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Why Thinking Like a 3-Year-Old Is the Key to Being Smart
When I was a kid, my mom used to buy apple shampoo. I’ve always loved apples. They smell fruity, taste great, and are super healthy. So every time I washed my hair, I couldn’t help but think: “That shampoo smells like the freshest, juiciest apple I’ve ever — or never, rather — had.”
You see where this is going.
Even then, I knew shampoo wasn’t supposed to taste like anything. But if it smelled so much like one of my favorite foods in the world, how could it not? Well, one day in the shower, I chose to find out. The lesson? Shampoo does have flavor. Unfortunately, it’s a disgusting one. I spat it out immediately. It was bitter and slimy and not at all what the smell had advertised.
And yet, even though it took forever to get the taste out of my mouth, I still remember this day as a happy day. Finally, I was sure: This thing is not what it seems to be, and I know because I tried it myself.
In a video called “This is Not a Cactus,” Evan Hadfield stands next to a large, succulent plant somewhere in Ethiopia. It’s called Euphorbia candelabrum, and, despite looking exactly like a cactus, it’s not even in the same family of plant species. Evan grew up in Texas, he explains, and in Texas, everything that looks like a cactus is, well, a cactus. Naturally, he expected this visually near-identical plant to be one too. Unfortunately, Evan was wrong.
The ability to build assumptions based on past experiences and known facts is called inference. It’s one of our brain’s best and worst capabilities at the same time.
Thanks to inference, we can imagine the future. We can project what situations will be like before experiencing them. This is a uniquely human feature. It helps us avoid fatal mistakes. What’s more, since we can pass on information over generations, inference is why we thrive as a species. You don’t need to touch a hot stove to find out it’ll burn your hand because, long ago, someone else did that for you. Inference is the bedrock of civilization.
Our process of inferring isn’t perfect, however, especially at the individual level. Often, in spite of making our best, most educated guess, like Evan, we are still wrong.
