The Problems of Prediction, Part 2

The Problems of Prediction, Part 2

Our overconfidence in our predictive abilities can be traced to the simple fact that the universe is infinitely complex.

By David A. J. Reynolds | February 21, 2018 | Cognition, Economics, Government, Philosophy, Prediction, Society | Brexit, Britain, Certainty, Comprehension, Cosmology, Data, Economics, Elections, Error, Forecasting, Foresight, Freakonomics, Genetic Engineering, Hanna Arendt, Hubris, Ignorance, Infinity, Information, Knowledge, Limitations, Manipulations, Models, Neuroscience, Over-confidence, Philip Tetlock, Polling, Prediction, Reality, Statistics, Stephen Dubner, The Brain, The Universe, Truth, UK, Understanding, Unknowns, Unpredictability, US

The Problems of Prediction, Part 1

Our technological mindset makes us more inclined to predict and gather ever-more data in service of prediction. We misunderstand the information we have, can’t know the information we don’t have, and yet we are more confident than ever.

By David A. J. Reynolds | January 24, 2018 | Economics, Government, Philosophy, Prediction, Society | Abstraction, Alfred North Whitehead, Belief, Britain, Comprehension, Data, Elites, Error, EU, Euro, Experts, Fallacies, Forecasting, Hubris, Information, Knowledge, Limitations, Michael Gove, Nassim Taleb, Over-confidence, Paul Slovic, Philip Tetlock, Prediction, Statistics, Truth, Understanding, Unknowns

Art Appreciation Under Pressure: The Evolution of Evaluation

With endless feeds and ubiquitous ratings, connecting with a work of art online in an autonomous, meaningful way has become difficult.

By Adam Balivet | October 18, 2017 | Culture, Economics, Media, Philosophy | Action, Aldous Huxley, Art, Art Appreciation, Contemplation, Culture, Dislike, Drives, Evaluation, Facebook, Film, Friedrich Nietzsche, Instagram, Interpretation, Judgment, Language, Like, Literature, Malcolm Lowry, Meaning, music, Photography, Playlists, Pressure, Social Media, Songs, Spotify, Understanding

Podcast #5: David Krakauer on Tech, Cognition, and Social Systems

David Krakauer is President and Professor of Complex Systems at the Santa Fe Institute, a private, not-for-profit, independent research and education center, where he focuses on the evolutionary history of information processing mechanisms in biology and culture. He sat down with The Technoskeptic to talk about the idea of complementary vs. competitive cognitive artifacts—that is, how technologies extend or supress our own capabilities.

By Art Keller | September 14, 2016 | Cognition, Podcasts, Society | Competitive Cognitive Artifacts, Complementary Cognitive Artifacts, Complexity Theory, Creativity, Cultural Change, Decision-Making, Evolution, Exponential Change, Idea Propogation, Intelligence, Machine Learning, Memory, Problem Solving, Understanding