On Wisdom

48: A Joyous Journey from Black-and-White to Grey (with Tom Gilovich)

August 1st, 2022  |  48 mins 26 secs

amos tversky, basketball, bias blind spot, black and white thinking, cosmic insignificance, critical thinking, daniel kahneman, emotions, george loewenstein, happiness, hot hand effect, i-frame, less ross, meaning, nick chater, nudges, oliver burkeman, philosophy, psychology, purpose, reasoning, richard nisbett, s-frame, social science, spotlight effect, tom gilovich, well being, wisdom

Is "the spectrum" a more helpful way to think about the world than "categories"? Tom Gilovich joins Igor and Charles to discuss the perils of black-and-white thinking, the evolving data on the hot hand phenomenon, the science of regret, why foxes are wiser than hedgehogs, and the freedom that comes from learning that we are of less interest to other people than we think. Igor considers the limits of psychological nudging in tackling society’s structural problems, Tom shares the perspective that leads him to be so unrelentingly joyful, and Charles learns that even scientists have to work hard to avoid being typecast. Welcome to Episode 48.

47: Charting Pandemic Waters: A Common Wisdom Model for Uncertain Times (with Howard Nusbaum) - Rebroadcast

July 20th, 2022  |  1 hr 2 mins

adversity, alfred binet, artificial intelligence, balance of self- and other-oriented interests, candace vogler, centre for practical wisdom, common wisdom model, cortex-adaptability, dialectal thinking, emotions, epistemic humility, happiness, howard nusbaum, iq, jingle-jangle fallacy, keith stanovich, meaning, metacognition, moral-grounding, nancy snow, perspectival insight, perspectivism, philosophy, propositional logic, psychology, purpose, pursuit of truth, reasoning, shared humanity, social science, social-cognitive processing, toronto wisdom task force, university of chicago, valerie tiberius, value-action gap, values, well being, wisdom, wisdom measurement

(First Broadcast - 21st June 2020)

What is the value of wisdom in the time of the global pandemic? Does the community of behavioural scientists studying wisdom agree on anything about the nature of wisdom? Can we say what we now know about wisdom and, conversely, what do we know we don’t yet know? Howard Nusbaum joins Igor and Charles to discuss the recently assembled Toronto Wisdom Task Force and the resulting Common Wisdom Model, meta-cognition, the thorny issue of moral-grounding, and sage advice regarding how to measure wisdom in the lab. Igor stresses the importance of building solid theoretical foundations for the field in the context of the pandemic, Howard reflects on the viability of evil wisdom, and Charles learns that we had better pay close attention today to the values we program into the decision-making robots of tomorrow.

46: Antifragility, Gut Feelings, and the Myth of Pure Evil (with Jonathan Haidt) - Rebroadcast

June 27th, 2022  |  58 mins 20 secs

antifragility, authoritarian conservatives, buddhism, chris martin, culture, dale carnegie, donald trump, edmund burke, emotions, evergreen state college, greg lukianoff, happiness, heraclitus, heterodox academy, jonathan haidt, karen stenner, laissez-faire conservatives, manichaeism, marcus aurelius, meaning, middlebury college, moral foundations theory, more in common, narrowcasting, nassim nicholas taleb, national review magazine, nicholas rosenkranz, philosophy, polarization, psychology, purpose, reasoning, richard schweder, robert putnam, ronald reagan, social psychology, social science, society, status quo conservatives, stoicism, the coddling of the american mind, the great awokening, the happiness hypothesis, the perception gap, the righteous mind, thomas sowell, well being, wisdom

(First Broadcast - 4th November 2019)

Does that which doesn’t kill you make you weaker? Should we always follow our emotions? Is life a battle between good people and bad people? And critically, what might the adoption of these three popular, but unwise, ideas be doing to a rising generation of young adults? Jonathan Haidt joins Igor and Charles to discuss the three great untruths of modern life, the nature of antifragility, the 'great awokening,' rising violence on US university campuses, and the origin story of the Heterodox Academy. Igor suggests that diversity can help some projects while hindering others, Jon shares his ultimate conflict-resolving ninja skill, and Charles learns that conservative voters come in radically different shapes and sizes.

29: Charting Pandemic Waters: A Common Wisdom Model for Uncertain Times (with Howard Nusbaum)

June 21st, 2020  |  1 hr 8 mins

adversity, alfred binet, artificial intelligence, balance of self- and other-oriented interests, candace vogler, centre for practical wisdom, common wisdom model, cortex-adaptability, dialectal thinking, emotions, epistemic humility, happiness, howard nusbaum, iq, jingle-jangle fallacy, keith stanovich, meaning, metacognition, moral-grounding, nancy snow, perspectival insight, perspectivism, philosophy, propositional logic, psychology, purpose, pursuit of truth, reasoning, shared humanity, social science, social-cognitive processing, toronto wisdom task force, university of chicago, valerie tiberius, value-action gap, values, well being, wisdom, wisdom measurement

What is the value of wisdom in the time of the global pandemic? Does the community of behavioural scientists studying wisdom agree on anything about the nature of wisdom? Can we say what we now know about wisdom and, conversely, what do we know we don’t yet know? Howard Nusbaum joins Igor and Charles to discuss the recently assembled Toronto Wisdom Task Force and the resulting Common Wisdom Model, meta-cognition, the thorny issue of moral-grounding, and sage advice regarding how to measure wisdom in the lab. Igor stresses the importance of building solid theoretical foundations for the field in the context of the pandemic, Howard reflects on the viability of evil wisdom, and Charles learns that we had better pay close attention today to the values we program into the decision-making robots of tomorrow. Welcome to Episode 29.

28: Pandemic Happiness (with Sonja Lyubomirsky)

April 23rd, 2020  |  31 mins 55 secs

9-11, barbara fredrickson, coronavirus, counting blessings, covid-19, culture, depression, ed diener, effort, emotions, eudaimonic happiness, face-to-face connection, global pandemic, gratitude, happiness, happiness intervention dosage, happiness intervention fit, hedonic happiness, immunity, indebtedness, life satisfaction, lockdown, meaning, mother teresa, motivation, optimism, personal connection, philanthropy, philosophy, positive emotions, psychology, purpose, reasoning, resilience, social science, sonja lyubomirsky, south korea, well being, wisdom

Is happiness research even relevant in such times of crisis, or is focusing on our happiness simply a luxury we can no longer afford? And, while effective for many people, why does the cultivation of gratitude sometimes result in unexpectedly negative consequences? Sonja Lyubomirsky joins Igor and Charles to discuss the key components of happiness, lessons from 9-11, ‘happiness-intervention fit’, Mother Teresa’s dark side, and the unexpected psychological impact of the global pandemic to date. Igor reflects on life-under-lockdown vs life in the downfall of the Soviet Union, Sonja discusses the subtle art of balancing optimism with positive action, and Charles learns that when it comes to counting one’s blessings, it pays not to count too high.

27: The Wisdom of a Modern Elder (with Chip Conley)

April 6th, 2020  |  53 mins 42 secs

abraham maslow, age diversity, ageism, airbnb, baby boomer, brian chesky, burning man project, chip conley, curiosity, emotions, gavin newsom, governor of california, happiness, intergenerational housing, meaning, middlescence, midlife wisdom school, modern elder, modern elder academy, peter drucker, philosophy, psychology, purpose, reasoning, sandwich generation, social science, stanford center on longevity, u-curve of happiness, viktor frankl, well being, wisdom, wisdom @ work: the making of a modern elder

Though there is a lot of talk about diversity in the workplace, “age diversity” is often overlooked. Might there even be an emerging mission-critical role for wise elders in the world’s most cutting-edge tech companies? Hospitality maverick and Airbnb Strategic Advisor Chip Conley joins Igor and Charles to discuss the U-Curve of happiness, the surprises and challenges of mentoring billionaire CEOs and State Governors, the potential of intergenerational housing, the emergence of a new generation of wisdom workers, and his new project to build the world’s first midlife wisdom school - The Modern Elder Academy. Igor seeks new solutions for the stressed 'sandwich generation', Chip highlights the importance of curiosity at work and how mentoring and interning often go hand-in-hand, and Charles picks Chip’s brain on how to make wisdom more hip and sexy. Welcome to Episode 27.

24: Misbehavioral Economics: Choosing irrationality

January 13th, 2020  |  39 mins

books, cass sunstein, choice architecture, civic law, civic norms, common’s dilemma, cooperation, cultural change, dictator game, economic games, economics, emotions, ethics, experimental philosophy, fairness, formal logic, friedrich von hayek, game theory, happiness, john rawls, keynesian economics, meaning, milton friedman, moral psychology, neoliberalism, nudging, philosophy, prisoner’s dilemma, psycholinguistics, psychology, public policy, purpose, rational choice theory, reason, reasoning, richard thaler, self-interest, sharing, social psychology, social science, taxes, tv sitcoms, utility maximization, well being, wisdom

Are people being reasonable when they act irrationally? Doesn’t rationality and reasonableness mean the same thing? Charles and Igor kick of the new decade by diving into a messy mix of behavioral economics, nudges, moral philosophy and legal studies, to examine what standards guide people’s decisions. Charles asks Igor about core standards that guide people when they try to make a good decision. Igor unpacks how the standard of a rational agent evolved in the 20th century and what implications it has had for modern economics and politics. Charles wonders if there are any reasonable people left on the Clapham omnibus in London. Igor discusses his new work assessing how most people define rationality and reasonableness, showing that irrational behavior may be a consequence of focusing on reasonableness instead. Welcome to Episode 24.

23: Antifragility, Gut Feelings, and the Myth of Pure Evil (with Jonathan Haidt)

November 4th, 2019  |  57 mins 38 secs

antifragility, authoritarian conservatives, buddhism, chris martin, culture, dale carnegie, donald trump, edmund burke, emotions, evergreen state college, greg lukianoff, happiness, heraclitus, heterodox academy, jonathan haidt, karen stenner, laissez-faire conservatives, manichaeism, marcus aurelius, meaning, middlebury college, moral foundations theory, more in common, narrowcasting, nassim nicholas taleb, national review magazine, nicholas rosenkranz, philosophy, polarization, psychology, purpose, reasoning, richard schweder, robert putnam, ronald reagan, social psychology, social science, society, status quo conservatives, stoicism, the coddling of the american mind, the great awokening, the happiness hypothesis, the perception gap, the righteous mind, thomas sowell, well being, wisdom

Does that which doesn’t kill you make you weaker? Should we always follow our emotions? Is life a battle between good people and bad people? And critically, what might the adoption of these three popular, but unwise, ideas be doing to a rising generation of young adults? Jonathan Haidt joins Igor and Charles to discuss the three great untruths of modern life, the nature of antifragility, the 'great awokening,' rising violence on US university campuses, and the origin story of the Heterodox Academy. Igor suggests that diversity can help some projects while hindering others, Jon shares his ultimate conflict-resolving ninja skill, and Charles learns that conservative voters come in radically different shapes and sizes. Welcome to Episode 23.

22: The Epistemic Tightrope: Walking The Line of Doubt (with Scott Lilienfeld)

October 7th, 2019  |  51 mins 46 secs

10% of your brain, abraham lincoln, bias blind spot, carl sagan, clinical psychology, cognitive biases, confirmation bias, daniel kahneman, elizabeth loftus, emily pronin, emotions, epistemic humility, evidence-based medicine, evidence-based practice, happiness, intellectual humility, linus pauling, lucy, mark leary, meaning, nobel prize, philosophy, psychology, purpose, reasoning, richard nisbett, scarlett johansson, seymour epstein, social science, walter mischel, well being, werewolves, wisdom

Patients always receive treatment in agreement with the best scientific evidence available, right? Well, no. Not really. Clinical practitioners seem to suffer from many of the cognitive biases that affect the rest of us, and treatment decisions are often much less science-based that we might like to think. Scott Lilienfeld joins Igor and Charles to discuss evidence-based practice in psychotherapy, the importance of doubting, clinical psychology’s dirty little secret, Scarlett Johansson’s brain, confirmation bias, how science really works, and why people just can’t let go of the idea that a full moon triggers werewolf-style behaviour. Igor reveals he learnt his English from TV detective ‘Columbo’, Scott discusses the fine art of planting seeds of doubt in conversations, and Charles learn from Abraham Lincoln that intellectual humility can ultimately be a path to earned intellectual confidence. Welcome to Episode 22.

21: The Art and Science of Knowing You Don't Know (with Mark Alfano)

September 13th, 2019  |  53 mins 32 secs

algorithms, contempt, corrigibility, digital mining, education, emotions, engagement, enlightenment, epistemic humility, experimental philosophy, facebook, happiness, hume, intellectual humility, intellectual modesty, intellectual virtues, kant, machine-learning, meaning, moral virtues, nietzsche, open-mindedness, philosophy, polarization, politics, psychology, purpose, reasoning, social media, social science, socrates, twitter, virtue education, virtues, well being, wisdom

We live in confusing times. Politics is polarizing. Opinions clash on many topics leading to heated discussions. Take environmental change and what to do about it, the best ways to achieve prosperity, or the threats and opportunities of our globalized economy. Are we ready to admit that we often actually don’t understand what’s going on? Mark Alfano joins Igor and Charles to discuss the importance of ‘intellectual humility’ when seeking a more accurate grasp of reality, the perils of poorly designed virtue education programmes, Nietzsche and his take on the intellectual virtues, and the training of machine-learning algorithms to mine our digital footprints for signs of virtuous behaviour. Igor raises concerns that embracing uncertainty may hobble vital action, Mark talks of the dangers of creaking open your social media newsfeed too wide, and Charles learns that fostering contempt for oneself and one’s group may be essential on the path to truth. Welcome to Episode 21.