Building Cognitive Prosthetics to Counteract Misbelief

Human beings have consistently overcome their innate physical limitations by creating technology. We cannot fly, so we invented airplanes. We are not strong, so we invented levers and engines. We are not fast, so we invented cars. We have built an envelope of technology around ourselves that gives us "superhuman" abilities.

A similar approach can be taken to address our cognitive limitations. The modern world is vastly more complex than the environment our brains evolved to navigate. This complexity taxes our cognitive systems, making us vulnerable to biases and misinformation.

Instead of expecting individuals to simply "think better" or become perfectly rational, a more effective approach is to design and build cognitive prosthetics. These are systems, tools, and environments designed to counteract our known mental limitations.

Examples could include:

• Smarter Information Architecture: Social media platforms designed to slow down sharing, encourage reflection, and disincentivize outrage.
• Tools for Intellectual Humility: Applications that help us challenge our own assumptions and expose us to opposing viewpoints in a constructive way.
• Better Decision-Making Frameworks: Just as cars have seatbelts and lane-assist to protect us from our driving errors, we can create frameworks in finance, health, and education that guide us toward better decisions and protect us from our cognitive biases.

The hope for combating misbelief on a societal scale lies not in perfecting individual human minds, but in acknowledging their imperfections and building a world with better cognitive tools to support them.

Tags: #psychology #cognition #technology #design #misbelief #hope #solutions #human-computer-interaction