The Psychology Podcast Matt Ridley || How Innovation Works
Dec 10, 2020
Matt Ridley, a prominent author and member of the House of Lords, discusses the transformative power of innovation and rational optimism. He presents compelling evidence that the world is improving, advocating for hope grounded in data. Ridley challenges the myth of the 'lone genius' in favor of collaboration and emphasizes the need for freedom in fostering creativity. He also highlights the pitfalls of ideological polarization and encourages nuanced conversations about progress and innovation, illustrating how societal contributions often drive breakthroughs.
47:35
Rational Optimism
- The world is generally improving, despite common pessimistic narratives.
- Evidence shows increased prosperity, longer lifespans, and reduced mortality rates.
Rosling's Poverty Quiz
- Hans Rosling asked Americans about global poverty trends, and most answered incorrectly.
- A monkey choosing randomly would perform better than humans, highlighting misconceptions.
Internet's Polarization Effect
- The internet, while initially promising for open discourse, has led to increased polarization.
- Social media prioritizes engagement over nuance, contributing to this issue.
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Intro
00:00 • 2min
The Case for Rational Optimism: Unveiling Human Progress
01:38 • 5min
Navigating Perspectives on Progress
06:29 • 6min
Navigating Conversations in an Ideological Landscape
12:27 • 3min
Decoding Innovation and Creativity
15:01 • 11min
The Interplay of Personality and Creativity
25:50 • 20min
Exploring the Intersection of Biology and Mathematical Frameworks
45:35 • 3min
Engaging Listeners and Promotional Highlights
48:11 • 2min
The better angels of our nature
Why Violence Has Declined
Steven Pinker
In this book, Steven Pinker presents a detailed argument that violence has significantly decreased over the course of human history.
He uses extensive data and statistical analysis to demonstrate this decline in various domains, including military conflict, homicide, genocide, torture, and the treatment of children, homosexuals, animals, and racial and ethnic minorities.
Pinker identifies four key human motivations – empathy, self-control, the moral sense, and reason – as the 'better angels' that have oriented humans away from violence and towards cooperation and altruism.
He also discusses historical forces such as the rise of the state (which he terms 'Leviathan'), the spread of commerce, the growth of feminist values, and the expansion of cosmopolitanism, which have contributed to this decline in violence.
What technology wants
Kevin Kelly
In this book, Kevin Kelly presents a sweeping vision of technology as a living force that is an extension of biological evolution.
He introduces the concept of the 'technium,' a global, massively interconnected system of technology that evolves based on its own inherent desires and instincts.
Kelly argues that technology is not just a tool but a self-evolving entity that gives our lives greater meaning.
He outlines a dozen trajectories for technology in the coming decades and emphasizes the importance of aligning ourselves with technology's agenda to capture its colossal potential.
The book is both visionary and optimistic, exploring how technology can expand our individual potential and drive progress in society.
Enlightenment Now
Steven Pinker
In 'Enlightenment Now', Steven Pinker presents a comprehensive argument that the values of the Enlightenment—reason, science, and humanism—have been instrumental in the progress of human society.
He challenges the prevailing pessimism in modern discourse by presenting empirical evidence that life, health, prosperity, safety, peace, knowledge, and happiness are on the rise globally.
Pinker uses data and graphs to illustrate improvements in various aspects of human life, such as increased life expectancy, reduced child and maternal mortality, and advancements in medicine and technology.
He also addresses the psychological biases that lead people to underestimate these improvements and emphasizes the importance of continuing to uphold Enlightenment ideals to ensure further progress.
The Queen
Alexander Chee
Wired to Create
Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind
Scott Barry Kaufman
Carolyn Gregoire
Wired to Create offers a glimpse inside the 'messy minds' of highly creative people.
Based on Scott Barry Kaufman’s groundbreaking research and Carolyn Gregoire’s popular article in the Huffington Post, the book reveals the latest findings in neuroscience and psychology.
It explores the practices and habits of mind that promote creative thinking, such as mindfulness and daydreaming, seriousness and play, openness and sensitivity, and solitude and collaboration.
The authors identify ten attributes and habits of highly creative minds, including imaginative play, passion, daydreaming, solitude, intuition, openness to experience, mindfulness, sensitivity, turning adversity into advantage, and thinking differently.
By embracing these contradictions, individuals can tap into their deepest creativity.
Factfulness
Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think
Hans Rosling
Ola Rosling
Anna Rosling Rönnlund
In 'Factfulness,' Hans Rosling, along with his son Ola and daughter-in-law Anna, addresses why people systematically get answers wrong about global trends.
They identify ten instincts that distort our perspective, such as dividing the world into 'us' and 'them,' the influence of fear-driven media, and the misconception that most things are getting worse.
The book argues that, despite its imperfections, the world is in a better state than many believe and provides a framework to see progress clearly by focusing on facts rather than biases.
The Rational Optimist
How Prosperity Evolves
Matt Ridley
In 'The Rational Optimist', Matt Ridley presents a bold and provocative interpretation of economic history, arguing that the innate human tendency to trade goods and services, along with specialization, is the source of modern human civilization.
The book covers the entire sweep of human history from the Stone Age to the Internet, highlighting how life is improving at an accelerating rate through increased food availability, income, and life span, while disease, child mortality, and violence are decreasing globally.
Ridley emphasizes the role of free trade, individual rights, and innovation in enhancing human prosperity and natural biodiversity despite potential setbacks.
How Innovation Works
And Why It Flourishes in Freedom
Matt Ridley
In 'How Innovation Works', Matt Ridley argues that innovation is a collective, collaborative, and gradual process that turns inventions into practical and affordable solutions.
He emphasizes that innovation is distinct from invention and requires freedom to exchange, experiment, and fail.
Ridley draws on numerous historical examples, from steam engines to search engines, to illustrate how innovation speeds up in some sectors and slows down in others.
He also highlights the importance of trial and error, persistence, and the role of many individuals rather than solitary geniuses in the innovation process.
The book underscores that innovation is crucial for modern prosperity and warns that it can be easily discouraged by political interference.
Today we have Matt Ridley on the podcast. Matt is the author of the recently-released How Innovation Works, as well as The Rational Optimist and several other books related to science and human progress, which have sold over a million copies. He is also a biologist, newspaper columnist, and member of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom.
Topics
[01:37] What it means to be a rational optimist
[03:39] Evidence that the world is heading in the right direction
[05:43] Giving evidence-based hope
[11:23] Understanding the probabilities of life
[12:42] "It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble; it’s what you think you know that ain’t so"
[14:23] Why nuance is an endangered species
[16:28] The reward value to truthful or insightful information
[18:16] How not everybody is wired to create
[20:08] Working with restricted samples
[23:03] Does the lone genius really exist?
[26:43] Working with naturally occurring samples versus working with restricted samples
[32:10] Why stories don’t necessarily mean generalizable truths about innovation
[34:05] The need to look out for unexpected results
[35:00] Separating the person from the process
[36:02] The phenomenon of simultaneous inventions
[42:28] Why innovation requires freedom
[44:38] Why innovators crave the safe space to fail
[45:08] The government’s role in innovation
[49:47] Biology as the science of exceptions and not rules
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