3 Cognitive Errors Everyone Should Be Aware Of

To succeed in life one must be able to see reality as it truly is and now as one would like it to be. This isn’t something that is easily or quickly accomplished yet it is essential to get the most out of life. With the red pill one seeks to understand the harsh truth about human nature while not shying away from the implications of it. This makes the red pill a community distinct and different from the majority out there which are majorly based on a false sense of safety and “pretty lies” as opposed to how the world actually works. Even though one’s intentions might be good with these groups that doesn’t mean the outcome won’t be horrible.

The red pill seeks to help one avoid these pitfalls and worst possible scenarios through prudent actions and thought. However with that all being said the red pill is still a community, a group, and suffers from the same pitfalls that any other group can and does suffer from. These include a variety of different things but here I am going to talk about some of the most major ones. The primary one being getting caught up in an echo chamber and not thinking for oneself. It’s a bit ironic how the red pill can be more dogmatic and suffer from group think harder than even some of the most plugged in groups out there yet because it goes under the banner of “red pill” it gets a pass. One must think for oneself and not get caught up in the errors of a group even if that group as a whole is well intentioned and for the most part good.

Echo Chambers

Echo chambers are essentially where everyone is repeating the same thing regardless of its bearing on reality. A group generally has a certain view that cannot be questioned and everyone accepts as true. The red pill is no different and can take on an unhealthy cult like belief system from time to time depending on the individual. This false belief is then reinforced by gurus and followers who continue to parrot the same lines over and over again. Eventually the fact that this is repeated so much makes it true even if it has no bearing on reality. There have been many examples of this throughout history. Like Goebbels said “Repeat a lie often enough and people will believe it’s true” something the American government knew all too well.

The red pill is no different, as a whole it does much better than your average group but that doesn’t mean that it’s without it’s fault or wrong beliefs. Also the red pill can be like a fat guy getting into fitness, where too much of a good things becomes counterproductive and leads to an unhealthy balance. For example going from eating whatever to eating a healthy balanced diet combined with physical training of some sort is great and a good life improvement. However when you turn that into structuring your meals down to every calorie, hitting the gym twice a day, and turning it into a religion of sorts when it becomes unhealthy and bad. Again too much of a good thing can be bad when not balanced with other things.

Confirmation Bias

Another problem that I’ve seen crop up a lot is confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is essential when people see what they want to see. With the internet people can expand upon their confirmation bias even greater than ever before. For example let’s say that an event transpires one place in the world every day. For example about 24,000 people are killed by lightning every year which measures out to 65.7 people getting hit every day. One hundred years ago you’d be uh “lucky” if you knew one person who was struck by lightning. Now with the internet you can get reports of dozens of people being struck everyday. Hence you could come to think lightning was the most dangerous thing there was.

Now this isn’t to say that there isn’t causation and correlation of course. One thing the red pill does well is shine light on facts that otherwise would be hidden. However it’s best to keep in mind any groups confirmation bias when looking at correlations. Whenever anyone says always or all people or anything of that nature they’re going to generally be wrong because there are very few things that are always one way or another. Again this isn’t to say throw everything out the window just be aware of confirmation bias and it’s effect it has on you, me, and everyone else on this earth.

Black & White Thinking

This ties into the last point about confirmation bias, which goes hand in hand with black and white thinking. Black and white thinking is when something is either all one way or the other. The truth of the matter is for the most part the world exists in shades of grey. Usually one says this in order to rationalize whatever they’re doing but this doesn’t take away from the fact that this is true. You need to be able to see these shades of grey instead of relying on black and white thinking so you don’t have to do any heavy thinking yourself. While it’s easy and human nature to rely on vast generalizations (and many of these generalizations have kept us alive as a species for this wrong) it’s always good to make the most of your rational mind and think things through.

Of course this isn’t to throw out principles and correlations, that would be incredibly foolish. This is simply to say avoid black and white thinking and use your own perception and judgement. Your brain is a tool that you need to use to get the most out of. Sure it’s harder to develop your own judgement than rely on broad generalizations but it allows you to get a much clearer picture of reality in the process. Don’t fall victim to black and white thinking do the heavy lifting yourself and understand the nuances and shades of grey that color our world.

Summary

So as a group as a whole the red pill does a great job. Calls out the rampent B.S., guides men ideally to self-improvement, and takes a stand against a culture that is one hundred percent against it. But with that being said like any group it is vulnerable to the same errors that the red pill often calls out in other groups. Obviously the degree of error is much different but nontheless it is there and something to look out for. It’s easy to fall into these errors and because of the way the human mind works, it’s something you have to be viligent to not develop. Stay sharp and stay error free and you’ll be able to make the most out of any group while avoiding the negatives of any group.

If you have any questions you would like to see answered in a future post send them to me at charlessledge001 (at) gmail (dot) com. If you found value in this post then I would encourage you to share this site with someone who may need it as well as check out my books here. I appreciate it.

-Charles Sledge