You Have No Idea How Wrong You Are

Friend shared this short lecture with me, and I thought I would share it here.

The problem with standing on the shoulders of giants is that we are liable to mistake the new horizon for the edge of the earth.

This is a talk I gave at the 2011 Nammour Symposium at Sacramento State.

There are a lot more ways to be wrong than there are ways to be right. Yet somehow, many of us think that we are probably right most of the time. Prior generations were wrong about almost everything they believed, but this does not stop our unfailing confidence that we, being so much more enlightened, have things for the most part figured out.

In this talk I give a short tour of the myriad surprising ways in which (and degrees to which) we can be wrong about even the most seemingly obvious things. This pervasive fallibility will cast doubt not only on our beliefs about matters of objective fact, but also subjective and personal matters such as our predictions about what will make us happy, what we actually believe, and what emotions we are feeling. Drawing on insights from history, psychology and philosophy, I attempt to pin down some of the reasons why we are so often and so profoundly wrong, and why our being wrong (to say nothing of our recalcitrant confidence that we are nonetheless right) is unlikely to change any time soon.

You Have No Idea How Wrong You Are

(not sure why I can't embed)

"Jon Snow, you don't know nothing!"

Well said. Liked that video. I try to look at problems from impropable points of view, just to verify my first impression. Most times, I discover something new.

Sometimes its the smallest items which can surprise.. Have you, for example, ever looked at the eyes of a ladybeetle? No, not those big black patches on its head..

a reply to: WakeUpBeer

I am interested in what you have to say and I will watch the video. To whatever extent you are right, and I'm not saying you are wrong by any means, but what you say undoubtedly applies to politicians and political leaders and political parties also. So where does this leave us with the ever fading democracy we a witnessing today. what do the points you make say about our future from an economic and political perspective?????

thank you for your work.

In the book of Romans Paul goes into trying to explain something your lecturer reminded me of ." Romans 7:14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, soldas a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging waragainst the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature[d] a slave to the law of sin."

www.biblegateway.com...

originally posted by: ManFromEurope
Sometimes its the smallest items which can surprise.. Have you, for example, ever looked at the eyes of a ladybeetle? No, not those big black patches on its head..

I'm not sure that I have but I will be sure to go take a look.

originally posted by: learnatic
I am interested in what you have to say and I will watch the video.
thank you for your work.

I am not the one giving the lecture. The quote in my original post is from the video description on YouTube. Nonetheless, I am happy to share my opinion.


From seeing that some things we accepted as fact in the past (e.g. the geocentric model) turned out to be wrong upon further study, we can remember to keep an open mind about things we accept as fact today, and understand that they may not be factual but only what we believe to be factual at this moment in history. This applies to both scientific, and personal beliefs. I think one good lesson to take away from the video is that there is always room for more understanding in all areas of our reality.

originally posted by: learnatic
So where does this leave us with the ever fading democracy we a witnessing today. what do the points you make say about our future from an economic and political perspective?????

There are many people who would like to see us progress, and many people who would like to keep the majority from progressing. Maybe a better way to say it is there are those that want to control progress for their own gain. Where does that leave us? In my opinion, facing "a hostile ideology global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method."

originally posted by: the2ofusr1
In the book of Romans Paul goes into trying to explain something your lecturer reminded me of.

Reminds me of the part in the video where he is talking about the split hemispheres. Is that the part that reminded you of this passage?

a reply to: WakeUpBeer

Great video, I like this guys style, he makes an important point that more people need to carefully consider. I have subscribed to his channel because he seems to have a lot of interesting lectures. The point he makes in this lecture is especially relevant to science, most people assume science is infallible because they can look around and see all our great technology, and assume we must be 100% right about everything. But like he mentions, just because a theory works doesn't make it correct.

The Standard Model is a perfect example of that, it seems to work well but there's a 99.9999999% chance it's wrong. But it's certainly "less wrong" than older models of the universe. The more I learn about science the more I realize how little we actually know about the universe, and most scientists feel the same way. It's the people who know nothing about science who think it's infallible. The less you know, the more you think you know. I liked his graph which demonstrated that fact.

Yes that part did hit a point . I also have to add that in the book of James it talks about putting off all double mindedness .I think it's called cognitive dissonance in the modern technical term . I want to add this vid clip as well " Philosophy Thinking about Happiness" a reply to: WakeUpBeer

So based on this guy and the video the chances that this guy is completely wrong about his own assumptions is pretty great.

There was a poster a while back (sorry I can't remember who it was) that posted something that still sticks with me to this day because when I read it, I damn near fell off my chair laughing so hard at the truth of it:

"Wisdom is something you acquire after you know it all."