Letters Remain

Author: Lloyd Morgan

  • List of Logical Fallacies

    First cognitive science, now logic: a list of logical fallacies. A fallacy is a component of an argument which, being demonstrably flawed in its logic or form, renders the argument invalid in whole. I prefer the many informal fallacies: an important one of which is that correlation does not imply causation (cum hoc ergo propter…

  • Why We Scream

    The Telegraph looks at Why We Scream: We all have a core set of five facial muscles that control our ability to produce standard expressions which convey anger, happiness, surprise, fear, sadness and disgust. But there are up to 19 muscles present in the face, and many people do not possess all of them. The…

  • Interaction Design Patterns

    The Yahoo! Design Patterns Library is what you could call a series of best practices for web interaction designers. Of particular note are the ‘Reputation’ Solution Patterns: A person participating in a social structure expects to develop a reputation and hopes for insight into the reputations of others, but each designed model of participation and…

  • Non-Voting Political Philosophers and Stealing Ethicists

    When I read that political philosophers vote less often than other philosophers (and political scientists) I was reminded of the book Can a Robot be Human?. This book touches on the logic behind voting, and comes to the conclusion that – for an individual – it is pointless because no election has ever been decided…

  • Prediction Markets and The Wisdom of Crowds

    FT Predict is more than just a game. Predictive markets collect the wisdom of the crowd in a single dynamic price unit that can be far more sensitive to changes in the market than standard survey-based research. And a growing number of today’s leading companies embrace predictive market models in order to harness the wisdom…

  • List of Cognitive Biases

    I love lists, and so every day this week I’ll give you one to chew on. To start us off is this wonderful list of cognitive biases. To try and become a better thinker I’m studying cognitive biases in order to (attempt to) overcome them. This in itself is attempting to overcome the bias blind…

  • The Correlation Between IQ and Atheism

    Times Higher Education reports that there is a strong correlation between a high IQ and a lack of religious belief, according to Richard Lynn, the controversial psychologist. In the past Lynn has performed research into what he believes is the existence of race and sex differences in intelligence, and has called for the “phasing out”…

  • How (and Why) to Nap

    How to Nap is an informative graphic from The Boston Globe detailing how we should nap effectively during the day. Power naps enhance memory consolidation is an accessible article on why we should nap, drawing on research from Harvard Medical School’s Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory. via Neurophilosophy

  • 6 False Beliefs About the Brain

    ScienceBlogs’ Neurophilosophy details 6 iconoclastic discoveries about the brain and gives a brief description of the research showing the truth behind these false dogmas: The adult human brain is not plastic The adult human brain cannot regenerate Neurons are the functional elements of the nervous system Neurotransmitters are released from the nerve terminal Neurons are…

  • Book Lists

    I’ve been updating my reading list lately and my Amazon wish lists are growing exponentially (even with significant culling). These book lists are great: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky, AI researcher (writer of The FAQ on the Meaning of Life) Ryan Holiday, writer Kevin Kelly, Wired’s Editor at Large and board member of The Long Now Foundation…