Research Methods

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Bridging the Gaps: A Portal for Curious Minds - “Free Will”

INTERVIEWS ARCHIVE ABOUT Alfred Mele is William H. and Lucyle T. Werkmeister's Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University. Mele is the director of the Philosophy and Science of Self-Control Project (2014-2017) and was the director of the Big Questions in Free Will Project (2010-2013).

Alfred Mele's first book, Irrationality (1987), sought to address philosophical questions surrounding two forms of irrational behaviour: self-deception and behaviour that manifests weakness of will. The second book, Springs of Action (1992), is about the role that beliefs, desires, and intentions play in generating human behaviour. The third book Autonomous Agents (1995) attempts to show that free or autonomous behaviour is a real phenomenon. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uctytho/dfwVariousMele.html In the tenth book, Liberty: Why Science Didn't Overthrow Free Will (2014), Alfred Mele reached out to general readers. This book is on the same topic as my conversation. In the 13th book, Free Will: A Guide to Opinions, Alfred Mele reaches out to the general audience again, just as he did in Freedom. This time, instead of evaluating science-based arguments for free will scepticism, he focus on the main philosophical questions.

Does free will exist? This question has sparked debate among philosophers, psychologists, and theologians. A popular argument among neuroscientists and social psychologists is that free will is illusory—our words and actions do not come from rational choice, but from unconscious tendencies and social conditions. But according to philosopher Alfred Mele, the case against free will actually leave a lot of room for doubt. In Freedom: Why Science Doesn't Disprove Free Will, Mele examines the major experiments cited by free will deniers and explains how they don't provide the solid evidence they're touted. Instead, Mailer argues, conscious decisions play an important role in our lives, and that knowledge of situational influences allows people to respond rationally to those influences rather than blindly obey. Mailer's clear exploration of the meaning and consequences of free will, especially our moral and political decisions, make this an essential conversation in America. （GVSU,2015)

Feser(2015) posted that Mele demonstrates that scientific evidence is far from undermining free will, and the reasoning that leads some scientists to make other claims is sloppy.

Mele brings deep philosophical questions to life using compelling thought experiments. He tackles problems readers have already thought of, and some they will encounter for the first time, on topics including determinism, neuroscience, and control. After reading this book you will no longer think about free will or the decisions you think you are making in the same way.

I think awareness leads us to see the meaning of what we do, and the meaning of our decisions. Some decisions, such as where to study and who to befriend, involve a variety of judgments and feelings, as well as what choices mean to the lives of those who choose. The sense of meaning is again on the rise in moral decision-making. Free will is not in or of the physical universe, it is from the mental universe.

Reference:

Feser, E,. (2015) Why Science Hasn’t Disproved Free Will: A Review of Alfred Mele’s “Free”. [Online] Available at: https://strangenotions.com/why-science-hasnt-disproved-free-will-a-review-of-alfred-meles-free/. (Accessed 07 October 2022)

GVSU. (2015) Alfred Mele: American Conversations. [Online] Available at: https://www.gvsu.edu/hc/alfred-mele-american-conversations-54.htm. (Accessed 07 October 2022)

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Bridging the Gaps: A Portal for Curious Minds - "Learning How to Learn"

Barbara Oakley, a popular course lecturer on Coursera, the world's largest online open teaching platform, once knew nothing of mathematics and became a PhD in engineering. Through brain science, Barbara Oakley has helped more than 1.8 million readers understand the brain to Operate logic and find an effective path for independent learning. She is a professor of engineering at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, and Coscella's first 'innovation lecturer'. Her work focuses on the complex relationship between neuroscience and social behaviour.

This interview is about learning how to learn - the person being interviewed is Barbara Oakley She shares how to learn, and in "Learning How to Learn," Barbara Oakley and co-author Terence Sejnovsky explain learning strategies you can use to excel at what you're doing or learn anything. For example, why do we sleep?

"Focus" and "Diffusion" modes When people study, sometimes they focus and sometimes the brain wanders. Both modes allow the brain to learn new things. So - take a break, meditate, think about other things, and give yourself plenty of time in both modes. It is essential to take regular breaks while studying.

Recall Dr Oakley cites Dr Jeff Karpicke's research to support the scientific idea of ​​spending a few minutes recalling the information you're trying to learn. It's a way of moving something from short-term memory to long-term learning, and even recalling information in a different physical environment can help your brain better grasp it.

The best way to learn something is to break it down into smaller concepts. It's like putting together a puzzle, but you know not only the individual parts but how they fit together and become more familiar with them. Dr Oakley recommends a good step-by-step process to learn something. For example, it involves scanning the syllabus of a book or course to get a rough idea of ​​the big picture. Second, look at an example. Then, do it yourself. Finally, do this again and again in different contexts. Oakley proves this based on personal experience. From childhood through her career in the U.S. Army, she struggled with technical subjects. However, recognizing the benefits of technical competence, she began to overcome technophobia and eventually earned a PhD in systems engineering.

Additionally, Barbara Oakley and other authors edited the book "Practicing Sustainability," which says that sustainability is for everyone, but everyone applies it in different ways, by defining and shaping it differently - just as water is rimmed and shaped by its container. A wide range of perspectives emerged from their paper, confirming an important insight: that sustainable development is pursued in different ways, not only due to different interpretations but also because of different incentives, trade-offs and altruistic motivations. Over time and with much-needed critical thinking, sustainability will become an even more integral part of our culture. By sharing the experiences and clear insights of today's experts, practising sustainability is a stepping stone to the future.

https://barbaraoakley.com/books/practicing-sustainability/

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Bridging the Gaps: A Portal for Curious Minds - Questions are the answer

Our first instinct is to find an answer when we have a problem. But Elon Musk said, "One of the firm things is figuring out what question to ask. Once you figure that out, the answer is relatively easy." If you can ask the right questions, the answer will come naturally.

So how do you ask the "right question"? INSEAD professor Hal Gregersen conducted in-depth interviews with more than 200 innovative and creative people in this issue of The Question is the Answer book, summed up a set of key questioning methods, and helped us get out of the deadlock with correct questions and build our core competitiveness.

https://halgregersen.com/

Hal Gregersen said that when he looked into the eyes of his grandchildren, he saw a pure miracle: They were curious about the world around them, unafraid to explore, and eager to discover new things every day. Humans are naturally curious and creative.

The main focus of this interview discussion is Gregersen's book "The Question is the Answer: Groundbreaking Approaches to Solving Work and Life's Most Nagging Problems", and touches on his co-authored book, "The Innovator's DNA: Mastering Five The skills of a disruptive innovator".

Hal Gregersen thinks asking questions is very important. Questions not only show the perspective of the questioner to observe things, but also limit the scope of the answer output, and also reflect the way of thinking of the person who gave the answer. In the book, the author uses the actual cases of outstanding people in different fields to deeply analyze the essence of the problem and extract a set of systematic and clear solutions.

This method can help you find the crux of the problem, find strength in the problem itself, reshape the inner way of thinking, break the cognitive constraints, and gain the courage to find the answer from a broader questioning dimension.

Learned: 1. Asking questions is important. Questions not only show the perspective of the questioner to observe things, but also limit the scope of the answer output, and also reflect the way of thinking of the person who gave the answer.

2. Asking a better and better question can help you find the crux of the problem, find the power of the problem itself, reshape the inner way of thinking, break the cognitive constraints, and gain the courage to seek answers from a broader questioning dimension.

3. A problem is like a key that unlocks new insights.

Are you on the way to finding problems now, first reflect on whether your question is correct, and ask yourself another question, does this help your first question?

For this I also studied the DNA of the Innovator: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators, another book by Hal Gregersen, who offered a new way of thinking about leadership, “The role of the leader is to present The right questions, not knowing all the answers." It's a guide company that develops the discovery skills CEOs and entrepreneurs rely on to build and guide sustainable ideas.

https://thinkers50.com/biographies/hal-gregersen/

About Hal Gregersen · Senior Lecturer in Leadership and Innovation at MIT and professor at INSEAD. Co-authored The Innovator's Gene with Clayton Christensen and Jeff Dyer. · Focus on leadership research, has been hired by many world-renowned companies as a professional consultant in innovation, strategy, etc., and has published a large number of articles in academic and business journals. · In 2017, he received the Thinkers50 Leadership Award. He regularly keynotes executives from Adidas, AT&T, Christie's, Coca-Cola, Danone, Discovery Channel, and more. Nationality: American