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25 concepts in every field
Psychology
The Dunning-Kruger Effect
The less you know, the more you think you know.
Philosophy
Sunk Cost Fallacy
Why do we keep watching bad movies we're already 20 minutes into?
Science
The Overview Effect
Astronauts come back from space permanently changed. Why?
Apophenia
Your brain is a pattern machine, even when there's no pattern.
Memento Mori
The Stoics kept skulls on their desks. They were onto something.
The Zeigarnik Effect
Unfinished tasks haunt you. Finished ones disappear.
Occam's Razor
When two explanations fit the facts, something important separates them.
Cognitive Dissonance
Holding two contradictory beliefs at once produces a very specific discomfort.
The Pale Blue Dot
Every human who ever lived existed on this tiny pixel.
Liminal Space
The unease of being between what was and what will be.
Emergence
How do simple rules produce breathtaking complexity?
The Bystander Effect
The more people witness an emergency, the less likely anyone is to help.
Pareidolia
Why you see faces in toast and animals in clouds.
Entropy
The universe has a direction, and it only goes one way.
The Trolley Problem
A runaway trolley. Five people. One lever. What do you do?
Flow State
The moments when time disappears and performance peaks.
The Mandela Effect
Thousands of people share the same false memory. What does that mean?
Survivorship Bias
We study the winners and wonder why we can't replicate their success.
Tabula Rasa
Are you born as someone, or do you become someone?
The Ship of Theseus
If every part is replaced, is it still the same ship?
Learned Helplessness
Sometimes the mind gives up before the world actually does.
Regression to the Mean
The extremes are often a temporary side effect of chance.
Veil of Ignorance
Choose rules you could accept even if you did not get to be you.
Confirmation Bias
Your mind is not just looking for truth. It is looking for the version of reality it already believes.
Bayesian Inference
Beliefs should behave like probabilities. They must change when new evidence arrives.