updated 7h ago
What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies
Technology is a multiplier of both good and bad. More technology means better good times, but it also means badder bad times.
from What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies by Tim Urban
Blas Moros added 14d ago
When the Higher Mind is winning the tug-of-war, its staff illuminates our minds with clarity, including awareness of the Primitive Mind and what it’s up to. The Higher Mind understands that primitive pleasures like sex, food, and all-in-good-fun tribalism like sports fandom are enjoyable, and often necessary, parts of a human life. And like a good
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Blas Moros added 14d ago
Oppression has been a regular feature of human societies since the dawn of time, and in the Power Games, the primary tool to fight oppression has been violence. Free speech offers a better way. The rich are protected and empowered by their money, the elite by their connections, the majority by their vote, while minority views often end up left out.
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Blas Moros added 14d ago
So the Higher Mind’s goal is to get to the truth, while the Primitive Mind’s goal is confirmation of its existing beliefs.
from What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies by Tim Urban
Blas Moros added 14d ago
Your brain is a giant of its own, made up of a network of 86 billion neurons.10 An isolated neuron is pretty useless. But by communicating with one another, a group of neurons can move upward on the Emergence Tower and combine into a single thinking system that’s far more powerful than the sum of its parts: the brain.
from What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies by Tim Urban
Blas Moros added 14d ago
Throughout American history, free speech has been much more than protection against tyranny. It’s been the country’s brain, its compass, and its conscience.
from What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies by Tim Urban
Blas Moros added 14d ago
When disagreement is encouraged, new ideas can be tested as they’re being formed, in real-time, combining the knowledge-building efforts of each person into a single, dynamic process. The result is a multi-mind thinking system that’s superior to any of its individual members at learning new things and separating truth from fiction. Let’s call this
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Blas Moros added 14d ago
This concept—a bunch of smaller things joining together to form a giant that can function as more than the sum of its parts—is called emergence.
from What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies by Tim Urban
Blas Moros added 14d ago
Over the past generation, Americans have become more educated, which has made them more mobile. The Economist notes that “45% of young Americans with a college degree moved states within five years of graduating, whereas only 19% of those with only a high-school education did.”
from What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies by Tim Urban
Mike Benchimol added 9mo ago