Podcast
R3ciprocity.com - Prof David Maslach: Innovation; Research Life; Striving Towards Happiness
Hosted by David Maslach · EN
Professor David Maslach talks about graduate school, research, science, Innovation, and entrepreneurship. The R3ciprocity project is my way to give back as much as I possibly can. I seek to provide insights and tools to change how we understand science, and make it more democratic.
12episodes
Episodes
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Are We Overestimating How Logical Humans Really Are?
4w ago00:08:57Tap to summarizeThe longer I study social science, the less I believe we’re “rational.”That’s uncomfortable to say as a business professor.Because so much of what we do is built on: • clean models • statistical logic • the idea that people process information and make decisionsIt’s elegant.It’s persuasive.It gets respect.But I’ve always had this unease.⸻The models are neat.Reality isn’t.They rely on assumptions: • that we process information cleanly • that more data leads to better decisions • that behavior is explainable if we just measure it well enoughBut in my own life…that’s not how it works.⸻Over time, I’ve started to see something very different.We’re not rational adults making clean decisions.We’re closer to children.Not in a negative way.In a real way.⸻We’re all carrying: • habits we learned early • environments that shaped us • strengths in some areas and gaps in othersAnd a lot of what drives behavior…isn’t logic.It’s: • emotion • pattern • instinct • things we don’t fully understand⸻If you look at the world through that lens…things start to make more sense.Why smart people make strange decisions.Why leaders act in ways that don’t add up.Why entire systems behave unpredictably.⸻And it also explains something important about AI.We assume that more computation will solve everything.But if humans aren’t just “information processors”…then more computation won’t fix the problem.It will just create a different version of it.⸻You’ll still see: • blind spots • strange outputs • things that don’t quite make senseBecause the problem isn’t just information.It’s how beings develop.⸻So I’ve started to think about people differently.Less as rational actors.More as developing systems.⸻We’re all a mix of: • insight • confusion • strength • limitationSometimes those traits fit the environment.Sometimes they don’t.⸻And maybe that’s the point.Not to “fix” people into rational models.But to understand them as they are:complicated, emotional, inconsistent…and sometimes surprisingly beautiful.⸻The models help.But they don’t explain everything.⸻What do you think—are we really rational… or just very good at explaining our behavior after the fact?
Transcribe →Go pursue moonshots
Aug 10, 2022Tap to summarizeIn order to make substantial differences and to change the world, you will have to pursue moonshot ideas that seemingly don’t make sense. Nobody will believe in the idea. The idea behind moonshots is not necessarily around objective performance, but about search and discovery. It’s about pursuing things because you find it interesting and your playful. Most of us will never do any moonshot ideas, but they are the most likely to lead to large change. Almost all ideas that have substantially change society would’ve appeared crazy a few decades before. Don’t give up I’m being playful because you think other people believe your ideas are stupid. Being stupid is what often makes the biggest change of all.
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