No Sacred Cows

Scepticism served medium rare

Category: Psychology

  • The Smallness of Certainty

    The deeper and broader thought becomes, the harder it is to sustain the rigid binaries on which much of the populist right depends: native and foreign, deserving and undeserving, loyal and traitorous, normal and deviant. “Us” and “them”. Greater understanding reveals causes, alternatives, competing perspectives and unintended consequences. It makes scapegoating more difficult because it…

  • Sanctioned Stupidity

    Today’s attack at Bondi Beach was, according to early reports, aimed at a Hanukkah celebration. If that is confirmed, it will be yet another example of something humanity has failed to confront honestly. Religion has repeatedly given stupid people an excuse to commit unspeakable atrocities against their fellow humans. Not because faith uniquely creates violence,…

  • How to Tell If You’re Caught in the Dunning-Kruger Trap

    Learn the signs of the Dunning-Kruger effect — the cognitive trap where confidence outruns competence — and how to spot if you’re caught in it.

  • Machines, Mirrors, and the Question of Self

    I’ve long wondered whether human beings are anything more than elaborate, error-prone information processors – complex, yes, but not fundamentally different from other life forms. As artificial intelligence moves from science fiction to daily reality, the question seems less about our limitations than about our supposed uniqueness. People often insist that AI will never replace…