Comment author: gwern 17 December 2012 10:33:43PM 3 points [-]

This is hardly a radical thought, and I’m far from the first to think it. For decades, there have been pushes to teach these skills formally, which have ebbed and flowed with the educational tides. The Association for Informal Logic & Critical Thinking and the Foundation for Critical Thinking, for example, have long been advocating for better critical thinking instruction. Where standalone critical thinking courses exist, however, they are mostly found within the humanities and social sciences. Those courses often center on argumentation and literary criticism, or instead on the philosophy of logic, but there are opportunities to expand this— particularly by giving science a larger presence. I think there is an enormous amount of untapped value in a broader model.

Worth pointing out that these really do seem to work, in varying degrees: http://lesswrong.com/lw/dhe/to_learn_critical_thinking_study_critical_thinking/

Comment author: Despard 19 December 2012 06:07:15PM 0 points [-]

Yes indeed. I thought people here, especially those connected to CFAR, might find it interesting. Critical thinking is only one part of rationality training of course, but its is a very useful one.

[Link] Rethinking the way colleges teach critical thinking

1 Despard 17 December 2012 06:51PM

"Though critical thinking is universally regarded as a pillar of higher education ... results show that students are not developing their critical thinking skills to the extent we expect."

 

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/12/14/re-thinking-the-way-colleges-teach-critical-thinking/

Comment author: [deleted] 14 December 2012 04:29:27PM 0 points [-]

Hopefully. Will you be around for the weekend after new years?

In response to comment by [deleted] on Meetup : Vancouver Last call for 2012
Comment author: Despard 15 December 2012 01:21:37AM 0 points [-]

I can be, though I'll want to be heading to Seattle around that time. No restrictions on travel really except I'd like to be in LA within two weeks of New Year.

Comment author: Despard 13 December 2012 07:24:23PM 0 points [-]

I'll be in Vancouver for New Year and shortly afterwards - any meetups planned for that time?

Comment author: michaelcurzi 04 December 2012 06:47:10PM 0 points [-]

It looks like we only have one question - still I think a lot of people (me included) would like to see it answered. Would you mind contacting your friend?

Comment author: Despard 04 December 2012 07:24:56PM 0 points [-]

No problem. Sent him a message, hopefully he has time!

Comment author: Despard 03 December 2012 09:13:02PM 8 points [-]

I actually know one of the guys working on it - I could ask him to come over here if you like.

Comment author: Despard 29 November 2012 07:30:57PM 0 points [-]

Note for following meetups - I'll be in Seattle in early January, would be good to meet some of you!

Comment author: maia 24 November 2012 10:00:06AM 0 points [-]

DC has meetups on Sundays; if you're there at a different time, there are at least two of us here interested in meeting up with you. Any idea how long you'll be in our area, if at all?

Comment author: Despard 26 November 2012 12:15:14AM 0 points [-]

Not sure for this trip; I'm mostly going West from Detroit, and I'll be back in the States (to NYC) next year but probably not heading to DC. All plans can change however!

The wandering rationalist: an update

2 Despard 22 November 2012 08:55PM

As per my original post here, and the more recent one by shokwave here, here's my attempt to nail down some dates for when I'll be in various places (both in the States and elsewhere). All dates are provisional, especially between Colorado and Washington, and my West Coast tour in January.

For the US portion of the trip I've decided to go mostly by bus and train; Greyhound have just discontinued their Discovery Pass (which allows unlimited travel for up to 30 days) but I was able to snag a 15 day one on a special offer for the first half of my trip.

Ann Arbor, MI:  Dec 4th

Lansing, MI: Dec 5th

Chicago, IL: Dec 6th

Madison, WI: Dec 7th

Minneapolis, MN: Dec 9th

Kansas City, MO: Dec 12th

Oklahoma City, OK: Dec 13th

Austin, TX: Dec 15th

Laredo, TX: Dec 16th

Oklahoma City, OK: Dec 18th

Denver, CO: Dec 19th

Salt Lake City, UT: Dec 22nd

Kennewick, WA: Dec 23rd

Spokane, WA: Dec 26th

Vancouver, BC: Dec 31st

Seattle, WA: Jan 3rd

Portland, OR: Jan 6th

San Francisco, CA: Jan 10th

Los Angeles, CA: Jan 15th

-- booked flights --

Nadi, Fiji Jan 21st

Auckland, NZ Jan 26th

Sydney, Australia Feb 16th

Singapore Mar 9th

Tokyo, Japan Mar 22nd

Seoul, Korea Apr 21st

London, UK May 7th

Reykjavik, Iceland Jun 8th

New York, NY Jun 13th

In the States portion of my trip, I have accommodation everywhere except: Chicago (where the friends I was expecting to stay with won't actually be there at that time); Kansas City; Austin (though I do believe I was offered a couch in the previous thread); SLC (though I may sleep on the coach and pass straight through on my long trip North if nobody is around); and the West Coast which I'm not worried about yet because it's an entire month away...

So do contact me if you're interested in meeting up and/or hosting me. As I said dates are subject to change if necessary or if I feel like it!

Comment author: Despard 19 November 2012 05:30:02AM 1 point [-]

Nice! I'm actually doing something similar in December, bussing though various cities in the States (thread at http://lesswrong.com/lw/e9t/the_wandering_rationalist/) before going, mildly ironically, to Australia. I actually think I'm going to be in Austin around the same time as you, though not for as long. I'll be reposting my message with dates shortly.

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