Kluge

The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind

By: Gary Marcus

Narrated by: Stephen Hoye

Are we "noble in reason"? Perfect, in God's image? Far from it, says New York University psychologist Gary Marcus. In this lucid and revealing book, Marcus argues that the mind is not an elegantly designed organ but a "kluge", a clumsy, cobbled-together contraption. He unveils a fundamentally new way of looking at the human mind - think duct tape, not supercomputer - that sheds light on some of the most mysterious aspects of human nature.

Taking us on a tour of the fundamental areas of human experience - memory, belief, decision making, language, and happiness - Marcus reveals the myriad ways our minds fall short. He examines why people often vote against their own interests, why money can't buy happiness, why leaders often stick to bad decisions, and why a sentence like "people people left left" ties us into knots even though it's only four words long.

He also offers surprisingly effective ways to outwit our inner kluge - for example, always consider alternative explanations, make contingency plans, and beware the vivid, personal anecdote. Throughout, he shows how only evolution - haphazard and undirected - could have produced the minds we humans have, while making a brilliant case for the power and usefulness of imperfection.

©2008 Gary Marcus (P)2008 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Marcus educates the reader about mental flaws in a succinct, often enjoyable way." ( Publishers Weekly)
"The book is wholly accessible to the nonspecialist but likely to attract those already acquainted with amygdala, gyral cortex, and other landmarks in the cerebral map." ( Kirkus)

Elegant

Fascinating extension of the evolutionary psychology framework. Argues that our brains have evolved in often "klugy" ways, meaning that evolution favors what works (and what comes first) and not what is optimal. I learned a good deal about things like memory, emotions, and perception...and now I know why I can be so dumb sometimes. Well written....a fun read.

definitely worth reading

great book to gain insight about our mind and our flaws. the last chapter provides good pointers how to deal with them.

Enjoyable, informative, though provoking, and very interesting!

I have a layman’s affinity for Evolution Psychology and this didn’t let me down. I enjoyed it.

Mandatory Reading

A great overview to the challenges we face as thinking creatures. A totally delightful listen.

The Wonder mess of our Brain and Thought Process

It is amazing a system like us built through time by chance can do such marvel things as write this beautiful book.

An Interesting Overview

Kluge is an interesting overview of the makeup of the human mind and how it may not always operate as we would hope.

I listened to Kluge shortly after also listening to Gut Feelings by Gerd Gigerenzer of the Max Planck institute. I highly recommend reading them both in quick succession because they each advance arguments that conflict with the other and help put some perspective on both of them.

In Kluge, Marcus does a good job of illustrating many of the ways that our human brain, as well as the way we think falls short of perfection. Understanding our shortcomings is important, not to mention highly interesting.

But I can't help feeling that he's showing some of his own mental shortcomings in his arguments. He laments, for example, that we have an inefficient memory system, and argues that we would be better off with a "postal code" type system that would enable total recall.

However, he fails to consider the cases of people with exceptional memory and how they fit into the equation. The oversight seems to be his own case of confirmation bias, one of the examples of "kluginess" he details.

Gigerenzer's book does examine cases of such exceptional memory and illustrates that there appear to be some significant downsides - a fact that deserves to be explored in greater detail.

Kluge also lists some arguments counter to his, which are summarily dismissed. But the book doesn't address any of Gigerenzer's studies that show significant benefits to mental heuristics that rely on ignorance rather than solid data.

At times Kluge also seems a little overly critical, such as when it puts forth the notion that the species could benefit from a pill to cure procrastination.

But in general, Kluge outlines many interesting flaws in general human reasoning. I particularly enjoyed many of the tips for better decision making in the final chapter.

Overall, Kluge is a good read. I recommend it to anyone interested in human thought.

Not the greatest..

A little boring and far fetching... trying to relate everything to being a Kluge - and seems to over think and complicate simple items. It was okay, but not sure if I would repurchase.

Comforting theory of Brain Evolution on many levels.

I enjoyed Marcus’ arguments for a Brain evolved in fits and starts in incremental steps, correcting for errors, and building on previous solutions. This theory is so much more reasonable than that of the Supercomputer Brain created out of whole cloth by some Omniscient Creator.

He touches on the Questionable Reliability of Memory, the Decision-Making Process, and the Search for Happiness and Pleasure. He points out the points of failure and success that demonstrate what we all understand as the Humanity and fallibility of the Brain. Recognizing these issues he even offers suggestions that might help us use this wonderful organ more effectively.

Four Stars. ****

Why being absolutely bright in one things we act weird in others?

What if human brain is not a harmonized state-of-the-art biological intelligence engine, but actually a layered spaghetti code, parts of which are optimized for specific tasks but never design to be efficient together?

In #Kluge, Gary Marcus explores the quirks and inefficiencies of the human #brain, arguing that it is not as perfectly designed as we might assume. Instead, the brain is the result of a messy evolutionary process, where newer systems were added on top of older ones, often leading to clumsy or ineffective functioning.

For example, while we can easily recall faces from decades ago, we struggle to remember recent details like what we ate for breakfast. Similarly, we are susceptible to irrational decision-making, such as buying more items when influenced by arbitrary limits (“Limit 12 per customer” versus “Limit 4 per customer”).

Prof. Marcus highlights key areas of human experience — memory, belief, decision-making, language, and happiness — demonstrating how these cognitive functions reveal the brain’s imperfections. By understanding the brain as a “kluge” — a makeshift solution rather than an optimal design — we can better comprehend human behavior and thought processes.

This understanding is particularly relevant in the unfolding #AI era, where the efficiency and precision of machine intelligence augment creative nature of the human mind, offering opportunities for synergic collaboration between carbon and silicon-based intelligence.

Fascinating Book!

This is a wonderful book by an esteemed NYU psychology professor which discusses how our brains are constructed. His basic premise is that our brains evolved to be "just good enough" to accomplish a particular task. Kluge refers to an inelegant solution to a problem. Because of this we humans make many mistakes, etc. One of the most interesting books I have listened to in many years. I hope the author updates the book periodically as this book was published in 2008 or 11 years ago. Even so, the book's fundamental premise is true.