Author Archives: whiteflag25

Judging by the number of views at this blog, it seems like many of you already follow the suggestion of the above title. But I really want you to ask yourself why you would listen to anything I say–or write, in this particular case–in the first place. Now, it’s possible that you–for reasons beyond me–believeContinue reading “Don’t Listen to Me”

After spending far too long talking about being aware of how much we actually know about some topic, I am prepared to somehow get even more boring. It’s a gift, actually, to take something that is already mind-numbing and make it completely mind-deadening. But the fact that you have pressed on and are now readingContinue reading “Big Greek Words”

So let’s finally finish this discussion of the Dunning-Kruger Effect. Last week we looked at the slow and steady rise in the justified confidence someone develops as that someone slowly and steadily masters some discipline. But let’s finish by looking at that initial spike. If you think about it, this spike provides a good self-checkContinue reading “The Most You (Don’t) Know”

So…in the last post, we saw this graph of the Dunning-Kruger Effect.* This week, I want to focus on the right side of the graph. *I promise that we’re almost done with the DK Effect. I know it’s boring. I know I’M boring. But we always need to know where we really are on understandingContinue reading “The More You Know…Even MOAR!”

Let me briefly review the Dunning-Kruger Effect: the more that you know about some topic, the less confidence you have that you have mastered that topic. Effectively, as knowledge goes up, confidence goes down. But more “fun” (and by “fun,” I mean that it better affords me the opportunity to ridicule the stupid) is thatContinue reading “More…The More You Know”

From teaching undergraduates, I’ve come to believe the following: As a freshman, you get overwhelmed by the simple. As a sophomore, you think you know everything. As a junior, you think you know nothing. As a senior, you don’t care what you know. But, as the Preacher reminds us, “there is no new thing underContinue reading “The More You Know…”

So…why start this blog? What could I possibly say that hasn’t been stated time and again already? Well, I’m in my mid-40s. I’ve never kept a diary. I’ve never really committed my thoughts to paper (or electrons, in this case). I think that I have a good deal to say, and I think that allContinue reading “Why this blog?”