## Metadata - Author: [[Daniel C. Dennett]] - Full Title: Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking - Category: #books ## Highlights - The chief trick to making good mistakes is not to hide them—especially not from yourself. Instead of turning away in denial when you make a mistake, you should become a connoisseur of your own mistakes, turning them over in your mind as if they were works of art, which in a way they are. ([Location 425](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AR354AQ&location=425)) - Any being, any agent, who can truly say, “Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time!” is standing on the threshold of brilliance. We human beings pride ourselves on our intelligence, and one of its hallmarks is that we can remember our previous thinking, and reflect on it—on how it seemed, on why it was tempting in the first place, and then about what went wrong. I know of no evidence to suggest that any other species on the planet can actually think this thought. If they could, they would be almost as smart as we are. ([Location 437](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AR354AQ&location=437)) - you should actively seek out opportunities to make grand mistakes, just so you can then recover from them. ([Location 446](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AR354AQ&location=446)) - One big difference between the discipline of science and the discipline of stage magic is that while magicians conceal their false starts from the audience as best they can, in science you make your mistakes in public. You show them off so that everybody can learn from them. This way, you get the benefit of everybody else’s experience, and not just your own idiosyncratic path through the space of mistakes. (The physicist Wolfgang Pauli famously expressed his contempt for the work of a colleague as “not even wrong.” A clear falsehood shared with critics is better than vague mush.) ([Location 492](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AR354AQ&location=492)) - How to compose a successful critical commentary:   1. You should attempt to re-express your target’s position so clearly, vividly, and fairly that your target says, “Thanks, I wish I’d thought of putting it that way.” 2. You should list any points of agreement (especially if they are not matters of general or widespread agreement). 3. You should mention anything you have learned from your target. 4. Only then are you permitted to say so much as a word of rebuttal or criticism. ([Location 607](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00AR354AQ&location=607))