Statistical Life

From the evolution of intelligence to memory and information overload.

Thomas Hills Ph.D.

Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Sex

Why are there so many kinds of male mating strategies? A few fairy tales can help explain the game theoretics of frequency-dependent selection.

The Zero-Sum Fallacy in Negotiation and How to Overcome It

The zero-sum fallacy is a fallacy because it is a false belief. Unfortunately, it's a belief that can be self-fulfilling.

Does My Algorithm Have a Mental Health Problem?

How many different ways can an algorithm hallucinate? To find out, we would have to provide the algorithm with all possible combinations of input stimuli.

Gun Control vs. Power to Fight Tyranny? False Dichotomy 101

A government that fails to protect its citizens by the most minuscule means of simply requiring that competent people use deadly tools competently is a tyranny of incompetence.

Identifying Wisdom in a Crowd When Problems Are Hard

More ignorant people often have the highest level of confidence. But surprisingly, we can still leverage the wisdom of the crowds for problems where most people are wrong.

Robots Will Have Rights

Will robots have rights? Whether they do or not will have very little to do with them, and everything to do with us.

Is Science Stronger When It is Decentralized?

Networked teams often fail at tasks because of groupthink and other forms of confirmation bias. Decentralized teams often do better, especially when the problems are hard.

13 Rules for Writing Good Essays

Organize your key points, support them with evidence-based arguments, and wrap it up at the end so the reader knows what they've learned.

My Top 10 Job Interview Tips

Interviewing is something people can learn how to do. Having given and received hundreds of interviews, I've tried to summarize my experience in 10 simple tips. Good luck.

On Gun Rights in America

The American Constitution is based on "We the people," because it is about valuing people's life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. God did not grant these rights, people did.

Free Associations Across the Lifespan

What happens to free associations as we age from four legs to three? The mind comes together. Then blows apart like a dandelion in the wind.

Humor Psychology: The Funniest Words in the English Language

What's the funniest word in American English? Okay, it's "booty." But why is that funny? Nobody knows.

A Beautiful Vertigo: "Blade Runner 2049"

He knows what the Zen master knows: that nothing and everything is real. Reality is the nothing hidden behind the facade that is everything you can know.

Why Do We Die?

Our survivability is the bargaining chip that life pays to keep us immortal.

If Norwegians Had Guns When Breivik Showed Up, Then What?

Promoting America's free-wheeling gun culture in Norway might have stopped Breivik, but it would have made up for it by more than tripling Norway's gun-related death rate.

The True Odds of Shooting a Bad Guy With a Gun

Two out of three people who use a gun use it to shoot themselves. If you buy a gun and you feel the need to use it, duck!

Top 10 Science-Based Study Skills for the Classroom

Knowing how to study will help you learn faster, enjoy what you're learning, give you more time to enjoy what you've learned, and lay the foundation for a solid future.

The Evolution of the Written Word

In the past 5,000 years, the written word has evolved to make it easier to learn and faster to read without error. Following the trends, we can predict where language is headed.

The Misinterpretation of Libet and Our Man in Alaska

How does consciousness control action?

Fake News: "71 Doctors Declare Trump a Woman"

Why fight the lies. Write something that you know some people can't help but want to believe and sit back as social media does it's magic.

The Four Evolutionary Roots of Pokémon Go

Pokémon Go is a craze, but crazes often have reasons that make them so crazy. In the case of Pokemon Go, these reasons are millions of years old.

Why the Other Lane Is Always Faster

Can't escape the slow lane? It's not just you.

The Psychology of Brexit

Few people are stupid in any meaningful sense. The British certainly aren't. So what drives a vote that throws the negotiating table at the EU and walks off into no-man's land?

Baby Sign, Anxiety, and Snake Oil

Baby sign does lots of things, but unfortunately few of them appear to be about improving your child's life. It's worth taking a look at the evidence.

Waiting for the Haiku in Mindfulness

Mindfulness can be about a personal and experimental exploration of reality that is not about saving yourself, but rather experiencing your Self.

Data Science and the History of Subjective Wellbeing

What is the history of subjective wellbeing?

The Future of Crowdsourcing in the Classroom

The notion that we live in an increasingly consumer-based culture is not new, but the capacity for computers to reduce students to point-and-click robots in complicated virtual Skinner boxes should not be lost. Students are at risk of being increasingly met with boilerplate environments that are designed to reduce knowledge to its most clickable form.

My Son Is Afraid of the Uncanny Valley

Isn't it a moral violation that images we would never choose to look at pop up on our computers—AND INTO OUR HEADS—without our permission? I'm all for free speech (and images). But really, shouldn't we be able to not look?

The Death of Mr. Economicus

For many years, we thought humans were rational. Homo economicus was the protagonist of the human story, and he knew what he was about. He was the James Bond of decision making, and he didn't let the universe push him around. The only problem was that he didn't exist.

The Psychology of Wonder

Who we are is a consequence of our internal model, and when we change that by learning something new, we change our understanding of ourselves.

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