How to Filter Cognitive Biases from an Event
What we often don’t realize when attending an event is that deeply rooted in the concept of a event is storytelling where speakers provide a narrative to their concepts/series of events- often around best practices, their journey and personal views…etc
Narratives are winners for the overwhelmingly majority of events- unless its a hard-science fair. This is because at the centre of narrative are stories that strike a deep cord- “Tell me a story and I will stay in my heart forever.”
While you sit down being blown away by a narrative during an event, always consider the narrative fallacy- a term coined by Nassim Nicholas Taleb to describe how humans are biologically inclined to turn complex realities into soothing but oversimplified stories.
Narratives reduce dimensionality- The favour is on compact stories over raw truths whereby the mind of the speaker creates more cause-and-effect links than reality would support.
What can we do about it during events (and in other contexts): -First,
- Always be aware of the problem.
- Always Question: What is Missing? -Factor in luck, opportunism and timing.
- Practice critical thinking as opposed to passive thinking.
