Thinking - Abhishek Chakraborty

Truth is Ruthless

If your wife asks you if she looks overweight, you will utter “no” without flinching, whatever you actually think. On the other hand, all of us consider it morally wrong (under all circumstances) to make sexual advances on children. This fuzziness however creates some interesting dilemma.

Success Comes With a Price Tag

Like everything, even success comes with a price tag. The key is figuring out what that price is and being willing to pay it. The problem however is that the price of a lot of things is not obvious (or remain hidden) till the very end.

The Importance of Doubt in Scientific Thinking

Even though it’s safe to assume that the field of medicine is the epitome of scientific method, ironically, it wasn’t always so. It was a field marred with arrogance, hubris, and a sheer lack of scientific rigour. Most importantly, what medicine lacked was doubt, a necessity in scientific thinking.

The Limits of Our Reasoning

Statistical concepts such as regression are confounding. While they have an explanation, they don’t have any cause. Our mind is strongly biased toward causal explanations and cannot swallow the reason for something being “mere statistics.”

Smart People Should Disagree With You

Being contrarian is often critical to the process of becoming massively valuable. If you can bet on something that nobody agrees with, and win, there’s nothing like it. I’ve written on this topic at length, but turns out that wasn’t enough. It’s still easily misunderstood, which is a shame.

Be an Imperfectionist

Perfectionism is either an excuse to explain why you can’t get something done, or it’s a way (for bad managers) to justify why employees should work harder. It’s stupid and callous, and—as we’ll soon discover—not a good strategy, especially if you want to get things done.

The Real Reasons are Hidden Underneath

Often what we understand “by default” isn’t the real reason behind a lot of everyday activities. Hidden motivations are lurking beneath the superficial reasoning.

Working Hypothesis: How to Avoid Fooling Yourself

Facts don’t change our minds. The mind is stubborn, and no matter how strong the facts are, we undervalue evidence that contradicts our beliefs and overvalue evidence that confirms them. Ironically, the same brain that empowers rational thinking also skews our judgments.