Last updated: Wed, Aug 28, 2024
Our minds have limitations in processing information. They aren't designed to deal with complex systems well. (How We Understand Anything.)
Cognitive scientists have demonstrated that the human mind has quirks and foibles that would cause Mr. Spock to blush, were he able. Evolutionary and neuroscientific analysis have revealed that intuitive reasoning is based on fundamental concepts that are somewhere between inadequate and false. Worse, we may be programmed to be good at deceiving ourselves and others when so motivated. (Human Nature.)
We grow up surrounded by folk or cultural understandings about pain that are not based on science. (Folk or Cultural Understandings.)
Beyond these things, our intellectual lives are well-stocked with features that facilitate misunderstanding of things that are subtle, complex, or emotional. Pain is all these things.
Within this section...
Linguistic Understanding (Last updated: Sat, Aug 31, 2024)
The Effects of Deception (This page is incomplete.)
Limits to Rationality (This page is incomplete.)
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Scientific Understanding (This page is incomplete.)