I found it most surprising how Dan Gilbert phrased the concept of prediction in our daily lives, specifically with the question of a “good future” versus “bad future”. (Timestamp 32:15 in the interview.) However, it really changed my perspective to hear him discuss that even while knowing everything that might happen in the future, there is no guarantee that it will be “good” or “bad” because it is all subjective on the individual human experience. I didn’t fully take into consideration how much I’ve tried to predict events in hopes of the outcome I’ve wanted, without realizing that it was both something that was perceived to be in my favor, as well as something that I have no clue about the true consequences of. It was very interesting to think about this as a concept because I generally try to assess my odds for a certain “good” event. I also thought it was interesting how he believes that neuroscience can be used to determine that there is free will, especially as we become more advanced and knowledgeable on the topic. (Timestamp 38:06 in the interview.) Free will and determinism are such ambiguous topics of debate, and it made me very curious to see applications of it in psychology and predictions.
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