We all have biases. Every single one of us.

They're shortcuts, heuristics, and rules of thumb that help us navigate a complex world. Our brains are wired for them.

We all have biases. Every single one of us.

They're shortcuts, heuristics, and rules of thumb that help us navigate a complex world. Our brains are wired for them.

https://joanwestenberg.com/blog/the-bias-trap

I write about tech + humans + philosophy. Skeptical tech optimist, EA aligned, building internet businesses.

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https://linktr.ee/joanwestenberg

Would you define bias such that there’s such a thing as a good bias?

The only problem is externality pricing.

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I think bias is always a negative. The positive opposite is a preference.

Aviator, diver, Etherean, nexialist, PhD in aviation ∩ climate science | Host of /diving /ethfinance /eth-staker /geopolitics /science /singapore /thomas

yeah I think there are two terms that collide here: one is bias as in prejudice or discrimination, the other is bias as in heuristic or inference rule (as in weights and biases).

The former are bad, the latter are tools of varying utility depending on the bias and the context

If defined as mere heuristics, biases can be a net good in enabling us to make quick decisions, no? Those decisions may be suboptimal (if our intuition is off) but that may still be preferable to indecision.

Not talking about strong negative biases like being prejudiced against people etc but the small daily shortcuts

Ahh. By negative what do you mean?

For me, bias is anything that informs my estimate.