Tuesday, June 10, 2008 | Science : Evolution and Biology | print version

Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind

Gary Marcus

Excellent new book by Gary Marcus.

See:
http://www.amazon.com/Kluge-Haphazard-Construction-Human-Mind/dp/0618879641/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213140228&sr=8-1

Watch an interview with Gary Marcus about 'Kludge'

From Publishers Weekly
Why are we subject to irrational beliefs, inaccurate memories, even war? We can thank evolution, Marcus says, which can only tinker with structures that already exist, rather than create new ones: Natural selection... tends to favor genes that have immediate advantages rather than long-term value. Marcus (The Birth of the Mind), director of NYU's Infant Language Learning Center, refers to this as kluge, a term engineers use to refer to a clumsily designed solution to a problem. Thus, memory developed in our prehominid ancestry to respond with immediacy, rather than accuracy; one result is erroneous eyewitness testimony in courtrooms. In describing the results of studies of human perception, cognition and beliefs, Marcus encapsulates how the mind is contaminated by emotions, moods, desires, goals, and simple self-interest.... The mind's fragility, he says, is demonstrated by mental illness, which seems to have no adaptive purpose. In a concluding chapter, Marcus offers a baker's dozen of suggestions for getting around the brain's flaws and achieving true wisdom. While some are self-evident, others could be helpful, such as Whenever possible, consider alternate hypotheses and Don't just set goals. Make contingency plans. Using evolutionary psychology, Marcus educates the reader about mental flaws in a succinct, often enjoyable way. (Apr. 16)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description
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 rather 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 in knots even though it's only four words long.

Marcus also offers surprisingly effective ways to outwit our inner kluge, for the betterment of ourselves and society. 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.

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1. Comment #191353 by He'sAVeryNaughtyBoy on June 10, 2008 at 4:35 pm

I have a personal saying I stick to:
Human's are stupid.

Once you accept that, everything else makes sense.
Plus there's something warm and fluffy about the term Kluge.

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2. Comment #191358 by gabo_moreno on June 10, 2008 at 4:51 pm

Wasn't this also Arthur Koestler's Thesis in Janus?

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3. Comment #191359 by Promnitz on June 10, 2008 at 4:54 pm

Kluge? Isn't this the German word for "intelligent"?

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4. Comment #191360 by mordacious1 on June 10, 2008 at 4:59 pm

I don't see the reasoning behind the word "Kluge". In German, Kluge means prudently or sagaciously. Ein Kluger Mann is a wise man. Is this opposite day again?

edit: or are they referring to General Feldmarshall Guenther von Kluge of WWII fame? Can't see that either.

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5. Comment #191362 by Skepsis on June 10, 2008 at 5:06 pm

There is a new interview with Marcus about his book:
Gary Marcus on The Hour: Brain Busters and Kluge (Video)

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6. Comment #191363 by mordacious1 on June 10, 2008 at 5:07 pm

Promnitz

Didn't see your post, beat me to it.

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7. Comment #191364 by sent2null on June 10, 2008 at 5:22 pm

Don't know about the German but I've definitely heard the word "kluge" used to describe a haphazardly put together circuit or piece of software in engineering as the article suggests.

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8. Comment #191365 by Animavore on June 10, 2008 at 5:26 pm

Sounds right up my street.

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9. Comment #191366 by BeyondBelief on June 10, 2008 at 5:27 pm

I'm open to correction, but I believe the term is "kludge" which I first encountered in "The Soul of The New Machine". Great book.

I don't know if that fixes the German etymology issues.

[edit] Whoops... didn't see they actually "mis spelled" it on the book cover. I thought it was just a conversation topic. :-)

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10. Comment #191371 by Spinoza on June 10, 2008 at 6:19 pm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kludge

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11. Comment #191373 by windfall on June 10, 2008 at 6:21 pm

Ugh, what difference does it make what 'kluge' means in *German*? Marcus' book is in English as far as I know...

Wiktionary sheds some light:

"kluge (plural kluges)

Something that should not work, but does.

Usage notes
Today, the terms kluge and kludge are widely believed to be alternative spellings for the same word, although a distinction in usage can perhaps be detected: in the U.K., the connotation of kludge is almost wholly negative (as befits its alleged derivation), while U.S. usage, following the older spelling kluge and the alleged German derivation, admits some fondness for the cleverness or functionality underlying a kludge that works.

Ample jokes have been made about how these terms self-referentially apply to their own tangled history."

I have always understood it to mean something that is 'thrown together' (i.e. poorly designed), but works; usually a negative connotation.

{edit: Spinoza, you just beat me to it! :-)]

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12. Comment #191377 by huzonfurst on June 10, 2008 at 6:43 pm

Jawohl, 'klug' ist ein deutsches Wort, meaning the same thing as 'intelligent,' another German word.

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13. Comment #191378 by sovijus on June 10, 2008 at 6:50 pm

There is a long book presentation on http://fora.tv/2008/04/23/The_Haphazard_Construction_of_the_Human_Mind

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14. Comment #191383 by Frankus1122 on June 10, 2008 at 7:04 pm

I think the really interesting point about this is the fact that it sort of proves that the brain was not intelligently designed.
I heard him interviewed by Bob McDonald on Quirks and Quarks a few weeks back:
http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/archives/07-08/apr19.html

It is a bit more in depth interview than George's.

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15. Comment #191384 by Frankus1122 on June 10, 2008 at 7:12 pm

I just stole this from phasmagigas on another thread:

when i see some biological phenomena (or read about it or whatever) i ask myself 'if evolution were true is that what youd possibly expect' and also 'if creation were true is that what youd possibly expect'

Then I thought of this article/interview/book/idea and thought this was a perfect example of the affirmative answer belonging to the first proposition.

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16. Comment #191385 by Enlightenme.. on June 10, 2008 at 7:16 pm

Try clicking on the 2-star reviews on the amazon link for a self-described messianic jew's review by 'protagonist', if you want a laff.

I saw Gary Marcus give a talk on this a couple of weeks ago at the Bristol ideas festival, concentrating on the chapter on memory, then take some questions from Susan Blackmoore, he manages to cram about 2 hours of info into every half-hour - impressive.

He also used Richard's Mount Improbable tool during his talk, and expanded on it with prompting from Susan Blackmoore to agree that minds are a whole conglomeration of kluges upon kluges upon kluges.

One to watch.

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17. Comment #191386 by black wolf on June 10, 2008 at 7:19 pm

"why a sentence like "people people left left" ties us in knots"

Simple: bad grammar design in languages.
For those interested (while we're at etymology), here's a German sentence:
Fliegen Fliegen hinter Fliegen fliegen Fliegen Fliegen hinterher.

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18. Comment #191389 by Brian English on June 10, 2008 at 7:31 pm

The mind's fragility, he says, is demonstrated by mental illness, which seems to have no adaptive purpose.

A lot of mental illness is when adaptive functions of the brain have gone haywire. Feeling sad is an adaptive function to stop us from loosing more than we already have but when it goes haywire, it's depression. Same with anxiety, which stops us from getting into danger but when it goes haywire it stops us from doing anything. An evolutionary perspective on mental illness helps understand how adaptive mental processes become maladaptive.....

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19. Comment #191390 by black wolf on June 10, 2008 at 7:38 pm

adding to Brian:
And when pattern recognition goes haywire, we get articles like Postelnik's.

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20. Comment #191427 by LeeC on June 11, 2008 at 12:02 am

Sounds like a nice book... another to add to the list?

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21. Comment #191428 by Galactor on June 11, 2008 at 12:13 am

Comment #191386 by black wolf.

In Dutch, the sentence is even more abstract:

Als achter vliegen vliegen vliegen, vliegen vliegen vliegen achterna.

(If flies are flying behind flies, then flies are flying behind flies)

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22. Comment #191438 by Appleby on June 11, 2008 at 1:17 am

Damn it. Another book I'm tempted to buy.

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23. Comment #191441 by Enlightenme.. on June 11, 2008 at 1:26 am

black wolf:
"Simple: bad grammar design in languages."

Are you suggesting there was a designer? ;)

I have a little theory about languages; they are a rather heath-robinson affair. (Not sure if that should be a semi-colon or what? (should this be in parentheses?))

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24. Comment #191443 by King of NH on June 11, 2008 at 1:31 am

I think most Americans are familiar with the relatively new issue of 'he/she, his/her, him/her.' One solution that was proposed in the 70's was to invent a new pronoun that was non gender specific, yet not neutral such as 'it.' They had decided on 'thon.' The concept failed, mostly because of the difficulties of purposefully changing language (it almost never works). But the funny part: 'thon' in Irish Gaelic means 'ass,' as in "Pog mo thon" meaning "Kiss my ass."

Assuming that a word must have a link to a similar or identical word in another language is a mistake many etymologists make, and it's sort of a joke in the field. In English, the word 'kluge' means exactly what it means in English regardless of what it means 'auf deutsch.'

Also note that in English, the word is [kloodge] while in German the word would be pronounced [kloo-guh].

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25. Comment #191444 by Apeseed on June 11, 2008 at 1:35 am

Comment #191377 by huzonfurst

meaning the same thing as 'intelligent,' another German word

Surely intelligent is derived from the Latin 'intelligentia' from 'intelligere' : to understand

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26. Comment #191447 by DamnDirtyApe on June 11, 2008 at 1:45 am

This is the reality of our complex messed up minds.

You see every religion trying to offer a cause of evil and wrong in the world, but only science can truely find the cause of evil in the heart of man.

People hear voices not because they're touched by the divine, but because their brains are a jumbled up barely working mess. Heck, our whole bodies are - useless organs, painful backfiring biological processes, death, the works.

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27. Comment #191450 by King of NH on June 11, 2008 at 1:55 am

People hear voices not because they're touched by the divine, but because their brains are a jumbled up barely working mess. Heck, our whole bodies are - useless organs, painful backfiring biological processes, death, the works.

No, silly. Our bodies are scientific proof of the curse handed to humans with the fall of Adam. Sheesh, how silly you logical people are. Any Sunday schooled, home schooled second grader knows THAT. Silly, silly people.

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28. Comment #191451 by jaf on June 11, 2008 at 2:07 am

Did nobody notice this -
Interviewer - Where does god play to this? [...] 'Cos you said evolution, I thought that we were created perfectly?
Marcus - I'm challenging that idea.
Interviewer - It's a political statement as soon as you decide [...] it's evolution, right?
Marcus - I think it is a political statement. The book actually tries to challenge both intelligent design, because there are a lot of things that aren't very intelligent about our design, but also it tries to challenge an idea in evolution, which is that we're optimal, that we've been sort of perfectly created by evolution itself.

1. NO, it's not a political statement. Science has no politics. It's neither left nor right, conservative nor liberal. It's a description of the way things are, after observation, hypotheses and testing. Objects (inanimate or living), are as they are, and no election is ever going to change that.
2. NO, there is no 'idea' in evolution that we are optimal. We are where we are, because infinitessimal adaptations have occurred in order for us to survive whatever circumstances prevail, making the best use of whatever materials are available. The only people who belive we are 'optimal' are the creationists, who believe we were created perfect.
Which brings us back to the beginning.

I hope Mr.Marcus writes a better book than he gives interviews.

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29. Comment #191460 by bugaboo on June 11, 2008 at 2:45 am

For those interested in wierd sentences here's a now famous one in english:-

"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo"

Edit: The term kludge was adopted by computer programmers in the 50's where they changed the spelling to kluge.

Edit: The word derives from a Scottish word for toilet-kludgie

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30. Comment #191489 by windfall on June 11, 2008 at 3:55 am

jaf wrote: 'Marcus: ...it tries to challenge an idea in evolution, which is that we're optimal, that we've been sort of perfectly created by evolution itself.' NO, there is no 'idea' in evolution that we are optimal.

I think what he meant was that he was challenging a popular misconception of humans being optimally evolved. Poorly stated, I admit, but then he had to speak quickly to get a word in edgewise with Mr. MTV. So, I think this is uncontroversial.

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31. Comment #191491 by Dax on June 11, 2008 at 4:12 am

I just read the book and I can say that it is very humorously written, well penned, book. I really recommend it to every skeptic out there; it goes into detail about human gullibility, belief, morality, and some other interesting topics. Go read it!

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32. Comment #191496 by Drool on June 11, 2008 at 4:36 am

Looks like a good book, will put it on my long list. By the way, I've always known it to be pronounced kl-U-j, as in... fudge.

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33. Comment #191500 by jeffers on June 11, 2008 at 4:44 am

This is the best daft (but correct) sentence in English I know:

John, while Mary had had had, had had had had, had had had had the teacher's approval.

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34. Comment #191536 by Diocletian on June 11, 2008 at 6:37 am

kludge |kloÅj| (also kluge) informal
noun
an ill-assorted collection of parts assembled to fulfill a particular purpose.
- Computing a machine, system, or program that has been badly put together.
verb [ trans. ]
use ill-assorted parts to make (something) : Hugh had to kludge something together.
ORIGIN 1960s (originally U.S.): invented word, perhaps symbolic.

The English language has the largest vocabulary, in part because we add new words and adopt words from other languages very rapidly. The roots of the American 'kluge' are not German.

The book by the way is very good and a fun read.

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35. Comment #191555 by huzonfurst on June 11, 2008 at 8:04 am

I didn't mean to imply that the English 'kludge' was derived from the German 'klug,' as the meanings are quite different. It's an accidental resemblance; after all, German 'ass' means 'I, s/he/it ate.'

German and English both, however, adopted the Latin adjective 'intellegens/intellegentis' (derived from the present participle of intellegere, 'to understand').

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36. Comment #191577 by mordacious1 on June 11, 2008 at 8:58 am

Jeffers

The best daft (and incorrect) sentence in English I know:

There is a god!

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37. Comment #191826 by Dhamma on June 11, 2008 at 11:52 pm

There is a god!

I knew it all the time. He's a believer - Persecute him!

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38. Comment #191833 by jeffers on June 12, 2008 at 12:39 am

***********************************
Jeffers

The best daft (and incorrect) sentence in English I know:

There is a god!
****************************************

:-)

What can I say? - give that person a coconut!

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39. Comment #193300 by dogofman on June 15, 2008 at 8:23 am

Galactor and black wolf:

This reminds me of a similar but slightly different frase we have in swedish.
It's like a riddle. You should pronounce it over and over again as quickly as possible. And you'll always stumble upon the words rather quickly.

The sentence is; 'flyg fula fluga flyg och den fula flugan flÃ¶g'. In english it would be; fly ugly fly fly and the ugly fly flew. One thing about the whole things is that alla of the vowels in the riddle in the swedish sentence is more or less impossible to even pronounce for native english speaking people at least.

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40. Comment #201720 by mark8 on June 30, 2008 at 7:12 am

Authors@Google: Gary Marcus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0fsz8qibCU

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41. Comment #222612 by sane1 on July 31, 2008 at 3:35 pm

Hey.. reading it now. similar to "Predictable Irrationality" but lacking in the kind of detail that makes PI so intereting and persuasive. Good book just the same.

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