SLOWLY reading Thinking Fast and Slow---Kahneman does not write page turners. I'm up to Chapter 8 and yesterday had a mild epiphany about the significance of System 1 and System 2 in society. Much of organizational control, be it governmental, corporate or even consumer marketing aims to create an environment in which System 2 NEVER COMES INTO PLAY.
When the established order of things is operating optimally, System 1 makes all the decisions based on whatever information (or lack of information) is made available. When System 2 enters the decision process control erodes. The subject might ponder the information, deem it inadequate or see it in a way not even imagined by those creating and conveying it. Uncertainty enters the arena. The status quo is thereby threatened, and the institutions that created the status quo thrive on the absence of uncertainty in the outcome of decisions.
This will become an increasing problem with Climate Change issues. Creative, out of the box, solutions are needed and those generally arise from System 2 processes. Is there a way to shift System 1 generated responses in a more energy efficient direction or at least to trigger increased reference to System 2 thinking prior to decisions great and small?
BTW this System 1 bias is and has been a major problem for real estate. Information is carefully filtered by trade organizations to create a very predictable sale process conducted by a minimally diverse population of agents and brokers who represent a very diverse array of clients, each with unique interests. Somewhere between the real world and the pigeon holes of a one size fits all business environment, real estate ceases to be an art and becomes a pursuit predominantly practiced by adept technicians.
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