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20 Jul 08
Austin TThe human brain is a less-than-perfect device. A new book explains how our minds work … and sometimes don't.
In his new book, "Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind," New York University professor Gary Marcus uses evolutionary psychology to explore the development of that "clumsy, cobbled-together contraption" we call a brain and to answer such puzzling questions as, "Why do half of all Americans believe in ghosts?" and "How can 4 million people believe they were once abducted by aliens?"-
we once we used our brains simply to stay alive and procreate
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adapting ancient skills for modern uses
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resulted in a series of "good enough" but not ideal adaptations
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Evolution is conservative and stingy
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It uses what it has. It doesn't start over--as a statistical matter, something is much more likely to evolve if it involves tinkering.
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A kluge (rhymes with "huge") is defined as a clumsy or inelegant solution to a problem.
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our memories
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the mother of all kluges
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our memory is driven by cues. We need hints and context to remember where we put our purse ("Retrace your steps")
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To free associate from one memory to the next may
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lead depressed people to seek out depressive activities, such as drinking or listening to songs of lost love, which presumably deepens the gloom as well.
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Yet another problem with our contextual memory is that memories tend to run together and are prone to contamination
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take a minute and read your horoscope
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For some reason, the more general or vague a descriptive statement is, the greater the human tendency to believe that it is specifically about us.
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evolution has left us distinctly gullible … the systems that underlie our capacity for belief are powerful, they are also subject to superstition, manipulation and fallacy.
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our brains didn't evolve in a way that allowed us to thoroughly evaluate how well our beliefs represent reality
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the human tendency to most clearly remember information that seems consistent with our beliefs [or emotions] makes it very hard to let those beliefs go.
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ways to trains our brains to act more rationally
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Whenever possible, consider alternative hypotheses
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forcing your brain to get out of the habit of relying on its more instinctual (and less reliable) thought processes and practice using our more conscious frontal lobes
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Whenever possible, don't make important decisions when you are tired or have other things on your mind
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Always weigh benefits against costs
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few of us rarely consider what else we could be doing that's of more value
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19 May 08
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18 May 08
"Evolution has resulted in a series of "good enough" but not ideal adaptations that allow us to be smart enough to invent quantum physics but not clever enough to remember where we put our wallet from one day to the next."
newsweek reviews:books gary_marcus memory evolution delicious_import
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