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The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone QUOTES

The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone QUOTES

1 " [That] the driving force of the evolution of human intelligence was the coordination of multiple cognitive systems to pursue complex, shared goals [is called] the social brain hypothesis. It attributes the increase in intelligence to the increasing size and complexity of hominid social groups. Living in a group confers advantages, as we have seen with hunting, but it also demands certain cognitive abilities. It requires the ability to communicate in sophisticated ways, to understand and incorporate the perspectives of others, and to share common goals. The social brain hypothesis posits that the cognitive demands and adaptive advantages associated with living in a group created a snowball effect: As groups got larger and developed more complex joint behaviors, individuals developed new capabilities to support those behaviors. These new capabilities in turn allowed groups to get even larger and allowed group behavior to become even more complex. "

― , The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone

2 " [That] the driving force of the evolution of human intelligence was the coordination of multiple cognitive systems to pursue complex, shared goal [is called] the social brain hypothesis. It attributes the increase in intelligence to the increasing size and complexity of hominid social groups. Living in a group confers advantages, as we have seen with hunting, but it also demands certain cognitive abilities. It requires the ability to communicate in sophisticated ways, to understand and incorporate the perspectives of others, and to share common goals. The social brain hypothesis posits that the cognitive demands and adaptive advantages associated with living in a group created a snowball effect: As groups got larger and developed more complex joint behaviors, individuals developed new capabilities to support those behaviors. These new capabilities in turn allowed groups to get even larger and allowed group behavior to become even more complex. "

― , The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone

3 " We typically don’t know enough individually to form knowledgeable, nuanced views about new technologies and scientific developments. We simply have no choice but to adopt the positions of those we trust. Our attitudes and those of the people around us thus become mutually reinforcing. And the fact that we have a strong opinion makes us think that there must be a firm basis for our opinion, so we think we know a lot, more than in fact we do. "

― , The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone

4 " I really do believe that our attitudes are shaped much more by our social groups than they are by facts on the ground. We are not great reasoners. Most people don't like to think at all, or like to think as little as possible. And by most, I mean roughly 70 percent of the population. Even the rest seem to devote a lot of their resources to justifying beliefs that they want to hold, as opposed to forming credible beliefs based only on fact. "

― , The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone

5 " Our intelligence resides not in individual brains but in the collective mind. To function, individuals rely not only on knowledge stored within our skulls but also on knowledge stored elsewhere: in our bodies, in the environment, and especially in other people. "

― , The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone

6 " Put simply, people tend to do what they know and fail to do that which they have no conception of. In that way, ignorance profoundly channels the course we take in life . . . People fail to reach their potential as professionals, lovers, parents, and people simply because they are not aware of the possible. "

― , The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone

7 " We live under the knowledge illusion because we fail to draw an accurate line between what is inside and outside our heads. And we fail because there is no sharp line. So we frequently don’t know what we don’t know. "

― , The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone

8 " The human mind is both genius and pathetic, brilliant and idiotic. "

― , The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone

9 " The secret to our success is that we live in a world in which knowledge is all around us. It is in the things we make, in our bodies and workspaces, and in other people. We live in a community of knowledge. "

― , The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone

10 " No one individual had one one-thousandth of the knowledge necessary to fully understand it all. "

― , The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone

11 " We will see that humans specialize in reasoning about how the world works, about causality. "

― , The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone

12 " the mind evolved to support our ability to act effectively. "

― , The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone

13 " Instead of appreciating complexity, people tend to affiliate with one or another social dogma. "

― , The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone

14 " The sixth chakra, also called the Ajna chakra, is located between the eyebrows. "

― , The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone

15 " Instead of appreciating complexity, people tend to affiliate with one or another social dogma. Because our knowledge is enmeshed with that of others, the community shapes our beliefs and attitudes. It is so hard to reject an opinion shared by our peers that too often we don’t even try to evaluate claims based on their merits. We let our group do our thinking for us. Appreciating the communal nature of knowledge should make us more realistic about what’s determining our beliefs and values. "

― , The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone