The quirks of human cognition, Kluge offers insightful reflections on our imperfect minds and practical strategies for navigating life's complexities.
Introduction
Summary
Impressive Phrases
Review
Final thoughts
Introduction
In the book "Kluge," Gary Marcus, a leading intellect of our time and a professor of psychology at New York University, not only delves into the absurdities of daily life and the chaotic world, but also sheds light on the mysterious aspects of human nature, offering clear answers to finding the weapons of thought amidst our imperfections. Marcus presents a completely new concept about human language and thought, suggesting that rather than being finely crafted organs, our minds are more akin to "kluges" – crudely patched together mechanisms. He argues that due to the inertia of evolution, our minds and the world around us are inherently flawed.
Asserting that "evolution endowed us with the ability to think, but it doesn't guarantee that our thoughts are error-free," Marcus unveils wisdom in navigating the traps of thought, utilizing our inner "kluges" to astonishingly effective methods for improving our world. Through penetrating historical insights into the grand epochs of human evolution, he offers fundamentally new perspectives on the human mind.
Summary
In the book "Kluge," the author explores the concept of the human brain's flawed solutions arising from its unevolved nature. Based on evolutionary psychology, the author argues that our brains offer unsophisticated solutions in areas such as memory, belief, choice, decision-making, language, happiness, psychology, etc., which are not well-suited to modern society. The book devotes considerable sections to explaining the concept of a "kluge" and then presents 13 strategies to address these issues:
Consider alternative hypotheses together whenever possible.
Redefine the problem framework and reframe questions skeptically.
Remember that correlation does not imply causation.
Never forget the size of your sample.
Anticipate and pre-commit to your impulses.
Instead of vaguely setting goals, establish conditional plans.
Avoid making significant decisions when fatigued or emotionally distracted.
Always evaluate benefits and costs comparatively.
Imagine someone is watching your decisions, prompting you to apply more cognitive effort and make more refined decisions.
Keep your distance from yourself.
Be wary of vivid, personal, and anecdotal evidence.
Dig many wells, but dig one well.
Strive to be rational.
Impressive Phrases
Here, nature often creates kluges effortlessly. Nature doesn't 'care' whether its products are perfect or refined, it simply operates on the principle of what works gets propagated and what doesn't work disappears. Successful genes tend to proliferate, and genes that don't meet challenges tend to fade away. Everything else is metaphor. The name of this game is not beauty but appropriateness. (17p)
When you look up the word 'believe' in the dictionary, you'll find the definition "to accept something as true," alongside "to think something exists, especially in a situation where there's no absolute proof." Is belief what we know to be true, or what we wish were true? It's often not easy to distinguish between the two, and this fact precisely speaks to where we as humans come from. (109p)
If someone habitually relies on a vulnerable and biased unconscious reflex system instead of careful judgment, it's foolish. But it's equally foolish to completely discard the reflex system inherited from our ancestors. It's not a completely irrational system, just less logical. Ultimately, evolution has left us with two systems: one excels at dealing with routine tasks, and the other is useful for thinking outside the box. (149p)
However, the value of imperfection goes far beyond simple balance. Scientifically speaking, all kluges contain clues about our past. Everywhere there's an awkward solution, there's insight into how nature has layered our brains. To say that technological history is overlaid with the history of evolution is no exaggeration. And kluges reveal to us the stitches of that connection. (260p)
Review
The book's length may not be extensive, but after finishing it, it offers clear insights. We often live without taking the time to think. Our thoughts remain passive. However, this book urges us to have an active perspective on thinking and provides detailed guidance on various methods.
The title and cover illustration of the book, "Kluge," were intriguing. Kluge is an English word meaning 'jumbled.' It's a colloquial expression used by engineers to refer to imperfect, makeshift solutions. The author attempts to provide an evolutionary psychological explanation for various human psychological traits such as memory, beliefs, decision-making, language, pleasure, and mental disorders, claiming that these phenomena are not as perfect as we think and have evolved, kluge-like, over millions of years of evolution. Therefore, our lives are filled with various maladaptive phenomena, such as slip-ups, memory limits, and believing what we want to believe, rather than objective realities. The author recognizes human limitations through the book and proposes 13 suggestions for overcoming them.
We tend to be much more forgiving of what we want to believe than what we don't want to believe. Kluge argues that human evolution has equipped us with imperfect elements because evolution, adapting to the environment at the time, was not perfect and evolved in a makeshift manner to overcome specific situations, leaving incomplete elements for humanity.
This implies that humans are inherently flawed and have kluges both physically and mentally. Therefore, the book suggests recognizing and overcoming these kluges ourselves to wisely guide our world.
Although humans are sophisticated beings, without learning and culture, they are inherently weak. This is due to the weakness of evolutionary theories introduced in the book, called 'kluge.' Evolution has accumulated kluges over hundreds of years. Therefore, certain characteristics continue to dominate our lives as survival strategies from the past. However, while they may have functioned powerfully at the time, they now seem highly irrational. Among the most impressive methods introduced was to 'strive to be rational.'
On the other hand, the discussion about human beliefs is very impressive. It is said that human beliefs mainly arise from 'spandrels' that evolved for other purposes during the evolutionary process. Therefore, we ourselves do not know where these various beliefs originated, and we are completely unaware of how much we are influenced by inappropriate information. Consequently, we tend to remember well what others have done while forgetting what we have done, leading to friction between people and even marital conflicts.
I wholeheartedly agree with the author's idea that if we realize our limited sample of data, we would all become much more tolerant.
Evolution has given us the ability to think, but it does not guarantee that our thoughts are without error. Humans are imperfect beings. We sometimes feel like we've experienced something that didn't happen, or we deceive ourselves into thinking we've seen something we haven't. In light of this imperfection, I began to wonder if the answers we seek every day are truly correct. Therefore, it seems like a good idea to learn and practice patiently waiting for solutions to emerge from unexpected places rather than rushing to find solutions to problems.
Final thoughts
In the end, it's up to us to understand and utilize the limits of our thinking well. I highly appreciate the author's reflection on human nature from a unique perspective and the provision of alternatives. This book provokes various thoughts.
The human mind is also a kluge. Therefore, humans sometimes boast about their sharp brains, but sometimes they act foolishly. It's evident when they can't even remember their own phone numbers or quit smoking despite knowing it's bad for their health. The author divides our minds into memory, beliefs, choices, language, happiness, and psychological aspects, focusing on kluges and explaining them in detail.
Based on insights into the history of human evolution, the author makes special suggestions to avoid the traps of thought and use them as clues for development. Utilizing the kluges within us well can not only lead to personal development but also improve the world we live in. To this end, the book elaborates on 13 suggestions empirically and scientifically proven towards the end, reading which I feel like my brain has become richer. I must polish it well to avoid becoming a kluge.
