Introduction to detecting nonsense

Critical thinking can be described as the ability to fish out quality and useful information from a sea of myths, half-truths, misinformation, hoaxes, fake news… basically nonsense. :-) Martin Vraný and Ondřej Havlíček could then be described as data analysts and passionate fighters against nonsense, dedicating an entire semester course to critical thinking. In their lecture “Critical thinking – an introduction to spotting nonsense” as part of the Večery na FF UK project, they showed us not only a collection of fallacies and cognitive biases our own brains invent, but also practical methods to defend against them. Simply put, an evening perfectly in the spirit of Neurazitelny.cz! :-)

What was covered in the lecture?

• What tactics journalists, politicians, and other “truth-benders” use when they want to influence our behavior and thinking
• Which somewhat unfortunate traits of our minds “help” us fall for it and what to do about them
• A brief overview of thinking errors and fallacies
• Practical tips and strategies for when someone next tries to pull a fast one on you

Who are the guests?

Martin Vraný

Martin Vraný studied philosophy at FF UK and economic analysis at VŠE – to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how the human mind works, he further studied cognitive (neuro)science and psychology at UC Berkeley and the University of Edinburgh – he currently works with data and machine learning – but he sees teaching people (for example, how to think about their own thinking) as more important

Ondřej Havlíček

Ondřej Havlíček studied informatics at VŠE and cognitive science at LMU Munich – he focused on studying human thinking, perception, and behavior from the perspectives of experimental psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy of mind – he works as a data analyst and as a researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health – he has a long-standing interest in scientific skepticism and (un)critical thinking