Let me tell you a story about the Halo Effects in our lives

Imagine a world without mind fallacies. How would it be? Have you thought about it? A world where kids would be learning at school about the absurd paths our mind sometimes treads on. Luckily, scientists have bunched those behaviors into neatly folded categories, subcategories, sub-subcategories, and stashed them into even more neatly arranged shelves (digital shelves maybe). 

Some of them have made it their life’s purpose to disseminate the -relatively- newly acquired knowledge for the sake of the many. There’s also another set of folks who’ve been trying their best to simplify the jargon and spread the word to everyone who’s there to hear them. 

This shouldn’t be done that way.  

I believe this is a serious task. And it can’t get any more serious. I’m a firm believer of de-formalized formalization of knowledge (by that I mean knowledge that is part of a lesson at school with a more digestible than usual form, like a story, a game, or both).  

I believe that cognitive biases have a place in our society and this place should be the curricula of our schools and not in the lives of people (to the extent this is -humanly- feasible).

A new society will emerge if we manage to educate our children and teach them that their mind is not infallible. That there are plenty of pitfalls to avoid if they don’t want to get bogged down into the gaping holes of irrationality.

And you probably already know that there’s an excellent way to do that, namely, stories. Think only of Aesop’s fables and his animal heroes, and what a great tool they’ve been for thousands of years in the rearing of youngsters. Think about the Bible and the strength and fervor with which its ancient authors infused its pages.

It’s the tales, the parables, the myths, the stories, the fables, the narratives that shape us, shape our society, inform us of who we are. And we should use the same -familiar to all of us- tool if there’s any progress to be made at all. Why not explain to our kids what a cognitive bias is by telling them stories? Simple just like that.   

That’s what ‘The Halo Trap’ is here for.  A short story -or trip if you prefer- into our mind’s recesses. It is the outset of Mr. Tilman’s great vision (a Visio Magna, as he likes to refer to it).

Mr. Tilman, a high school teacher in his forties, single, has always been passionate about his work. It is in the end of the school year that he comes up with a game that he calls ‘the Endgame’. His curiosity to find out how his class of fourteen-year-olds will fare, coupled with his eagerness to not only educate them, but make out of them better human beings, are the backbone of his motivation.

The kids will soon inevitably confront one of their minds’ numerous weak spots, that of the halo effect.

Sooner or later, everyone does. The question is how well we are prepared for this, both as a society and as individuals.

By the way, ‘The Halo Trap’ marks the first steps of ‘Mark in the Failing-Mind Land’ short-story series into a more luminous future, and is coming out in November, 19^th. You can preorder at Amazon.com.