Illuminating the pitfalls of the thoughts in felt and gingerbread.
By Maria Popova
“Actual generosity towards the longer term lies in giving all to the current,” Albert Camus wrote as he thought of what it really means to be in solidarity with justice — an elegantly phrased reminder that the choices we make in the present day are the one fulcrum by which we transfer the outcomes of tomorrow. And but the best pitfall of human consciousness is likely to be our ordinary forgetting of this basic truth.
In 1950, two mathematicians engaged on sport concept devised a cruelly sensible thought experiment demonstrating simply how poorly we handle to calibrate future outcomes for our personal finest pursuits, exposing a secret underground of consciousness the place arithmetic and morality converge. Often known as The Prisoner’s Dilemma, it illuminates the complicated dynamics that govern loyalty, betrayal, collaboration, and belief — dynamics that play out in myriad refined methods throughout our on a regular basis lives.
The basic thought experiment comes alive with sudden delight on this animated quick movie from TED-Ed by economist Lucas Husted and animators Ivana Bošnjak and Thomas Johnson Volda:
Complement with thinker Martha Nussbaum on the emotional machinery of trust and the only fruitful response to betrayal, then revisit different animated variations of basic thought experiments: The Ship of Theseus (exploring what makes you you), Plato’s Cave (exploring the central thriller of consciousness), Boltzmann’s Brain Paradox (exploring whether or not actuality is a hallucination), The Infinite Hotel Paradox (exploring the mind-bending nature of infinity), and Mary’s Room (exploring the bounds of data).
