Beyond Your Reckons: from feels to facts

what makes a fact a fact? how can we think about the world around us that is not simply a pile of reckons?

This is a lightning talk I gave at a FutureLearn internal lightning talks session

Transcript

1. Beyond Your Reckons:
   from feels to facts
   Ben Fields
   

   View Slide

2. What is truth?
   

   View Slide

3. What is your truth?
   

   View Slide

4. Is it your opinion?
   

   View Slide

5. What do you know?
   

   View Slide

6. Sidebar:
   types of knowledge
   

   View Slide

7. epistemology
   

   View Slide

8. Knowing That vs
   Knowing How vs
   Knowing Why
   

   View Slide

9. Knowing That
   

   View Slide

10. true
    false
    concrete
    abstract
    data
    statistics
    evidence
    null hypothesis
    lies
    bullshit
    facts
    logical
    reasoning
    

    View Slide

11. facts
    

    View Slide

12. stuff you can measure
    

    View Slide

13. stuff you can test
    

    View Slide

14. Framing ideas as testable hypotheses
    

    View Slide

15. I buy too many things at the market when I’m hungry?
    photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tamaiyuya/6187065152/
    

    View Slide

16. People tend to spend more money at the supermarket
    when they haven’t eaten in hours?
    photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tamaiyuya/6187065152/
    

    View Slide

17. The time since my last meal has no impact on my total
    spend at the supermarket?
    photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tamaiyuya/6187065152/
    

    View Slide

18. the null hypothesis
    

    View Slide

19. Cool, but like this feels like a lot of work
    

    View Slide

20. View Slide

21. look at assertions critically
    

    View Slide

22. good: how do you know that?
    

    View Slide

23. good: how do you know that?
    better: how can you know that?
    

    View Slide

24. Thanks!
    bother me on twitter: @alsothings
    

    View Slide