Our Self-Blind Manipulative Minds

The following quote is by evolutionary biologist, Diana Fleishman. Her ideas fit with my understanding that good science is a very special and rare kind of cognition that happens only within a carefully designed environment where we actively and incessantly seek out other peoples' criticism of our own ideas in order to avoid our self-imposed intellectual blindness. Encouraging criticism of each others' favorite ideas is not a sport most people enjoy. They'd rather assume that they have excellent intellectual hygiene so that they can blithely go about their days honking their tribal horns.

Human intelligence is incredibly useful but it doesn’t safeguard you against having false beliefs, because that’s not what intelligence is for. Intelligence is associated with coming up with more convincing bullshit and with being a better liar, but not associated with a better ability to recognizeone’s own bias. Unfortunately, intelligence has very little influence on your ability to rationally evaluate your own beliefs, or undermine what’s called “myside bias.”

The dark side of smart is that whenever we do good works, and cooperate, we draw from our manipulative past. The even darker side of smart is that competition doesn’t just select an ability to manipulate but also an adaptive ability to be unpredictable. And one of the best ways to be unpredictable is to not know yourself. So we have evolution to thank for shielding us from complete self-knowledge. As a result, most of our own minds are shrouded in darkness. Perhaps that’s for the best. We might not like what we’d see.

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Pandemic #2: Divisiveness Caused by Social Media

For the first step in defeating Pandemic #2, please watch the new documentary, "The Social Dilemma." (You'll find it on Netflix).

As you use social media, try to cruise at 10,000 feet like a disinterested anthropologist and then ask yourself whether kind-hearted intelligent people should be talking at each other like much of what you will see.

Pandemic #2 is invisible, just like Pandemic #1, and you'll feel like you are in charge of your thoughts the entire time. Pandemic #2 quietly invades our minds, then erects filter bubbles around us that destroy the possibility of civil discourse on the most important issues facing us. Pandemic #2 destroys the possibility of e pluribus unum. We need to take action now, because huge misplaced financial incentives guarantee that Big Tech is not going to rescue us.

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Updated Common Sense Advice on Transgender Issues re Children from the U.K. Department of Education

This advice from the U.K. Department of Education is long overdue. So much common sense here.  Perfect response to many bad arguments being made by transgender activists, for instance, if a girl likes to engage in activities that are stereotypically "for boys," she was born in the wrong type of body and thus needs surgery and hormones. It's now time to invest in some giant shredders to rip up massive amounts of pernicious trendy advice.

This is a list of things that are so obvious that they shouldn't need to be said at all, but we live in a world where these things do need to be said.

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Manipulative Intelligence

Evolutionary Psychologist Diane Fleischman, in an article titled "The Dark Side of Smart":

Human intelligence is incredibly useful but it doesn’t safeguard you against having false beliefs, because that’s not what intelligence is for. Intelligence is associated with coming up with more convincing bullshit and with being a better liar, but not associated with a better ability to recognizeone’s own bias. Unfortunately, intelligence has very little influence on your ability to rationally evaluate your own beliefs, or undermine what’s called “myside bias.”

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