Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind | Gary Marcus

Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind | Gary Marcus | Imperfect and Loving Being So!

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Kluge: The Haphaza...

	Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind Gary Marcus Houghton Mifflin Co, 2008 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 66 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Good Casual Read

I liked KLUGE, and not only because it introduced a new word to my vocabulary :-).

KLUGE is a casual book on a fascinating topic. Don't pick this up expecting deep science of the human mind; instead, expect an interesting perspective on how the mind works, supported by some very fascinating and very weird bits of research (some of the studies the author cites floored me). People who know a lot about the human brain and how it works (psychologists, say) might find this book too light or too simple in its points. For the rest of us, though, this bok points out some things we all already suspected about ourselves and our fellow humans.

You'll be thinking more about the way you think when you're done.

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Imperfect and Loving Being So!

Let me start by saying that Gary Marcus has written a highly engaging and readable analysis of the human mind. Kluge is accessible to all readers. One benefit of this book first that it's not filled with endless jargon and technical stuff that would put-off an average reader. It is well written and humorous. If I were to rate it strictly on it's quality of writing, it would be closer to a 5 star book. The author's voice and sense of humor are apparent throughout and make this an enjoyable read. The descriptions of how our mind actually works are insightful and enlightening. As I read this book it filled me with pictures of the cluttery and sometimes overlooked parts of my own mind. It's hard not to laugh aloud when reading how our memory works (and more often does not work), how our minds form belief, and the ways in which we come to making choices day in and day out. If I could divorce these fine qualities from some of the beliefs of the author it would make this book one of my favorites.

All of that aside, I do have several fundamental differences with the central arguments of this book. These differences weren't hard to locate as they slapped me in the face very early on and never let go of me. At the very beginning of the text Marcus states, "Are human beings "noble in reason" and "infinite in faculty" as William Shakespeare famously wrote? Perfect, "in God's image", as some biblical scholars have asserted? Hardly." On this foundation Gary Marcus builds his case for the evolutionary development of the mind. My biggest disagreement with this idea is that for all the logic and scientific backing the author espouses throughout the book, this very argument is not so logical. When the author expresses a belief that human minds created by a perfect designer would in-turn be perfect as well, is a fairly short-sighted one. In fact it is the slight imperfections and quizzical shortcomings of a masterpiece that make it something worth viewing again and again. I can't help but think of Davinci's Mona Lisa. For centuries people have questioned at the expression on her face. It is the fact we are not sure if she's ready to smile? Or ready to laugh? Or ready to sneeze?... These mysteries and apparent short-coming fill us with wonder again and again. When we think of the one's we love it is more often the little quirks and foibles that draw us to them than some type of perfect image. Perfection definitely loses it's shine through the ever marching passage of time, while the everyday beauty of normal, "flawed" people holds us and keeps us coming back for more again and again. To say that imperfection in a product denies the presence of a "producer" or craftsman or artisan is a faulty argument.

Unfortunately I don't blindly accept the popular arguments of evolution. To me it takes much more faith to accept that all the beauty and wonder and complexity of this world happened by random chance, than to reach out and accept by faith that we were created by an infinite, loving creator. Every reaction has and equal and opposite action. There are no unmoved movers out there. To me imperfection in a creation is a more sure sign of the genius in the creator than perfection would ever be.

The mind is a beautiful thing even in it's randomness and imperfection. I'm always amazed as my brain and those of my young students make connections and form new learning in their fertile minds. To pass this off as merely chemical would be foolhardy. As I read this book over and over again a hollow argument rang. I cannot in good faith say the book was bad, as it was not. I did enjoy the many illustrations of human thought, choice, faith, and reason. But don't take all the arguments posited there as proof-positive of anything... Enjoy the work of art, even in it's imperfections. Marcus is a master wordsmith and you'll surely enjoy his thoughts.

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Too much not so hidden agenda...

In his first chapter, Marcus writes that little attention has been paid to the evolutionary development of the human mind - and the kluges produced in that process. As a result, we have been deprived of unique evolutionary insight and clues to how we can improve ourselves with awareness of our inefficient mental proclivities.

On the latter point, it is Marcus' belief that humans can and should develop a more rational approach to thinking to overcome these kluges. As he points out the shortcomings of the mind in memory (foggy), choice (irrational), language (imprecise), pleasure (short-term emphasis), beliefs (self deception) and mental disorders (fragility), he holds up economic utility theory as the ideal for making choices, a computer the model for perfect memory - logic in general - which appears to be the basis of wisdom - as the anecdote.

On the former point, he uses kluges as a way to dismiss creationism and intelligent design, arguing that the mind would be much more efficient if there was a "creator" behind all this. To reach that conclusion Marcus would have to assume the definition of perfect by the "creator" involved making a perfectly logical, free of defects being. Is that logical or narrow thinking? If Marcus had assumed the "creator" defined perfection differently - or didn't have perfection as a goal at all, he wouldn't have been able to end each chapter as he does now - saying that these kluges are "proof" that intelligent design is bogus.

No doubt, Marcus believes he has been able to overcome his mental kluges and produce a very rational book. I would have rather he spent more time on evolutionary origins of behavior rather than so conspicuously trying to discredit creationism/intelligent design with this lame argument. It not only detracts from what is otherwise an easy to read book on a fascinating topic but makes me question what he missed due to his "confirmation bias."

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