Category: research

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About Learning Better Life research trust

Trusted Sources 4 – Intellectual BL011

We’ve been considering different factors that might affect the sources that we consider credible. 
I’ve proposed that there are four categories of factors, and the last one to look at is:
Intellectual
– consistent – presents similar information over time, evolving in a measured way
– open/flexible – adjusts their information, beliefs, in the face of new arguments or evidence
– fair/tolerant – seriously and respectfully addresses alternate ideas
– reasoned – approaches information in a structured way
– studied – has studied the work of experts in relevant domains
– skilled – has learned through repeated application and has demonstrated results
– experienced – has spent sufficient time exploring broadly and deeply and has relevant life experience
 
You could ask yourself of a source, using the lists presented, does this source have a history of behaving in this way?
 
These lists have just been starting points, and they can be refined and extended. 
 
Why do we spend so much time on this? Taking action to improve, to make a difference, to achieve a better life, needs to be based on high quality information, and we almost always need to consult what others have done to understand why, what, and how to get better. There are many conscious and unconscious factors that go into who we choose to listen to, and by becoming more aware we can make more conscious choices. 
 
We haven’t yet discussed how to evaluate the information being presented, and will come back to that. The best, credible, reliable, and most trustworthy sources can still be wrong.
 
Exercise
1. Think about some times when these intellectual factors have been the most important in choosing which sources you use to answer a question, solve a problem, or make a decision.
2. Consider a specific source (person, group, program, organization, page, channel, etc.) Do your assessments of the practical, personal, social, and intellectual factors all give you the same impression of the source?
3. What are the pros and cons to selecting sources based on these intellectual reasons?
4. What would you add to any of the categories we’ve covered?
5. Are there any factors you can think of that don’t fit into any of the categories?
 
About Learning
Learning and improvement take time, attention, and effort, and it quickly becomes a question of priorities. If you are serious about a better life for yourself or others, about furthering a cause, making a difference in the world, then you will have to take a look at how you spend your time and money and other resources. 
 
When I took up hiking as a serious pastime, it meant that was how I chose to spend a weekend day from 2 to 4 weekends each month. I blocked those dates before other commitments, moving or cancelling them only in exceptional cases. Hiking all day meant I couldn’t make a commitment for the evening, and it also meant early to bed and limited partying on the nights before. Getting in shape for more difficult hikes meant devoting at least one evening during the week in the gym. 
 
To follow through on my decision to pursue hiking seriously, to stand on top of some modest peaks, meant a whole range of changes which meant giving up other things (could be thought of as costs), all of which have been for me completely worth it through direct and indirect effects. Direct effects included better physical conditioning, less drinking, more social connection, improved mental health, increased confidence, a sense of wonder, connection to nature, and personal satisfaction. Indirect effects included better sleep, improvements in my diet, and reduced spending.
 
Deciding to pursue learning and improvement is the same. Choosing to explore in a certain direction, or to set and meet learning or improvement goals, requires focus and prioritization that will take away from other activities. You might spend your time in different ways, associate with different people, start to think and feel differently, spend differently, etc. Going about this in a conscious way might be helpful to work on.
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About Learning Better Life research trust

Trusted Sources 3 – Social BL010

Let’s move to the next category of factors that might be used to evaluate information sources when doing research: social.

By social, here, I mean having to do with other individuals, or groups. You might value sources that have any of the following characteristics: 

Social
– popular
– seeming authoritative or charismatic
– appearing to have whatever character traits you find desirable
– attractive
– acknowledged, awarded
– positive reviews or recommendations
– with whom you have a reciprocal relationship
– tribal: you belong to the same group, or aspire to belong to a group they are identified with
 
With social factors, an important question is always: “says who”, and why should they in turn be trusted. If someone is recommended, why should the recommender be listened to? Does someone’s charisma mean that they know what they are talking about? Just because they are trending and popular does that mean that people have done any investigation into the quality and validity of the information?
Exercise
1. Think about some times when these social factors have been the most important in choosing which sources you use to answer a question, solve a problem, or make a decision.
2. When do you go beyond these social sources?
3. What are the pros and cons to selecting sources based on these social reasons?
4. What would you add to any of the categories we’ve covered?
5. How do the items in the three categories we’ve covered overlap?
 
About Learning
This project is about improvement, which is closely related to learning: learning for a purpose, to prevent previous errors, to do better than has been done before, to fit in new information, skills, and experiences with previous ones.
 
I would encourage you to develop your learning skills and appetite, your enjoyment for posing questions, finding answers, solving problems, and fitting it all together. 
 
At the base of this is a genuine curiosity that most of us had as children, that we can develop by wondering, by asking what if, by being gentle with our process of exploration and discovery. 
 
We can learn not to listen to the internal voices that tell us our questions are stupid, that what we wonder about isn’t important, that we waste time dreaming, and so on. 
 
We can learn, and improve our learning abilities, just for fun, for ourselves, for those around us, extending up to a global scale. That may sound ambitious or unrealistic. Bear with me. 
 
Start small, and see what happens. That’s what curiosity and exploration is about.
 
References
N/A
 
Diversion
“I do like clarity and exact thinking and I believe that very important to [humanity]. Because when you allow yourself to think inexactly, your prejudices, your bias, your self-interest, comes in in ways you don’t notice and you do bad things without knowing you’re doing them. Self-deception is very easy.” Bertrand Russell, philosopher
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About Learning Better Life research trust

Trusted Sources 2 – Practical and Personal BL009

There are a lot of factors that could affect which sources we trust. These factors can be grouped into several categories, such as practical, personal, social, and intellectual. There are overlaps to be sure, but it is helpful to separate them for ease of discussion.

Let’s consider practical factors:
  • at hand — physical or electronic resources we possess
  • visible — shows up early in search results; mentioned in another resource; advertised or displayed
  • accessible — free or cheap; no login or paywall; immediate access
  • convenient or easy — little time or effort required
And personal factors
  • familiar — used it before
  • agreeable — supports what we already know or believe
  • feels good — makes us feel safe, powerful, proud, happy, hopeful, virtuous, or simply right(eous)
  • aligned — with what we value or seek
  • supportive — furthers our own ends
In the next post we’ll continue exploring the categories.
Exercise
1. Think about some times when these practical and personal factors have been the most important in choosing which sources you use to answer a question, solve a problem, or make a decision.
2. When do you go beyond these practical and personal sources?
3. What are the pros and cons to selecting sources based on these practical and personal reasons?
4. What other practical and personal factors would you add to the list I provided?
About Learning
Do you find it difficult to settle down and be productive when you are trying to get the exercises done? Here are a few tips that apply to any kind of brain work
  • Put the time in your schedule. Make sure you have enough time to switch gears mentally from what you were doing, settle, do the work, and switch gears back to your other activities again.
  • Arrange with others to have a few minutes without interruption.
  • Turn devices to silent and leave them in a different room.
  • If you using a device, make sure all notifications are off.
  • Work in the same place.
  • Keep the tools you need together and handy, whether it’s software, files, and links on a computer or books, binders, and writing/drawing tools.
  • At the start of the session, take a minute to write down a short list of things that are on your mind, that you are going to set aside for just a little while, because this is important work that will help you be more effective and helpful to others. Cover the list and move it away from your work space, physically or electronically. 
  • Create a parking lot list. This is for anything that comes up while you are working that you don’t want to forget. Keep the list accessible but not visible when you are working. If something comes up, quickly jot down a reminder on that list (don’t get into it!), and move back to your focus.
References
N/A
Diversion
https://xkcd.com/2129/
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About Learning Better Life confirmation bias research trust

Trusted Sources 1 BL008

Research is an essential component of any type of learning. In the last post we looked at the importance of seeking out different sources of information from experts, forecasts, and history, to name a few, in determining our standards, goals and methods.
But we have millions of potential sources of information, and as humans we all have a tendency to seek out information that is familiar, comfortable, that we agree with.
Exaggerating that tendency are the various internet services that provide us posts and ads based on our past viewing. If I click an ad about trampolines, even by accident, I will continue to get ads about trampolines. Annoying in this case, and harmless because I was never interested in trampolines and the chance that I will ever buy one is zero.
A little more disturbing is something that has happened. I clicked a video link on YouTube featuring a very popular public figure that I instinctively dislike. Watching the video confirmed my impression of him as misguided at best, and possibly very damaging. But now YouTube continually suggests videos featuring him, and the channels that love him, and information similar to what he promotes, nearly all at least as questionable, and some much worse — because they are all popular with the same group of people, or have the same keywords, or are promoted by the same advertisers, or however these hidden algorithms work. 
I use YouTube as an example, but just about every site works this way. I don’t “blame” YouTube. Their algorithms are presumably intended to be neutral (though that doesn’t mean they are actually neutral), and I believe I have turned on the settings that allow for this behaviour because it does give me some benefits, but the potential unintended consequences are great. I am a conscious consumer of information and I have to exert a continual effort to validate my choices.
Leaving aside the technology aspects of this issue, in general it has always been important to make some judgements: how do you decide who to listen to, who’s right, who’s to be trusted. Should I listen to the person in the bar, the book that’s prominently displayed in the bookstore window, the talk show guest, the news channel commentator, the documentary filmmaker?
This is not as simple as it sounds, and we’ll take a few posts to delve into this. The questions in this exercise are challenging ones. I’m asking you to take a hard look in the mirror and review what you actually do, why you do it, and how well it’s working. Don’t let yourself off the hook by evading the questions, but do be gentle with yourself with the answers. We’re all human, none of us are perfect, we all make mistakes, and all have lots to learn — that’s presumably why you’ve made it this far in this learning project!
Exercise
1. In what situations do you do a lot of research before making a decision? Why?
2. In what situations do you NOT do much research before making a decision? Why
3. What are your preferred sources? Why?
4. Who do you trust/distrust? Why?
5. How competitive are you? 
6. Are you used to being right?
7. What’s your history with authorities? Parents? Teachers? Governments? Institutions?
8. How do you think your answers to the above affect your research habits — what you seek, and how you view what you encounter?
9. Do you think the decisions you have made are the best possible, based on how they turned out for you and everyone else impacted?
About Learning
Proceeding without the details. I’m a planner. I like to know the goals, blocks of work, activities, effort, and a schedule. This effort is a bit different. After years of working in related areas I believe I know the lay of the land, have the essential skills and the capacity to learn new ones (and get help as resources permit), and having done some high level planning, I now feel sufficiently confident (and at the same time blissfully ignorant), to just jump in and let it evolve. I feel that I can avoid making unrecoverable mistakes, and can at minimum be micro-helpful. I learn so much just by doing it, and future paths and opportunities will arise that I perhaps could plan for, but that are just as successfully addressed as I go. This is not true of more complex or unfamiliar domains.
References
Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me), Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson