Most of us are familiar with the famous classroom dictum: i before e except after c. It is helpful most of the time but not always. For example, do you find it weird that the word “weird” isn’t spelled wierd? If you wish to stay open to unlearning, it’s helpful to remember that every rule…

Unlearning Lesson #11 “We only hear those questions for which we are in a position to find answers.” – Friedrich Nietzsche Question #11: Why does it get hotter in the summer? In the late 1980’s, for the production of a movie entitled A Private Universe, the filmmakers posited this question to 23 graduating seniors of Harvard University….

“We only hear those questions for which we are in a position to find answers.” – Friedrich Nietzsche Question #11: Why does it get hotter in the summer? In the late 1980’s, for the production of a movie entitled A Private Universe, the filmmakers posited this question to 23 graduating seniors of Harvard University. Twenty-one (21)…

Related Posts Step Up to the Counter of Unlearning Unlearn Your Intuition (Sometimes)

I recently read Chris Chabris and Daniel Simon's excellent book, The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us, and found myself unlearning a great deal. For a fun test, answer this question: Can you tell when someone is staring at you from behind? Now watch the video below. (For an explanation read the…

I enjoyed Malcolm Gladwell's book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, which discusses the value of heeding your intuition. It's a powerful idea. Unfortunately, it is incomplete. Often our intuition is wrong. The problem with Gladwell's book is that it never provides a counter narrative. That is he never tells those stories of people who trusted…