Signal Detection: Part 1
Principles of Action for Individuals
I, like many, get overwhelmed with the sheer volume of information that envelopes me on a daily basis.
Sometimes I disconnect from the babble and hubbub of post-postmodernity (or whatever era we woke up in this morning). I go inwards and re-discover myself, re-member (put myself back together), and then rebirth myself into the chaos.
Recently however I haven’t had the time-space to do so. I blame Einstein, or at least general relativity, I’ve been caught by the event horizon of a black hole and I can’t escape. The wild possibilities of the black hole are inviting, what may lie on the other side? But I can neither fall in nor escape to the silence of empty space. So what do I do?
I accept my current fate, I am here, it is noisy, this is stressful. So I get on with it.
We are nodes in the human network, and we call the connections relationships.
In fact, we are nodes in many networks, at different scales and with different functions. Family, friends, social, intellectual, spiritual, political, economical, and ecological. These networks are connected to each other in different ways. Stacked, overlapping, nested, physical, virtual, aspirational. They are dynamic and exchange information and energy, they can be in harmony or contention. They grow, shrink, transform, emerge, disappear.Of course we are far more than nodes in networks. We are self-aware sensory organisms, embodied consciousness, spiritual beings embedded in our environments. We gather, interpret, and share information from both the external world and our inner worlds. The narrative of human history is written by our participation. What we do matters.
The health of all these networks is inextricably connected to the health of the nodes that form them. In other words, our collective health is impossible to separate from our individual health. - I, Network (150 Dunbar Street)
Whilst trapped by the current of the event horizon I have been examining the health of the node I call “me”.
I am my experiences. Making sense of my experiences is now an ontological primary.
Making sense requires, as I alluded to in F*ck Your Noise, that I become a better signal detector. This is because fact and fiction are now so difficult to decipher, a game of probability that is currently clearly rigged against the pursuit of truth. The uncertainty and division is ripping the human network apart.
We are entering the Second Age of Anxiety. The first being the Hellenistic period that lead to the birth of Stoicism as a coping mechanism.
So I have been working on becoming a better signal detector. I have tested what I have learned and created a set of principles for action based on what has been effective. Some of these you can do by yourself and others require at least one other person to help, support, collaborate with.
I have split these principles into two sets. The first is for the individual, the node in the network, you will find this below.
The second set is for the network, they work when we do them together. Principles of action for collective signal detection. I will post them in a few weeks time.
Principles of Action for Individuals
Sensing signal
Our entire bodies are signal detectors, whether it is touch, motion, spatial awareness, hunger, thirst, or the ability to sense the attention of others. We can use our senses for more than evaluating our physical environment and the condition of our bodies.
Less easy to understand are our ‘gut feelings’ or intuition (immediate cognition) which give us impressions and insights without proof or cognitive reasoning. For example you may be able to sense when someone is staring at you in the street, or tell when someone is lying to you. Almost imperceptible cues in voice, body, and facial expression are unconsciously processed and we get an impression.
Of course we need to be aware of self-deception. Our egos, biases and heuristics can easily interfere with the potential accuracy of any sensory input, especially intuition.
Sensory training
Removing as much noise as possible is the best starting point for increasing the accuracy of sensory signal detection. When our body and mind are calm and our awareness centred, we can separate internal from external sensory inputs.
Separating the internal from external allows us to train our body and mind with as much accuracy as possible. One simple benefit of this is being able to focus our hearing and vision. We are reducing the impact of external noise, and focussing on salient and relevant input.
Meditation
Calming the mind and directing our awareness inwards is particularly helpful in reducing internal noise. Noticing internal tension, tiredness, excitement, and distraction and then being able to manage them is a powerful skill set.
The more we are able to centre ourselves, the more we can make sense of what is going on internally. This also helps in quietening the ‘monkey mind’ and noticing our ego, biases, and heuristic assumptions. We can now make better use of our internal signals, and apply our cognitive processing with more accuracy.
Starting with 2 mins mediation each morning, and 2 more after lunch is an easy way to begin building a meditative habit. Over time this can be extended to 30–60 mins in the morning, and a refresher of 15 mins after lunch. I highly recommend Atomic Habits by James Clear if you wish to learn more about building a meditative or any other game changing habit.
Directing awareness
For the first few hours after a 30 min meditation we have a greatly improved capacity to direct our awareness.
This is the best time to be actively separating signal from noise. Perhaps you need to check the news, do some research, plan an important event, or read and write emails. Your state of mind and environment play a big role in how well you perform.
Maintaining high levels of accurate sensory signal detection over prolonged periods is not easy. However, intentionally ‘tuning in’ and then leveraging that improved capacity is something we can all do. Over time the compounded effects are highly rewarding.
Bias Recognition
Cognitive cheat sheets
Bringing our mental shortcuts into conscious awareness will help us notice which ones we are more susceptible to.
By learning about our own biases we can develop the habit of countering our own self-deception. Combined with meditative practice, we can make great strides in separating signal from noise.
How to increase conscious awareness
Many others have already done the work for us, there are a myriad of resources to choose from. I have PDFs of cognitive biases and heuristics available to study and refer to. It is not the most exciting topic so any resources that add imagery, colour, or humour will improve your outcomes.
To learn about cognitive biases I use yourbias.is.
Applying conscious awareness to self
It is not enough to raise our awareness of biases and heuristics, we need to apply the conscious awareness to ourselves. This means recognising the possibility of our own cognitive biases being part of our meaning-making and decision making.
Confirmation bias is a good example. Social media algorithms support confirmation bias by feeding us information that is already aligned with what we view, like, repost etc. A simple test for the presence of confirmation bias is to ask yourself, “Do I want this to be true?”. Just a note here I am not suggesting that you ask this question all the time! But when you know that there is doubt or uncertainty then this is a useful question to ask.
If the answer is “Yes” then it is worth looking for some information that is contrary to what you already believe, or wish to be true. This is a basic method to bring in alternate perspectives and new information.
Familiarity heuristic is a mental shortcut we use when under a high cognitive load. Put simply, what was true in the past is still true now. The basis for this is the assumption that the underlying circumstances have not changed so we treat patterns of behaviour as still being appropriate to a new situation.
When we are busy, or dealing with complexity it is easy to shortcut the hard work of making sense by making assumptions. We are ignoring the very real issue that circumstances change, and things are not as they once were.
By learning about our own biases we can develop the habit of countering our own self-deception. Combined with meditative practice, we can make great strides in separating signal from noise.
Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. - Oscar Wilde, De Profundis
Sine Identitatis
There are no ideologies that have got it all correct. The world is dynamic, culture is evolving, knowledge is growing. Our identities should too.
I first came across the idea that reducing one’s identity aids decision making when reading the excellent Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson. Naval was saying that the beliefs you take on as part of a package, for example political affiliation, religious, or national identity, are suspect. At the very least they need re-evaluating from base principles (another excellent mental model to use).
When the ideas we hold true are challenged we often defend them. With ideas that are defined by group identity, we can find ourselves defending what we don’t fully understand. When taking a defensive position we are no longer open to the possibilities of new information, or even just a fresh perspective. We could easily be defending noise and ignoring signal.
When it comes to the pursuit of what is a meaningful fit to reality, defending someone else's bad ideas is pointless. If we are to separate signal from noise we need to be as objectively positioned as possible. We need to remain open to other perspectives, to participate in rational thinking, and to tune into our sensory organism.
Sacrifice your sacred cows
To really shed the shackles of group identity it is worth spending some time asking yourself the following question.
What is sacred to me? or What ideas do I need to be true?
For example, I needed the society I live in to be a meritocracy, a place where advancement was because of what you know, rather than who you know.
I needed academia to be an institution that pursued truth and provided unbiased information to society, so we can all find a better fit to reality.
These were some just of my sacred cows. I still hold these ideas as being valuable, but I no longer need them to be true. Which is good because they are largely not.
Since I sacrificed my sacred cows at the alter of signal detection my thinking is clearer, my biases less persistent, and my decision-making more effective. I learn faster, I make connections quicker, and I can predict outcomes with greater accuracy.
SAC — stand alone complex
Most people would rather be wrong and be part of the crowd than be right and stand alone. Or at least, they would prefer to not know they are wrong and remain accepted. In ancient cultures exile was a punishment worse than death, even now, many of us suffer when we feel lonely, disconnected, or disassociated.
This is a very basic encoded human behaviour. For most of human history survival has meant being part of a social group, we are inherently social beings.
To sacrifice our sacred cows, abandon our group identities, and stand alone against the crowd, are acts of courage. As more of us that take these steps, and find each other through social networks, a decentralised complex of signal detection may form.
The power and efficiency of a signal detecting SAC is unknown, the benefits of the network effect suggest exponential increases in both. But for it to work we also need to be able to work together.
I am not my thoughts, emotions, sense perceptions, and experiences. I am not the content of my life. I am Life. I am the space in which all things happen. I am consciousness. I am the Now. I Am. - Eckhart Tolle.
It’s not so bad at the event horizon.