Abhishek Chakraborty (Page 22)

Hanlon’s Razor: Why Not Everybody is Out to Get You

“Misunderstandings and neglect create more confusion in this world than trickery and malice. At any rate, the last two are certainly much less frequent.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Sorrows of Young WertherAn intern fails to deliver a project report to you on time. You think he doesn’t respec

Theory of Broken Windows: Why The Little Things Matter The Most

In 1969, Philip Zimbardo, a Stanford psychologist had two cars to spare and decided to conduct a small experiment. He arranged to have one parked with its hood up, open doors, without license plates, on a street in the Bronx, NY - a place that was poor, dangerous, and full of crime. The other one wa

Goodhart’s Law: How Measuring The Wrong Things Drive Immoral Behaviour

Few years back a friend of mine had a burglary at his home. Valuable artefacts had been stolen. But the police refused to file and FIR, even after so much of pleading. They listed down the items that had been stolen, but in no way could we persuade them to file an FIR. They gave us all sorts of reas

Multiple Source Effect: Why Three Examples Are Better Than One

If most of the news channels you watch say the same thing, for e.g. why the next candidate is the best, you are highly likely to believe it. You are heavily influenced by which news channels you watch, and how many news channels you watch.

Social Proof: Where All Think Alike, No One Thinks Very Much

You got on YouTube and search for “camping hacks” to help plan your next trip. You see a list of videos. But you don’t want some random amateur giving you advice, so you naturally pick the video with higher views. Why? You are on your way somewhere. On the road you encounter a group of people, all s

Present Bias: Why You Go For The Junk Food Now, and Leave Healthy Meals For The Future

Between $50 now and $100 a year later, chances are you’ll pick the first one. Why wait so much for an extra $50, and who knows what happens in a year, right? Now, between $50 in five years, and $100 in six years, nothing has changed other than adding a delay, but now it feels just as natural to wait

Wittgenstein’s Ruler: When Our Opinions Speak More About Us Instead The Topic

If you pick a random early stage founder at a business conference and ask him about his opinion on bootstrapping vs. raising money, chances are, it will be far more descriptive about himself and his experiences than informational about the topic. Similarly, a political analysis, good or bad, unless

Time Inconsistency: Why We Initially Prefer A to B, But Later Choose B Over A

In Homer’s Odyssey, the hero Odysseus encounters sirens on an island whose songs are known to charm sailors into madness, causing them to cast themselves into the sea off the sirens’ coast, and perish. Odysseus had the reputation of using guile to overcome stronger opponents. He fills the ears of al