Avoiding Categorical Thinking
Right now I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather since my furnace has gone out and my house is freezing.
Now, there was an article I am considering writing about with some interesting implications, but in the meantime I looked up an old Robert Sapolsky video when trying to find another one of his videos to cite.
For those unaware, Robert Sapolsky is a behavioral biologist who lectures at Stanford and has published a few books over the past few years. One of his behavioral biology courses is available on YouTube via Stanford’s YouTube channel.
His lectures are rather interesting. He has a bit of dry humor and moves quickly from one thought to another so it may take a few viewings to get into his rhythm.
Anyways, his introductory lecture covers a rather apt topic of categorization. Given that his lectures cover genetic and environmental circumstances for behaviors, Sapolsky wanted to emphasize the importance of not thinking in narrow-minded, artificially divided constructs, but rather look at things in a more nuanced fashion.
We like to view things in categories, or “buckets” as Sapolsky describes them. However, such thoughts may train us to think about things based on buckets rather than in a broader, more nuanced context.
This inability to think more nuanced is a critical failure of how many people construct their viewpoints and ideas. Things are more nuanced and far more contextualized than they may first appear.
It’s important to remember this in discussions about COVID, the vaccines, and all other manners of life in that things are far more complex and nuanced than we tend to argue, and in many cases the lack of understanding the nuance can make it difficult to assess and parse information in a meaningful manner.
Anyways, I thought this would be an interesting “food for thought” video as people go about their Thanksgiving/early holiday activities. Be careful of categorizing things in a manner that avoids other lines of thought.
For those wanting a cutoff the video is critical viewing up until at least the 40 minute mark. Hopefully it can interest you for the full 40 minutes, although I should provide a caveat in stating that Sapolsky mentions the synchronization of menses, which is a rather highly contested hypothesis.
So enjoy your Sunday everyone! And if you would be interested in other videos I come across please let me know!
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May I ask you, what exactly is wrong with your furnace. Some things can be fixed easily. For example, if it goes through the ignition cycle but shuts off, that's usually easily fixable.
Thank you for sharing! Sapolsky is everything you would expect, and more, live!