Do you think about chewing while you eat? Do you remind yourself of the location of the brake pedal while driving? Do you plan the movements of your legs while running? What about the thought process you go through when deciding to leave your job or start a new relationship? It’s not surprising if you haven’t found a connection between these diverse and seemingly unrelated questions. This piece will delve into one of the most important theories of the 21st century, starting with the individual but ultimately aiming to analyze society.
Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel Prize-winning psychologist who was listed among the world’s top global thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine in 2011, has not only provided answers to the questions posed above but has also painted a portrait of the human thought system in his book ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’. This book has essentially delivered an atomic bomb to the tables of marketing companies, advertising agencies, and even more influential capitalist players. It’s important to note that this was not Kahneman’s intended goal, but the possibility of decoding human behavior has made people more predictable and vulnerable. It’s crucial to remember that global dominance tends to sculpt the power of information to suit its own interests.
‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ kitabında bahsedilen kurama göre, zihnimiz iki farklı düşünce sistemine ayrılmıştır: Sistem 1 ve Sistem 2. Sistem 1; hızlı, pratik ve ciddi bir çaba istemeyen düşünme kategorisindedir. Bu sistem sezgilerle ve içgüdülerle çalışır. Beynimiz, davranış ekonomisi gereği, bizi minimum oranda yormak için bu kararları enerji harcamadan alır. Mesela, su içmek, yolda yürümek, bir sese yönelmek, tokalaşmak gibi günlük rutinler içerisinde üzerine düşünmeden yapabildiğimiz, başka bir deyişle otomatik pilotta yapılan eylemler bu sistemi oluşturur.
System 2, on the other hand, encompasses situations where we apply logic. This process is more controlled and slower, involving careful and detailed consideration. Examples include the decision-making process before an investment, deciding to buy a car, or making a job change—situations that require us to think things through carefully. To illustrate the difference between the two thinking processes with an example: eating is an activity governed by System 1, while ordering food falls under System 2. Although examining this process from an individual perspective is not wrong, it can also be beneficial to consider it from a societal viewpoint.
One of the biggest advantages that technology has brought into our lives is the acceleration of access to everything. While this has made life flow more smoothly and frictionlessly for us, it must also be evaluated along with the changes it brings. I’m not referring to the changes in emotional experiences, such as how quickly accessing something can devalue it, but rather to a much more real danger: the state of not needing to think…
We are losing the ownership of every moment that we assume to be insignificant but that actually gives us mental exercise without us realizing it. Instead of coming up with a creative idea for dinner, we write down the ingredients we have at home and ask artificial intelligence to provide us with a recipe. Or, instead of deciding which movie we want to watch, we ask it to recommend a movie in our preferred genre. Instead of planning for the next day, we describe what kind of day we want to have and follow the plan it suggests. This phenomenon is not only present in our personal lives but also manifests in our professional lives in the same way.
We are outsourcing everything, or everything that is done through System 2, that essentially allows us to earn our salary—like creating a weekly social media posting schedule, writing content, solving financial problems. In reality, we have started to outsource our most important ability that makes us who we are.
So, what happens if humans begin to lose their familiarity with this thinking system that Kahneman calls System 2, that is, if this state of being a thought provider continues? I believe we can all predict the answer to this question to some extent. But let’s be honest, we probably thought of asking this question to artificial intelligence as well…