Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

Agriculture poses a paradox: more humans survive in cultures with it, but they tend to be less healthy than the individuals in hunting/ gathering cultures.

We assume (falsely) that #technology and it’s advance is rational and can be controlled by humans.

“Science is forward motion and discovery.” Some discoveries are uncomfortable. #science #Education #researchers

Creativity required persistence.

Comfort with ambiguity is essential for one to be creative.

Those with deeply held preconceptions are very unlikely to be creative.

Humans tend to dismiss them information that is inconsistent with their existing beliefs.

If “it” was never a problem before, an organization (and its leadership) is unlikely to perceive it to be a problem, thus new problems can be very destructive. #leadership

Humans are social animals. The culture in which we live influences what and how we learn.

While we attend to novelty, humans tend to surround themselves with familiar “things.”

Always state the opinions upon which your facts are based.

"Build knowledge into your environment." Yup, that is good advice.

The “machine of education.” Yeah... no. #education #teaching

"Those who place any faith in intelligence must surely be out of their minds.... out of their minds."

“Does technology assure abundance?” - David Nye With information, the answer appears, “yes,” but the quality of that information is dubious. #technology

What if we started asking, “What was your dumbest idea ever?” in job interviews.

If the service is free, you are being sold by the provider of the service.

Self-teaching (for some things) is a real thing. Learn what those things are and embrace it.

One thing I learned during 30 years as a teacher: You can present the greatest lesson ever, but if the students are distracted (often by things seemingly unrelated to your classroom), it doesn’t matter.

The problem with the “precautionary principle” (I’m going to keep on until you prove the new thing is better) is we overestimate how effective and efficient our current practices are.