Defaults

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I have so many defaults. We all have so many defaults. Gosh.

Most of our actions are automatic, 95%, I'd say. There's no need to process through every single decision our brain has to make in a day; so we set up shortcuts, pre-made decision routes. In a sense, they save us from falling trap to the modern life and the myriad of decisions it brings into our life. But, as it turns out, relying too much on defaults can have tremendously bad effects.

I see this in my life all day, ever day. Whenever I default my way through a decision: choosing to not take out the trash now, or to constantly check if someone has read my message, I pretty often feel bad in the end. And that's not just in terms of typical, every-day habits, like the ones I mentioned above.

The omnipresence of defaults in our life creates so many biases. We're biased in every single topic we've heard about in our life. And even the ones we don't know about yet. Pre-conceived judgments are truly everywhere. Racial bias. Gender bias. Wealth bias. Lifestyle bias. Our world is so incredibly saturated, and so our poor monkey mind doesn't know how to objectively judge that saturation.

All I can say now is this: check your defaults. Whenever you make a decision without thinking, reflect on it after it's done. See if your default is the right default. Because it may not be.

Who'd wanna die flying on autopilot? Let the actual pilot try to save us.