Author: Paul
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Mr Garvey and his newspaper clippings at Sprowston High School in the mid-90s
Mr Garvey was a standout character in Sprowston High School in the mid 1990s. He arrived in classrooms late, moving quickly, as if he had learned of his assignment seconds before beaming from Supply Teacher Alphacenturi and materialising on to the melamine floor just outside the door. “Settle down. SETTLE DOWN.” Slim and upright, he…
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Don’t get fooled by randomness (or mis- or disinformation)
The mind tricks us into seeing patterns when there are none. This causes all kinds of problems. According to Nassim Taleb, people routinely mistake luck for skill, randomness for determination, and misinformation for fact. These are the factors that cause us to process information incorrectly, and distort our views of the world: All-or-nothing view We…
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What Six Colorful Hats Can Teach Us About Working in Groups
This is how a group of people can solve a problem without arguments. Think about all the times you’ve been in a team meeting, dealing with some issue. Everyone goes in with the best intentions, but the team members quickly form their own ideas of what needs to be done, argue about why everyone else…
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Arguments Don’t Add Up. They Average Out.
What’s the best way to win an argument? If you think it’s by coming up with as many reasons why you’re right as you can, you’re wrong. This seems counterintuitive at first. Surely the way to make a case stronger is by adding more arguments in favour? But the person you’re trying to convince doesn’t…
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Mimetic Desire: a philosophy for asset bubbles and FOMO
Tulip Mania. The Roaring Twenties. The Dotcom Bubble. Bitcoin.