From the Stoics to Shakespeare, from Gandhi to Nelson Mandela - wisdom is something that seems to transcend societies and cultures. We might hear that a certain person is “wise” or even “wise beyond their years”. What exactly does this mean? Can we zero in on the essence of wisdom and learn to become wiser? Can doing so help us manage life’s uncertainties? Can it make us happier?
Meet Charles Cassidy. Charles researches and promotes “evidence-based wisdom”. As Charles puts it, “psychologists are finding that societies do share an agreed understanding and conception of wisdom”. Through his site (www.evidencebasedwisdom.com), Charles takes the emerging research in this fascinating field, and “translates” it so that we can use it.
Based in London, Charles joined me on the All Things Risk podcast for a wonderful conversation that covered:
- What wisdom is;
- Wisdom and decision-making;
- Wisdom and “convincing” others who many disagree with us;
- Compassion and being generous;
- What the key components of wisdom are;
- Wisdom and uncertainty management;
- Does more experience equate to more wisdom?;
- Can wisdom be measured?;
- Wisdom, meditation and mindfulness;
- Short-term practices that can make us wiser “in the moment”;
- Is wisdom a state or a trait?;
- We have Artificial Intelligence (AI), can we have Artificial Wisdom (AW)?;
- Can becoming wiser make us happier?
- And more
Show notes:
Evidence-based wisdom:
Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History – The Destroyer of Worlds
The Wisdom Scorecard – Test your wisdom level
How to have better political arguments – TED talk by Robert Willer
Negotiating the Impossible by Deepak Malhotra
Moral Tribes by Joshua Greene
Influence by Robert Cialdini
Give and Take by Robert Grant
Future Babble by Dan Gardner
The Stag Hunt and Nash Equilibrium
The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt
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