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Be Your Own Challenger
Adopting the falsification mindset can be a game changer for an important life decision. But it also works for smaller beliefs and judgments.
Just ask yourself how you could be proven wrong — about any old belief you have. Are you researching a big purchase? If so, what discovery would cause you to cancel the purchase? Are you working toward a professional goal? If so, what new facts or experiences would convince you that this is the wrong goal?
We all have lots of hidden biases that can be examined this way.
32
46 reads
MORE IDEAS ON THIS
Whenever a theory appears to you as the only possible one, take this as a sign that you have neither understood the theory nor the problem which it was intended to solve.
KARL POPPER
9
21 reads
The Problem: Seeing Confirmed Instances Everywhere
This last sentence should ring some alarm bells for many readers — it’s a very simple description of confirmation bias. Basically, when we gain a perspective or theory, we tend to interpret everything as confirming that idea. Whatever seems to contradict it is tossed aside or somehow cont...
30
105 reads
Why Is Falsification Important?
Adopting an attitude of falsifiability does a few key things:
- it helps us to avoid many cognitive biases that can hinder intellectual growth and good decision making
- it makes us clearer thinkers by forcing us to be specific about what we think ...
31
78 reads
The more we learn about the world, and the deeper our learning, the more conscious, specific, and articulate will be our knowledge of what we do not know; our knowledge of our ignorance. For this indeed, is the main source of our ignorance - the fact that our k...
KARL POPPER
9
18 reads
”Once your eyes were thus opened you saw confirmed instances everywhere: the world was full of verifications of the theory. Whatever happened always confirmed it.”
KARL POPPER
31
181 reads
Do Right By The Right Side
That left side could be anything. It could be something personal and low-stakes, like “I should buy the new iPhone model” or something more substantial, like “global warming is the result of human industrial waste interacting with the atmosphere”.
The right side i...
32
55 reads
How You Can Adopt A Falsification Mindset
Adopting the falsification mindset is simple. Like any exercise in thinking, it helps if you write it out, but that’s not totally necessary.
- For any belief you have, ask what it would take for you to change your mind
- Be specific about what evidence woul...
30
56 reads
Why Doesn’t Falsification Come Naturally To Us?
Our minds tend to run headlong toward safety and comfort. This is true with regards to physical safety and comfort —but it’s also true of intellectual safety and certainty. If we feel like we know something for sure — like we have a firm grasp of it — we want to hold on to that f...
29
66 reads
The Cure: Falsificationism
As a way to cure this ill of self-confirming theories and belief systems, Popper came up with what is now called falsificationism: the idea that a theory or belief system can only be scientific if it clearly lays out what specific evidence would prove it wrong. ...
31
116 reads
A rationalist is simply someone for whom it is more important to learn than to be proved right; someone who is willing to learn from others - not by simply taking over another’s opinions, but by gladly allowing others to criticize his ideas and by gladly c...
KARL POPPER
10
20 reads
The discovery of instances which confirm a theory means very little if we have not tried, and failed, to discover refutations. For if we are uncritical we shall always find what we want: we shall look for, and find, confirmation, and we shall look away fro...
KARL POPPER
9
21 reads
A Simple First Step To Making Ourselves Falsifiable
The falsifiability mindset is all about thinking through the implications of beliefs, judgments, and decisions. It’s about curbing our craving for certainty. Adopting this mindset is as easy as picking up a simple practice.
For the decision that you’re making, take ...
32
68 reads
“Theories Of Everything”, Valid For Forever
In the middle of the 20th century, philosopher and professor Karl Popper found himself mystified by the beliefs and methods of the otherwise intelligent and rational people around him.
“I found that those of my friends who were admirers of Marx, Freud, and Adler were impres...
28
182 reads
CURATED FROM
How We Can Overcome Confirmation Bias: By Adopting A Falsification Mindset
betterhumans.pub
16 ideas
·1.11K reads
CURATED BY
“In so far as a (scientific) statement speaks about reality, it must be falsifiable; and in so far as it is not falsifiable, it does not speak about reality.”
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Your goals don’t have to be perfect or permanent, but they must be directionally appropriate
Once you have a goal to work toward, achieve it by breaking it down into smaller, less intimidating steps:
- Find the smallest, easiest step that moves you in the direction of your goal.
- Make sure your step is fully within your control – such as the number of sales calls you will...
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