Comments on: Who am I? http://deisidaimon.wordpress.com Superstition as a natural phenomenon Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:15:47 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: the faltese malcon http://deisidaimon.wordpress.com/about/#comment-1457 the faltese malcon Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:19:04 +0000 #comment-1457 Interesting blog. I can't say much, for I'm not superstitious: it brings bad luck, they say. Interesting blog. I can’t say much, for I’m not superstitious: it brings bad luck, they say.

]]> By: Mark http://deisidaimon.wordpress.com/about/#comment-1384 Mark Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:43:46 +0000 #comment-1384 Hello Konrad, I just viewed your response to the "Genetic map of Europe". I want to thank you for being respectful of me and voicing your opinion in a positive way. Usually I don't say this but you must forgive me, it is just the negatives done to Europe by the Turks that upset me, especially being 1/4 Serb myself. And yes I realize we are all mixed. Especially us Americans like I myself. Hello Konrad,

I just viewed your response to the “Genetic map of Europe”. I want to thank you for being respectful of me and voicing your opinion in a positive way. Usually I don’t say this but you must forgive me, it is just the negatives done to Europe by the Turks that upset me, especially being 1/4 Serb myself. And yes I realize we are all mixed. Especially us Americans like I myself.

]]> By: Ken Long http://deisidaimon.wordpress.com/about/#comment-1199 Ken Long Sat, 27 Sep 2008 14:53:36 +0000 #comment-1199 i think we are very "superstitious" in the sense that we have invested a lot of belief in "rules of thumbs" and the received wisdom of very successful leaders in the past. We take up their advice with religous fervor. What i find interesting is that this is also a culture that places a very high value on rational, analytical control to achieve certainty. Yet when the stress levels go high and you must choose in the absence of certainty, military officers revert even more quickly and stubbornly to the chestnuts of the past. An example: we revere Clauswitz and Jomini, studying them carefully. In what other profession that idealizes certianty and modernity do you see the leading philosophers living in the 19th century? Is their content really that timeless or has our culture placed them on such a high pedestal and invested such emotion in being right that we are locked into this "superstition"? I am probably not using superstition in the formal sense but this is the paradox I see. Also, i should correct myself and note, as you know, that Burton's first name is of course Robert, not Richard :D cheers! ken i think we are very “superstitious” in the sense that we have invested a lot of belief in “rules of thumbs” and the received wisdom of very successful leaders in the past. We take up their advice with religous fervor. What i find interesting is that this is also a culture that places a very high value on rational, analytical control to achieve certainty. Yet when the stress levels go high and you must choose in the absence of certainty, military officers revert even more quickly and stubbornly to the chestnuts of the past. An example: we revere Clauswitz and Jomini, studying them carefully. In what other profession that idealizes certianty and modernity do you see the leading philosophers living in the 19th century? Is their content really that timeless or has our culture placed them on such a high pedestal and invested such emotion in being right that we are locked into this “superstition”? I am probably not using superstition in the formal sense but this is the paradox I see.

Also, i should correct myself and note, as you know, that Burton’s first name is of course Robert, not Richard :D

cheers!
ken

]]> By: Burton on the psychology of voting « Just Another Deisidaimon http://deisidaimon.wordpress.com/about/#comment-1192 Burton on the psychology of voting « Just Another Deisidaimon Mon, 22 Sep 2008 08:23:02 +0000 #comment-1192 [...] on the psychology of voting Ken suggested that I look at Robert Burton’s book On Being Certain, and it definitely sounds like something [...] [...] on the psychology of voting Ken suggested that I look at Robert Burton’s book On Being Certain, and it definitely sounds like something [...]

]]> By: Konrad Talmont-Kaminski http://deisidaimon.wordpress.com/about/#comment-1191 Konrad Talmont-Kaminski Mon, 22 Sep 2008 08:05:57 +0000 #comment-1191 Ken, thanks for the kind words and the invite - first time I'd been invited to a military facility. Given the connection between stress and superstition the army must be a good place to run tests. Do you think the military are among the more superstitious groups of people? The Burton book sounds very interesting. In a bit of serendipity, Burton has an article in today's salon.com on voting patterns. Ken, thanks for the kind words and the invite – first time I’d been invited to a military facility. Given the connection between stress and superstition the army must be a good place to run tests. Do you think the military are among the more superstitious groups of people? The Burton book sounds very interesting. In a bit of serendipity, Burton has an article in today’s salon.com on voting patterns.

]]> By: Ken Long http://deisidaimon.wordpress.com/about/#comment-1190 Ken Long Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:53:02 +0000 #comment-1190 Konrad: i am sorry, but i forgot also to recommend Richard Burton's "On Being Certain" (2008). a neurosurgeon who examines the case for how the brain organically creates a "feeling of knowing" that accompanies the production of a specific "intuition", which through unconcious/subconcious processes "nominate" topics for our concious attention to focus on. It struck me that this might be of interest to you in your work on superstition. It has certainly caused me to examine with healthy skepticism various claims of "My intuition tells me that this course of action is the best" when conducting planning and decision making under conditions of extreme stress. cheers! ken Konrad: i am sorry, but i forgot also to recommend Richard Burton’s “On Being Certain” (2008). a neurosurgeon who examines the case for how the brain organically creates a “feeling of knowing” that accompanies the production of a specific “intuition”, which through unconcious/subconcious processes “nominate” topics for our concious attention to focus on. It struck me that this might be of interest to you in your work on superstition. It has certainly caused me to examine with healthy skepticism various claims of “My intuition tells me that this course of action is the best” when conducting planning and decision making under conditions of extreme stress.
cheers!
ken

]]> By: Ken Long http://deisidaimon.wordpress.com/about/#comment-1189 Ken Long Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:47:33 +0000 #comment-1189 Konrad: thank you for the nice read this Saturday morning. I also enjoyed the CFI video link and saw some of my heroes; i will be reviewing your presentation on bounded rationality; my research interest is in bounded rationality with respect to military decisionmaking and examiniing the effect of military culture on adapting curriculum to accomodate insights from BR, whereas current military planning strongly favors a rational, analytical, economic model. If you find yourself in Kansas (it could happen!), stop in and see us at the US Army Command & General Staff College cheers! ken kansasreflections.wordpress.com Konrad: thank you for the nice read this Saturday morning. I also enjoyed the CFI video link and saw some of my heroes; i will be reviewing your presentation on bounded rationality; my research interest is in bounded rationality with respect to military decisionmaking and examiniing the effect of military culture on adapting curriculum to accomodate insights from BR, whereas current military planning strongly favors a rational, analytical, economic model. If you find yourself in Kansas (it could happen!), stop in and see us at the US Army Command & General Staff College

cheers! ken
kansasreflections.wordpress.com

]]> By: Konrad Talmont-Kaminski http://deisidaimon.wordpress.com/about/#comment-1151 Konrad Talmont-Kaminski Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:23:42 +0000 #comment-1151 I have no skill in analysing photos. All that I know is that there is a broad range of optical effects which can lead to the appearance of strange phenomena in pictures. I have no skill in analysing photos. All that I know is that there is a broad range of optical effects which can lead to the appearance of strange phenomena in pictures.

]]> By: nicola http://deisidaimon.wordpress.com/about/#comment-1144 nicola Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:18:46 +0000 #comment-1144 Hello, I'm an Italian guy. I had your name from Dr P Stevens because I made photos rather unusual. I made a website www.sentieridiluce.altervista.org where I published the photos. I would know who can analyze the photos to understand what are the figures present. Sorry for my bad English. Hello, I’m an Italian guy. I had your name from Dr P Stevens because I made photos rather unusual. I made a website http://www.sentieridiluce.altervista.org where I published the photos.
I would know who can analyze the photos to understand what are the figures present.
Sorry for my bad English.

]]> By: Konrad Talmont-Kaminski http://deisidaimon.wordpress.com/about/#comment-853 Konrad Talmont-Kaminski Fri, 14 Dec 2007 10:24:02 +0000 #comment-853 Ashley, when talking about the time before 'we' were mammals I am fairly clearly speaking metaphorically. Or so I thought. As such it is meant as a statement of the evolutionary interconnectedness of all life and not of any chains-of-being which I do not believe in any more than you do. So, yes, I do think that not just humans are superstitious. Indeed, I am hardly the first to think birds superstitious. The classic text for this is Skinner's 1948 "'Superstition' in the pigeon". Skinner puts superstition in scare quotes and there has been an ongoing scientific argument about whether pigeons can be said to be strictly speaking superstitious. There are two main worries. The empirical one is whether the behaviour pigeons exhibit is properly understood as the result of operant conditioning in which the reinforcement schedule is not connected to the pigeon's behaviour. The deeper question is whether superstition requires explicit beliefs such as humans have and are capable of espousing. Obviously, my answers to these questions are 'yes' to the first and 'no' to the second. Again, I am hardly the only person to make these claims. There are various underlying philosophical commitments which lead me to this stance. There is also a general methodological motivation - In recent years an enormous amount of research has been done which sees human behaviour in the light of animal behaviour (or vice versa). This research has been very fruitful, often in areas that were once thought to be paradigmatically human. Connecting human and animal behaviour seems to be a good move methodologically. So, which part of what I have said is 'incredibly unlikely'? Ashley, when talking about the time before ‘we’ were mammals I am fairly clearly speaking metaphorically. Or so I thought. As such it is meant as a statement of the evolutionary interconnectedness of all life and not of any chains-of-being which I do not believe in any more than you do. So, yes, I do think that not just humans are superstitious. Indeed, I am hardly the first to think birds superstitious. The classic text for this is Skinner’s 1948 “‘Superstition’ in the pigeon”. Skinner puts superstition in scare quotes and there has been an ongoing scientific argument about whether pigeons can be said to be strictly speaking superstitious. There are two main worries. The empirical one is whether the behaviour pigeons exhibit is properly understood as the result of operant conditioning in which the reinforcement schedule is not connected to the pigeon’s behaviour. The deeper question is whether superstition requires explicit beliefs such as humans have and are capable of espousing. Obviously, my answers to these questions are ‘yes’ to the first and ‘no’ to the second. Again, I am hardly the only person to make these claims. There are various underlying philosophical commitments which lead me to this stance. There is also a general methodological motivation – In recent years an enormous amount of research has been done which sees human behaviour in the light of animal behaviour (or vice versa). This research has been very fruitful, often in areas that were once thought to be paradigmatically human. Connecting human and animal behaviour seems to be a good move methodologically. So, which part of what I have said is ‘incredibly unlikely’?

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