axiomatic thinking

[ajschumacher]

Some beliefs really are axioms, but many just behave like axioms as an everyday heuristic, which can be counterproductive. https://twitter.com/planarrowspace/status/1286649594504523781

Thinking about, e.g., capitalism: Do we take it as axiomatically the right choice, or consider alternatives?

It can be effective to treat something that has worked for a while as the natural or only choice - until it isn't any more.

[ajschumacher]

"For most people, nowadays, the appeal of democratic choice is that it's fair; we speak in the language of rights and believe on moral grounds that people should be able to choose their own rulers, whether these choices are wise or not." (page 393)

Ellenberg, comparing modern folks to Condorcet: "For him, democracy and majority rule were ways not to be wrong, via math."

[ajschumacher]

"The 16 NLP Presuppositions Explained" https://happyrubin.com/nlp/presuppositions/

not quite axioms, but sort of in that spirit...

[ajschumacher]

“You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” ― Steve Jobs

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/420166-you-have-to-trust-in-something---your-gut-destiny, also quoted in Game Changers, page 89

[ajschumacher]

"To accept the dignity of another person is an axiom."

Tolstoy, in his "Calendar of Wisdom" book, April 16 entry, page 119 I think.

[ajschumacher]

Axiomatic Thinking (Hilbert, 1918) https://planspace.org/20200923-axiomatic_thinking_hilbert_1918/

[ajschumacher]

"Truth is not virtue, but the lack of vices."

In Tolstoy's calendar book, for May 15.

Relate to simplicity; not adding but removing things to achieve elegance - a good system has as few axioms as possible

[ajschumacher]

"An ignorant mind is precisely not a spotless, empty vessel, but one that’s filled with the clutter of irrelevant or misleading life experiences, theories, facts, intuitions, strategies, algorithms, heuristics, metaphors, and hunches that regrettably have the look and feel of useful and accurate knowledge. This clutter is an unfortunate by-product of one of our greatest strengths as a species. We are unbridled pattern recognizers and profligate theorizers. Often, our theories are good enough to get us through the day, or at least to an age when we can procreate. But our genius for creative storytelling, combined with our inability to detect our own ignorance, can sometimes lead to situations that are embarrassing, unfortunate, or downright dangerous—especially in a technologically advanced, complex democratic society that occasionally invests mistaken popular beliefs with immense destructive power." — David Dunning

[ajschumacher]

Not totally sure where this fits, but I like it:

"Evil does not exist in material nature by itself, but evil exists for every person who understands goodness, and who has the freedom of choice between good and bad." (Marcus Aurelius, quoted in Tolstoy's Calendar of Wisdom, May 20 entry)

evil as a common construct; invites question of how similar such ideas are for different people

[ajschumacher]

"The assumption is taken for granted that all groups are exactly equal in their ability and that any differences between them result from biased tests." (page 402, Sabisky in Didau's What if everything you knew about education was wrong?)

[ajschumacher]

"Faith is the foundation on which all else rests; it is the root of all knowledge."

Tolstoy, August 28 entry of A Calendar of Wisdom, page 253