Trial, Error, and Success: 10 Insights into Realistic Knowledge, Thinking, and Emotional Intelligence

Everything in nature evolves by trial, error, and success. At the fundamental level, this means that the rigid laws of physics don't rule nature. At the level of your thinking, this means that no established one-size-fits-all science should inhibit your free-will decisions to try, fail, and succeed. As a guide to success by strategic decision making, this book will support your skeptical thinking and propensity for prudent use of expert advice.

Presenting real-life examples, the thinking in the book combines sharp analyses with broad analogies to show:
 

• How to identify realistic knowledge and avoid harm due to overgeneralized concepts.
• How to solve problems and create new knowledge by trial-and-error thinking.
• How to reduce personal risk and maximize benefits by collective application of the trial-and-error process.

 
Read this book to learn things that our formal education shuns. That way, you'll be better prepared for the unexpected, less likely to conform when you shouldn't, more creative, and more likely to learn from both failures and successes of others. You'll see why machine learning and automatic actions cannot replace human intelligence and free-will decisions.

Table of Contents

Author's Note
Introduction: Why Switch from Proven Science to Trial and Error? 

A.   The Knowledge Level
1. Laws of Science and Math Are Overgeneralization Traps
2. No Process Can Avoid Unpredictable Events
3. More of the Same Works in Stable Conditions
4. Differences Are the Key When the Conditions Change

B. The Intelligence Level
5. Think by Analyzing Differences before Generalizing Similarities
6. Learn from Others but Use the Knowledge Prudently
7. Think about Risk and Benefit to Make Free-Will Decisions
 
C. The Emotional-Intelligence Level
8. Minimize Risk and Maximize Opportunities by Working in Holistic Teams
9. Build Teams on the Platform of Emotions
10. Utilize Brain Plasticity to Improve Your Emotional Intelligence
 
Endnotes
Acknowledgements
Author Bios

Sima Dimitrijev is a Professor at Griffith University in Australia. He is an educator, a microelectronic engineer, a researcher, an inventor, and the author of two textbooks. He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board, Microelectronics Reliability, Elsevier/Pergamon, and a Senior Member of IEEE.

Maryann Karinch is the author of articles, books, and white papers including 33 commercially published books. She founded The Rudy Agency, a full-service literary agency, in 2004.