I am reading the wonderful book Thinking Fast, Thinking Slow by Daniel Kahnemann. I can’t summarize the whole book here (it’s worth reading) but Kahnemann posits that there are two systems of thought: One system is intuitive, automatic and fast, but prone to error. The other is logical, requires effort and slow (but less prone to error).
Many of the things I am bad at are in that first system. Recognizing faces, facial expression, tone of voice and so on? All system 1. We don’t analyze these things in a conscious, effortfull manner. There isn’t time. By the time we *could* do this, it would be many seconds later and it all would have changed.
My system 1, which is supposed to be fast and effortless, is not. Unfortunately, my system 1 *is* highly prone to error.
On the other hand, many of the things I do very well are in that second system. My system 2 is very fast. When it’s been measured (e.g. on cognitive tests) it has been found to be very fast indeed. The book has some examples of system 2 tasks which I did at rates that the book says aren’t possible (and I did them right, too).
I don’t think this division into system 1 and 2 is a complete explanation of my NLD/Gifted dichotomy, but it is certainly a big part of it.
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