A psychological consequence of this is the following: when we analyze a mechanism, we tend to overestimate its complexity.


“There is no reason why a child, living in every other way as a dependent of his parents, could not and should not have (like everyone else) the right to decide what he wants to learn and when and how much of it he wants to learn in school, and in what school, and how much time he wants to spend doing it.”
― Escape from Childhood: The Needs and Rights of Children
― Escape from Childhood: The Needs and Rights of Children

“he said: (1) accept yourself, (2) forget yourself, (3) find something to do and to care about that is more important to you than you are.”
― Escape from Childhood: The Needs and Rights of Children
― Escape from Childhood: The Needs and Rights of Children

“I am particularly fond of John Lindsay’s suggestion that political commercials be banned from television as we now ban cigarette and liquor commercials.”
― Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
― Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

“We don't have to make human beings smart. They are born smart. All we have to do is stop doing the things that made them stupid.”
― How Children Fail
― How Children Fail

“Incompetence has one other advantage. Not only does it reduce what others expect and demand of you, it reduces what you expect or even hope for yourself. When you set out to fail, one thing is certain-you can't be disappointed. As the old saying goes, you can't fall out of bed when you sleep on the door.”
― How Children Fail
― How Children Fail

Welcome! Enrolled in Machine Learning, or at least interested in the future of artificial intelligence? Discover and discuss a variety of both fiction ...more

The socialist and left-wing reading group for Warwick and Leamington Spa.
Oktawian’s 2022 Year in Books
Take a look at Oktawian’s Year in Books. The good, the bad, the long, the short—it’s all here.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Oktawian
Lists liked by Oktawian