Half-Baked Thoughts

Combatting Bias

Hi,

I hope you are well. I have been thinking about how we look at our biases. I do not mean racial or cultural prejudices alone but bias in a larger sense of us making mistakes in how we think about things even if we do not intend to. For example, I have been reading a lot about Charlie Munger recently. Today, if anyone asked me who my favourite thinker ever was, I am likely to answer - Munger. However, that is my answer because my brain is flooded with thoughts and often glowing praises about him, since he occupies a large space of my brain right now. If you had asked the same question 2 months ago, I would have said Daniel Kahnemann as he was the man of my thoughts back then.

This got me thinking about how we should combat our biases. When it comes to our interactions, our filter is often whether we are saying what is kosher in our circles and is not what we think (irrespective of whether we feel we are correct or wrong). While acceptable things is often a decent framework, it makes us hide our biases rather than challenge them or combat them.

A better way for us to solve this problem is to understand what common biases are, be aware of our personal biases, and examine ourselves as often as we can. For example, due to the kind of academic training I received in college, I tend to lean to a certain end of the political spectrum. Denying my inclinations or treating my knowledge (which is often bias couched as wisdom) makes me lazy and dumber. However, knowing that my first instinct is to approach a problem from a particular perspective keeps me on my toes whenever I look back at things I have formed opinions in the last 5-6 years.

I hope you enjoyed this short rant/flow of thought. Looking forward to writing to you soon.