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take the three-question wason test, then come back

 

There are four cards, a simple rule, and all you’ve got to do is to work out which cards you need to turn over to see if the rule has been broken. That’s got to be easy, right? Well maybe, but the Wason Selection Task, as it is called, is one of the most oft repeated tests of logical reasoning in the world of experimental psychology.

Three questions.

Only click on this and read after you've taken the test! I swear it's fast.

According to Leda Cosmides and John Tooby, the results of the Wason Selection Task demonstrate that the human mind has not evolved reasoning procedures that are specialised for detecting logical violations of conditional rules. Moreover, they claim that this is the case even when these rules deal with familiar content drawn from everyday life.

However, they argue that the human mind has evolved to detect violations of conditional rules, when these violations involve cheating on a social exchange. This is a situation where a person is entitled to some kind of reward only if they have fulfilled a particular requirement (for example, you can enter a particular nightclub only if you’re over the age of 21). Cheating involves taking the benefit, without fulfilling the condition for the benefit. Cosmides and Tooby have found that when the Wason Selection Task is constructed to reflect a cheating scenario, subjects perform considerably better than they do with the standard test.

Okay, so, obviously invoking evolution is a little silly here. Who’s to say this is a matter of hardwiring rather than what people have practiced?

Still, there’s something very interesting.

In biology, anthropomorphism bad.

In science, the use of anthropomorphic language that suggests animals have intentions and emotions has traditionally been deprecated as indicating a lack of objectivity. Biologists have been warned to avoid assumptions that animals share any of the same mental, social, and emotional capacities of humans, and to rely instead on strictly observable evidence.

You might reason about it: we don’t want to project our own social dynamics onto situations where they’re not fundamentally present, because we’ll project too much and miss what’s going on. Seems fair enough.

But in this case, taking the social out of the same reasoning task makes many unable to pick their way through it.

This suggests to me that various anthropomorphized lenses can help us with cold hard logical problems, especially if we can pick them up and put them down.

The version of this that I’ve found people able to use at work is “adversarial” thinking. Every computer science education handwaves a bit that you ought to be able to do this kind of reasoning, sometimes for worst-case analysis or more commonly for security. You can walk people through this a bit and get to interesting insights.

(Fake example that may make this seem slightly more concrete to software engineers if absolute nonsense to everyone else: Yes, I know that this service is only invoked by three trusted internal callers, and yes, they’re all supposed to be reasonable – but think with me. If you wanted to, could you create load with some attributes that would ruin the async workflow distribution’s performance characteristics? (Some method is discussed.) (Ahh – and could we end up with some amount of that by accident if the upstream caller had a failure in such-and-such way and were resubmitting XYZ?))

But: I think adversarial reasoning and thinking about cheating probably isn’t the only way that social reasoning can help when you’re manipulating endless cold logical abstractions.

My senior year in college, a friend and I were thoroughly and delightedly obnoxious about calling components / interfaces / entities “boi”. “The session state boi.” “The parser boi needs it.” “Ahh but this update will need to touch the factory bois as well.” I can’t say that that must have been fun for others, but… Thinking about the different pieces of code like mammoths in a David Macaulay drawing handing off various tasks to each other makes it easier for me to remember what they all do and how they interact.

Is that embarrassing? Is it something to suppress like a field biologist’s anthropomorphization of a troop of meerkats?

I think it shouldn’t be. I’ve no idea today how to leverage it to be more effective, but there’s a powerful amount of brain that you get to work with for social reasoning, and finding ways of getting it to kick on seems valuable.

maya.land

08 Sep 2025 at 08:00

Scripting News: Monday, September 8, 2025

 

Monday, September 8, 2025

Podcast: Why blogging lost to Twitter and other folk songs. #

I've been calling the next release Radio WordLand. If you know the history you'll understand why. I'll start posting screen shots soon. #

Screen shot of a post by Evan Prodromou on Masto yesterday. "You publish where you want to publish, Dave. We'll find a way to connect to you. That's the whole point." Indeed that is the whole point. I say it like this. "Interop is all that matters." If our products interop that's pure love. The rest of it is baloney. Maybe I'm not a nice guy. Not my job. We've being fucked over by "social media" for 19 years now, and the new ones who say they're open, and on the web, and decentralized, are not. The only way out of this mess is what Evan said. BTW, I sent Evan a pointer to the subscription list which is my outflow. I use OPML for the list and RSS for the feeds. That's where you will find my writing. #

I watched the movie Seven last night, and I can't stop thinking about it. It got a shitty review in the NYT, which usually means I won't bother with something, but this time I decided to give it a try. The reviewer, Janet Maislin, didn't like the acting of Brad Pitt. I thought Pitt was an unlikeable jerk, but I also thought that was the role, but maybe I was wrong. I didn't care. I also couldn't figure out what city it was. It wasn't NY, but Maislin says it was. Usually in a movie set in NY, I recognize many of the locations. There are only a few places movies are shot in the city. But again, I didn't care. What keeps me thinking about it is the story. I'm not going to spoil it. Don't read any reviews before watching it, they pretty much all get in the way of the storytelling. #

How to be part of the rebooted blogosphere. #

Scripting News for email

08 Sep 2025 at 05:00
#

Steve Troughton-Smith on Mastodon:

I know Apple has got used to making its share of Microsoft-scale screwups lately, but taking the two best UI frameworks ever made, UIKit and AppKit, and throwing them under the bus for something designed to build watch apps really does take the cake.

These frameworks were so good. Still are! I’ll never fully understand why there couldn’t have been a universal layer for iOS and macOS plus some existing AppKit and UIKit pieces for platform-specific features. Oh well, that ship sailed years ago now.

Manton Reece

08 Sep 2025 at 03:26
#

Stumbled on Freaky Tales while browsing HBO and it’s wild. 1980s Oakland, basketball, punk rock, animation… It is surprisingly violent but also amazing. 🍿

Manton Reece

07 Sep 2025 at 20:49
#

Marco Arment on Mastodon:

As we head into iPhone-event week, let’s celebrate the hard work by all of the people who made these products happen.

And let’s not forget the shameless Trump-suckass CEO at the top, who constantly gives the middle finger to everyone in his own company…

🇺🇸

Manton Reece

07 Sep 2025 at 19:13
#

Ryan Barrett blogging about how our symptom-based healthcare isn’t good enough:

…for lots of diseases, even critical ones like cancer, where catching them early can make all the difference, most of the time we’re still waiting until someone shows up in clinic, coughing up blood and complaining that their side hurts…

We’re taking an even worse step back right now in the United States, but it’s temporary, fixable in 2026 and 2028. I still feel good that our grandchildren will have much better care and healthier lives.

Manton Reece

07 Sep 2025 at 17:26

Poverty, By America

 There are books and then there are books. The kind where you can’t put down until they’re finished with you. The kind that captures every atom of your attention and changes something deep down. You walk away altered, the words having not really been words or sentences but something else altogether.

That’s how I felt reading Matthew Desmond’s Poverty, By America. This is no dreamy communist manifesto, no incoherent rant that leads to nothing but sadness and frustration, but a shocking book full of actionable, kind ideas entirely backed by careful study of a complex problem. Desmond makes his argument clear through this complexity though: the reason why poor folks are poor is because rich folks are rich.

Here’s my notes.


Poverty isn't simply the condition of not having enough money. It's the condition of not having enough choice and being taken advantage of because of that.

(I remember being caught in a web of overdraft fees when I struggled with money. There’s still this lingering feeling fifteen years later where I doubt every time a check will clear, a credit card will go through. I still assume that banks have caught me in some great trap beyond my comprehension. There’s a spider lurking behind me, ready and waiting to devour every paycheck that clears my account. This is not a healthy way to run a society, or a healthy way to live. But tens of millions of Americans do.)


When we are preoccupied by poverty, “we have less mind to give to the rest of life.” Poverty does not just deprive people of security and comfort; it siphons off their brainpower, too.

(I remember being shocked by how similar poverty felt like a sickness, as if I had blinkers on, as if a strong vignette had been applied to my vision. Money was all I could think about. I would count the pounds and pennies, counting and counting and counting at night. I couldn’t think straight, I couldn’t think about a 401k or future investments because I was so paralyzed by Today, this big and brutal and terrifying thing. What if someone after work asked me out for a beer? What if we walk passed a shop and my credit card fails when trying to buy water? What if someone finds out how much is in my account?)

(And yet! I was one of the lucky ones to have family to bail me out, as embarrassing as it was to ask them over and over again. Most folks however don’t have people to help them. This is what the government should be. And, currently, what it is not.)

(But we can fix this.)


A higher minimum wage is an antidepressant. It is a sleep aid. A stress reliever. Vocal segments of the American public, those with brain space to spare, seem to believe the poor should change their behavior to escape poverty. Get a better job. Stop having children. Make smarter financial decisions. In truth, it’s the other way around: Economic security leads to better choices.

(I remember my first real paycheck. The one where I didn’t have to struggle. The one where I was lifted out of worrying so much. I could suddenly go out and buy food and start going out for dinner or the pub intermittently without feeling anxious the whole time about embarrassing myself by my card failing. I could make rent. But it wasn’t all these material things that money gifted me: it was sleep. With the sudden turn of a week I could now make predictions about my future. Mere days before my life was broken up into excruciatingly long weeks. Paycheck, no-paycheck, no-paycheck, no-paycheck. This is not a healthy way to run a society, etc. etc.)


Somehow, the United States has the unique distinction of lacking universal healthcare while still having the most expensive healthcare system in the world.

(One time back in the UK I had 40 quid in my bank account but found myself with a serious and embarrassing medical emergency. At midnight I went to the hospital and I suddenly found myself begging a doctor for help in a corridor outside his office. He told me the STD clinic opens in the morning, come back then. In agony I laughed and said “I might not be a doctor my dude but I can GUARANTEE that isn’t the problem here.” A few days later, the embarrassing surgery is over, they tell me to go, and I simply walk out of the hospital. There’s no pay station, no worry about handing out cash or finding myself slammed with debt because the UK has a modern, humane health care system. When I moved to the states I learned that how much money I make doesn’t really matter. One foul move, an uncontrollable accident like the one I had back in the UK, and that’s all it takes to lose your financial footing. And, because of this, poverty haunts everyone in America.)

(But we can fix this.)

(I think this is why I loved this book. It’s angry but not cynical. Desmond argues over and over again that we have fixed the balance of power in this country before and we can do it again. Poverty is not a hex, a curse,a chronic condition or necessary evil. It can be fixed!)

(We just have to make it so.)

Robin Rendle

07 Sep 2025 at 17:03

Standing on the precipice

 Human Stuff is a free weekly-ish newsletter. You’re welcome to share parts of this letter that connect with you on social media, or send to someone you love. Thank you for reading, ‘heart’ing, commenting, sharing, for helping this newsletter continue by being here. It truly means something.


A song I’m loving:

into the greenhouse, 35mm film

September’s turning of light is bringing a veil-is-thin energy to my spirit. This sense of, something is ending and I don’t yet know what that something is. This sense of, things are changing and I don’t yet know where the change is leading. This sense of, it’s time to release, release, release — it’s time to let go, set down, be done — it’s time to shed the skins that have been hanging on too long, the ones that have been begging to be left behind so something more true can take their place This sense of, it’s time to let the discomfort do its work, rather than avoiding it and thus avoiding the changes your soul is longing for. This sense of, it’s time to bring your fear with you instead of letting it keep you stuck in what is asking to be broken open, felt, composted, and turned into something more alive …is it the same for you, or is it just me (I know it’s never just me, thank goodness)?

It’s a tender place to be, standing on the precipice of an uncertain next season. It’s a tender place to be, dangling between past versions of you that have served you well and new versions that are ready to burst forth with autumn’s hues. It’s a tender place to be, wondering if you’re really ready to embrace the changes your body, heart, relationships, work, and life are asking of you — not to mention the changes a more beautiful world is asking of all of us. It’s a tender place to be, the unsureness. The wobbliness. The Beginner’s Mind. The I’m out with lanterns, looking for myself feeling. The knowing something is asking to die, but not yet knowing how to surrender. Or perhaps knowing what needs to die, but not quite feeling ready to acknowledge it to yourself. It’s a tender place to be.

curtains of trees, 35mm film

We are all always standing on some precipice, aren’t we? Always in motion, ever-changing, forever morphing into some new shape, some new way of being. And yet the fear of these changes, of the endless and inevitable unknown, doesn’t seem to go away. No matter how ripe I am for something different, I still find myself clinging to the branch, desperate to hang onto where I’ve been instead of letting myself free-fall into the next necessary place. No matter how ready parts of me are for change, I still notice myself gripping onto old patterns, old ways of seeing, old strategies, old refusals, old versions of me that still aren’t sure I can be safe without them. No matter how welcomed something fresh and more aligned is, I still witness my desire for comfort often ringing louder than my desire for truth, for congruence. Can you relate?

As I find myself in another place of feeling like something is about to change but not quite knowing — or perhaps not quite being ready — to name what that change will bring, I am telling myself I can’t force letting go. My protectors might need more time being reassured it’s safe to step out into a new sky, a new way. My younger parts might need more tender strokes of the hair, whispers of “it’s okay, we’re okay”, reminders of just how much safety we’ve built for ourselves. My current self might need extra gentle care, right beside some firm nudges out of the nest of What Has Been and deep trust in my capacity to meet whatever may be coming with wholeheartedness. I try to offer myself what I need before ripping off the doors and pushing myself out. I try to let the unfolding take the time it takes, nurture my impatience with love, tend to my desire to know with the kind of compassion that bolsters my courage and strengthens my flexibility. And I try to do all of this while honoring the ways my slow, gentle tending can sometimes be another form of extending waiting, another way of avoiding what must be done.

climbing, 35mm film

If you find yourself on a precipice, standing at the edge of something unknown, stepping out of the cave into a new way of being and seeing that still feels far too vulnerable to truly take on… know the vulnerability of it is a through-line to your heart’s longing. Know you get to take all the time you need… and also, sometimes the most compassionate thing you can do is stop waiting. Know there is wisdom in discerning between necessary slowness and avoidance. Know there is such beauty in your willingness to listen to the nudges, to step out of comfort and into wobbly resonance, to allow yourself to be shaped by what is being asked of you. Know stepping into something new might bring the very thing you’ve long been trying to find in the outdated, stale ways of being that are now begging to be released. Know it’s okay to be seen trying, to be seen in your earnestness. Know you don’t need to get it right. Know there are pockets of safety you can access inside and outside of you. Know there is no arrival, but there are layers of presence available all along the path and endless places to land for respite and beauty. Know there is deep courage in your listening to the call and answering it, even without knowing where it will lead.

the road home, 35mm film

It is not easy to let go of what has been comfortable in order to embrace what is needed now. It is not easy to confront what is ready to be composted and trust the letting go will create space for something more true, more you. It is not easy to hold awareness within a world that makes numbing feel rewarded. It is not easy to stay close to your own heartbeat, your own desires, your needs. It is not easy to peel back the layers and let who you truly are underneath reveal itself… over and over and over again. It is not easy to imagine what life will look like on the other side of the shedding, on the other side of the unknown.

And yet it is in the willingness to stay with the unease and let it move us toward aliveness that we find our own courageous spirit. It is in staying with the discomfort that life reveals what’s next to us — that we access our clarity and trust to move forward. It is in staying close to the inner nudges toward what’s next that we deepen the language of our own trust, our own fortitude, our own ability to catch ourselves as we leap again and again. I see this courage everywhere: in nature, in all who are weaving change, in all who are choosing to free-fall into an unclear knowing, in all who are facing their own precipices heart-first. I’m with you in the free-fall. I’m with you in the choosing to listen. I’m with you in the wobbly step after step after step. May it lead to the next truest place, to the next truest version asking to come alive.

Thank you, as always, for being here.

The gift of love

Your phone or your life?

This beauty

A new album on repeat

“The problem is not friction itself; it’s what we do with it.”

A thousand tiny goodbyes

Awakening trust in a fractured world

Learn to be still

△ Peering out at the world with her

a gift.

With care,
Lisa

Human Stuff is a reader-supported publication. To receive new letters and support my work, consider becoming a subscriber.

Human Stuff from Lisa Olivera

07 Sep 2025 at 16:07
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