Comments on: On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not

by: Alvaro Fernandez

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 17:09:38 +0000

Indeed, talking about that gap between the "degree of certainty we feel" and the "accuracy of our beliefs" is an excellent way to discuss the workings of our minds-and brains. I think. Hmmm.

by: Madeleine Van Hecke

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 17:23:27 +0000

Hi, Michael - Robert Burton describes exactly this comment by Nash as one of his examples (pages 38-39). His book as a whole attempts to explain where the feeling of certainty comes from and to show that the degree of certainty we feel isn't necessarily related to the accuracy of our beliefs - I think it's a very stimulating book and recommend it as the first book I'm aware of to address our sense of certainty from the viewpoint of neuroscience.

by: Ginger Campbell, MD

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:22:14 +0000

The focus of Dr. Burton's book is normal people, but in his interview he mentioned that he was inspired by patients with rare problems like Cotard's Syndrome (where the person thinks they are dead or don't exist). I suggest you write to him about the question of schizophrenia.

Ginger Campbell, MD

by: Michael Webster

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 04:13:48 +0000

The feeling of being certain was described by John Nash as the same whether it was his intuitions about a theorem or his schizo voices.

Does Burton's book have an explanation of this?