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“-THIS MANY PEOPLE CAN’T BE WRONG
If people can see one another’s choices, and if they are merely copying each other, wisdom becomes stupidity in a hurry. In doubting our own judgment and defaulting to conformity, we transform ourselves from individuals into members of the herd. And before we know it, this seed of error can become a copying cascade that devours all other knowledge and leaves a collective illusion in its wake.
It’s terrifyingly easy to start a copying cascade. ... And make no mistake, no one is immune to this trap— even people who should know better.”
― Collective Illusions: Conformity, Complicity, and the Science of Why We Make Bad Decisions
If people can see one another’s choices, and if they are merely copying each other, wisdom becomes stupidity in a hurry. In doubting our own judgment and defaulting to conformity, we transform ourselves from individuals into members of the herd. And before we know it, this seed of error can become a copying cascade that devours all other knowledge and leaves a collective illusion in its wake.
It’s terrifyingly easy to start a copying cascade. ... And make no mistake, no one is immune to this trap— even people who should know better.”
― Collective Illusions: Conformity, Complicity, and the Science of Why We Make Bad Decisions
“We might presume that a social contract should be a lengthy legal document with many provisions and clauses. But the real authority of a social contract does not derive from a piece of parchment, but from a few simple truths that we all abide by, truths that implicitly structure the relationship between individuals and the institutions we create to serve us. At its heart, a social contract defines what we owe one another.
Recall the terms of the Standardization Covenant:
Society is obligated to reward you with opportunity if and only if you abandon the pursuit of personal fulfillment for the pursuit of standardized excellence.
If we want a democratic meritocracy for ourselves and our children, then we must each choose to ratify a new social contract:
Society is obligated to provide you with the opportunity to pursue fulfillment, and you are accountable for your own fulfillment.
The supreme institutional obligation under the Dark Horse Covenant is to provide Equal Fit. The supreme individual obligation under the Dark Horse Covenant is Personal Accountability.”
― Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment
Recall the terms of the Standardization Covenant:
Society is obligated to reward you with opportunity if and only if you abandon the pursuit of personal fulfillment for the pursuit of standardized excellence.
If we want a democratic meritocracy for ourselves and our children, then we must each choose to ratify a new social contract:
Society is obligated to provide you with the opportunity to pursue fulfillment, and you are accountable for your own fulfillment.
The supreme institutional obligation under the Dark Horse Covenant is to provide Equal Fit. The supreme individual obligation under the Dark Horse Covenant is Personal Accountability.”
― Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment
“Someone who thinks up a new theory is the last person who should be trusted with the job of testing it. A new theory should be tested by independent researchers who aren’t cronies of the theorist and who don’t have an axe to grind. It’s division of labor again: proposing theories and doing research to test them are jobs that should be carried out by different entities.
“A good theory should go in advance of the evidence,” the evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller said in a recent interview. “It should stick its neck out and say, this is how I think the world is, and leave it to other people to test it.”
Making a virtue of necessity, I will leave it to other people to test my theory.”
― No Two Alike: Human Nature and Human Individuality
“A good theory should go in advance of the evidence,” the evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller said in a recent interview. “It should stick its neck out and say, this is how I think the world is, and leave it to other people to test it.”
Making a virtue of necessity, I will leave it to other people to test my theory.”
― No Two Alike: Human Nature and Human Individuality
“Every standardized institution, by definition and design, is focused on efficiency above all else, and generic motives and universal motives are efficient ways of moving the needle—on average, at least. But they’re horrible for your own fulfillment. Not only do standardized views of motivation ignore everything that is important about who you are, but by incessantly focusing all of our attention on a small set of institutionally ordained motives, the Standardization Covenant constrains our thinking about what a personal motive can even be.
Fortunately, dark horses reveal the hidden truth about motivation. ... The lives of dark horses demonstrate the remarkable specificity of micro-motives.”
― Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment
Fortunately, dark horses reveal the hidden truth about motivation. ... The lives of dark horses demonstrate the remarkable specificity of micro-motives.”
― Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment
“Consensus, while comforting and harmonious as well as efficient, often leads us to make bad decisions. Dissent, while often annoying, is precisely the challenge that we need to reassess our own views and make better choices. It helps us consider alternatives and generate creative solutions. Dissent is a liberator.
So why do we punish dissent? Most of us believe that we are open to differing views. Some of us believe that we like challenges to our ideas. In practice, however, most of us dislike a person who believes the opposite of a position we hold, and we creatively look for reasons for his “error.” We tend to think of him in negative terms. He is a troublemaker who is wasting time and blocking our goals. We are quite willing to punish him, most often through ridicule or rejection.
We are continually advised “to go along and to get along.” It is powerful advice for most of us who prefer to be “in” rather than “out.” We like being accepted and valued—and we know that if we stand up against the majority, we will be “on the outs.” We thus remain silent. Sometimes we even nod in agreement, not knowing why we are nodding—because we choose not to ask ourselves what we really believe. There is a price for this as well.”
― In Defense of Troublemakers: The Power of Dissent in Life and Business
So why do we punish dissent? Most of us believe that we are open to differing views. Some of us believe that we like challenges to our ideas. In practice, however, most of us dislike a person who believes the opposite of a position we hold, and we creatively look for reasons for his “error.” We tend to think of him in negative terms. He is a troublemaker who is wasting time and blocking our goals. We are quite willing to punish him, most often through ridicule or rejection.
We are continually advised “to go along and to get along.” It is powerful advice for most of us who prefer to be “in” rather than “out.” We like being accepted and valued—and we know that if we stand up against the majority, we will be “on the outs.” We thus remain silent. Sometimes we even nod in agreement, not knowing why we are nodding—because we choose not to ask ourselves what we really believe. There is a price for this as well.”
― In Defense of Troublemakers: The Power of Dissent in Life and Business
The Atheist Book Club
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In these gilded halls we shall discuss the presence of the atheistic viewpoint in the written form. Are you a fan of Douglas Adams' scientific view of ...more
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