Research Learning with Sub-Parts The following research article is overly optimistic in some ways. I don’t think it’s exactly correct but I do think the ideas are worth considering. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are two intellectual tools you need to learn anything. One, you need to be able to learn simple things. Two, you
Research Flexible, Organized Knowledge What are we trying to get from our thinking and learning? Flexible knowledge, not fragile knowledge; knowledge we can apply to new cases instead of only to the cases we were taught to apply it to. We want to understand things ourselves so we can think for ourselves, not accept
Research Digital vs. Analog Thinking David Deutsch wrote in The Beginning of Infinity: > Another thing that they [computers] have in common is that they are all digital: they operate on information in the form of discrete values of physical variables, such as electronic switches being on or off, or cogs being at one of
Research Artificial General Intelligence Speculations There are some speculative thoughts about developing Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) which take into account Critical Rationalist philosophy. The biggest current problems for developing AGI are creating an idea data structure and resolving conflicts of ideas. A secondary problem is how to “randomly” vary ideas (including varying the null idea,
Research Learning, Habits and Automation Learning Learning a skill, which you’ll use many times, has two basic steps. First, there’s figuring out how to do it at all. Second, there’s practicing it until it’s an automatic habit. When you’re done, you can autopilot the skill without really thinking about it.
Research Progress Despite Emotions and Bias; Mastery of Sentences If you try to think much, you will sometimes get upset, be biased, get tilted, get frustrated, be sad, be angry, etc. Maybe not all of those, but you’ll have some problems like that. To deal with this well, you need some emotion-resistant and bias-resistant skills. You need skills
Research Weighted Error Rates People make mistakes at different rates. Some people make more mistakes than others. And one person makes more mistakes in one field (e.g. physics) than another (e.g. cooking), but that’d be reversed for someone else. Some mistakes are worse than others. Loosely, they’re bigger mistakes. They’
Research Organizing Rational Discussion Critical Rationalism (CR) says critical discussion is a major learning tool. But it doesn’t say how to have a critical discussion. What do you do, step by step? Brainstorm and criticize. That’s not much guidance. CR has other broad tips like tolerance and a viewpoint on culture clash.
Research Introspection, Overreaching and Emotions People have a hard time introspecting. That means they don’t understand themselves. That means they skipped steps when developing a bunch of their ideas and traits. They reached conclusions (like what kind of person to be, how to act, and what ideas to have) that they didn’t understand.
Research Critical Fallibilism, Evolution and Digital Error Correction Critical Fallibilism (CF) is a philosophy about knowledge, reason and learning. It begins with questions. What is knowledge? How do I learn? Which ideas are true or good? What are ideas for? What makes thinking rational? How can I use thinking to improve my life? And what is the origin
Research Fallibilism and Problem Solving with Meta Levels Philosophers have many questions. Which ideas are true or false? Good or bad? What is reason and how do we think rationally? What is knowledge and how do we get it? These questions are attempts to deal with human fallibility, which is our capacity to make mistakes. The history of
Research Yes or No Philosophy and Score Systems Ideas don’t have degrees of goodness. An idea is meant to solve a problem or, in other words, accomplish a goal. An idea either would succeed at its goal or it wouldn’t. The goal can be intellectual, e.g. answering a question or understanding an issue. It can
Research Bounds, Hurdles and Progress Bounded/limited systems/things always have small potential when you compare to an unbounded/unlimited things. Unbounded means infinite potential. A bounded system never has similar potential to an unlimited system. Limits make a huge difference; they totally transform a system into a much, much lesser system in terms of
Research Critical Fallibilism and Critical Rationalism Bullet Points Critical Fallibilism (CF) is a philosophy of reason. It improves on Critical Rationalism (CR), an epistemology by Karl Popper [https://criticalfallibilism.com/critical-rationalism-overview/%0A] (and refined by David Deutsch [https://www.elliottemple.com/essays/reading#david-deutsch]). CF, by Elliot Temple [https://elliottemple.com], retains CR’s major ideas and themes.
Research Critical Rationalism Overview Critical Rationalism (CR) is an epistemology developed by 20th century philosopher Karl Popper [http://fallibleideas.com/books#popper]. “Epistemology” means the philosophy of knowledge. An epistemology is a philosophical framework to guide effective thinking, learning, and evaluating ideas. Reasonable epistemologies say what reason is and how it works. Epistemology is
Research Introduction to Reason You use your mind to guide your life. You think about every decision you make. Even if the thinking is quick or unconscious, your stomach or heart doesn’t literally make the decision. Your mind is what enables you to learn and use skills. It’s what lets you do
Research Challenging Paths Forward Questions Questions Suppose that you’re a high status, popular intellectual. (Most of this will also apply if you’re low or medium status or popularity. It has less relevance for non-intellectuals – people who aren’t interested in ideas, rationality or truth-seeking. But you don’t need any credentials to count
Research Paths Forward to Correct Errors The Problem If I’m mistaken about this idea, how will I find out? A Path Forward is an answer to this question. It’s a way to make progress – a way to find out about and correct a mistake. You should ask this question often because without a good
Research Evolution Summary Walking through the forest, you find a wristwatch and a rock. You think the watch must have had a designer. It’s complex and wouldn’t appear in nature randomly. It has the appearance of design for a purpose. But the rock doesn’t stand out and require explanation, and
Research Yes or No Philosophy A “binary” issue is one with only two answers, e.g. yes or no. Epistemology is fundamentally binary. E.g. you can accept an idea, or not. You can reject an idea, or not. You can decide a criticism refutes an idea, or not. You can decide an idea solves
Research Integrating Conceptual Units and Combining Dimensions Dimensions or units are a type of idea or concept. Two or more of them can be integrated together into a single conceptual unit. This follows the general rules of integration of ideas. Any group of ideas can be integrated together, but most groupings and combination methods result in nonsense.
Research Brandolini’s Law I read a tweet [https://twitter.com/g_s_bhogal/status/1438972536465809409]: > Brandolini's Law (aka the Bullshit Asymmetry Principle): It takes a lot more energy to refute bullshit than to produce it. Hence, the world is full of unrefuted bullshit. I considered and analyzed the tweeted idea.
Research Most Factors Aren’t Borderline When trying to evaluate an issue, there are many, many factors that could be considered. As a matter of logic, the solution space is huge, and the number of things you could look at is huge. Most factors are irrelevant. Of the relevant factors, most are not close calls. They
Research Breakpoints, Categories and Margins of Error There are infinitely many quantitative differences between analog factors. But there are only a small number of relevant qualitative differences for a particular context with a few goals. Qualitative, notable, important, meaningful differences – differences that connect to some kinda relevant intellectual concept – are sparse and rare. There are also digital
Research Chat about Decision Making Math I had this discussion in August 2021 while working on my article, Multi-Factor Decision Making Math [https://criticalfallibilism.com/multi-factor-decision-making-math/]. Justin [https://justinmallone.com] was studying math. I saw an opportunity to explain the issue he was working on and also relate it to my article. Justin had not seen