Podcast Notes Key Takeaways

• It’s critical to set aside the the time to walk around a problem in a three-dimensional way
  • You might ask yourself:
    • What does this problem look like for me?
    • What does it look like to other people?
    • What does it look like through different lenses?
• “You don’t need to have more cognitive horsepower than other people to make better decisions, you just have to think through a wider variety of situations and circumstances”
  • Think:
    • What are the extent of the possible outcomes?
    • Where am I likely to end up on a probabilistic basis?
    • And are there outcomes I want to avoid?
      • If you can avoid all the bad outcomes, you’re more likely to obtain a preferable outcome
• Mental models describe the way the world works – they shape how we think, how we understand, and how we form beliefs
  • It’s important to develop a wide variety of mental models – this allows you to think about problems through different lenses
• Important Mental Models:
  • The map is not the territory
    • Like in online dating – the map (someone’s profile) doesn’t match the overall person 
  • First principles thinking
    • This model is all about breaking things down to their core, asking “Why?” until you get to a concrete answer that can’t be broken down further
  • Try to apply concepts outside the domains in which they’re presented
  • Understanding base rates
    • Our view is often clouded by ego, which makes us think we can beat the statistics
  • Taking advantage of compound interest
• The best podcast interviews are the result of a totally open-ended conversation with no time limit
• The internet facilitates the hardening of our own beliefs
  • Why? – We tend to only expose ourselves to people who have the same opinions as us

Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.org



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In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Shane Parrish about some of the mental models that should guide our thinking and behavior.

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