The Art of Thinking (Differently)

A collection of some of the best links from around the web, manually curated.

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The «Other Side» Is Not Dumb

I’d love to say otherwise, but I plead guilty. I invest too little time (and empathy) in really trying to understand people who hold opinions that differ from mine. And of course, I’m not alone. It’s easier to argue against and even easier to write off somebody else’s views than to try to understand what they are based on. That’s what this piece is about. Key passage: «A dare for the next time you’re in discussion with someone you disagree with: Don’t try to ‹win›. Don’t try to convince anyone of your viewpoint. Don’t score points by mocking them to your peers. Instead try to ‹lose›. Hear them out. Ask them to convince you and mean it.»

From Weekly Filet #247, in September 2017.

The Incredible Rarity of Changing Your Mind


Guest curated by Gabriel Vetter

A podcast from the very loved crew at «This American Life». This podcast asks the question why, although we always discuss and argue with people who have different opinions than we have, we never really change our minds. And if, rarely, we do, why that happens.

(Actually, in the process of choosing this link for the Weekly Filet, I first wanted to share a different link; a video showing breathtaking, rare footage of postwar Berlin. But then I changed my mind. Or, as the great spoken word artist Taylor Mali says in one of his most famous poems: «Changing your mind is one of the best ways of figuring out whether or not you still have one.»

From Weekly Filet #207, in May 2015.

List of Cognitive Biases

I guess you could spend an entire weekend with this exhaustive list of cognitive biases on Wikipedia. It’s fascinating to see in how many different ways humans are inclined to poor judgements. Oh, and if you think most of those biases apply only to other people and not yourself, that’s called the bias blind spot.

From Weekly Filet #44, in November 2011.

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