Quantified Self: Web & Phone Enabled Exo-cortices

kestrell introduced me to "exo-cortex," a handy term to cover any external device that augments our sometimes-iffy human brain function. The initial exo-cortex was probably the sand-clock. Pen and paper is generally reliable, as long as one doesn't leave them somewhere. (Yesterday I lost track of both my keys and my debit card. Got 'em both back.) More recently, I've used Palm devices (in particular, my late lamented AlphaSmart DANA) and now an iPod touch and cellphone.

I just stumbled on The Quantified Self website. I can't describe it in a sentence: that link is a mittload of web- and phone-enabled tools to track one's health and well-being. These are the sort of tools I love to use, but hate to evaluate: short-term memory loss means I need exactly the sort of tool I'm testing to remember whether it was effective.

One of the hosts is a BNF in the dot-com world: Kevin Kelly, who helped start the pioneer online comm the Well, thence to Wired and hence here. He's an alpha alpha geek. The other is Gary Wolf, of whom I know nothing.

Self-efficacy is a term which keeps popping up on the site. As Wolf writes:

 begin quote Self-efficacy is different than self-confidence or self-esteem. It is not a personality trait, or a set of general beliefs about oneself. Rather, it is a subjective expectation of how likely you are to succeed at some specified goal. quote ends 

It seems the Quantified Self is about how to increase one's self-efficacy, and therefore, one's quality of life. Many of the articles are quite meta: people addressing the "how do we monetize personal health informatics?" question. But (as Tara Calishain's weekly newsletter used to remind me) worth a look.

Edited because I used "Qualified" instead of "Quantified" in the title, which is a pretty dorky error, yes?

rave: Mistakes Were Made (but not by me)

Just finished a fabulous book I recommend to, well, everyone.

Mistakes Were Made (but not by me)
Carol Tavris & Elliot Aronson


It's a highly readable tour of psych research on cognitive dissonance and how we justify error. Using examples from marriages and genocides, therapy, medicine, criminal justice and the law, it convincingly demonstrates the ubiquity of our reluctance to acknowledge our errors. I came away recognizing the human tendency to shifting a focus from what I did to what I intended. This move comforts and soothes the pain of cognitive dissonance; instead of facing error, it permits us to burrow into self-justification. This insight underlines the efficacy of "criticize the act, not the actor," since the latter would most likely stir up defensiveness.

When the authors apply their analysis to the broader world, it's useful and horrifying. This is how leaders justify torture and prosecutors justify imprisoning innocents. On the smallest scale, it's useful and mortifying: this is how we create grooves in our relationships, from which no amount of love and care can seemingly shift us.

Tavris & Aronson establish their thesis on many scientific studies (with footnotes! yay! footnotes!) and it's changed how I look at "guilt" and "blame." Highly recommended!