Humans
Humans are animals. All animals (and therefore humans) are wired to make split second decisions and conserve unnecessary mental bandwidth. Research shows that all of us—even the most open-minded & good intentioned—have some type of implicit, or unconscious, biases.
Some of these stereotypes aren’t necessarily bad. If a pink flamingo attacks you every time you leave your house, and you come a pink flamingo on the street, you’d probably want to feel a surge of adrenaline. We’re evolutionarily wired to do this for our protection.
Similar to the response Pavlov’s dogs exhibited in his famous experiment, our day to day information shapes our internal conclusions & allows us to more easily comprehend the ever complex world we’re in, with its vast amounts of data.
We need to be conscious of such internal biases & combat them when they’re incorrect, or we risk misrepresenting the world. As a great CEO & thought leader Tomer Afek summarized well in his article Our Universe Has Always Been Decentralized:
Humans crave a world of intentionality. A world with clear-cut causes with intuitive effects. It is often far more comforting to believe in a malicious intelligence causing all of our problems, as opposed to impersonal forces of chaos and entropy. On the flipside, it is comforting to believe that all we need is a benevolent usurper to replace this malicious actor in order to fix all of these problems.
Let’s do what we can to recognize biases. Instead of taking the easy way out and making assumptions about people with different viewpoints, put yourself in their shoes. Challenge yourself to understand their point of view.
Quote of the Day:
While we often look back at the peasant farmers of the past with condescension, scorning their superstitions and simple-mindedness, they were, in most of the ways that matter, far more aware of reality than most of us will ever be.
—Tomer Afek, “Our Universe Has Always Been Decentralized”