Most of us have a lot of faith in human intuition, judgment, and decision-making ability, especially our own (we’ve discussed this topic with a lot of audiences and have almost never heard anyone admit to having below-average intuition or judgment). But the evidence on this subject is so clear as to be overwhelming: data-driven, System 2 decisions are better than those that arise out of our brains’ blend of System 1 and System 2 in the majority of cases where both options exist. It’s not that our decisions and judgment are worthless; it’s that that they can be improved on.
