I would add that people overestimate their ability to guess others preferences. “He just wants money” or “She just wants to marry him”. Such oversimplified models could be not just useful simplifications, buts could be blatantly wrong.
I agree we’re not as good as we think we are. But there are a lot of things we do agree on, that seem trivial: eg “this person is red in the face, shouting at me, and punching me; I deduce that they are angry and wish to do me harm”. We have far, far, more agreement than random agents would.
I would add that people overestimate their ability to guess others preferences. “He just wants money” or “She just wants to marry him”. Such oversimplified models could be not just useful simplifications, buts could be blatantly wrong.
I agree we’re not as good as we think we are. But there are a lot of things we do agree on, that seem trivial: eg “this person is red in the face, shouting at me, and punching me; I deduce that they are angry and wish to do me harm”. We have far, far, more agreement than random agents would.