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What are the limits of human intuition?

How much should we trust our intuition? All the time? Some of the time? If it’s the latter, when should we trust it and when shouldn’t we? What implications might this have with regards to implicit bias?

Don’t feel obligated to explore all of these follow up questions, I am just trying to help get the juices flowing.

tsacrey 6 June 26
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4 comments

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1

Maybe you should explore quantum mechanics to find that limit (lessness).

Sparks Level 3 July 14, 2018

While I wouldn’t claim to understand quantum mechanics, I have read several popular science books that explore quantum mechanics, strong theory, the standard model, general and special relativity.

For the record, I agree - these theories do challenge the limits of human inuition. Thanks for pointing that out! 🙂

0

My intuition is usually wrong. Most of the time if I get a bad feeling about someone they become a good friend. The people I get a good feeling about are the one's I really watch as there is almost always something wrong going on.

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I'm of two minds about this. intuition is made up of unconscious observations and biases we often don't realize we hold. The observations are often spot on while the biases are cultural and often wrong. I try to walk a line by paying attention to my intuition but questioning why I feel a certain way.

I think you win a prize for this superb response. Everyone else’s is still good, but this is a premium piece of text you have laid down here 🙂

@tsacrey well thank you. I'm glad you found value in it.

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Ninjutsu actually has a portion dedicated to showing students how society dulls your trust in your senses. When walking down the street you have intuition that tells you who to be wary of and who to not worry about. But society and your tribe tells you to be afraid of homeless looking people, or black people, or biker guys while in reality the most dangerous predators try to blend in, just like in nature.

In this day and age most people over-react to people they're told to be afraid of, and under-react to people (or situations) that don't have clear warning signs. It's like people being afraid of sharks even in the mid-west while hippo related deaths yearly amount in the hundreds.

I guess to answer your question, human intuition goes much further than western society can really tell you. I try to trust my intuition all the time. I'd think you'd need some deep east asian hill top monks for a proper answer.

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