Powerful Concepts for Understanding the World
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Powerful Concepts for Understanding the World
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Re: Powerful Concepts for Understanding the World
#2> Condorcet Paradox: a special instance of Simpson’s paradox applied to elections, in which a populace prefers candidate A to candidate B, candidate B to C, and yet candidate C to A. This occurs because the majority that favors C is misleadingly divided among different groups.
I found this really interesting because I have never thought of a Condorcet Loop, or a Smith Set, in the context of Simpson's Paradox before.
I've also enjoyed Judea Pearl's points about how Simpsons Paradox scenarios sometimes don't even have a correct interpretation until you are clear about what your assumptions are and what you are trying to measure.
I've always suspected that the Smith Set might just mean that the electorate isn't ready to decide yet, and that another round of elections might be warranted, but it's interesting to consider that a Smith Set might also give clues on what questions to ask to better determine the winner.
Re: Powerful Concepts for Understanding the World
#3> When many simple objects interact with each other, they can form a system that has qualities that the objects themselves don’t. Examples: neurons creating consciousness
There are no evidence that neurons create consciousness. For all we know neurons are receivers of consciousness.
Re: Powerful Concepts for Understanding the World
#4Those are interesting points to start understanding a gist of trend in how the world works, but more importantly would be to use these concepts to help us break out of them.
For instance, the Belief Bias can easily apply to any one of us. How can we use the awareness that we are subject to such bias to break out of it?
I mean in retrospect, when for instance I read old comments of mine I get really this odd feeling that someone else completely wrote that. How could I force break out of this?
Re: Powerful Concepts for Understanding the World
#5> Condorcet Paradox: a special instance of Simpson’s paradox applied to elections, in which a populace prefers candidate A to candidate B, candidate B to C, and yet candidate C to A. This occurs because the majority that favors C is misleadingly divided among different groups. I found this really interesting because I have never thought of a Condorcet Loop, or a Smith Set, in the context of Simpson's Paradox before.…
A Condorcet loop can happen if different parts of the electorate values different things. E.g. some people value foreign policy experience, other people value integrity, and yet other people value left vs right. Going from a foreign policy experience ranking to an integrity ranking to an economic ranking can take you around the loop.
But how would the electorate come to a conclusion about which issue is most important? The Condorcet loop could be fundamental to the voters' opinions.
Re: Powerful Concepts for Understanding the World
#6> When many simple objects interact with each other, they can form a system that has qualities that the objects themselves don’t. Examples: neurons creating consciousness There are no evidence that neurons create consciousness. For all we know neurons are receivers of consciousness.
The author did warn first that > Some [concepts] are complex so forgive me for oversimplifying, but the main purpose is to incite curiosity.
You shouldn't pick out these examples, they are supposed to broadly exemplify the concept.
Re: Powerful Concepts for Understanding the World
#7Wonderful essay, one of the best such compilations I've read. I see myself engaging in many of these thought patterns.
I'll add one in the spirit of "none of us are perfect"...
>..neurons creating consciousness...
Is an example of something I see frequently - otherwise very smart people who assume that consciousness is just an emergent property of physical matter and who ignore the hard problem of consciousness.
Re: Powerful Concepts for Understanding the World
#8> When many simple objects interact with each other, they can form a system that has qualities that the objects themselves don’t. Examples: neurons creating consciousness There are no evidence that neurons create consciousness. For all we know neurons are receivers of consciousness.
The author did warn first that > Some [concepts] are complex so forgive me for oversimplifying, but the main purpose is to incite curiosity. You shouldn't pick out these examples, they are supposed to broadly exemplify the concept.
That's not really oversimplification though, it's more like making an assumption. But I agree that it's a minor point. I mainly brought it up in my other comment in this thread because the topic of consciousness fascinates me.
Re: Powerful Concepts for Understanding the World
#9The inclusion of the "Gurwinder Principle" casts doubt on the other principles listed.
Re: Powerful Concepts for Understanding the World
#10> When many simple objects interact with each other, they can form a system that has qualities that the objects themselves don’t. Examples: neurons creating consciousness There are no evidence that neurons create consciousness. For all we know neurons are receivers of consciousness.
The author did warn first that > Some [concepts] are complex so forgive me for oversimplifying, but the main purpose is to incite curiosity. You shouldn't pick out these examples, they are supposed to broadly exemplify the concept.
I know that the examples are supposed to broadly exemplify the concept but imo that doesn't justify using statements that have no scientific backing. So we have to agree to disagree on that one.