On Being Certain

What Hacker News says

1. qubexMay 2020
   If you’re in the mood for a very interesting read, I recommend On Being Certain: Believing You’re Right Even When You’re Not (2008) by Robert A. Burton.
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2. bobwaycottJul 2013
   I'd say consciousness and perception form the illusion of free will, but it (free will) is not a discoverable or knowable thing like the others.

   I, too, am fascinated with what we may come to discover about ourselves, our minds, and our connections (both local and non-local) as we increase our quantum understanding.

   Robert A. Burton's On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not and A Skeptic's Guide to the Mind: What Neuroscience Can and Cannot Tell Us About Ourselves may interest you. Not exactly in the realm of quantum theory, but if you're interested in understanding consciousness and perception, you really can't go wrong with reading up on neuroscience and related philosophy fields (mind, consciousness, being, etc.).

   Beyond that, I think you're going to want to look for works on quantum physics with relation to neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy. Here's an article from 2005: http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/360/1458/1309...

   Roger Penrose has a few works on the subject of quantum theory and human consciousness (as mentioned by a sibling comment), and Max Tegmark argues against him, suggesting neurons are too warm to perform quantum computations. However, Henry Stapp (one of the authors of the linked article above), while admitting that Tegmark's work poses a significant problem for Penrose's theories, says his own theories are unaffected.

   Despite that, there are perception issues (e.g., precognition) which offer curiosities regarding backward causality in time, on which discussion occurs to ponder potential quantum effects. Here, you'd want to look into quantum mechanics/theory and human perception.

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3. ghshephardFeb 2015
   I thought that he was being pretty clear throughout the article that this was a description of his personal journey into becoming a "believer" - despite how ludicrous what he was believing in.

   I'm hoping that nobody seriously believes the NYT published this article backing the belief that MH 370 didn't crash.

   I mean, it starts with the title of the story - the key line in this entire story is this:

   And yet, once I started looking for evidence, I found it.

   And, just in case people hadn't picked up on his actual thesis, he explicitly states it near the end:

   "Still, it occurred to me that, for all the passion I had for my theory, I might be the only person in the world who felt this way. Neurobiologist Robert A. Burton points out in his book "On Being Certain" that the sensation of being sure about one’s beliefs is an emotional response separate from the processing of those beliefs."

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4. mp01cnbOct 2011
   Have been reading a very interesting book on related subject -

   On Being Certain - Robert A. Burton

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