Thanks a lot about the essay !
It broached the topic of the “two brain” in a different (an I think more accurate) way than the ones I saw beforehand that put them side to side kinda as equal.
I will be thinking and trying to integrat this new worldview for a while ^^
Also Helen Keller words gave me goosebumps (in a meaningful way).
Thanks for the reply! Great catch regarding the bucket error 😊. I’m familiar with the concept (in fact, I was discussing it just an hour ago), despite that my thought process arrived at the bucket error indirectly, so it took me longer to recognize. Bucket errors are definitely one of the first things I should check when noticing a heuristic at play.
I’ll work on making “spotting bucket errors” a more automatic mental habit—it seems especially useful for quickly disentangling heuristics in real-time social situations. Thanks again for the reminder!
Thanks for the essay! I really appreciate occasional reminders of the importance of not automatically discarding intuitions, feelings, or non-explicit thoughts. These can often carry valuable information that might not be immediately accessible to our conscious reasoning.
I’ve had a few experiences with “vibe checking,” and over time, my reflex has evolved into asking myself: What did my unconscious notice that led to this heuristic? This framing helps me align my intuitions with explicit evaluation criteria, comparing what I feel to what I consciously understand about the situation or person. When I can pinpoint the source of a vibe, I consciously choose whether to endorse or override it. If the source remains unclear, I tend to default to an “evolutionary psychology” perspective—assuming that my intuitions evolved to help me in an ancestral context, and unless I know a specific instinct is maladaptive in this situation, I err on the side of caution.
I’ve had a few recent experiences that seem relevant to the topic. I recently changed environments (new workplace) and have been introducing “rationality concepts” to someone with no prior knowledge of the topic. In this process, I’ve been questionned on my belief about the world my value and of possible prejudice caused by these opinions.
Here are two recent cases where I noticed my own heuristics in action:
Assigning roles based on physical tasks: When thinking of who to call to move furniture, I felt it more natural to involve “men” (many cis, one trans) despite the trans man not being particularly buff. This prompted me to examine whether I held a prejudice linking masculinity to physical strength. Upon reflection, I realized I was evaluating a mix of two factors: physical strength and grit. I associate grit—perseverance and toughness—more strongly with masculinity, which heavily influenced my selection process. This realization helped me separate the two traits and recognize how much weight I was giving to perceived grit over physical attributes (and my belief that both of these are correlated to “men/male” and my brain took a short-cut)..
Epistemic and expertise biases: I noticed that in some interactions (depends on topic & interlocutor), I don’t expect my interlocutors to spot inconsistencies or teach me something new about a belief I have. This led me to examine whether I was holding a prejudice toward certain groups or individuals. On reflection, I realized I tend to assess two dimensions in others:
Epistemic clarity: Their ability to articulate a clear, internally consistent worldview, along with their confidence calibration.
Expertise: Whether they’ve been exposed to topics I haven’t and have synthesized those experiences into insights I find valuable.
These assessments aren’t necessarily prejudicial, but they are heuristics that shape my expectations of others. Recognizing this has helped me question whether these assumptions are fair and whether I might be missing out on valuable perspectives. I will try to keep that way of thinking a habit of mine (hopefully it will stick !)
I appreciate the opportunity to reflect on this topic and the discussion it has sparked. It’s fascinating to unpack these layers of intuition, especially when they can guide or mislead in subtle ways.
I am just starting my journey as a naturalist ! Just this last few weeks trying to put words on emotions, feelings and generally things in my environment as already improved how much I feel connected to the world (and enjoy my days). I just finished my PhD and plan to spend some time working on myself and developing as a naturalist is a big part of it ! Keep up the good work !
Done!
Epistemics (Bayes, Knowing how/when to look things up)
Evolutionary Psychology of Emotion
Valuism (from Spencer Greenberg) for helping you better understand your values
SPIRE model of well-being (to have a wider understanding of how to build my well-being).
Model x Care x Understanding (to better interpret others action)
How to create good habits (Atomic Habits, Beeminder...)