While staring the other day, I decided that life happens in four stages. Here they are. Stage One: Mimicry We are born helpless. We can’t walk, can’t talk, can’t feed ourselves, can’t even do our own damn taxes. As children, the way we’re wired to learn is by watching and mimicking others. First we learn to do physical skills like walk and talk. Then we develop social skills by watching
Psychology
December 28, 2021
8 Things I Learned Reading 50 Books A Year For 7 Years
I’ve read over 300 books since the beginning of 2011, not counting the many I started but didn’t finish and the endless content we all read online. I’ve read about topics ranging from Buddhism to business, philosophy to physics, and writers ranging from feminists to pick-up artists (and even Trump’s “Art of The Deal.”) I’ve read old books, new books, books with illustrations and fancy charts, a lot of books
November 22, 2021
A philosopher’s 350-year-old trick to get people to change their minds is now backed up by psychologists
The 17th century philosopher Blaise Pascal is perhaps best known for Pascal’s Wager which, in the first formal use of decision theory, argued that believing in God is the most pragmatic decision. But it seems the French thinker also had a knack for psychology. As Brain Pickings points out, Pascal set out the most effective way to get someone to change their mind, centuries before experimental psychologists began to formally study persuasion: When