steve on Nostr: “Analogies at War” by Yuen Foong Khong ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Humans are pretty ...

“Analogies at War” by Yuen Foong Khong
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Humans are pretty smart, but our brains still rely on abstraction to bin new ideas into pre-existing frameworks. This natural process of making analogies helps us understand the world’s complexities. They carry with them, however, a caution: our bias for using analogies that are familiar to us can cloud our decision-making. Khong dives into the Johnson administration’s decision to kickoff the Vietnam War as a case study on the analogies that subconsciously guide us. The biggest lesson learned is that as decision-makers, we must constantly check our own analogies for “fit” within the context of our current situations. This also applies to checking your own biases when hearing other analogies: do I dislike this analogy because I fail to relate to it or because it is actually inaccurate? Less a history lesson and more a framework for thinking, Khong, like Ice Cube, reminds us to “check yo’ self before you wreck yo’ self”. Boom… analogy 🧊