Category: The Cognitive Effectiveness Stack

I was reminded of an interesting idea recently—though I can’t remember where or by whom (another great example of the intellectual sloppiness that writing in a blog affords me). The idea is this: we tend to perceive the world, and ourselves, through the metaphorical lens of the dominant technology of our time. I think that’s exactly right. Just as artists teach us to see the world by guiding us through one-way doors of perception, revealing novel ways of seeing that can’t be unseen, each technological paradigm reshapes how we understand the world and our place in it. This new understanding then embeds itself deeply in our language and culture.

Continue reading “From Seed to Silicon: The Metaphors We Think With” →

In a previous post, I asked the question:

“How do I not waste my mind?”

To begin answering this question, I first abandoned the narrow performance metric of “intelligence” and took inspiration from Ian Banks’ Consider Phlebas for how we can understand cognitive effectiveness more holistically. This post unpacks the architecture of what I am calling The Cognitive Effectiveness Stack, breaking effectiveness down into three interdependent layers:

Continue reading “The Cognitive Effectiveness Stack” →

In a world increasingly saturated with artificial intelligence, the perceived value of a human mind isn’t what it used to be. As information accelerates and leverage shifts, the most important question becomes not how smart you are, but how effectively your mind is deployed. This five-part series explores a layered, systems-oriented mental model for cognitive effectiveness. It moves up from the biological to the strategic in an attempt to offer a blueprint for staying relevant in the era of ubiquitous intelligence.

Continue reading “Cognitive Effectiveness; Or How to Not Waste a Mind” →