On the Complexity of Debates About our Differences — In debates about our differences in race, sex, gender, or ability, nuance is a rare and oft-maligned gem. The volatile response to the mere existence of such debates implies a belief that any discussion of these issues is either a cover for, or an instance of, racist or bigoted agendas. …

On the Problem of Life as a Means to an End — Well, what do universities do? They employ people who teach and research. If you go to one of these universities, those teachers can teach you about different things, and if you learn enough, the administration will call that body of understanding a degree and will give you a piece of paper to certify that understanding. …

Filtered. — I sunk my nose deep into the cup; the complex of aromas dancing around my consciousness, slowly waking me up. The rain outside was persistent. Coming straight down, making a mist on the pavement that shielded out the world; the regular chaos drowned in the drops. It made me think…

The Availability Heuristic — There’s a reason you think terrorists are more troublesome than mosquitos. Partly because if you’re reading this then you probably live in a part of the world that doesn’t have to worry too much about malaria (carried by mosquitos). The other part is because you watch the news. Just over…

Confirmation Bias — I can find evidence to support any of my wildest beliefs. That doesn’t make them true. This is because evidence that supports a belief isn’t the same as evidence that proves a belief. It’s not that the evidence that confirms what you believe isn’t valuable to your belief — after…

Why we make bad decisions, quickly — Considering that we’re biased, we might as well start with how we’re biased and look at what are generally termed “biases and heuristics”. A bias, generally, is a systematic deviation from something. What we’re interested in more specifically here are cognitive biases, which are systemic deviations from rationality in our…

We’re made to make babies, not sense — Our brains didn’t evolve to get things right. It might sound trite, but with our current understanding of reality, all that we can be certain of is that we can’t really be certain of anything. Regardless of how ordered or chaotic reality fundamentally is, our knowledge of it always contains…

First Principles — …plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. - Dwight Eisenhower If you’ve spent any considerable amount of time on this planet, you’ve probably discovered that a lot of it doesn’t make much sense. But you may have also discovered the interesting property of reality that it’s possible to makes sense…

Preferences and Poverty — Part One: Capitalism and Captivation Part Two: Money and Markets Part Three: Monopoly and Malice Part Four: Accumulation and Abuse Part Five: Acceleration and Alienation Part Six: Preferences and Poverty That’s Not Capitalism; or, Something of a Defence I had said this whole series of essays wasn’t meant as a defence of capitalism, and in truth it’s not…