Today’s spotlight is all about deception and shame. If I haven’t already told you about Steven Pinker’s book, Blank Slate, let me recommend it now. The subtitle to this wonderful contribution is The Modern Denial of Human Nature. Pinker essentially shows that the idea of the mind as a blank slate and the notion of the so-called noble savage are gross errors that have led to many misunderstandings and political fallacies. I have no intention of stealing any of his thunder, so let me just say—this is an important read ... Read More
In this week’s spotlight I would like to take up the idea of ambiguity. If you give any serious thought to this, you must wonder how it is that our minds are equipped to recognize an ambiguity let alone decipher it. Think of artificial intelligence (AI) for a moment. Machine learning (ML) experts recognize that the world we live in is messy, full of uncertainty and ambiguity. Brian Ziebart, a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has suggested one working solution for this. His solution, ... Read More
In this spotlight I wish to remind you about the prevalence of the various methods in use today to win your heart and mind, or in plain language, to manipulate your thinking and beliefs. Hector Macdonald in his book, Truth, informs us of the many ways that “truth” can be used to lie. I found his Colgate story most informative. Colgate sent questionnaires to dentists asking them to identify the toothpastes they recommended. When the questionnaires were returned, Colgate announced that 80% of dentists recommended Colgate. This in turn persuaded ... Read More
In this week’s spotlight I would like to once again remind you of the importance of both recognizing and accepting the inherent nature of our human fallibility when it comes to interpreting so-called facts and forming our opinions and beliefs. I have written books that cover the many ways in which we find ourselves manipulated by biases, contexts, framing, influence, defense mechanisms, compliance principles, and so forth. Indeed, my NY Times Bestseller, Choices and Illusions, illustrates this influence from our chicken yard teachings to the sophisticated deployment of technology designed ... Read More
In this week’s spotlight I would like to discuss the American Dream. Webster defines the American Dream this way, “The ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative.” Owning Your Own Business This ambitious statement is often trivialized with idioms of baseball and apple pie. That said, if we take a moment to think about the true meaning, “that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and ... Read More
