Thinking, fast and slow
In his 2011 book Thinking, Fast and Slow, economist and Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman postulates that the human brain operates in two fundamentally different modes:
System 1 thinking:Operates automatically and quickly with little or no effort. It is fast, intuitive, emotional, and subconscious.
System 2 thinking:Operates deliberatively and requires conscious effort. It is slow, rational, logical and calculating.
Read it online:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0ByXsRacEHnd5aTkyb2Z5eDMwT00/edit
#psychology #DanielKahneman #books #brainsnack
The second mode is something that not enough people do. Certainly an issue when it comes to decisions related to personal health, i.e. disease prevention and general well-being (diet, exercise etc)
ReplyDeleteThe second mode is edit mode for the first.
ReplyDeleteThe first is the set of previously compiled and integrated subroutines (some, like the dna-based operating system come with the hardware), running at machine speed.
The second is programming/debug mode, where the operator can review and revise (within the hard wired limits) and then compile, test, and install new or new versions of the softwares. The second mode is 50 to 100 times slower, computationally.
This is similar to some of the claims Malcolm Gladwell made in "Blink", about extremely fast subconscious analysis, followed by slow conscious synthesis. I'll have to find a copy of this. (Hey, going to the library right now, so...)
ReplyDeleteExcept Gladwell is frequently fails to make important distinctions and connections.
ReplyDeleteJust found a slogan for myself along the lines: "I think what I believe". What's most contrary to thinking what you believe?
ReplyDeleteI wonder if he gets into calorie draw, though "postulates" says probably not.
ReplyDelete