfast?
September 9, 2013
Are judicial rulings based solely on laws and facts? Legal formalism holds that judges apply legal reasons to the facts of a case in a rational, mechanical, and deliberative manner. In contrast, legal realists argue that the rational application of legal reasons does not sufficiently explain the decisions of judges and that psychological, political, and social factors influence judicial rulings. We test the common caricature of realism that justice is “what the judge ate for breakfast” in sequential...
September 9, 2013
Are judicial rulings based solely on laws and facts? Legal formalism holds that judges apply legal reasons to the facts of a case in a rational, mechanical, and deliberative manner. In contrast, legal realists argue that the rational application of legal reasons does not sufficiently explain the decisions of judges and that psychological, political, and social factors influence judicial rulings. We test the common caricature of realism that justice is “what the judge ate for breakfast” in sequential...
