First Principles: The Building Blocks of True Knowledge
First-principles thinking is one of the best ways to reverse-engineer complicated problems and unleash creative possibility.
Sometimes called “reasoning from first principles,” the idea is to break down complicated problems into basic elements and then reassemble them from the ground up. It’s one of the best ways to learn to think for yourself, unlock your creative potential, and move from linear to non-linear results.
Being Critical is Not Thinking Critically
There is a huge difference between questioning something to understand it better and arguing merely to win. Being critical is simply pointing out what you see wrong with a thing. Critical thinking seeks a better understanding of that thing.
Done right, there are no losers with critical thinking, only winners. Updated June 2024.
History of Health Misinformation
This lesson on the History of Health Misinformation provides evidence that Health Misinformation has been with us from our beginning.
Critical Thinking Advice in the Bible
This lesson offers the Critical Thinking Advice in the Bible as a way to help bridge the gap between Scriptures and Logic. (Updated Dec. 2023)
Atlantis Decision Making Method
How to Make Better Decisions Better Decisions come better information, and better information comes from better communication. Ultimately all decisions are information dependent. https://www.youtube.com/embed/GiPe1OiKQuk Some of your decisions will be so routine that...
The Misinformation Effect
The misinformation effect refers to the tendency for post-event information to “interfere” with the memory of the original event. This lesson describes how memories are reconstructed, not replayed.
Researchers have shown that introducing even relatively subtle information following an event can dramatically influence how people remember. Updated Feb. 24, 2024
History of the Scientific Method
History of the Scientific Method The Dark Ages, (500 to 1100) were characterized by a general erosion of civilization. Knowledge from the ancient Romans survived in only a few monasteries, cathedrals, and palace schools. While knowledge from ancient Greece...
How to Make Decisions – Old
Decision MakingHow to Make Better Decisions Better Decisions come better information, and better information comes from better communication. Ultimately all decisions are information dependent. Some of your decisions will be so routine that you make them without...
A Smart Recommender System
A Smart Recommender Based on Hybrid Learning Methods for Personal Well-Being Services Rayan M. Nouh, Hyun-Ho Lee, Won-Jin Lee, and Jae-Dong Lee* Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer This article has been cited by other articles...
How you can protect yourself from misinformation
Protect yourself from misinformation? Throughout history, many smart people have fallen for misinformation. It is often hard to protect yourself from misinformation. As a result, few actually try. However, while it is often hard to protect yourself from...
Deep Learning – The Next Big Educational Thing
The Democratization of Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning Abstract Deep learning is driving rapid innovations in artificial intelligence and influencing massive disruptions across all industries. This is the beginning of my effort to see if Deep Learning will...
Paul & Elder Critical Thinking Framework
The Paul Elder Critical thinking Framework is another attempt to help us process information better by providing structure to our thinking. Updated Sept. 2023
2 Elements of Reasoning Well
Reasoning Well is Critical for Effective Decision Making There is much truth to the old saying that life is just one decision after another. That’s why decision-making is one of life’s major preoccupations. "Reasoning well" is an essential ingredient in...
Charlie Munger Teaches Critical Thinking Skills
Who is Charlie Munger? Wit and Wisdom From The World’s Most Irreverent Billionaire Charlie Munger is one of the great minds of the 20th century. Below is an attempt to capture that wisdom in one shareable place. “Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you...
Critical Thinking
Being Critical, Not Thinking Critically Too often in practice, people equate critical thinking with merely being skeptical of whatever they hear. Or they will interpret it to mean that, when confronted with someone who says something that they disagree with,...
Communication Skills to Improve Decision Making
The Most Important Communication Skills Needed to Improve your Decision Making And Information Gathering. Becoming a great communicator – what does it mean and what does it take? Communication Styles De-Coded: How to identify and understand the different communication...
How to Encourage Responsible and Meaningful Engagement in Public Discourse
I do not pretend to know what many ignorant men are sure of -CLARENCE D ARROW To know that we know what we know, and that we do not know what we do not know. That is true knowledge. -HENRY DAVID THOREAU We have met the enemy and he is us. -WALT KELLY'S "PoGo"...
Claud Shannon's Problem Solving Algorithm: Paint the Big Picture First, Then Fill In the Details
I consider Claude Shannon one of my most important influences. Along with Alan Turing and F. A. Hayek. So, when I came across a post about Shannon's Problem Solving Algorithm, I had to read it. The post is Claude Shannon: How a Genius Solves Problems. In the post...
Talking to Conservatives
This is how we process information today. Dan Adams+1 Obama, the Democrats and Trump Derangement Syndrome Liberals are completely f***ed up in the head. Frank Roberts Brad, Clearly you miss the point of Fascism. Jews can be just as Fascistic as non-Jews. Trump...
5 Things We Should Do in 2016 to Make Our Community Better!
There are 5 things we should do in 2016 to make our community better! We should listen more and preach less. We should build more opportunities to learn from each other,. We should tap into our seniors to provide them an opportunity to be more productive. We should...
Micro-Credentials! The 21st Century Educational Goal!
Prior to the domestication of the electron, we had to go to "bricks and mortar" buildings and campuses to learn. But, today, you don't have to leave your desk to have virtually unlimited learning options available to you. Unfortunately, our existing industrialized...
Solution Aversion – Why people believe what they believe
The Learning Community is always interested in what causes some to refuse to learn. A recent study on this subject by Troy Campbell and Aaron Kay of Duke University adds an intriguing new idea to the mix: “solution aversion.” Motivated Reasoning is something the...
Net Neutrality is the Perfect Vehicle to Explore the Power of a Learning Community
Because of its technical nature Net Neutrality is perfect for a Learning Community. Net Neutrality encompasses: Technical - What is the Optimal Internet Architecture Economic - What should be the drivers of the Telecommunications Industry Political - What role does...
We need to Seek Understanding First in our efforts in finding Common Ground rather than fight
Bill Maher asked this question, "Do you think social media made us bigger assholes, or we were bigger assholes and it just exposed us as being that?" Maher posed the question to Nerdist Industries CEO, and host of @Midnight on Comedy Central, Chris Hardwick, after...
The Difficulty to Building Consensus is on clear display with Religion on Wikipedia. But there are solutions. Like Separating Facts and Conclusions, and transparency to the source.
A interesting post from the Religion New Service (RNS) about the "Edit Wars" on the Religious Pages of Wikipedia clearly demonstrate the difficulty to Building Consensus. But, there is a solution. Clearly identify what are facts and what are conclusions. Then...
A Creationist Cartoon Offers an Opportunity for the Learning Community to Understand Confirmation Bias
Someone, most probably a Creationist, at the Henry Grady High School in Atlanta tried to use a cartoon in a freshman biology class that showed evolution, humanism, homosexuality, pornography, racism, euthanasia, divorce and abortion as the work of Satan and at war...
Story about “Unemployment” Numbers is Opportunity to Find “Actionable” Information
Here is an email I got this morning: Wednesday's ADP number suggested a sub-200K reading for today's May BLS jobs report. That would be a significant disappointment after April's robust 288K. But ADP is far from a flawless indicator. So estimates for today's number...
Noise is the Fundamental Obstacle to Learning
Let me go on record and acknowledge that I truly understand that while getting good enough information for learning is fairly easy, getting the “BEST” information for learning is not so easy. The reason is "Noise." There are a number of environmental and biological...
How do you determine if the Story about the Galileo is a “Myth” or not?
I came across the following at http://www.bede.org.uk/sciencehistory.htm written by James Hannam in 2002: The greatest of the secular myths is Galileo Galilei as a martyr for science. The epic battle between the forces of reason and truth and the dark superstitions of...