Dead Seagull/Cognitive Blindspots

This is a dead seagull lying by the shores of Lake Ontario. It’s not an uncommon sight, if you notice it. I did not.

My children were walking a few metres behind me, and they spotted it. I had walked right by it, without noticing. So close to it, I almost stepped on it.

It’s strange to miss something so big, even while scanning the beach constantly for interesting rocks and beach glass. How does that happen?

It reminds me that we all have our cognitive blindspots-dead zones where dead seagulls and other things can’t be seen. We are unaware of these blindspots. If we could see them, they wouldn’t be blindspots any more.

Cognitive blindspots make us miss things. Things escape our notice, as if they did not even exist. I can only imagine what I can imagine. My own thoughts, memories, and beliefs make up who I am, at least if you think in terms of consciousness.

There are other points of view, other “things” that lurk just outside of my consciousness.

Our blindspots make us vulnerable to:

• making decisions without enough available evidence
• not considering other’s points of view as sincerely held, and possibly valid
• living inside epistemic bubbles, warm and fuzzy and comforting bubbles…