“From the brain, and from the brain only, arise our pleasures, joy, laughter and jests, as well as our sorrows, pains, griefs, and tears.”
Hippocrates – Philosopher
We humans are constantly improving our thinking performance by studying how we think.
We have brain power which is improving brain power in a virtuous circle.
This is powerful stuff.
It is not surprising that the study of human thought and the brain has drawn the attention of great scientists, philosophers, sociologists, and economists. The subject is extraordinarily broad and there is a lot of very interesting debate, but very few solid conclusions. This is great if you want to immerse yourself in what might be the greatest scientific investigation of all time, but it doesn’t help if you want to
get to the pragmatic ‘so what?’ questions.
- How can I use this stuff to make me smarter,
- to help me to be more effective at thinking,
- and to
make good decisions?
This website and book are inspired by the pure science of how our brains work,
but are
focused on applied science, on the more practical question: ‘How do we think?’
Some of the science here will be familiar; for example Confirmation Bias (the way it is easier to find evidence which supports our views) and Framing (where the subtle setting of expectations can influence outcomes). Others are not so well known but equally interesting and powerful, such as Prospect Theory, which explains how expectations of gains or losses affect our judgement of risk.
They support Good Thinking, and Bad. Once we are aware of them we can support the good thinking effect and subvert the bad.
It is all about that virtuous circle. Just about all of the best stuff that humanity has done has been because we can think. Because we like to think about thinking, we are getting better at thinking over time.
The better we get at thinking, the more we can use the brains we have to their full potential.
Then we can do even better stuff. This virtuous circle applies to humanity in general and to each one of us. So dive in and find out how you can be even smarter than you already are.
“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking.
It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”
Albert Einstein – Scientist