ML182: Tom Chatfield on Overcoming Cognitive Biases, Finding Trustworthy Sources and How To Think Better
Tom Chatfield is an author and philosopher. He has written the textbook Critical Thinking, and more recently, the book How To Think, a short guide outlining 10 key concepts to help you identify and examine your biases and construct logical arguments.
Thinking is hard work but often we don’t see it that way.
That’s because having thoughts isn’t the same as thinking. Real thinking is active not passive. It involves continuous questioning and challenging your own perspective to get a more accurate view of reality – and that’s really difficult.
In a time where we’re exposed to more information than ever before, and things are getting more tribal and polarised, being able to think for yourself is more important than ever.
As the person who has literally written the textbook on the subject, Tom is the perfect person to help you think more critically. In this episode we discuss:
- How to avoid common thinking mistakes and deal with your biases so you can be less wrong
- The three characteristics of valuable information sources and how to identify charlatans
- How to understand statistics and form an accurate picture of reality in a data driven world
We also discuss Tom’s experience writing a book on critical thinking during the pandemic, explaining the situation to his children and the difficult task of teaching people to think. This was a great conversation that will help you overcome thinking mistakes and make sense of the world around you.
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