If you’re motivated to be a better reasoner and critical thinker (and shouldn’t we all care about that?), then you should want to hear about ClearerThinking.org, an online academy founded and run by my friend Spencer Greenberg.
If you know how human cognition works, then you know that we’re far from being perfect reasoning machines. There are certain systematic biases built into our brains that operate without us even being aware of them, causing us to make reasoning errors or decisions that aren’t the best for achieving our goals. The goal of ClearerThinking.org is to teach people to recognize and avoid these thinking traps, to make improved decisions and better achieve the goals they value most. Better decision-making can improve the lives of individuals, increase the effectiveness of organizations and governments, and even improve the wellbeing of society as a whole. You can try one of these training programs for free by following the links below.
Introduction: The Science of Better Decisions
Length: 10 minutes
Learn about the way that human evolution built strange reasoning quirks called cognitive biases into our brainsโand what you can do to compensate for them.
Rhetorical Fallacies: Dodging Argument Traps
Length: 25 minutes
Train yourself to instantly detect bad arguments and common reasoning errors that often go unnoticed in both speech and writing.
Probabilistic Fallacies: Gauging the Strength of Evidence
Length: 35 minutes
Learn to improve your predictions by understanding evidence on a deeper level with Bayes’ rule. Interpreting evidence is not as simple as you might think.
Explanation Freeze: Interpreting Uncertain Events
Length: 30 minutes
Learn a useful trick for improving your predictions about uncertain events.
Learning From Mistakes: A Systematic Approach
Length: 25 minutes
It can be tough to learn from mistakes; try our approach to rebound from your errors and become a better person for it.
Aspire: A Tool to Help You Improve Your Life
Length: 20 minutes
Use this tool to develop strategies for improving each important area of your life; become happier and achieve your long-term goals more easily.
The Planning Fallacy: Predicting Times and Costs
Length: 50 minutes
Learn why projects & trips usually take longer than people predict, and become a better planner in the process.
The Sunk Cost Fallacy: Focusing on the Future
Length: 50 minutes
Learn why it can be so hard for people to accurately evaluate their most important projects – and learn to get better at doing so yourself.