210. Leidy Klotz on doing more with less, based on his book Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less

The Michael Shermer Show

Michael Shermer

Dialogue, Science, Reason, Michaelshermer, Natural Sciences, Skeptic

4.4 • 921 Ratings

🗓️ 18 September 2021

⏱️ 120 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We pile on “to-dos” but don’t consider “stop-doings.” We create incentives for good behavior, but don’t get rid of obstacles to it. We collect new-and-improved ideas, but don’t prune the outdated ones. Every day, across challenges big and small, we neglect a basic way to make things better: we don’t subtract. Leidy Klotz’s pioneering research shows why. Whether we’re building Lego^® models or cities, grilled-cheese sandwiches or strategic plans, our minds tend to add before taking away. Even when we do think of it, subtraction can be harder to pull off because an array of biological, cultural, and economic forces push us towards more. But we have a choice — our blind spot need not go on taking its toll on our cities, our institutions, and our minds. By diagnosing our neglect of subtraction, we can treat it.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to the Michael Sherman Show.
0:07.0	Welcome to the Michael Sherman Show.
0:10.0	I'm your host, Michael Sherman.
0:12.0	My guest today is Lightydie Clots. His new book is
0:16.5	subtract the untapped science of less. Lydie Clots is the Copenhagen Associate Professor at the University of Virginia, where he is appointed in the schools of engineering, architecture and business.
0:32.0	He co-founded and co directs the university's
0:34.2	convergent behavioral science initiative which engages and supports applied
0:39.2	interdisciplinary research. Clots earned a highly selective career award disciplinary research
0:44.0	award from the National Science Foundation,
0:47.0	one of the NSF's first awards through its Inspire program,
0:51.0	and over seven million dollars in competitive research funding.
0:55.0	He advises influential decision makers that straddle academia and practice
1:01.0	working with the Departments of Energy and Homeland Security, the National Institutes of Health,
1:06.7	Resources for the Future, Ideas 42, and Nature Sustainability. A columnist for the behavioral scientist,
1:15.4	Cloths has written for venues such as science, nature,
1:18.8	Bask Company, and the daily climate.
1:21.5	Okay, we talked about and the daily climate.
1:23.2	OK, we talk about many things in this conversation,
1:26.7	including soccer and cycling, of course.
1:29.6	But in the context of how rules get added and subtracted. We talk about his
1:35.6	experimental research on the human propensity to only add to solve problems
1:41.8	and that subtracting things to solve a problem doesn't come as
	...

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