Anubhooti Gupta
Being perfectly rational is not an evolutionarily viable form of reasoning. Itâs slow and requires a lot of information that may not always be available.
Think about the problems we are evolved to solve: which plants are safe enough to eat, how to survive a contagion, how to protect resources from outsiders, how to figure out who to trust, how to find a mate. Itâs impossible to find these answers through rational means alone; it would take too long or require more information than we possess.
What helps is reasoning through bias. A bias is a cognitive shortcut, a form of reasoning that is quick, doesnât require perfect information, gets the job done, and reduces the kind of errors that have existential consequences. Our brains developed biases as a means to survive challenges in order to reproduce and then protect our progeny.