Another Way of Looking at Confirmation Bias

Let me start off with a short story.

Paul and I discuss a series of podcasts where we look at and try to predict the future. Our overarching question is, what will the world look like in 10, 20, and 30 plus years in terms of decentralization, finance, the economy, genetics, nanotech, and transhumanism?

That has me researching cryptocurrencies. And what I'm finding is some powerful voices on both sides of the crypto debate.

On one side are those who believe that Bitcoin et al. is the future of money and indeed the future of the world. And on the other side are those who think that cryptos are nothing more than a pyramid scheme built on fool's gold.

Brilliant people make compelling arguments on both sides of the debate.

That got me thinking more about confirmation bias.

It can be maddening trying to make a decision with the massive amount of information bombarding us.

So many people on both sides are convinced they're correct, and anyone who disagrees with them is stupid.

It's difficult to reconcile. After all, there's one objective truth, isn't there?

But remember this the next time you find yourself beating your head against your desk.

Humans aren't wired to know the objective truth. We're instead wired to interpret the world to think we know the unvarnished truth.

That's confirmation bias.