3 Why Most Academic Advertising Is Immoral Bullshit

3 Why Most Academic Advertising Is Immoral Bullshit
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Wharton, Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business,
Note:IN COMPETIZIONE X IL MBA

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EMBA programs are highly profitable. They’re expensive, but the students’ employers often pay their tuition.
Note:RESA

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Many universities advertise to enhance their prestige. As an analogy, you might be surprised to see BMW, Mercedes Benz, or Rolex advertise to audiences that cannot afford their products.
Note:ANALOGIA

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All things equal, the lower a university’s acceptance rate, the more prestigious it is.
Note:LA STRANEZZA

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They want to trick the students into applying, so they can reject them, thus ensuring that the schools maintain a lower acceptance rate.
Note:HARVARD E YALE E LA PRESSIONE SUI DISPERATI

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we’ll examine how they promise (or at least strongly insinuate) that they will transform students, teach them to think, and turn them into leaders.
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They are not exactly lying, but selling snake oil.
Note:INTENDIAMOCI

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Transformative Experience!
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Harvard University offers a “transformative education.”
Note:IL MOTTO

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“helping students grow intellectually, spiritually and emotionally
Note:AGEORGETOWN U

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“develops principled leaders committed to serving both business and society.”
Note:GEORGETOWN

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is committed to the idea of a liberal arts education through which students think and learn across disciplines, literally liberating or freeing the mind to its fullest potential.
Note:YEALE AH AH AH

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you will learn to read critically, write cogently and think broadly.
Note:PRIVETON

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You’ll be ready to live, work, and lead across global borders.”
Note:AMHREST COLLEGE

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At Northwood University, leadership isn’t simply taught, it’s instilled.
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at the “edge of possible . . . also known as the University of New Hampshire . . . there’s a new opportunity around every corner,
Note:ESEMPIO

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George Mason University offers “a college experience like no other.” Their “top priority is to provide students with a transformational learning experience
Note:ESEMPIO

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Two hours away, competitor James Madison University offers “A Better You.”
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Southern Methodist University proclaims, “World Changers Shaped Here.”
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Hillsdale College “offers an education designed to equip human beings for self-government.
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US college spends about $472,000 a year on marketing advertisements.
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a growing minority have started outsourcing their marketing to public relations firms,
Note:OUTSOURCI G MARKET

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While some marketing may be necessary to sustain recruitment, every dollar spent on marketing has any number of other potential uses:
Note:LO SPRECO

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The Wonder of the Liberal Arts!
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Even engineering and business schools require students to spend far more time learning theory and abstract concepts
Note:SCUOLE NN PROFESSIONALI

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focus on the liberal arts.
Note:IL CENTRO

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Why study the liberal arts?
Note:LA DOMANDA

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the intellectual skills of critical thinking, analysis of information, and effective expression of ideas.
Note:COSA INSTILLA L ARTE LIBERALE

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how to think.
Note:PRI.MO BENEFICIO

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how to learn.
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see things whole.
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enhances students’ wisdom
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contributes to the students’ happiness.
Note:QUINTO

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To be liberally educated is to be transformed.
Note:ALTRA SLOGAN

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frees your mind and helps you connect dots
Note:ALTRA

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how to communicate your ideas; find and analyze information and data; adapt to new technology and professional trends; work with others to solve problems; and make confident, knowledgeable decisions.
Note:ALTRA ESPOSIZ VIRTÙ

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appreciation for critical inquiry and independent thought and reasoning.
Note:COSA ENFATIZZA

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help students write and communicate clearly; assist students in thinking through hard problems; and make students morally better and more aware, with a wider perspective. The word “transform” appears again and again.
Note:ALTRO ELENCHINO

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Why Study Philosophy?
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To parents, philosophy may sound useless:
Note:IL PROBLEMA

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Studying philosophy improves your writing, communication, thinking, finding connections, evaluating ideas, and so on. It prepares you for everything.
Note:TENTATIVI DI RIMEDIARE

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philosophy itself brings unique benefits, especially in terms of standardized test preparation.
Note:IN PIÙ

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Philosophy majors have the fourth highest overall GMAT scores of any major,
Note:I CAVALLI DI BATTAGLIA UNO...

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Philosophy majors have the highest average LSAT
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Philosophy majors have the highest average GRE verbal and analytic writing scores
Note:TERZO

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Philosophy majors have the highest midcareer salaries of all non-STEM majors,
Note:QUARTO

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Philosophy students learn how to write clearly, and to read closely, with a critical eye; they are taught to spot bad reasoning, and how to avoid it in their writing and in their work.
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Studying philosophy can also help you get into graduate school. Philosophy majors excel on standardized tests like the GRE, GMAT, and LSAT.
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The study of philosophy develops one’s abilities to read and understand difficult material,
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they claim that studying philosophy makes you not only better at, well, doing philosophy, but also it trains you to be good at critical thinking in any and every walk of life. They do not just claim that the skills could be transferred to any area, but that studying philosophy, in fact, will induce you to transfer and apply those skills elsewhere.
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Selection versus Treatment Effects
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“Drink this tea concoction every day for seven to ten days, and the cold is certain to go away.”
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colds generally disappear after seven to ten days anyway.
Note:EFFETTO SELEZIONE

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Aiden’s teacher said, “We know we’re doing great work when we see them like this. They’re so much more mature now than they were three years ago.” Once again, Jason bit his tongue, but later said to his wife: “Yes, of course, they’re more mature. They started the program at age 3, and now they’re 6.”
Note:ALTRP ESEMPIO

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People with bachelor’s degrees are generally smarter and more successful than people without bachelor’s degrees.
Note:COME INTERPRETI?

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we would need to determine if A) philosophy makes people smarter, B) the people who study philosophy are, on average, smarter, or C) both statements are true.
Note:INDETERMINATO

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When laypeople see graphs showing that philosophy majors have high GRE and LSAT scores, they tend to assume, “Wow, philosophy must make you smart, or at least teach you how to do well on such tests.”
Note:LAYPEOPLE

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Treatment Effect: People who study philosophy become smarter
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Selection Effect: The people who choose to major in philosophy and who obtain a degree in philosophy are already smarter
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Obviously, a great deal of it is selection. After all, Harvard is exceptionally selective.
Note:CONGETTURA

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classics are hard and require a lot of work and effort.
Note:IL LICEO CLASSICO...NN TI PREPARA MA SELEZIONA

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Universities, liberal arts divisions, and philosophy departments generally aren’t in a position to justifiably make such claims. They don’t know if these claims are true. Thus, we’ll argue, they’re engaging in what we’ll call “negligent advertising.”
Note:IL PUNTO

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Negligent Advertising: The Pfizer Analogy
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Introducing Collegra! Collegra is a drug unlike any other. If you take Collegra 256 times a year for four years, Collegra will improve your critical reasoning, moral reasoning, analytic, and quantitative skills. It will transform you into a better person with a global mindset. It will make you able to face any challenge. It will prepare you for any job. It will dramatically improve your cognitive skills. It will make you score higher on standardized tests, such as the LSAT or GMAT. Furthermore, it will help you make more money! Indeed, Collegra users, on average, earn an extra million dollars of lifetime income compared to nonusers. The cost of Collegra varies from person to person. Collegra is not covered by your insurance.
Note:PYBBLICITÀ DELLA PFIZER

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Warning: Taking Collegra is more like undergoing chemotherapy than taking a pill. Users need to spend at least thirty hours a week for thirty weeks a year over four years for it to be effective. Most users will be unable to work at a job while taking Collegra. Side effects include increased tendency to engage in binge drinking and to acquire tens of thousands of dollars in debt. If
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Now imagine that Pfizer sincerely believes everything it says. But suppose Pfizer has not engaged in any of the standard testing that drug companies must conduct in order to sell drugs in the US or Europe. They have conducted no clinical trials. They have done no randomized controlled experiments.
Note:CONTROFATTUALE

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All they have, at most, are various statistics showing that drug users outperform nondrug users. Suppose, also, that they have good reason to suspect that their “findings” are the result of a selection effect, because Pfizer itself has explicitly chosen to only administer their drug to smart, conscientious, perseverant, and already successful people.
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would Pfizer’s advertisement be unethical?
Note:DOMANDA

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Negligent advertising: Selling a product based on the claim that the product delivers certain benefits, despite lacking evidence that the product, in fact, delivers those benefits.
Note:LA PAROLA GIUSTA

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Negligent advertising is bad, but just how bad depends, in part, on the cost of the product.
Note:INOLTRE

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If Pfizer engaged in any of this behavior, our academic colleagues would be up in arms.
Note:FONTE DELL INDIGNAZIONE

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But, perhaps not surprisingly, we college professors hold ourselves and our employers to far lower moral standards than we hold others.
Note:IPOTESI

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Problem 1: Universities Do Not Test Their Products
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Problem 2: Evidence of Selection Effects
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fact, we already have strong evidence of a selection effect. High school students who say they intend to major in philosophy have significantly higher than average SAT scores.
Note:INDIZIO

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In general, studies on the positive benefits of philosophy are inconclusive; some show no effect, some show a negative effect, and some find a weak positive effect.
Note:LA REALTÀ

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writing skills, lifetime income, employment rates, marital satisfaction, health, and whatnot.
Note:SUCCESSO =

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“If 1,000 people with an IQ of 130, identical socioeconomic backgrounds, etc., go to Harvard, and 1,000 otherwise identical people go to a no-name school, how much better, on average, will the Harvard graduates do in life, if at all?”
Note:LA DOMANDA

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Stacy Dale and Alan Krueger
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Bill Easterly
Note:ALTRO GURU

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Krueger and Dale studied what happened to students who were accepted at an Ivy or a similar institution, but chose instead to attend a less sexy, “moderately selective” school. It turned out that such students had, on average, the same income twenty years later as graduates of the elite colleges.
Note:SINTESI DEGLI STUDI

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Problem 3: Evidence of Signaling
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The “Harvard” name adds a little in the short run, but not much in the long run.
Note:ATENZIONE

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why, in general, college students make more money than others? There are two basic theories that could explain this: •Human capital theory: Wages are determined by productivity, and productivity is determined by skills.
Note:PRIMA DOMANDA E PRIMA RISPOSTA

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Signaling theory: It’s difficult and costly for employers to sort good potential employees from bad ones. However, to complete a college degree, especially from an “elite” school or with a “difficult” major, requires students to pass a lengthy and difficult admission process, and then survive four years of jumping through hoops, pass mentally difficult (even if useless) classes, and so on.
Note:SECONDA TEORIA

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Academic marketing pushes the human capital theory. But it’s possible that the signaling theory explains some, most, or even all of the gains college graduates receive.
Note:LA SFIDA

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Bryan Caplan’s The Case Against Education
Note:L ESPERTO

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Problem 4: Evidence Most Students Don’t Learn Soft Skills
Note:TtttttttttttSoft...critical thinking analitical thinking problem solving writing

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nonrandom selection is at play
Note:IL PROBLEMA DEI TEST

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In principle, we could test majors by testing students’ skills before college, randomly assigning thousands of students to different majors, and then test them again after they complete their majors.
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However, it’s easier to measure whether college as a whole adds value.
Note:AV

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it’s possible these skills fade away after students leave college.
Note:DISSOLVENZA

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Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa published Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses.
Note:OPUS

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depressing statistics.
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critical thinking, analytical reasoning, problem solving, and writing.”
Note:SOFT SKILL

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the CLA tests the soft skills that liberal arts curricula are supposed to “instill,”
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our best available long-term, comprehensive study found no evidence that most students learn much.
Note:CONLUSIONE

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Problem 5: Students Don’t Seem to Transfer Soft Skills
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these classes teach students how to think.
Note:ASSUNTO DELLE LIBERAL ARTS....FILOSOFIA CLASSICI LEYTERATURA...

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logic, analysis, conceptual clarification, and interpretation.
Note:LE SKILLS SELLE LIBRAL ARTS

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isolate cause and effect, to assess reasons, and to evaluate arguments.
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A liberal arts major can learn “hard skills” specific to this or that job in a few weeks,
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Most professors continue to take it for granted;
Note:DOGMA

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Liberal arts schools do not merely claim that their students will be interpreting Shakespeare, reading difficult historical texts, or finding holes in philosophical arguments. They assert that students can and will use those “skills” to interpret the stock market, devise better marketing methods, read difficult corporate memos, or find holes in a strategic business plan.
Note:TRANSFERT LEARNING

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As Caplan summarizes: Can believers in the power of learning-how-to-think back up teachers’ boasts with hard evidence? For the most part, no.
Note:LETTERATURA TRANSFERT LEARNING

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As a rule, students only learn the material you specifically teach them
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Richard Haskell
Note:GURU

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research findings over the past nine decades clearly show that as individuals, and as educational institutions, we have failed to achieve transfer of learning on any significant level.
Note:CONCLUSION

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Douglas Detterman
Note:GURU

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there is very little empirical evidence showing meaningful transfer to occur
Note:CONC

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Terry Hyland and Steve Johnson
Note:GURU

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we believe that the pursuit of [general transferable] skills is a chimera-hunt,
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How do educational psychologists know? One way is to run experiments.
Note:PRIMA VIA DI CONOSCENZA

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Another investigative strategy is to ask students to apply their classroom skills outside the classroom, and then see if they’re any good at it. In general, they’re not.
Note:ALTRA VIA

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Barry Leshowitz
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Leshowitz gave students an easy question. These students had spent years training to answer questions like this, but couldn’t do it.
Note:I SUOI ESPERIMENTI

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Summary
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What Should We Do about It?
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While drug companies are subject to FDA regulations and can be sued
Note:LA DIFFERENZA

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Regulate academic marketing the way we regulate other forms of marketing,
Note:PRIMA SOLUZIONE

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Launch and succeed in a class-action lawsuit
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Face competition from alternative forms of education
3

HL 1 Neither Gremlins nor Poltergeists

1 Neither Gremlins nor Poltergeists
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gremlins, as you know, are horrid little beasts. At night, they creep around and sabotage your stuff.
Note:G

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Poltergeists are incorporeal spirits that possess your home.
Note:ANCORA PIÙ INSIDIOSI XCHÈ SENZA CORPO

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mythical saboteurs.
Note:ENTRAMBI

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most people have trouble understanding how an event could happen without someone or something making it happen.
Note:FACILE CAPIRE XCHÈ SI INVENTANO QS LEGGENDE

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god or spirit
Note:LEGGENDE

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blame Wall Street.
Note:ALTRA CAPRI

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harder time comprehending how many things that happen in society could be the product of human action but not human design.
Note:LA FATICA DEL PROFANO

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some powerful person or group chose to create the change.
Note:SOLUZIONE COMPLOTTISTA

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Blame George Soros, or Charles Koch, or the Russian hackers, or the Rothschilds, or the.
Note:SPIRITELLI COME G E P

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If lots of people do something bad, it’s probably because the incentives induce them to do it.
Note:LA SCOPERTA DEGLI ECONOMISTI

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we can explain the incentives people face by examining the institutions
Note:DOVE GUARDARE...NN SPIRITELLI NÈ COMPLOTTI

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Nobel laureate and economist Douglass North
Note:IL PADRE

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“the rules of the game in a society
Note:ISTITUZIONE

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often appear by accident, or emerge spontaneously from previous trends,
Note:ORIGINE ISTITUZ

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Against Gremlins and Poltergeists in Higher Education
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“Gremlins” are corporeal individuals who sabotage higher education for their own sinister ends.
Note:X ESEMPIO LE LOBBY INDUSTRIALI O I FILANTROPI O I BUROCRATI

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“Poltergeists” in this case refers to intellectual movements, ideas, ideologies, and attitudes that possess and corrupt academia.
Note:ALTRA SPIEGA....IDEOLOGIA

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Most academic marketing is semi-fraudulent, grading is largely nonsense, students don’t study or learn much, students cheat frequently, liberal arts education fails because it presumes a false theory of learning, professors and administrators waste students’ money and time in order to line their own pockets, everyone engages in self-righteous moral grandstanding to disguise their selfish cronyism, professors pump out unemployable graduate students into oversaturated academic job markets for self-serving reasons, and so on.
Note:I PROBLEMI DELL UNIVERSITÀ

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Bad behaviors result from regular people reacting to bad incentives
Note:LA TESI

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Bad Incentives Explain Bad Behavior
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Breaking the Law, Breaking the Law
Note:Ttttttttt ESEMPI DI STORIE A SUPPORTO DELLA TESI

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the department voted to hire a particular candidate, who happened to be a white male. Their second choice candidate was a white woman. On paper, the man’s résumé was superior to the woman’s.
Note:A CHI ASSEGNARE IL RUOLO?

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The department asked to hire the male candidate. The provost—let’s call him Jeff—said no.
Note:UN RETTORE IMPEGNATO NEL NN DISCRIMINARE

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He would carefully craft statements about hiring that would induce professors to inadvertently violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
Note:IL RETTORE FA PRESSIONI IN UN CERTO SENSO...PERCHÈ?

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Why did Jeff do this?
Note:DIETRO CI SONO CATTIVI INCENTIVI

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The department in question was mostly male. According to federal and local regulations, the department could thus be presumed guilty of discrimination by disparate impact. If someone sued the university, it would automatically be considered guilty
Note:PRIMO INCENTIVO NASCOSTO...SCILLA

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Jeff wanted to avoid a disparate impact suit, so he had an incentive to actively discriminate in favor of women. But this is also illegal, as it is a form of disparate treatment.
Note:CARIDDI

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Today, the male candidate is a full professor and endowed chair at a research university; the female candidate is an untenured assistant professor at a liberal arts college.
Note:LA SOLUZIONE ADOTTATA...ASSUMERE TUTTI

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Nancy at the Aspen Institute
Note:SECONDO CASO

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Jason asks students to complete the “Ethics Project.”
Note:1000 EAURO DATI A CISCUN GRUPPO DI STUDENTI X FARE DEL BENE

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Students are free to do almost anything: Start a business, run a fundraiser,
Note:Cccccccc

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Nancy, a former high-level administrator at Georgetown’s business school, invited Jason to present on Ethics Projects to the Aspen Undergraduate Business
Note:DOPO IL VGRANDE SUCCESSO

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Jason mentioned that one group of first-year undergraduates had created and sold “Hoya Drinking Club” t-shirts for a hefty $700 profit.
Note:IL CASO ILLUSTRATO ALLA PLATEA

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“What if something bad happened? What if another bad thing happened? You should require students to tell you ahead of time what they will do and how they’ll do it.
Note:LA PREOCCUPAZ DI NANCY ESPRESSE A J

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“Sorry, Nancy, but what you see as dangers and flaws I see as the very point of the project.”
Note:RISPOSTA

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“If students do something that bothers parents, such as selling beer pong shirts, the parents won’t call you, Jay. They’ll call me.
Note:LA PREOCCUPAZ DI N ESPRESSA FUORI DAI DENTI...GENITORI DALLA DENUNCIA FACILE

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to explain Nancy’s bad behavior, we need not posit that she’s a bad person. Rather, her job was not to educate students or produce scholarship. Her job was to raise money, manage lower-level administrators,
Note:L AFFOSSATRICE DEL PROGETTO

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No Cookies for You Unless I Get Some, Too
Note:ttttttttttt TERZO CASO

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Brown University’s president and engineering faculty wanted to convert the “division” of engineering into a distinct school of engineering.
Note:UNA DISTINZIONE RILEVANTE X I REGOLAMENTI

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engineering needed a majority approval vote from Brown’s assembled faculty.
Note:DIFESA DELLA LORO CAUSA

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creating such a school would help them but not come at anyone else’s
Note:OTTIMO PARETIANO

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she said she opposed allowing the change unless the new school agreed to devote at least one faculty line to hiring a sociologist who would study engineers and engineering from a social scientific perspective.
Note:IL RICATTO DI UN OROF DI SOCIOLOGIA

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Brown engineering was understaffed in genuine engineering professors. It needed engineers, not a sociologist of engineering.
Note:PURTROPPO

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“I won’t let you bake cookies for yourself unless you give me some.”
Note:UNA TENTAZIONE TROPPO FORTE ANCHE X LE BRAVE XSONE

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Great Teaching! Now Shape Up or You’re Fired
Note:4 CASO

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Years ago, a national magazine extolled a colleague’s exceptional teaching.
Note:IL GRANDE INSEGNANTE SENZA CATTEDRA

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Research brings the school prestige. Teaching does not.
Note:ECCO XCHÈ

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we faculty—the ones who vote on tenure—don’t personally benefit from our colleagues being good teachers.
Note:IL RICERCATORE CI AIUTA A PUBBLICARE..L INSEGNANTE NN CI INSEGNA NULLA

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If our colleagues are smart, people assume we’re smart.
Note:L INTELLIGENZA DELL INSEGNANTE È SCONOSCIUTA...GLI ALLIEVI NN VOTANO X LE CATTEDRE

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Why Jason Bought a Standing Desk
Note:Tttttttttttt

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Jason automatically receives at least $7,500 a year to spend on books, travel, data, copy-editing fees, or anything else related to his work,
Note:ANCHE GLI AUTORI HANNO INCENTIVI

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university doesn’t allow him to roll over any unused funds to the next year. If he’s frugal or conservative, other people benefit, not him.
Note:SPESSO DISTORTI

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when Jason still had $2,000 left in his account, he decided to experiment with a standing desk. Guess how much he spent?
Note:UN ANNO PARTICOLARE

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Academia without Romance
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romantic view
Note:TIPICO DEGLI ACCADEMICI

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noble purposes.
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discovers new truths and transmits
Note:Ccccccc

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fights hunger and disease.
Note:Cccccccc

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fights oppression and poverty.
Note:Cccccccccc

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advances social justice
Note:Cccccccc

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As the psychologists Nicolas Epley and David Dunning have discovered, most people have an inflated view of their own moral character.
Note:SOPRAVVALUTAZIONE

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hardwired to deceive ourselves
Note:SIMLER HANSON

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you’ll want to blame outsiders—gremlins and poltergeists—for disrupting the system.
Note:QUANDO TI SENTI BUONO

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economists would often just assume that government agents or people working in non-profits would always be competent and motivated to do the right thing.
Note:PRIMA DELLA PUBLIC CHOICE

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governments and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are made up of saints and angels rather than real people.
Note:PER SCRIVERE MDELLI SENZA FEEDBACK

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As we’ll demonstrate throughout this book, many of the tools Buchanan and other economists use to explain political behavior also explain higher ed.
Note:IL LIBRO

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people are people.
Note:NN ESTREMIZZARE NEL SENSO OPPOSTO

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there are good people and bad people. Bad things happen when bad people rule;
Note:ALTRA FORMA DI ROMANTICISMO

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When you see bad behavior, you ask: •What incentives do the rules create?
Note:L ALTERNATIVA

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Imperfect rules create bad incentives that, in turn, create bad behavior.
Note:DI SOLITO

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development economists both Left and Right largely agree that certain institutions—stable governments, open markets, robust protection of private property—are necessary for sustained economic growth and to end extreme poverty.10 But economists don’t know how to induce the countries that lack these institutions to adopt them.
Note:TIPICO STALLO

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the romantic theories make saving the world look easy.
Note:UN GUAIO DEL ROMANTICISMO

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Seven Big Economic Insights
Note:Ttttttttt

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There are no free lunches. Trade-offs are everywhere.
Note:PRIMA PILLOLA ECONOMICA

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There are always budget constraints.
Note:SECONDO

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Incentives matter.
Note:TERZO

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The Law of Unintended Consequences
Note:Cccccccccc

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People often break the rules when they can.
Note:CcccccENFORCEMENT

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Rules shape the incentives,
Note:6

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good rules economize on virtue.
Note:7

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The Bad Business Ethics of Higher Ed
Note:Tttttttttt

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little serious work has been done on the “business ethics” of universities.
Note:BUSINESS ETHIC

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To whom is an organization responsible? Whose interests must it serve? 2.What moral limits do organizations face in the pursuit of their goals?
LA DOMANDE DI B E

HL Prologue: Literary Depth, Mental Shallows

Prologue: Literary Depth, Mental Shallows
Note:PRO@@@@@@@ libero arbitrio costruzionismo3 paradigmi1 poichè abbiamo delle ragioni facciamo delle cose...scelta razionale2 facciamo delle cose e poi escogitiamo delle ragioni...razionalizzazione3 facciamo delle cose perchè si associano a certe ragioni...armonizzazionesolo 3 implica libertà e limiti all arbitrio

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when we claim to be just using our powers of inner observation, we are always actually engaging in a sort of impromptu theorizing – and
Note:EPIGRAFE

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At the climax of Anna Karenina, the heroine throws herself under a train as it moves out of a station on the edge of Moscow. But did she want to die?
Note:DILEMMA

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Had the ennui of Russian aristocratic life and the fear of losing her lover Vronsky become so intolerable
Note:PRIMA IPOTESI

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Or was her final act mere capriciousness, a theatrical gesture of despair,
Note:SECONDA

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imagine that we ask Anna herself.
Note:CONTROFATTUALE

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Anna will be as unsure as anyone else about her true motivations.
Note:FORSE...ANCHE LEI DEVE INTERPRETARE

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we may be sceptical that her own interpretation is any more compelling than the interpretations of others.
Note:PROBABILMENTE

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the distorting lens of self-perception.
Note:COSA LA SVANTAGGIA?

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Autobiography always deserves a measure of scepticism.
Note:CI SI VUOLE NOBILITARE

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Might we get closer to Anna’s true motivations if we asked her not in hindsight, but at the time?
Note:ALTERNATIVA

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This strategy seems unlikely to succeed, to put it mildly.
Note:Cccccccx

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The first possible moral is that our minds have dark and unfathomable ‘hidden depths’.
Note:PRIMA CONCLUSIONE

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uncovering the true motivations for human behaviour needs more than the blunderbuss of asking people directly.
Note:SECONDO

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We need somehow to dive deep into the inner workings of the mind,
Note:COSA OCCORRE

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Word associations, the interpretation of dreams, hours of intensive psychotherapy, behavioural experiments, physiological recordings and brain imaging
Note:STRUMENTI X DISSEPPELLIRE LA MOTIVAZIONE

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hidden fears and desires;
Note:FREUDIANI

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no hidden beliefs, desires, hopes or fears are ever actually observed.
Note:FALLIMENTO DI TUTTI...ALTRIMENTI POTREMMO PREVEDERE

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the project of charting our hidden depths is not merely technically difficult, but fundamentally misconceived; the very idea that our minds contain ‘hidden depths’ is utterly wrong.
Note:TESI DEL LIBRO

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the interpretation of the motives of real people is no different from the interpretations of fictional characters. And fictional characters can’t, of course, have an inner life,
Note:Cccccccc

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prefers Bach to Mozart,
Note:LE DOMANDE CHE RINVIANO AL PROFONDO

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No amount of therapy, dream analysis, word association, experiment or brain-scanning can recover a person’s ‘true motives’,
Note:IMPOSSIBILE RINTRACCIARE IL NULLA

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The inner, mental world, and the beliefs, motives and fears it is supposed to contain is, itself, a work of the imagination.
Note:L NVENZIONE DEL PROFONDO

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We invent interpretations of ourselves and other people in the flow of experience,
Note:COSTRUZIONE DELLA STORIA

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nothing more than interpretations of a ‘real’ Anna’s behaviour;
Note:SOLO SOGGETTIVITÀ...ANCHE X LA STESSA ANNA...L INTENZIONE NN VIENE CATTURATA DALLA SCIENZA

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We never have the last word in explaining our own actions – our
Note:LA VITA COME OPERA

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Yet the unfolding of a life is not so different from the unfolding of a novel.
Note:ANCORA VITA E OPERA

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Thoughts, like fiction, come into existence in the instant that they are invented, and not a moment before.
Note:IL PASSATO DI UN PENSIERO

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introspection is a process not of perception but of invention
Note:COSTRUZIONISMO INTERIORE SENZA REALTÀ

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apparent depth is, of course, ‘in the eye of the beholder’:
Note:SOGGETTIVISMO

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The sense that behaviour is merely the surface of a vast sea, immeasurably deep and teeming with inner motives, beliefs and desires
Note:L ILLUSIONE

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Beliefs, motives and other imagined inhabitants of our ‘inner world’ are entirely a figment of our imaginations.
Note:PERSONAGGI DI UNA FINZIONE

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The mind is, instead, a consummate improviser, inventing actions, and beliefs and desires to explain those actions, with wonderful fluidity.
Note:GLI NGANNI DELLA MENTE

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inventions are flimsy, fragmented and self-contradictory;
Note:LA QUALITÀ DELL OPERA

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the very task of our improvising mind is to make our thoughts and behaviour as coherent as possible – to
Note:L OBBIETTIVO FINALE

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our brains must strive continually to think and act in the current moment in a way that aligns as well as possible with our prior thoughts and actions.
Note:LO SFORZO

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So the secret of our minds lies not in supposed hidden depths, but in our remarkable ability to creatively improvise our present, on the theme of our past.
Note:METTERE I PEZZI AL POSTO GIUSTO...COSTRUIRE UN BEL PERSONAGGIO

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In the first, I attempt to clear away what I take to be fundamental and widespread misunderstandings of how our mind works. I then turn to present a positive account of the brain as a ceaseless improviser.
Note:STRUTTURA DEL LIBRO

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The common-sense mind and the mind we discover through experiment just don’t seem to fit together.
Note:SCOPRIREMO CHE È TUTTO SBAGLIATO

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subliminal perception,
Note:ILLUSIONE DI PROFONDITÀ

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unconscious beliefs, motives, desires
Note:Ccccccccc

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inner agents (for Freud, the id, ego, and superego; for Jung, the collective unconscious).
Note:Ccccccc

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Many believe that with the right meditative practice, psychotherapy or even hallucinogenic drug, the doors to the rich inner world of the unconscious might be prised open.
Note:LA CURA...FANTASTICA

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There is no inner world. Our flow of momentary conscious experience is not the sparkling surface of a vast sea of thought – it is all there is.
Note:ESISTE SOLO LA COSCIENZA

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Our brain is an improviser, and it bases its current improvisations on previous improvisations: it creates new momentary thoughts and experiences by drawing not on a hidden inner world of knowledge, beliefs and motives, but on memory traces of previous momentary thoughts and experiences.
Note:PARS CONSTRUENS

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he strives to make Anna’s words and actions as coherent as possible – she should ‘stay in character’ or her character should ‘develop’ as the novel unfolds.
Note:L ANALOGIA CON TOLSTOJ QUI GIOVA

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a good interpretation is one that does not just make sense of the present moment, but links it with our past actions,
Note:Ccccccc

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linking the present with the past, just as writing a novel
Note:Ccccccc

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my argument will be illustrated through examples from visual perception.
Note:L ANALOGIA CHE USERÒ

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an engine for spontaneously finding meaning and choosing actions that make the best sense in the moment.
Note:LA MENTE E LE NUVOLE

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So what makes each of us special is, to a large extent, the uniqueness of our individual history of prior thoughts and experiences. In other words, each of us is a unique tradition,
Note:IDENTITÀ

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we will see that we are, in a very real sense, characters of our own creation,
Note:ANCORA

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Our freedom has its limits, of course. Amateur saxophonists can’t ‘freely’ choose to play like Charlie Parker, new learners of English can’t spontaneously emulate Sylvia Plath,
Note:LIMITI DELLA LIBERTÀ

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New actions, skills and thoughts require building a rich and deep mental tradition;

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and there is no shortcut to the thousands of hours needed to lay down the traces on which expertise is based.
Note:COSTRUIRE UNA TRADIZIONE

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Our freedom consists not in the ability magically to transform ourselves in a single jump, but to reshape our thoughts and behaviours, one step at a time:
Note:AGGIORNARSI

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Perhaps the most fundamental inspiration for me has come from attempts to understand the brain as a biological computing machine.
Note:FONTE ISPIRATRICE

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But it is very hard to reconcile this vision of the machinery of the brain with our everyday intuitions that our minds are guided by beliefs and desires.
Note:RICONCILIAZIONE

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In short, common-sense psychology sees our thought and behaviour as rooted in reasoning, but a lot of human intelligence seems to be a matter of finding complex patterns.
Note:RAGIONAMENTO E CONNESSIONE

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Psychologists and philosophers, from B. F. Skinner to Daniel Dennett,
Note:LE FONTI SCETTICHE

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Some past sceptics about those common-sense stories have a very different agenda: doubting, for example, that the brain is any kind of computer at all.
Note:UNA SETRANA SCHIERA DI AUTORI

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I’m going to take it as uncontroversial that the brain is a biological computing machine.
Note:È VERO IL BCONTRARIO

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beliefs and desires
Note:DA SOSTITUIRE CON CALCOLO

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Building intelligent machines would be off to a flying start if it happened that we could just ask people what they knew – and write this knowledge directly into a computer database.
Note:IA SAREBBE MOLTO SEMPLICE SE...

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the rich mental world we imagine that we are ‘looking in on’ moment-by-moment, is actually a story that we are inventing moment-by-moment.
IL VERO NN ESISTE...SIAMO ROBOTTONI BIOLOGICI COMANDATI DA UN CERVELLO CHE COESTRUISCE MODELLI E LI AGGIORNA

https://www.interfluidity.com/v2/7263.html

https://willwilkinson.net/2006/10/31/the-great-chain-of-status/

https://www.econlib.org/questions-for-karelis/

https://www.econlib.org/the-persistence-of-poverty-the-spinoffs/

http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2019/08/a-further-reply-to-mullins-on-divine.html

https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/08/12/book-review-secular-cycles/

http://www.overcomingbias.com/2019/08/explaining-paternalism.html

A CACCIA O A PASSEGGIO?

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2019/08/reading-and-rabbit-holes.html

Non avvicinarti mai a un libro senza delle domande da fargli. Per esempio, non dire mai "voglio leggere un libro su Venezia". Fatti delle domande su Venezia è cerca il libro in cui rintracciare la risposta.

Con i libri non si va a passeggio, si va a caccia.

Let’s say you want to read some books on Venice, maybe because you are traveling there, or you are just curious about the Renaissance, or about the history of the visual arts. Maybe you will write me and ask: “Tyler, which books should I read on Venice?” Now, there are many fine books on Venic...

MARGINALREVOLUTION.COM

Reading and rabbit holes - Marginal REVOLUTION

Let’s say you want to read some books on Venice, maybe because you are traveling there, or you are just curious about the Renaissance, or about the history of the visual arts. Maybe you will write me and ask: “Tyler, which books should I read on Venice?” Now, there are many fine books on Venic...

http://www.arnoldkling.com/blog/probability-and-mass-shootings/

I FOSSATI DELL'IRONIA

http://www.overcomingbias.com/2019/08/against-irony.html

Riccardo Mariani

Adesso · 

L'ironia serve a scavare un fossato tra le fazioni segnalando lealtà verso una di esse, quella destinata a comprenderne i doppi sensi e a goderne.

OVERCOMINGBIAS.COM

Overcoming Bias : Against Irony

Papua New Guinea. There are nearly 850 languages spoken in the country, making it the most linguistically diverse place on earth. … Mountains, jungles and swamps keep villagers isolated, preserving their languages. A rural population helps too: only about 13% of Papuans live in towns. …. Fierce ...

https://theopolisinstitute.com/conversations/simply-irresistible/

http://www.arnoldkling.com/blog/negative-interest-rates/

https://www.econlib.org/a-simple-economic-question-about-guns/

http://www.arnoldkling.com/blog/polarizing-ourselves/

http://fakenous.net/?p=699

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2019/08/the-greening-earth.html

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2019/08/alexey-guzey-on-progress-in-the-life-sciences.html

Paradsito

https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/08/19/maybe-your-zoloft-stopped-working-because-a-liver-fluke-tried-to-turn-your-nth-great-grandmother-into-a-zombie/

https://www.econlib.org/the-persistence-of-poverty-its-complicated/

https://www.econlib.org/the-persistence-of-poverty-karelis-theory/

https://www.econlib.org/the-persistence-of-poverty-karelis-vs-six-standard-stories/

https://www.econlib.org/the-persistence-of-poverty-karelis-puzzle/

the Phillips curve is unstable and, therefore, an imperfect guide for policy.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/09/business/trade-inflation-unemployment-phillips.html

Friedman scoprì l'instabilità in presenza di aspettative inflazionistiche: la fed pompa ma gli altri alzanoi prezzi con zero guadagno sull'occupazione. a volte addirttura una perdita stagflazione

F contro la divina semplicità

SMONTANDO DIO

Tutti i dissidi teologici che più mi interessano sono riconducibili alla dottrina della semplicità divina (DSD). Ovvero: Dio non ha parti.

In un ente fisico come il corpo umano le parti sono facili da distinguere: braccia, gambe, orecchie...

In un ente metafisico come Dio è più complicato ma fortunatamente sia chi aderisce a DSD, sia chi si dissocia su questo punto è d’accordo: le parti di Dio sono le sue azioni.

Per la DSD tutte le azioni divine sono riconducibili ad un’unica azione necessaria, è insensato distinguerle.

In effetti se Dio è buono fa sempre la cosa giusta e diventa inconcepibile vederlo cadere in errore. Tutto cio' che fa lo fa necessariamente, altrimenti non sarebbe Dio.

Ma se così fosse, non potrebbe essere libero. Come puo’ essere libero un essere che non sceglie tra azioni alternative (entrambe concepibili)?

A questo punto del dilemma si aprono due strade: 1) la via del mistero, 2) la rinuncia alla DSD.

Io scelgo 2, il che significa che Dio potrebbe anche sbagliare. Certo, a quel punto scopriremmo che cio’ che indicavamo come Dio non è tale poiché Dio non sbaglia mai (anche se sceglie liberamente). In altri termini: la fede è sempre probabilistica, mai assoluta. La fede ragionevole si sceglie come si sceglie una teoria scientifica, non a seguito di un ragionamento logico.

Linko un bel forum in cui 4 eminenti teologi sele danno di santa ragione su questo punto.

https://theopolisinstitute.com/conversations/the-doctrine-of-divine-simplicity/

https://feedly.com/i/entry//cnXVr/5HNe2pDqTI3udBeVx4AbJSW9TNhacAl8h6Dc=_16c729d47b7:126e981:fc836072

Dottrina della semplicità divina: dio non ha parti.

Ma cosa costituisce parte in un'entità metafisica? Le azioni di questo essere.

La semplicità è incompatibile con la libertà: se sono libero faccio una cosa potendone fare un'altra, devono esserci almeno due azioni a disposizione. Ma se ci sono due azioni non c'è semplicità.

Due soluzioni: 1) si introduce il mistero, 2) si nega la semplicità.

https://feedly.com/i/entry//cnXVr/5HNe2pDqTI3udBeVx4AbJSW9TNhacAl8h6Dc=_16c729d47b7:126e981:fc836072

IL RITAGLIO (le mie ossessioni musicali)

IL RITAGLIO (le mie ossessioni musicali)

C’è poi la fase in cui i figli si mettono a ritagliare. Intere giornate dedicate a questa attività, alla fine (intorno all’ora di cena) il genitore si sente sia appagato che scorato: appagato nel vedere la fantasia dei suoi bambini riflessa nel profilo abbozzato di quelle effimere immaginette ricavate dai fogli di carta, scorato per il disordine dei ritagli che regna nella stanza. Con questa mista disposizione d’animo si accinge a separare il grano dal loglio destinando quest’ultimo alla pattumiera bianca. Ogni tanto un figlio lancia l’allarme: “non buttarlo! è la pecorella del pastore!”. Hai confuso il ritagliato con il ritaglio, capita, molto spesso si somigliano. Ma è davvero la pecorella del pastore quella che hai in mano? Mah, il sospetto ti viene, sembra che i bambini siano particolarmente inclini a vedere le cose anche dove nessuno le ha progettate.

Quando l’uomo si è “ritagliato” un linguaggio su misura per comunicare ha creato lo stesso casino, senonché non è passato nessun genitore a buttare nella spazzatura bianca i ritagli, sono rimasti lì, poi qualcuno con il tempo c’ha rimesso mano trafficando con gli avanzi e ha battezzato il tutto: arte. Musica, per esempio.

Nella storia dell’uomo la musica non ha nessun significato, è roba da buttare in spazzatura. Senonché, ogni tanto si alza un “bambino” particolarmente geniale ad implorarti di non buttarla via perché in realtà significa questo e quello e per lui è particolarmente preziosa.

Tra l’immaginetta e i ritagli c’è lo stesso rapporto che c’è tra il linguaggio naturale e la musica. Le immaginette hanno un riferimento ben preciso, ma con un po’ di fantasia ce l’hanno anche i ritagli, in realtà ne hanno più di uno, tutti collocati in quel territorio a metà strada tra arbitrio e precisione. E’ la terra dell’immaginazione, o della fantasia.

Capire e godere dell’arte consiste nell’esercitare questa fantasia che associa a una “forma” un significato, anche se quella forma non è stata progettata per rinviare ad alcun significato. L’esercizio è tanto più divertente e tanto più facilitato dalla ricchezza delle forme con cui ti confronti, ma anche dalla ricchezza della tua esperienza e della tua cultura. Se hai visto tante cose potrai capire meglio che forma assumono le nuvole in cielo.

LA BENEFICIENZA DEI RICCONI

LA BENEFICIENZA DEI RICCONI

Molti sono “contro”, pensano debba essere limitata, addirittura impedita. Perché? Le risposte sono molte, tutte poco convincenti.

1) Perché questi ricconi hanno troppo potere!

Ok, ma criticarli quando fanno del bene non è comunque efficace. La gente si indigna quando Zuckerberg compra una casa da 10 milioni di dollari, non quando dona ai poveri dell’Africa 100 milioni di dollari.

2) Perché fa parte della nostra lotta contro le diseguaglianze.

Ad oggi Gates ha salvato 100 milioni di vite, rinunciare alla sua azione è davvero un prezzo che pagheresti pur di nobilitare la “tua” lotta alle diseguaglianze?

3) E’ un’attività con la quale i ricconi si fanno belli.

Non direi. Leggete le reazioni a certe iniziative filantropiche, almeno la metà sono negative. L’adulazione è altra cosa.

4) Si tratta di filantropia poco trasparente, meglio che paghino le tasse e gestisca il governo.

Ma siete davvero sicuri che quei fondi in mano al governo siano poi destinati agli ultimi del mondo? Io credo di no: quando il governo ha in mano qualcosa di solito lo spende in favore di chi lo vota o potrebbe votarlo.

5) Anche il governo fa filantropia!

Ci sono gli aiuti internazionali, vero. Di solito però non li delibera partendo dalla domanda “come posso fasre la differenza in vite umane?”. I ricconi non solo se la pongono ma assumono i massimi esperti per rispondere.

6) La scelta democratica avrà parecchi difetti ma per lo meno rappresenta la scelta del popolo.

Capisco che in qualche senso molto debole il governo mi rappresenti, ma si tratta di un “senso” talmente debole che dire che non mi rappresenta affatto è la stessa cosa.

7) Se non sei d’accordo con il governo, impegnati a cambiarlo!

Quindi io per salvare un bambino che muore di fame dovrei con la potenza del mio voto cambiare governo quando invece potrei fare un bonifico? Te lo scordi!

8) Questi ricconi con le loro elargizioni mastodontiche minacciano il pluralismo!

E’ un ragionamento difficile da seguire, infatti c’è più pluralismo in un’iniziativa personale che in qualsiasi altro fenomeno politico.

9) E Soros?

Soros è da sempre impegnato nella difesa di migranti e rifugiati. La cosa crea grattacapi all’Italia salviniana? Ce la si prenda con lo stato che non fornisce gli strumenti idonei alla salvaguardia dei confini, non con chi dà una mano ai più deboli. Soros non usa le corazzate.

Eccetera.

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2018/12/17/18141181/foundation-charity-deduction-democracy-rob-reich


https://feedly.com/i/entry/ty+AzTYZ3TUuMuPycOdkUNamwQCXNpDbajbdLnbrc5c=_16c4084f521:684cdad:561e4df6

PERCHE’ FAI QUELLO CHE FAI?

PERCHE’ FAI QUELLO CHE FAI?

Ci sono azioni (A) e ragioni (R) , e fin qui sono tutti d’accordo. Poi però ci sono almeno tre paradigmi per collegarle tra loro:

1) RAZIONALISMO: R => A (ci sono delle ragioni che ci spingono ad agire).

2) RAZIONALIZZAZIONE: A => R (si agisce per motivazioni profonde, poi si cerca una giustificazione).

3) CONNESSIONISMO: R <=> A (cerchiamo un'armonia associando opportunamente ragioni e azioni).

Il libro sceglie 3.

In 3 noi siamo come romanzieri che costruiscono un personaggio. Fantasia e bellezza detengono un primato ma il personaggio deve essere credibile, ogni azione deve avere un suo perché, se la giustificazione precede o segue l’azione ha importanza relativa, l’importante è che l’insieme suoni bene.

LA RIFLESSIONE NON ESISTE

la riflessione non esiste

L’UNICITA’ DEL CRISTIANESIMO

L’UNICITA’ DEL CRISTIANESIMO
Tra tutte le religioni è quella che più vicina a una teoria scientifica.

Oggi muore spolpata da due eresie: quella che sopravvaluta la scienza e quella che la sottovaluta.

LE PAROLE SONO IMPORTANTI?

LE PAROLE SONO IMPORTANTI?
Mentre le parole ci dicono molto di chi le utilizza (se gli eschimesi usano 10 termini per riferirsi alla neve è perché vivono in mezzo alla neve), la struttura della lingua ci dice ben poco.

Le differenze sono per lo più casuali.