Fallacies and Cognitive Biases: Automation Bias ~ by Ransom

 

This article is part of an ongoing series that began with Fallacies and Cognitive Biases.

The above picture is a detail from "50 Cognitive Biases to be aware of so you can be the very best version of you"

"We rely on automated systems, sometimes trusting them too much in the automated correction of actually correct decisions."

The blurb needs no elaboration.

The consumer side of technology works quite well and requires no understanding of the underlying function.  It might-as-well be magic.

Technology isn't human and it doesn't present as human.  Our defensive mental mechanisms are optimised for social interactions.  When faced with tools that consistently work and have no means of expressing uncertainty or nuance we get into the habit of reflexively trusting them.

Additionally, much of our technological interaction is trivial compared to human interaction.  Talking with another human involves effort & risk and our minds intuitively know that.  The act of flicking a switch or pressing a key has less mental friction, is briefer, and more frequent than human interaction.  That sort of thing becomes a habit of which our conscious minds are no longer aware.

It works so very, very well 99.999% of the time.