I think that big problems in the world (like chronic homelessness, loneliness, depression, poverty, underrepresentation of groups, risks from A.I., global warming, etc.) are ridiculously complex - way more complex than the narratives about them suggest.
The only approach I know of that I think has a meaningful shot to help solve such huge problems, which you might call “Scientific Entrepreneurship,” combines two methods into one:
(1) Rigorous science to deeply understand the causal struct...
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empiricism
Does money buy happiness, according to science?
By Spencer Greenberg and Amber Dawn Ace
This piece first appeared on ClearerThinking.org on February 28, 2024, was edited on February 29, 2024, and appeared here with minor edits on March 27, 2024.
Does money buy happiness? Intuitively, the answer is yes: common sense tells us that poverty and hardship make people unhappy. We can use money to buy a lot of things that might make us happier – things like a nicer home, fancier vacations, education for our children, or just the oppor...
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11 Types of Thinkers and Intellectuals (a little framework)
1. Ideators: generate novel ideas
Ex: Einstein
Strengths: creativity, insight
2: Investigators: vigorously investigate a topic in order to understand it
Ex: Curie
Strengths: truth-seeking, curiosity, systematicness, persistence
3. Provers: demonstrate that the ideas of others are sound, explore their limits, strengthen or work out the implications of existing theories
Ex: Singer
Strengths: consistency, logic, rigor, bullet-biting
4. Appliers: explo...
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