{"id":31690,"date":"2023-03-08T14:59:08","date_gmt":"2023-03-08T22:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=31690"},"modified":"2023-03-08T15:43:53","modified_gmt":"2023-03-08T23:43:53","slug":"unconscious-biases-the-benefits-the-harm-and-the-invitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/unconscious-biases-the-benefits-the-harm-and-the-invitation\/","title":{"rendered":"Unconscious Biases – the Benefits, the Harm, and the Invitation"},"content":{"rendered":"

An A.I. Malfunction or Accurate Reflection<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cLike any other shiny new toy, A.I. is ultimately a mirror. And it will reflect back exactly who we are. From the best of us, to the worst of us.\u201d This statement was made by comedian John Oliver in last week\u2019s showing of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver<\/em>.[1]<\/a> In an episode about Artificial Intelligence, John Oliver balances out the perspective that A.I. will change everything by affirming that much will be changed, but, if we\u2019re not careful, the same issues will be affected as when other technological advances emerge (such as benefitting the rich, hurting the underprivileged, and increasing the wealth gap). Oliver uses this mirror that is A.I. to show an uglier side of humanity by bringing up the Twitter chatbot called Tay. This chatbot would learn via chatting on Twitter with young users (already concerning). Tay was shut down when it began tweeting racist, offensive, conspiracy theory-perpetuating tweets.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is an example of a truth we must face: AI is not immune to bias. Why? Because we<\/em> are not immune to bias. But, unlike AI, we can develop the awareness to unlearn harmful biases.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sway by Dr. Pragya Agarwal<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Pragya Agarwal, behavioral scientist and author of Sway: Unraveling Unconscious Bias[3]<\/strong><\/a>,<\/em> writes about the unconscious biases that we all have and what we can do to mitigate our unconscious bias from making snap judgments that would disadvantage others. In this book, Agarwal makes the case that unconscious bias goes beyond racism and sexism. It is far more insidious than we give it credit for. None of us are immune to bias. Therefore, we ought to not be apprehensive to admit having biases.[4]<\/a> We need to be honest about having biases, for none of us are immune. Agarwal focuses her work on unconscious, implicit biases. Though there are biases we are conscious of, for the purpose of this post I will focus on unconscious biases, their benefits, their harm, and close with an invitation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Benefits of Unconscious Bias<\/strong><\/p>\n

Behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman popularized vernacular around the two systems our brains utilize. System one is fast, automatic, and without effortful thinking, and system two is deliberate and effortful.[5]<\/a> This is helpful for survival. When one sees a threat, one does not have time or energy for effortful cognition. Agarwal contends we can track the presence of our biases to our need for survival in early human history. Biases were required to assess threats outside of one\u2019s tribe. Today, our implicit biases aid in decision-making. Without intuitively knowing our preferences, we would waste much precious time deciding what kind of ice cream we crave when we know that chocolate never disappoints.<\/p>\n

These kinds of unconscious biases that lead to judgments and decisions are not harmful. However, there are far too many instances when unconscious biases are not only unhelpful but harmful.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Harm of Unconscious Bias<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One fateful day in November 2014, 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot by a Cleveland police officer. Seen as a threat while playing with a toy gun, police pulled up to Rice and shot him down.[6]<\/a> An unconscious bias, fed over the years with racist narratives and never interrogated, made a fateful judgment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unconscious biases, when unchecked, cause us to exclude, harm, and, in some horrific cases, kill. Unmitigated implicit bias is not the problem for the white supremacist. It is on all of us to deal with our implicit biases.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

How Then Shall We Live?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The next question is, \u201chow then shall we live knowing that we perpetually carry unconscious biases?\u201d Agarwal exhorts her readers to become aware of them and do the self-reflection necessary to understand why they are present.[7]<\/a> When it comes to the presence of mind to do this, Kahneman writes \u201c\u201cThe way to block errors that originate in System 1 is simple in principle: recognize the signs that you are in a cognitive minefield, slow down, and ask for reinforcement from System 2.\u201d[8]<\/a> In the works of Jesus, \u201cThere is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.\u201d[9]<\/sup><\/a> Let us become the kind of leaders who do not avoid investigating our implicit biases, but rather, by the grace of God, with the guidance of God\u2019s Spirit and God\u2019s multicultural Church, become aware of and grow from these implicit biases.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Artificial Intelligence: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)<\/em>, 2023, https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Sqa8Zo2XWc4, 26:41-26:52.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid. 21:41-22:27.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Pragya Agarwal, Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias<\/em> (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020).<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> What Is the Science behind Unconscious Bias? | WIRED Live<\/em>, 2021, https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=yU_s_r979NU, 1:30-2:03.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> \u00a0Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/em>, 1st pbk. ed (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013).<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> 12 Year Old Tamir Rice Shot \u201cwithin Two Seconds\u201d of Police Arrival<\/em>, 2014, https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UVZM8w9JCXI.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Agarwal, Sway, 9<\/em>.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/em>, 417.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/sup><\/a> The New International Version<\/em><\/a> (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Lk 12:2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An A.I. Malfunction or Accurate Reflection \u201cLike any other shiny new toy, A.I. is ultimately a mirror. And it will reflect back exactly who we are. From the best of us, to the worst of us.\u201d This statement was made by comedian John Oliver in last week\u2019s showing of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.[1] […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":152,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2347,2244,2421,2245],"class_list":["post-31690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dlgp01","tag-agarwal","tag-daniel-kahneman","tag-sway","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/152"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31690"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31692,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31690\/revisions\/31692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}