We humans love a great story.
We are easily pulled into stories about heroic adventure.
The movie industry in Hollywood knows this well.
It’s unlikely you can think of any blockbuster movie that didn’t have a basic plot line of a hero overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles to win the day.
We become emotionally attached to the heroine and her plight.
Imagine how boring movies would be if the challenge of overcoming the heroine’s obstacles was turned over to a problem-solving algorithm of a completely emotionally detached artificial intelligence program on a computer.
Talk about a yawner of a movie.
Attached to Our Cognitive Biases
However, after we awoke from our algorithm-induced coma, if we thought about the computer’s solution to overcoming our heroine’s challenges, we would likely come to the conclusion that the solution made perfect sense.
The computer’s solution would probably be boring to us, but we would see the logic in it.
Coming to such a conclusion would be the result of doing something that does not come naturally for humans – thinking logically using an algorithmic process.
Our natural mode is to let our cognitive biases within a story narrative do our thinking for us.
To demonstrate this, I’ll give you an interesting example from the financial world.
You are likely familiar with famed investor Warren Buffett, often referred to as the “Oracle of Omaha” for his investing foresight.
Investors tend to hang on Buffett’s every word when it comes to issues about financial investing.
Buffett’s investing stories are so interesting!
Yet, what most investors ignore is that Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway, has lagged the boring S&P 500 for 15 years.
Adding injury to insult, the leading quant (meaning 100% algorithm-driven) hedge fund has generated a 66% return (before fees) per year since 1988.
Even many professional investors, who are known for depending on quantitative analysis, prefer Buffett’s stories to the ruthless efficiency and effectiveness of an algorithm.
Algorithms in the Pro-Life Business Industry?
Could using algorithms help a pro-life pregnancy help center in its competitive battle to win market share versus Planned Parenthood?
I’m going to anticipate what you might be thinking, or feeling, about that question.
You might be thinking something along the lines of, “Helping women facing the fear of an unexpected pregnancy, with human lives on the line, is such an emotional issue, it’s not something that should be turned over to a computer.”
I agree, but algorithms aren’t exclusively computer-based.
Consider this definition from Julia Guth: “…algorithm is just a fancy word for any problem-solving operation that follows a step-by-step process and a set of rules.”
In other words, humans solving problems by using step-by-step processes and a set of rules are using algorithms.
Using such “algorithms” to win clients away from Planned Parenthood is, unfortunately, rare in the Pro-Life Business Industry.
Tomorrow, we’ll explore some reasons why that is the case.
Regards,
Brett