I’ve tried explaining LW stuff to my high school friends, and had the most success explaining map and territory, cached thoughts, and what is meant by truth/evidence. But don’t try to cram too much into one hour.
A lot of people will think (due to hindsight bias, I assume) that this stuff is obvious once you’ve explained it. This means they won’t take it as seriously and are less likely to check out follow-up materials. I would start by asking them (if the format makes this possible) what they think “truth” and “evidence” mean. Usually they run out of ideas within 30 seconds, and then are more interested in what you have to say about it.
I suspect truth could take long enough to unravel all by itself if you first ask the audience what they think it means, but on the other hand I think that what evidence is is a major issue on which most people are tremendously confused, and if you clarify that, a sense of what truth is will probably accompany it.
Important points to cover:
Conservation of evidence; people intuitively tend to raise their confidence, or at least not lower it, in the face of any evidence consistent with their beliefs.
I’ve tried explaining LW stuff to my high school friends, and had the most success explaining map and territory, cached thoughts, and what is meant by truth/evidence. But don’t try to cram too much into one hour.
A lot of people will think (due to hindsight bias, I assume) that this stuff is obvious once you’ve explained it. This means they won’t take it as seriously and are less likely to check out follow-up materials. I would start by asking them (if the format makes this possible) what they think “truth” and “evidence” mean. Usually they run out of ideas within 30 seconds, and then are more interested in what you have to say about it.
I suspect truth could take long enough to unravel all by itself if you first ask the audience what they think it means, but on the other hand I think that what evidence is is a major issue on which most people are tremendously confused, and if you clarify that, a sense of what truth is will probably accompany it.
Important points to cover:
Conservation of evidence; people intuitively tend to raise their confidence, or at least not lower it, in the face of any evidence consistent with their beliefs.
Absence of evidence is evidence of absence; addresses such a common mistake that its negation is a popular saying.
Positive bias; one of the most pervasive biases preventing people from usefully testing their beliefs.
With just an hour, I think I’d focus on evidence and map vs. territory, or maybe even entirely on evidence.