The Course
This course is about
- why we do what we do,
- why the things we do are not always in our best interest,
- and what to do about this.
The 15 Lessons
-
1
The Selfish Gene (Popular Science) (368 pages)By Richard Dawkins. Inheriting the mantle of revolutionary biologist from Darwin, Watson, and Crick, Richard Dawkins forced an enormous change in the way we see ourselves and the world with the publication of _The Selfish Gene_. Suppose, instead of thinking about organisms using genes to reproduce themselves, as we ...
-
2
The Moral Animal : Why We Are, the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology (Vintage) (496 pages)By Robert Wright. An accessible introduction to the science of evolutionary psychology and how it explains many aspects of human nature. Unlike many books on the topic,which focus on abstractions like kin selection, this book focuses on Darwinian explanations of why we are the way we are--emotionally and morally. ...
-
3
By Keith E. Stanovich. The idea that we might be robots is no longer the stuff of science fiction; decades of research in evolutionary biology and cognitive science have led many esteemed thinkers and scientists to the conclusion that, following the precepts of universal Darwinism, humans are merely the hosts for two ...
-
4
By Reid Hastie, Robyn M. Dawes. When faced with an important decision, we are often on our own to think through what we might do and what the probable consequences of out behaviors are. As we make these judgments, it is important that we be able to communicate precisely and fluently with one another. In *Rational Choice in an ...
-
5
-
6
-
7
A Technical Explanation of Technical Explanation (17411 words)http://yudkowsky.net/bayes/technical.html -
8
Choices, Values, and Frames (860 pages)By . Choices, Values, and Frames presents an empirical and theoretical challenge to classical utility theory, offering prospect theory as an alternative framework. Extensions and applications to diverse economic phenomena and to studies of consumer behavior are discussed. The book also elaborates on ...
-
9
By . Judgment pervades human experience. Do I have a strong enough case to go to trial? Will the Fed change interest rates? Can I trust this person? This book examines how people answer such questions. How do people cope with the complexities of the world economy, the uncertain behavior of friends and ...
-
10
By . The thirty-five chapters in this book describe various judgmental heuristics and the biases they produce, not only in laboratory experiments but in important social, medical, and political situations as well. Individual chapters discuss the representativeness and availability heuristics, problems ...
-
11
-
12
By Robert Pirsig. Arguably one of the most profoundly important essays ever written on the nature and significance of "quality" and definitely a necessary anodyne to the consequences of a modern world pathologically obsessed with quantity. Although set as a story of a cross-country trip on a motorcycle by a father ...
-
13
-
14
Anthropic Bias: Observation Selections Effects in Science and Philosophy (Studies in Philosophy) (224 pages)By Nick Bostrom. This book breaks new ground by drawing attention to certain kinds of biases that permeate many parts of science and by developing a theory of how to correct for these biases. Follow this link http://www.anthropic-principle.com/ to Nick Bostrom's web page on everything related to observation ...
-
15
Twelve Virtues of Rationality (1762 words)Intelligence, to be useful, must be used for a purpose other than defeating itself. That which can be destroyed by the truth should be.
