{"id":36241,"date":"2024-02-29T17:46:16","date_gmt":"2024-03-01T01:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=36241"},"modified":"2024-03-02T14:06:37","modified_gmt":"2024-03-02T22:06:37","slug":"when-the-autopilot-fails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/when-the-autopilot-fails\/","title":{"rendered":"When the Autopilot Fails"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A couple of months ago, I had my first Tesla experience.\u00a0 When my plane landed in Austin, TX, I headed straight to the rental car counter to gain access to my ride for the next week, a 2023 Tesla.\u00a0 Among the many curiosities I had about driving a Tesla, I was looking forward to experiencing the \u201cAutopilot\u201d feature.\u00a0 This is Tesla\u2019s semi-autonomous driving feature that is akin to \u201ccruise control\u201d but way cooler.\u00a0 After I got in and figured out how to actually turn the car on and get it moving, I was making my way down the interstate. <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Tesla.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-36242 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Tesla-300x199.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"341\" height=\"226\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Tesla-300x199.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Tesla-1024x679.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Tesla-768x509.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Tesla-1536x1018.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Tesla-150x99.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Tesla.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 341px) 100vw, 341px\" \/><\/a> It was then that I remembered reading something a few years back about Tesla\u2019s autopilot feature being to blame for fatal accidents and something about an investigation.\u00a0 So I proceeded cautiously, using the autopilot and a \u201cWhite knuckled\u201d grip on the steering wheel.\u00a0 While I had imagined the \u201cAutopilot\u201d feature would allow me a more relaxed ride, I found it made me more anxious and alert.\u00a0 When thinking of the life of the mind, there are some interesting parallels between Tesla\u2019s autopilot and our own systems of thinking. In the road of daily life, our minds are constantly processing information, making decisions, and responding to situations and people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In his book \u201cThinking, Fast and Slow,\u201d Daniel Kahneman claims that amidst our fast-paced mental activity, there exists a duality.\u00a0 Two systems running simultaneously but at different speeds.\u00a0 In this post, I will examine two important realizations, a conundrum and a takeaway regarding Kahneman and his \u201cThinking Fast and Slow.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Reckless and Lazy<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the first couple of chapters, Kahneman introduces the two systems of our mental activity.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">System 1 operates automatically and quickly, with little or no effort and no sense of voluntary control.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">System 2 allocates attention to the effortful mental activities that demand it, including complex computations. The operations of System 2 are often associated with the subjective experience of agency, choice, and concentration.[1]<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Through various activities and exercises, he demonstrates the presence of these two systems and the way they interact.\u00a0 It was helpful to see how the two are necessary, but neither is sufficient.\u00a0 I appreciated how Kahneman personified the two systems as characters throughout the book.\u00a0 Characterizing System 1 as fast-paced and, at times, reckless and System 2 as slow but potentially lazy.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/lazy.webp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-36243 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/lazy-300x257.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"268\" height=\"230\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/lazy-300x257.webp 300w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/lazy-150x129.webp 150w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/lazy.webp 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 268px) 100vw, 268px\" \/><\/a>While both systems are necessary in our cognitive world, they both have challenges to face to function well.\u00a0 System 1 requires self-control to be at its best, while System 2 requires effort.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Jumping to Conclusions<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">System 1 can be gullible and biased, while System 2 can be lazy.\u00a0 When tired and busy, we tend to make decisions using System 1.\u00a0 System 2 questions and doubts, except when it\u2019s tired and lazy.\u00a0 So, we will jump to conclusions that require much less effort and are far more reckless.\u00a0 When tired, our thinking is highly susceptible to the path of least resistance, and we exercise a confirmation bias, or what Tim Harford describes as a \u201cBiased assimilation,\u201d which interprets information in a way that supports the conclusions we want. [2]<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Conundrum<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Chapter 7, Kahneman introduces what appears to be a variation of jumping to conclusions, which he calls \u201cExaggerated Emotional Coherence.\u201d Also known as the \u201cHalo Effect,\u201d is the tendency to like or dislike everything about a person\u2014including things you have not observed.\u00a0 As I read \u201cThinking, Fast and Slow,\u201d I found myself mesmerized by the exercises and studies.\u00a0 I was fascinated by concepts like \u201cPriming\u201d and \u201cCognitive Ease.\u201d But before I put a \u201cHalo\u201d over Kahneman, I was reminded of a few authors who recently challenged me to avoid being a \u201cData Junky\u201d[3]<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">and \u201cBe curious,\u201d[4]<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> especially with numbers and data. So I dug a little deeper into how others interacted with Kahneman\u2019s work.\u00a0 I came across a Blog entitled \u201cReplicability-Index: Improving the Replicability of Research.\u201d[5]<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0 While their findings demonstrate some challenges to several of Kahneman\u2019s theories, what I found most interesting was Kahneman\u2019s response to their findings. They made the comment, \u201cThe implicit priming literature is not trustworthy and that many of the claims in Kahneman\u2019s Chapter 4 are not based on solid empirical foundations.\u201d[6]<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0 Kahneman later acknowledged and agreed with their conclusion.[7]<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0 I do not think his honesty discredits his theories or minimizes some key insights into our thinking systems.\u00a0 It reinforces that we need to be curious and humble as we engage in our research.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The Takeaway<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I live and think at a pretty fast pace.\u00a0 I like to keep a lot of plates spinning and engage in many projects at once (like becoming the senior pastor while at the same time starting a doctoral program, raising three children, buying a puppy, and loving my wife.)\u00a0 My System 1 can definitely be reckless, and my System 2 lazy. However, this book has reminded me of the need to rest and take time to pause, so I can allow both of my thinking systems to function at their best.\u00a0 I need to develop a strategy and rhythm for rest and focus so my mental &#8220;Autopilot&#8221; doesn&#8217;t fail.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>_________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n<p>[1] <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0Kahneman, Daniel, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, (Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Kindle Edition, 2011).<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[2<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0Harford, Tim, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How To Make the World Add Up<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, (London:The Bridge Street Press, 2021).<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[3] <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Friedman, Edwin H., <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (New York: Church Publishing Incorporated, 2017), 106.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[4] <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Harford, Tim, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How To Make the World Add Up<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[5] <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dr. Ulrich Schimmack, \u201cA Meta-Scientific Perspective on \u201cThinking: Fast and Slow,\u201d\u201d <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Replicability-Index: Improving the Replicability of Research, <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">December 30, 2020, accessed February 29, 2024, https:\/\/replicationindex.com\/2020\/12\/30\/a-meta-scientific-perspective-on-thinking-fast-and-slow\/.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[6] <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Schimmack, \u201cA Meta-Scientific Perspective on \u201cThinking: Fast and Slow.\u201d\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p>[7] <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Schimmack, \u201cA Meta-Scientific Perspective on \u201cThinking: Fast and Slow.\u201d\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A couple of months ago, I had my first Tesla experience.\u00a0 When my plane landed in Austin, TX, I headed straight to the rental car counter to gain access to my ride for the next week, a 2023 Tesla.\u00a0 Among the many curiosities I had about driving a Tesla, I was looking forward to experiencing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":194,"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":[3084],"class_list":["post-36241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dlgp03-kahneman","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36241","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\/194"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36241"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36312,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36241\/revisions\/36312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}