Edge #496: Learning By Thinking - A Conversation With Tania Lombrozo

News from Edge To arrive at the edge of the world's knowledge, seek out the most complex and sophisticated minds, put them in a room together, and have them ask each other the questions they are asking themselves. July 31, 2017 THE THIRD CULTURE [Learning By Thinking]( A Conversation With [Tania Lombrozo]( Sometimes you think you understand something, and when you try to explain it to somebody else, you realize that maybe you gained some new insight that you didn't have before. Maybe you realize you didn't understand it as well as you thought you did. What I think is interesting about this process is that it’s a process of learning by thinking. When you're explaining to yourself or to somebody else without them providing feedback, insofar as you gain new insight or understanding, it isn't driven by that new information that they've provided. In some way, you've rearranged what was already in your head in order to get new insight. The process of trying to explain to yourself is a lot like a thought experiment in science. For the most part, the way that science progresses is by going out, conducting experiments, getting new empirical data, and so on. But occasionally in the history of science, there've been these important episodes—Galileo, Einstein, and so on—where somebody will get some genuinely new insight from engaging in a thought experiment. TANIA LOMBROZO is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, as well as an affiliate of the Department of Philosophy and a member of the Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences. She is a contributor to Psychology Today and the NPR blog 13.7: Cosmos and Culture. [Tania Lombrozo's Edge Bio page]( [ [Continue...]( ] IN THE NEWS NETZPOLITIK.ORG [John Brockman's Book on Thinking Machines: What Should We Keep From Artificial Intelligence?]( By Constanze Kurz [7.12.17] He has brought together scientists and artists from around the world to bring readers' insights, thoughts, and predictions about artificial intelligence: In a book about brainstorming and learning computers, John Brockman summarizes the state of the discussion. It is one of the topics about which science and now also society have been discussing, researching, and arguing for decades: Artificial Intelligence. But it begins with the concept. Is not it better to call "designed intelligence"? Because unlike intelligence in humans, an "intelligent" program of a computer has been deliberately designed and created in a certain form. This is one of the suggestions that finds itself in a book that is as stimulating as it is entertaining by John Brockman, which is now available in German: What do we think of artificial intelligence? [ [Continue...]( ] Edge Foundation, Inc. is a nonprofit private operating foundation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. [EDGE.ORG]( John Brockman, Editor and Publisher Russell Weinberger, Associate Publisher Nina Stegeman, Associate Editor Copyright (c) 2017 by Edge Foundation, Inc. 260 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10001 All Rights Reserved. Published by Edge Foundation, Inc. --------------------------------------------------------------- "The World's Smartest Website. Edge is a salon for the world's finest minds." — The Guardian • "We'd certainly be better off if everyone sampled the fabulous Edge symposium which, like the best in science, is modest and daring at once." — David Brooks, The New York Times • "An epicenter of bleeding-edge insight across science, technology and beyond . . . with some of our era's greatest thinkers . . . A lavish cerebral feast." — The Atlantic • "Not just wonderful, but plausible." — The Wall Street Journal • "Deliciously creative, the variety astonishes. Intellectual skyrockets of stunning brilliance." — Denis Dutton, Founder, Arts & Letters Daily • "Take a look. No matter who you are, you are bound to find something that will drive you crazy." — The New York Times --------------------------------------------------------------- Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](