Physical and psychological biases
==========================================
When others do not behave like us, vote like us, or watch anything but stupid TV series (ours are so interesting!), we regard them at best as none too bright and at worst as complete idiots. Yet we are all broadly alike, them and us: we are all subject to enormous biases, particularly when we are directly involved. We are incapable of honest introspection.
The problem begins with our senses. Sight, the sense we use most, is not as sophisticated as we imagine. In all vertebrates, the optic nerve, which carries information from the photoreceptors to the brain, has the unfortunate habit of extending into the retina, thereby creating a blind spot. This gap goes unnoticed in everyday life because our brain "fills in the blanks," but a simple test reveals it. Draw two crosses on a sheet of paper, horizontally aligned and about 8 cm apart. Position yourself about three times that distance away, close your left eye, and look at the left-hand cross with your right eye. As you move the sheet slightly, the right-hand cross should disappear.
What is true of sight also holds for the rest of our mental activity. Our memory, our ability to analyze events, and our ability to make sense of our actions are all just as poor. Each time, the story has "small or large gaps," and the obliging brain applies whatever patches are needed to "create" meaning.
Stereotypes and conspiracy theories
=====================================
