Watch the limits

When you last read or heard about a new scientific finding, did you take a moment to consider within what limits it’s applicable? 

Nowadays, scientific insights hit us continuously – including on this platform. Often, a story or post states them as a given – not to be argued with and without the nuance and caveats the actual results inevitably include. But in what context is a finding true – and what impact might a result or idea have if we act as if it is true? 

In Behavioral Scientist (https://lnkd.in/e5PaZTvW), Barry Schwartz discusses how social science ideas and concepts can become true by their adoption – in particular when embraced by institutions affecting groups or societies as a whole – since humans are continuously shaped by culture. Yet both ideas and findings (in social sciences as well as other sciences) have boundaries within which they are applicable. 

This article landed in my in-box on the same day I belatedly read a post from Clearer Thinking with suggestions for how to start living more rationally (https://lnkd.in/eP2ByVhH). This involves seeking the truth rather than proof we’re right, questioning our own beliefs and adopting both nuanced and charitable thinking. 

Today is as good a day as any for us all to start questioning our own ideas and the absolutes that are so easy for the brain to stubbornly stick to. After all, the world is a spectrum of colour, not black and white.