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.
Our overconfidence in our predictive abilities can be traced to the simple fact that the universe is infinitely complex.
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.
With endless feeds and ubiquitous ratings, connecting with a work of art online in an autonomous, meaningful way has become difficult.
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.