'Know Thyself' advised the ancient Greek sages who defined us as rational animals. Rationality, they thought, could be achieved by controlling the emotions and avoiding logical fallacies. We now know... More > that the brain is a great deceiver. Unconscious biases drive us to believe and do things that the conscious mind explains in self-serving stories, making us appear more rational to ourselves than we really are. Modern science has taught us that rationality involves much more than just controlling the emotions and avoiding fallacies. Today’s rational animal—what we call the critical thinker—must understand the unconscious biases that are directing many of our most important judgments and decisions. The Critical Thinker’s Dictionary explores the insights of ancient and modern philosophers along with the latest findings in such fields as neuroscience and behavioral economics to lay out the many obstacles and snares that await anyone committed to a rational life.< Less
Our selective abandonment of reason to belief compromises our fundamental decision-making capacity, both in small personal matters and in critical public policy. This book will give you the insights... More > and techniques you need to apply scientific rigor to your everyday decision-making. It will help you to understand how to verify facts, avoid logical pitfalls and belief-driven biases, and use fact-based reasoning to make important moral and ethical decisions. But more than that, it will give you a deep sense of awe and wonder to be a part of the incredible universe revealed by fact.< Less
Our selective abandonment of reason to belief compromises our fundamental decision-making capacity, both in small personal matters and in critical public policy. This book will give you the insights... More > and techniques you need to apply scientific rigor to your everyday decision-making. It will help you to understand how to verify facts, avoid logical pitfalls and belief-driven biases, and use fact-based reasoning to make important moral and ethical decisions. But more than that, it will give you a deep sense of awe and wonder to be a part of the incredible universe revealed by fact.< Less
White was the first president of Cornell University, and he caused some consternation in mid-nineteenth-century America by determining that the university would not be beholden to any particular... More > school of religious or theological thought. Naturally, there were complaints and public outcries. White's response was to spend the rest of his life defending his viewpoint that science needs to be free of religious restriction. What began as a few speeches and articles became this detailed 20 chapter tome. The primary focus is the struggle for science to overcome the Christian bias. The earth is round, it is not the center of the universe, disease is not the result of devil possession, comets are not fireballs from an angry god. Released in 1896, the science presented is a bit dated but the historcial data is very relevent.< Less
In the mid-1980's, then Professor of Pathology at a major University Medical School, Dr. Horn became intrigued by concerns about how the AIDS epidemic could have happened.
His earlier jobs as an NIH... More > research scientist in the 1960's, his 16-year career as an Academic Patholog encompassing the 1970's, and a few years as a hospital pathologist in the 80's have given him hands-on and eyes-open experience in the complex worlds of science and medicine.
Challenged and chastened by some of those experiences, he felt compelled to consider scenaarios to account for the scourge of AIDS.
As a result of that urge, he created this fictional narrative depicting but one scenario that he imagines might have happened.
This book is formatted as novel, but there are appended features which attempt to describe basic concepts underlying the pathogenesis of AIDS.< Less
In the mid-1980's, then Professor of Pathology at a major University Medical School, Dr. Horn became intrigued by concerns about how the AIDS epidemic could have happened.
His earlier jobs as an NIH... More > research scientist in the 1960's, his 16-year career as an Academic Patholog encompassing the 1970's, and a few years as a hospital pathologist in the 80's have given him hands-on and eyes-open experience in the complex worlds of science and medicine.
Challenged and chastened by some of those experiences, he felt compelled to consider scenaarios to account for the scourge of AIDS.
As a result of that urge, he created this fictional narrative depicting but one scenario that he imagines might have happened.
This book is formatted as novel, but there are appended features which attempt to describe basic concepts underlying the pathogenesis of AIDS.< Less
...a periodical for the mindfully adventurous.
. ..a creative resource for the life-long learner.
...a search to encounter new ways of thinking.
Join an expedition through the archives of the... More > human imagination, from the hallowed chronicles of ancient history to the laboratories of contemporary science. Explore the origin of our ideas, trace the lineage of our inherited assumptions, and revisit the genesis of our beliefs. Journey through cultures, traditions, and disciplines of the past and present, in search of the world’s most compelling and provocative ideas.< Less
A follow up to 2014 Eric Hoffer Award Finalist Return Trip, Strange Beauty is a further look at aesthetic and artistic biases, information processing and the limits of human knowledge. The short... More > book is written in the author's unique non-linear style mixing academic insight with humor and offbeat subjects. As he wrote in Return Trip, "My job as a writer isn't to make the hard easy. It's to make the hard hard." Cycleback is an art historian and award-winning author who has written extensively in the areas of art history and authentication, cognitive science and philosophy. He was a 2013 Eric Award Finalist for his book Conceits: Cognition and Perception, and his guides Judging the Authenticity of Prints by the Masters and Judging the Authenticity of Photographs were the first comprehensive books on the subjects published in China.< Less
A MEMO to the Educate to Innovate Campaign (Obama, 2009), that recommends top five strategies to increase the number of girls and women in science and engineering education. Made by a group of 20... More > lead organizations with brainstorming response from 350 experts in the national community of practice.
The “July 19th Collaboration” offers a list of 39 focused strategies, each of which can be tied to root causes based on research, and pilot programs with results. Together they comprise a systemic effort to change and correct for historical biases and exclusion.
Lead contact is National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education (NCWGE) http://www.ncwge.org. See also http://stemcollaboration.org .< Less
