
Understanding Beliefs
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Narrated by:
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Don Hagen
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By:
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Nils J. Nilsson
About this listen
Our beliefs constitute a large part of our knowledge of the world. We have beliefs about objects, about culture, about the past, and about the future. We have beliefs about other people, and we believe that they have beliefs as well. We use beliefs to predict, to explain, to create, to console, to entertain. Some of our beliefs we call theories, and we are extraordinarily creative at constructing them. Theories of quantum mechanics, evolution, and relativity are examples. But so are theories about astrology, alien abduction, guardian angels, and reincarnation. All are products (with varying degrees of credibility) of fertile minds trying to find explanations for observed phenomena.
In this book, Nils Nilsson examines beliefs: what they do for us, how we come to hold them, and how to evaluate them. We should evaluate our beliefs carefully, Nilsson points out, because they influence so many of our actions and decisions. Some of our beliefs are more strongly held than others, but all should be considered tentative and changeable. Nilsson shows that beliefs can be quantified by probability, and he describes networks of beliefs in which the probabilities of some beliefs affect the probabilities of others. He argues that we can evaluate our beliefs by adapting some of the practices of the scientific method and by consulting expert opinion. And he warns us about "belief traps" - holding on to beliefs that wouldn't survive critical evaluation. The best way to escape belief traps, he writes, is to expose our beliefs to the reasoned criticism of others.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.
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Artificial intelligence is amplifying human ingenuity and disrupting the foundations of health care, military, entertainment, education, marketing and manufacturing. Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Power argues that this AI-driven revolution will have an unequal impact on different segments of humanity. There will be new winners and losers, new haves and have-nots, resulting in an unprecedented concentration of wealth and power.
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Eye opening
- By Sushmith Kulkarni on 09-28-23
By: Rajiv Malhotra
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Quantum Entanglement
- MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series
- By: Jed Brody
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 3 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Quantum physics is notable for its brazen defiance of common sense. (Think of Schrödinger's Cat, famously both dead and alive.) An especially rigorous form of quantum contradiction occurs in experiments with entangled particles. Our common assumption is that objects have properties whether or not anyone is observing them, and the measurement of one can't affect the other. Quantum entanglement rejects this assumption, offering impeccable reasoning and irrefutable evidence of the opposite. Is quantum entanglement mystical, or just mystifying?
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gappy and devoid of rigor
- By Anonymous User on 05-03-20
By: Jed Brody
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Cynicism
- MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series
- By: Ansgar Allen
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Everyone's a cynic, yet few will admit it. Today's cynics excuse themselves half-heartedly - "I hate to be a cynic, but...." - before making their pronouncements. Narrowly opportunistic, always on the take, contemporary cynicism has nothing positive to contribute. The Cynicism of the ancient Greeks, however, was very different. Bold and shameless, it was committed to transforming the values on which civilization depends.
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Thorough and informative
- By Iván on 11-24-24
By: Ansgar Allen
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Data and Goliath
- The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World
- By: Bruce Schneier
- Narrated by: Dan John Miller
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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In Data and Goliath, Schneier reveals the full extent of surveillance, censorship, and propaganda in society today, examining the risks of cybercrime, cyberterrorism, and cyberwar. He shares technological, legal, and social solutions that can help shape a more equal, private, and secure world. This is an audiobook to which everyone with an Internet connection - or bank account or smart device or car, for that matter - needs to listen.
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Great information
- By Jeremy on 06-12-15
By: Bruce Schneier
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The Conscious Mind
- By: Zoltan Torey
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 3 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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How did the human mind emerge from the collection of neurons that makes up the brain? How did the brain acquire self-awareness, functional autonomy, language, and the ability to think, to understand itself and the world? In this volume in the Essential Knowledge series, Zoltan Torey offers an accessible and concise description of the evolutionary breakthrough that created the human mind.
By: Zoltan Torey
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Neuroplasticity
- The MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series
- By: Moheb Costandi
- Narrated by: Tim Andres Pabon
- Length: 3 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Fifty years ago, neuroscientists thought that a mature brain was fixed like a fly in amber, unable to change. Today, we know that our brains and nervous systems change throughout our lifetimes. This concept of neuroplasticity has captured the imagination of a public eager for self-improvement - and has inspired countless Internet entrepreneurs who peddle dubious "brain training" games and apps. In this book, Moheb Costandi offers a concise and engaging overview of neuroplasticity for the general listener.
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A great introductory read on the brain.
- By Brent Rossman on 06-15-17
By: Moheb Costandi
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Computational Thinking
- By: Peter J. Denning, Matti Tedre
- Narrated by: Steven Jay Cohen
- Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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A few decades into the digital era, scientists discovered that thinking in terms of computation made possible an entirely new way of organizing scientific investigation; eventually, every field had a computational branch: computational physics, computational biology, computational sociology. More recently, "computational thinking" has become part of the K-12 curriculum. But what is computational thinking? This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series offers an accessible overview.
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Too slow, repetitive for professional programmers
- By Kindle Customer on 04-06-21
By: Peter J. Denning, and others
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The Myth of Artificial Intelligence
- Why Computers Can’t Think the Way We Do
- By: Erik J. Larson
- Narrated by: Perry Daniels
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Futurists insist that AI will soon eclipse the capacities of the most gifted human mind. What hope do we have against superintelligent machines? But we aren't really on the path to developing intelligent machines. In fact, we don't even know where that path might be. Erik Larson takes us on a tour of the landscape of AI to show how far we are from superintelligence and what it would take to get there.
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dead wrong after 2 years
- By K. Lyon on 07-11-23
By: Erik J. Larson
An excellent introduction to epistemology.
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1. Beliefs become more "correct" in psychology terms when you have an explanation for the belief. Belief with explanation is more strong, then belief without explanation.
2. Chapter 10 in the audiobook, It is more easy to believe in something, then to doubt a belief. We believe faster, then we dis-belief.
3. When you are always talk with people who thinks and belief like you, you are LESS likely to change your beliefs.
Not worth a second read, I took it 3 things
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To give "Five Star" to this book is a belief.
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but in my opinion, this book doesn't have anything that really makes you go "wow" and transforms your beliefs so you can make money or live a propserous or fulfilling life or anything like that. it's purely stating scientific reasoning, which is sort of obvious already.
it's okay
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