Philosophical questions that arise when we compare reality to our subjective experience of it

December 23, 2020

A surprisingly large number of unsettled questions in philosophy arise from the difficulty of meshing: A. our theoretical understanding of what things are "really" like (physics, atoms, etc.) with B. our direct, first-hand experiences as humans. Examples: (1) Ethics - most people experience a visceral feeling that some things are inherently and universally morally wrong (e.g., murdering children). Yet it's unclear what, in the universe of atoms (or in physics), could make (o...

Five Powerful Learning Techniques Most People Have Never Tried

September 6, 2020

Obscure yet very powerful methods of learning that many people have never tried Here are five uncommon but highly effective learning techniques: 1. Intuition Flooding To understand something well on a gut level, spend hours looking closely at a huge number of examples, until your intuition forms a predictive model. I do this fairly often but don’t think I’ve heard it discussed! Example: Look carefully at 100 user interfaces. 2. Expert Observation Ask an expert if you can wa...