Reading notes on 'Clear Thinking' by Pherson, Donner, and Gnad.
Chapter 2
System 1 thinking reaches judgment quickly and effortlessly. It is simplistic processing. It is more prone to unconscious errors. Heuristics help but can also introduce misinterpretations. System 1 operates automatically and quickly. You do not summon it.
System 2 kicks in when we need to think deliberately. It is slow thinking.
The brain is a collection of neurons (which hold memory), connected by synapses. Synapses are dynamic.They constantly build, rebuild. The more frequently we access memory in a neuron, the stronger the synapses linked to it become. The stronger the connection, the faster we can retrieve the memory. The more frequent a neuron is accessed, the synapses connected to it become wider, like the growth of a tamped path into a highway.
Neuronal plasticy means the brain physically changes.
Intuition is recognition of a pattern we have seen before. Ween we have stored a train of thought a certain way, it becomes difficult to retrieve this information in some other way.
This fixed arrangement is called a schema. We have innumerable schema. Examples of schemas include: appropriate foods for breakfast. Where to eat breakfast in the house, how to write a complex report.
System 1 is is our interpretation of reality. It is how we perceive our environment.
System 2 kicks in when we do not automatically have an answer to a problem, an we are aware that we do not.
My own example: if you meet a tiger in the forest, you immediately seek cover. This is system 1 in action. After you have successfully found saftey, you begin to think of how to get out of this situation with the tiger still lurking. This is system 2, especially when you have not been in this situation before.
Analysis work often means coming to conclusions while working with incomplete data. System 1 is very proficient in recognising patterns but often jumps to conclusions prematurely.
System 1 does not present alternatives it rejected.
(Note: System 1 sounds very similar to AI when it fills in incorrect information)