Category: Knowledge and the Knower

Book: Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain

January 27, 2015

“Since Descartes famously proclaimed, “I think, therefore I am,” science has often overlooked emotions as the source of a person’s true being. Even modern neuroscience has tended, until recently, to concentrate on the cognitive aspects of brain function, disregarding emotions. This attitude began to change with the publication of Descartes’ Error in 1995. Antonio Damasio—”one of the world’s leading neurologists” (The New York Times)—challenged traditional ideas about the connection between emotions and rationality. In this wondrously engaging book, Damasio takes the reader on a journey of scientific discovery through a series of case studies, demonstrating what many of us have long suspected: emotions are not a luxury, they are essential to rational thinking and to normal social behavior.” -Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Descartes-Error-Emotion-Reason-Human/dp/014303622X

How do we decide? Reason vs Emotion

January 27, 2015

There is an age old debate about the roles of emotion and reason in our decision making. Are decision made free from emotion better? Are they possible? The conventional views have been to try to disregard emotion when making decisions but there is interesting research that disputes these ideas. Below are some interesting articles discussing these issues.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/one-among-many/201006/reason-and-emotion-note-plato-darwin-and-damasio

http://intentionalworkplace.com/2012/03/15/how-emotion-shapes-decision-making/

See a contrasting view by checking out Plato’s allegory of the chariot.

https://toktopics.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/how-do-we-decide-reason-vs-emotion/

Book: Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

January 27, 2015

This is one of my favorite nonfiction books of all time. A work of tremendous scope and implications. Kahneman is a genius in the field of economics and psychology.

From the amazon description of the book:

“Daniel Kahneman, the renowned psychologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. The impact of overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning our next vacation—each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems shape our judgments and decisions.

Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives—and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. Winner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and selected by The New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 2011, Thinking, Fast and Slow is destined to be a classic.”

http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0374275637/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1422319768&sr=8-1

Book: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

January 27, 2015

“In his landmark bestseller The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell redefined how we understand the world around us. Now, in Blink, he revolutionizes the way we understand the world within.

Blink is a book about how we think without thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant-in the blink of an eye-that actually aren’t as simple as they seem. Why are some people brilliant decision makers, while others are consistently inept? Why do some people follow their instincts and win, while others end up stumbling into error? How do our brains really work-in the office, in the classroom, in the kitchen, and in the bedroom? And why are the best decisions often those that are impossible to explain to others?”

-Amazon Review

http://www.amazon.com/Blink-The-Power-Thinking-Without/dp/0316010669/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1422319653&sr=8-1

Justice Episode 1: The Moral Side of Murder

January 26, 2015

Episode 1 of Michael Sandel’s acclaimed course, Justice, titled, The Moral Side of Murder. From the episode description:

“If you had to choose between (1) killing one person to save the lives of five others and (2) doing nothing, even though you knew that five people would die right before your eyes if you did nothing—what would you do? What would be the right thing to do? That’s the hypothetical scenario Professor Michael Sandel uses to launch his course on moral reasoning.”

http://www.justiceharvard.org/2011/03/episode-01/#watch

Radiolab Podcast: Seeing in Tongues

January 26, 2015

In 2010, after being struck by an 18-wheel truck while riding her bike Emilie Gossiaux, a young painter and sculptor, was blinded. After the accident, Emilie found her way back to the studio using a device that helps her “see” by using sensors on her tongue.

Short video:

http://www.radiolab.org/story/painting-tongues/

Chapters from the podcast about the case:

http://www.radiolab.org/story/seeing-tongues/

http://www.radiolab.org/story/110206-finding-emilie/