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In late 2025, artificial intelligence companies like OpenAI popularized the idea of automating the process of selecting which model is best for a task. This allowed users to simply send their prompt or request and let the system determine whether to respond using a "fast" or a "slow" reasoning model.
In a 2022 paper, I suggested that this kind of strategic deployment of slow, more reflective reasoning could be crucial to good judgment and decision-making. Since then, I have been synthesizing the arguments and evidence for this view in a paper titled, "Strategic Reflectivism in Intelligent Systems".
After the new paper was accepted in Lecture Notes In Computer Science, I recorded a podcast of me reading the final proofs of the paper for the podcast. I review evidence suggesting that one key to intelligence in humans and machines is pragmatic switching between intuitive and reflective thinking based on the goals of the system. The paper has a wide range of implications for applied science, computer science, decision science, and epistemology.
Byrd, N. (2025). Strategic Reflectivism In Intelligent Systems. Lecture Notes In Computer Science. Preprint: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2505.22987
As always, free preprints of my papers are available on my CV at byrdnick.com/cv under "Publications".
This episode's affiliate partner is Road Runner Sports. For about a year I've been adding a weekly marathon to my exercise routine. So shoes, socks, headphones, shorts, and other fitness products have felt more important to me lately. What I like about Road Runner Sports is their integration of online and in-store retail; I can try things on in person, deliver to the store for free, return and exchange in person, etc. I am not stuck doing everything online. To get your running needs met, check out roadrunnersports.sjv.io/byrdnick.
You can find the Upon Reflection podcast here or in your podcast app. If you like what you hear, you can subscribe wherever you find podcasts, follow on BlueSky at @ByrdNick.com, on Mastadon (@ByrdNick), and all the other platforms. If you end up enjoying the Upon Reflection podcast, then feel free to tell people about it, online, in person, or in your review.
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Ep. 15 - A Two-Factor Explication Of ‘Reflection’
Monday, May 19, 2025 • Duration 43:28
You may have heard me drone on and on about this thing called "reflective thinking". We philosophers and cognitive scientists are preoccupied with it. However, the term 'reflection' is sometimes used in different ways by scholars. To unify, make sense of, and guide our research, I synthesized a unified account from hundreds of years of English language, from philosophers, and from cognitive science. The result is this paper.
In this episode, I'll read the paper, which explains the two key features of 'reflection' and how we measure them. This two-factor account of reflective thinking has implications for theories of rationality, self-knowledge, and dual-process theories.
Byrd, N. (2025). A Two-Factor Explication Of ‘Reflection’: Unifying, Making Sense Of, And Guiding The Philosophy And Science Of Reflective Reasoning. Res Philosophica. Preprint: https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/d628j
As always, free preprints of my papers are available on my CV at byrdnick.com/cv under "Publications".
This episode's affiliate partner is Coursera. Coursera has something for everyone: students, teachers, schools, companies, and even governments. Find out how they can serve your education needs at Coursera.com/BYRD.
You can find the Upon Reflection podcast here or in your podcast app. If you like what you hear, you can subscribe wherever you find podcasts, follow on BlueSky at @ByrdNick.com, on Mastadon (@ByrdNick), and all the other platforms. If you end up enjoying the Upon Reflection podcast, then feel free to tell people about it, online, in person, or in your review.
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Ep. 14 - Analytic Atheism & Analytic Apostasy Across Cultures
Wednesday, April 2, 2025 • Duration 49:02
You may have heard that atheists tend to score better on reflection tests than theists? But why do scientists find this "analytic atheism" correlation?
Many studies have attempted to answer this question. Of course, even the best studies had limitations. So Steve Stich, Justin Sytsma, and I developed better methods and studied over 70,000 people on 6 continents. What did we find?
Apostasy was key. Those who shed their religion since childhood were the most reflective. Lifelong atheists were not necessarily more reflective than theists. In other words, the analytic atheism correlation seems to be explained by analytic apostasy.
In this episode, I'll explain the methods, results, and implications in our paper "Analytic Atheism & Analytic Apostasy Across Cultures" which will be published in Religious Studies.
Byrd, N., Stich, S., & Sytsma, J. (2025). Analytic Atheism And Analytic Apostasy Across Cultures. Religious Studies. DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/qrz9g
As always, free preprints of my papers are available on my CV at byrdnick.com/cv under "Publications".
This episode's affiliate partner is PDF Expert. Since I bought PDF Expert in January 2016, it has been my primary reading and annotating app on Mac, iPad, and iPhone. I often try the best free and paid competitors, but I keep coming back to PDF Expert. Find out why at readdle.8kpa2n.net/Byrd.
You can find the Upon Reflection podcast here or in your podcast app. If you like what you hear, you can subscribe wherever you find podcasts, follow on BlueSky at @ByrdNick.com, on Mastadon (@ByrdNick), and all the other platforms. If you end up enjoying the Upon Reflection podcast, then feel free to tell people about it, online, in person, or in your review.
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Ep. 13 - Reflection-Philosophy Order Effects and Correlations Across Samples
Wednesday, March 5, 2025 • Duration 30:51
Suppose you glance at a clock that, unbeknownst to you, is broken, showing the same time all day. Nonetheless, you happened to look at the clock precisely when it showed the correct time. So your belief about the time is correct. My question is this: did you know what time it is?
Perhaps you think that you did. After all, you formed a belief on the basis of a device that most people trust and the belief was true! What else would it mean to know something? Well, in academic philosophy, the orthodox answer to this kind of thought experiment is "no".
People who perform better on tests of reflective thinking tend to report philosophers' orthodox answer to this kind of thought experiment. And, if you've been following my research, you know that philosophers are particularly reflective thinkers. These correlations may make you wonder about causation. Does thinking reflectively cause people to accept philosophers' orthodoxy? Or is it the other way around: does studying thought experiments like the broken clock case somehow result in people performing better on reflection tests?
In this episode, I'll tell you about the experiment I ran to find out. The paper is titled "Reflection-Philosophy Order Effects and Correlations Across Samples" and has been accepted for publication in Analysis. The paper will also mention a bunch of other thought experiments, tests of reflective thinking, and measures of research participants' data quality.
Byrd, N. (2025). Reflection-Philosophy Order Effects and Correlations Across Samples. Analysis. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/y8sdm
As always, free preprints of my papers are available on my CV at byrdnick.com/cv under "Publications".
This episode's affiliate partner is Spark Education, who is offering free 30-minute class demo for your child. You can read about the testimonials, stats, and all the activities included in their latest offer at SparkMath.pxf.io/PObNOR.
You can find the Upon Reflection podcast here or in your podcast app. If you like what you hear, you can subscribe wherever you find podcasts, follow on BlueSky at @ByrdNick.com, on Mastadon (@ByrdNick), and all the other platforms. If you end up enjoying the Upon Reflection podcast, then feel free to tell people about it, online, in person, or in your review.
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Ep. 12 - Tell Us What You Really Think (with B. Joseph, G. Gongora, and M. Sirota)
Tuesday, April 25, 2023 • Duration 32:57
I have a question for you: "If a bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total and the bat costs $1.00 more than the ball, how much does the ball cost?". Did 10 cents seem right? The authors of questions like this are attempting to lure you to accept this incorrect answer in order to test whether you thought reflectively when you solved the problem. However, there may be problems with this method of testing reflective thinking. So my colleagues used some underrated methods to determine the degree to which tests like this misclassify correct responses as reflective or lured responses as unreflective. I'll read the paper in this episode.
The (free) paper is "Tell Us What You Really Think: A think-aloud protocol analysis of the Verbal Cognitive Reflection Test". Special thanks to co-authors Brianna Joseph and Gabriela Gongora for helping me with Study 1 and to co-author Miroslav Sirota for helping with conceptualization and revisions. This paper is dedicated to the late Anders Ericsson (1947-2020), who helped inform the development of our online think-aloud protocol (Study 2).
As always, free preprints of my papers are available on my CV at byrdnick.com/cv under "Publications".
This podcast is sponsored by Namecheap. Namecheap is committed to offering the best value and customer service for website domains, hosting, and SSL encryption certificates. After looking at their offers, I was tempted to switch my website to their services. You can learn more namecheap.pxf.io/byrd.
You can find the Upon Reflection podcast here or in your podcast app. You can also find out more about me and my research on Twitter via @byrd_nick, or on Facebook via @byrdnick. If you end up enjoying the Upon Reflection podcast, then feel free to tell people about it, online, in person, or in your ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review.
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Ep. 11 - Testing Implicit Bias (with Morgan Thompson)
Wednesday, June 1, 2022 • Duration 23:05
In this episode, I read my short paper with Morgan Thompson in WIRES Cognitive Science titled, "Testing for Implicit Bias: Values, Psychometrics, and Science Communication". You may have heard about implicit bias. It is measured by indirect rather than direct measures of bias. We reconstruct arguments from debates about these measures, reveal some instances of talking past one another, highlight how debate has changed, and highlight how the debate is laden with value judgments about psychometrics and science communication. As always, free preprints of my papers are available on my CV under "Publications".
This podcast is sponsored by Homer. Homer is a learning program for kids delivered through devices like tablets. It covers reading, math, creativity, critical thinking, and even socio-emotional learning. Try a free trial or just learn more at the link in the podcast description (homer.i8epma.net/byrd).
You can find the Upon Reflection podcast here or in your podcast app. You can also find out more about me and my research on Twitter via @byrd_nick, or on Facebook via @byrdnick. If you end up enjoying the Upon Reflection podcast, then feel free to tell people about it, online, in person, or in your ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review.
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Ep. 10 - Great Minds Do Not Think Alike
Wednesday, May 4, 2022 • Duration 47:14
This time I read my 2022 paper in Review of Philosophy and Psychology titled, "Great Minds Do Not Think Alike: Philosophers' Views Predicted by Reflection, Education, Personality, and Other Demographic Differences". As the title suggests, various psychological factors predicted variance in philosophers' answers to classic philosophical questions. This raises questions about how psychological and demographic differences can explain philosophical differences. There are also implications for scientific psychologists as well as academic philosophers.
As with all of my writing, a free preprint can be found on my CV at byrdnick.com/cv under "Publications".
This episode was sponsored by Pimsluer. Pimsleur claims to help you become conversational in another language quickly and effectively so that you can understand and be understood when speaking to someone in another language. Find out more at imp.i271380.net/byrd.
You can find the Upon Reflection podcast here or in your podcast app. You can also find out more about me and my research on Twitter via @byrd_nick, or on Facebook via @byrdnick. If you end up enjoying the Upon Reflection podcast, then feel free to tell people about it, online, in person, or in your ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review.
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Ep. 9 - Bounded Reflectivism & Epistemic Identity
Wednesday, April 6, 2022 • Duration 40:55
In this episode, I read one of my 2022 articles in Metaphilosophy titled, "Bounded Reflectivism & Epistemic Identity". Does reflective reasoning help or hinder our judgment? In this paper, I take a middle view between reflectivism and anti-reflectivism that I call bounded reflectivism. The idea is that reflection is a tool that can be used to improve our judgment or for other purposes (such as to defend the beliefs that we consider essential to our identity—a.k.a., our "epistemic identity").
As with all of my writing, a free preprint can be found on my CV at byrdnick.com/cv under "Publications".
This podcast was sponsored by Paying Green's Carbon Easy. Carbon Easy™ makes it easy for small and medium-sized businesses worldwide to reduce their carbon footprint in a measurable and publicly recognizable way. Find out how your company can meet its carbon goals at carboneasy.sjv.io/byrd.
You can find the Upon Reflection podcast here or in your podcast app. You can also find out more about me and my research on Twitter via @byrd_nick, or on Facebook via @byrdnick. If you end up enjoying the Upon Reflection podcast, then feel free to tell people about it, online, in person, or in your ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review.
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Ep. 8 - Reflective Reasoning & Philosophy
Wednesday, March 23, 2022 • Duration 24:03
On this episode, I read one of my articles from 2021 titled, "Reflective Reasoning and Philosophy" in Philosophy Compass. Both philosophers and cognitive scientists seem to think that philosophical thinking could depend on whether we reason intuitively or reflectively. In this paper, I review the claims, scientific methods, evidence, and what we may need to do to improve our understanding of reflection's role in philosophical thinking.
As with all of my writing, a free preprint can be found on my CV at byrdnick.com/cv under "Publications".
This podcast was sponsored by Scholly. Scholly helps students and graduates find life-changing scholarships and loan payoffs. Find out how to access Scholly's funding at schollyinc.sjv.io/byrd.
You can find the Upon Reflection podcast here or in your podcast app. You can also find out more about me and my research on Twitter via @byrd_nick, or on Facebook via @byrdnick. If you end up enjoying the Upon Reflection podcast, then feel free to tell people about it, online, in person, or in your ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review.
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Ep. 7 - Do Unreflective Intentions Undermine Free Will?
Tuesday, August 10, 2021 • Duration 16:43
On this episode of Upon Reflection, I read my 2021 paper in Logoi titled, "On Second Thought, Libet-style Unreflective Intentions May Be Compatible With Free Will". Imagine if I could predict your behavior before you even became conscious of your intention to behave that way. Would this mean that you don't have free will? I used to think so. In this paper, I explain why I was wrong: my view of free will involved magical thinking.
Some figures from the paper.
As with all of my writing, a free preprint can be found on my CV at byrdnick.com/cv under "Publications".
This podcast sponsored by DataCamp. DataCamp helps you make better use of data. You can build data skills online while learning from the world’s top data scientists. Find our more at datacamp.pxf.io/byrd. Students get a bonus 62% discount until August 25:
You can find the Upon Reflection podcast here or in your podcast app. You can also find out more about me and my research on Twitter via @byrd_nick, or on Facebook via @byrdnick. If you end up enjoying the Upon Reflection podcast, then feel free to tell people about it, online, in person, or in your ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review.
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