Bestselling
book, The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli, has been translated into an
app. Released last week, it claims to help you make impartial, uninfluenced
decisions in your everyday life. Apart from the fact you’ll be influenced by
the app.
Like the
book, the app makes us aware of what it calls ‘cognitive biases’ – everyday prejudices
that cloud our judgement – so we can “make better choices”.
For
example, we’re programmed to copy others’ behaviour because that’s how our
ancestors survived. In the modern world, however, this way of thinking is only
helpful in certain circumstances.
The app
works by asking users a series of questions on the area of life their decision
relates to, whether it’s work, money, time or people. It then suggests the
common cognitive biases, biases that usually go unnoticed, that could be preventing
a clear decision.
It claims to give us the secrets to ‘perfect’
decision-making – but I highly doubt there is such a thing. If ‘perfect’ means
without bias, then an app just isn’t going to cut it. We’re influenced by
thousands of things we’re not even aware of, and the cleverest app in the world
couldn’t detect them all.
But I
must admit, the app does sound
appealing, especially because deciding
something usually means missing out on hundreds of other options. As difficult
as it can be, however, decision-making isn’t something we should leave to an
app.
We’re on
our phones all day, every day, apart from when we’re showering (see – we can
make good decisions independently). Apps are so instant: this one would be
ready to help us every time we’re in a dilemma. But if it was able to eliminate
every bias influencing all of our decisions – how boring would life be?
Putting
decisions into the hands of our hands has the potential to veer us onto a very
different course. Decisions shape our lives. Our work, surroundings, everything
is a product of our biases as much as anything else. And when they go wrong,
most of us are good at telling ourselves – and believing – that everything
happens for a reason.
Had I
always made rational decisions, I might not have a lower second-class degree
from a university that has since stopped the course I did because it was that
bad. But my 2:2 has turned out to be one of the best things that’s ever
happened to me. Having something to prove has brought out the best in me.
Giving
into biases doesn’t necessarily equal a bad decision. Misinformed, perhaps –
but misinformed can lead us down the better path. That’s the thing with
decisions: you just don’t know until you do it.
If you
think about what makes you happiest in life – your friends, your family, your career
– how many of those came about by strategic decisions? For instance, your partner
may have first appealed to you due to an ancestral influence – but your
deciding to spend your lives together came from instinct. And despite
ever-encroaching technology, we must continue to trust our instincts. What else
do we have when our phone battery dies?
As cool as this sounds, I'd never want to get sucked into a pattern of letting something else decide for me. If I can't even make my own decisions, then what's the point of being human? God forbid I had this kind of app when I was in the dating pool, and ended up turning down my own wife because I asked it, like a magic 8 ball, "should I date her?" and it said, "Nah, better luck next time."
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