{"id":15269,"date":"2023-07-25T07:04:42","date_gmt":"2023-07-25T15:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/?p=15269"},"modified":"2023-11-03T05:02:45","modified_gmt":"2023-11-03T13:02:45","slug":"the-mind-is-a-computer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2023\/07\/25\/the-mind-is-a-computer\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mind is a Computer"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my recent call for questions<\/a>, a reader asked me a version of Peter Thiel\u2019s now-famous interview question<\/a>: what important truth do few people agree with you on?<\/p>\n

I had a hard time answering this because, for the most part, I\u2019m an intellectual conformist. I read what experts think and generally agree with their consensus. <\/p>\n

While intellectual conformity may sound cowardly, I\u2019d argue it\u2019s actually a kind of virtue. My professional incentives align with being contrarian rather than dryly repeating whatever Wikipedia says on a topic. <\/p>\n

I usually agree with experts because experts are regular people who have learned a lot about a topic. If regular people tend to coalesce around a certain worldview after hearing all the evidence, it\u2019s probably because that worldview is more likely to be correct!<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

A side-effect of this habit is that conforming to experts\u2019 thinking sometimes puts you wildly out of step with most other people.<\/p>\n

Non-expert opinions often sharply diverge from how experts see a subject. So when you read a lot about a topic, and your opinion converges with the typical expert view, it can diverge from the commonsense view of reality.<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Consider the idea that the mind is a kind of computer.<\/p>\n

This is the central assumption of cognitive science and represents an orthodox view within psychology and neuroscience. There are caveats and dissenters, to be sure. Still, faith in the information-processing paradigm of the mind is far more prevalent among people who spend their entire lives studying it than the average person on the street.<\/p>\n

Why the Mind is a Kind of Computer<\/h2>\n
\nListen to this article<\/small>
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