I was asked a question about heart wisdom—what a beautiful term. Essentially, the question boiled down to how I feel about human intuition. To cut to the chase: human intuition, in general, is often quite poor.
Let's break it down. There are certain things we have an innate intuition for. Birds, for example, have a mechanism in their brains that makes them fear snakes. Similarly, humans have evolved mechanisms that trigger fear or affection towards specific stimuli. These evolutionary traits can be quite useful, though some are less relevant today.
However, when people talk about intuition, they usually mean something more nuanced—like meeting someone and instantly liking them or hearing an idea and thinking it's great. Unfortunately, these types of intuitions are often unreliable.
Biological intuitions are hardwired; we’re born with them. But learned intuitions depend on the quality of our learning process. For instance, chess players develop a keen sense of the game after countless matches under varying conditions. Similarly, basketball players can predict their shots' trajectory with practice. These skills require extensive experience and immediate, accurate feedback.
But most life experiences don't offer such ideal learning conditions. Think about dating or hiring people—how many times have you received accurate and immediate feedback on your choices? Probably not often. We get some feedback but it's usually neither comprehensive nor immediate.
So, when evaluating whether our intuitions are good or bad, we must consider whether the conditions for developing good intuition are met. Is it biological? Does it require learning? If so, do we have ample experience and high-quality feedback?
Take doctors, for example—they improve their diagnostic skills over time with consistent and immediate feedback from their patients' outcomes. But in areas like hiring or dating, we rarely see what happens to those we didn't choose. This lack of information skews our perception and reinforces our biases.
In summary, while biological intuitions can be reliable, learned intuitions depend heavily on the quality and immediacy of feedback we receive. Before trusting your gut feeling, ask yourself if your confidence is justified by solid evidence or if it's merely overconfidence.
I hope this encourages you to trust your intuition less in situations where it's unwarranted.
