“It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into.” -- Jonathan Swift
According to the website ScienceNewsExplores, our brains process about 11 million bits of information every second. (A bit is a measure of information. The term is typically used for computers.) But we can only consciously process anywhere from 16 to 40 bits per second. For every bit that we’re aware of, then, our brains are dealing with hundreds of thousands more, unaware to us. In other words, most of the work that our brains do is unconscious. For example, when you’re walking across a sidewalk and a car approaches, you see it, determine if it's slowing down, but you’re likely not consciously aware of the noise of the jackhammer in the distance or the direction the wind is blowing. What’s more, the average person has about 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. Of those, 95% are exactly the same repetitive thoughts as the day before and, interestingly, about 80% are negative.
Because of this constant flood of information, our brains look for the simplest pathways to absorb all this information, and it does so by categorizing. If you grew up with pets you might see a dog and immediately think of warmth and companionship. Or you might think of yet one more thing you need to do because you were responsible for walking your pet and cleaning up after it. If you didn’t have a dog you might think of danger because you were bit in the past or have heard stories about people who were. This processing can lead to considering dogs as either “good” or “bad.” This quick processing that our brains are conducting speeds up thinking so we can react more quickly but it can also lead to unfair biases to take root.
Staying on the dog theme, let’s talk about Denver, where I spend a lot of time; it’s our second home. The city happens to be one of the top dog friendly cities in the US according to a recent survey conducted by Rover and Zillow. In fact, Colorado has the most devoted dog owners of any state, and a lot of them appear to be in Denver. I love to walk around Denver and enjoy its many parks, and whenever I do I am amazed at how many dogs are out being walked. During all times of the day, by people presumably of working age, younger than I am, and I can’t help but wonder to myself “Don’t these people work, have jobs?” “How can so many working age people be out walking dogs all the time.”
This is biased, as I’m categorizing younger people walking dogs during the day as jobless, perhaps living at home with their parents, or just generally not ambitious, content with getting by. I’m being honest—and vulnerable—here (something you can always count on from me in these blogs), and I fully realize these are not rational thoughts—in fact, they’re ridiculous—but they nevertheless occur to me on occasion during my wanderings around Denver.
I decided to dig into this bias of mine because I realized it was unfair and irrational, and in doing so I also discovered that Denver is also among the cities with the highest number of pet sitters and dog walkers per capita in the US. That fact alone led me to think that “Huh, maybe these younger people out walking dogs are benefitting from a hybrid working environment, and some of them are earning a few bucks on the side by walking other people’s dogs for them.” Or, on further reflection, “What the hell is wrong with taking a break from your work and enjoying the 300+ days of sunshine we enjoy in Denver every year?” Just because during my 33 years in the Army or my subsequent time with Target I didn’t have that kind of opportunity doesn’t mean someone today shouldn’t take advantage of being able to do so. And furthermore, they’re outside, breathing fresh air, they’re active… good for them!
The point is, I recognized my bias, realized how absurd it was, and then sought information based on it. And I was better informed when I did. And if you’re reading this thinking “Man, Milano is weird… so glad I don’t do that,” well, you’re wrong. We all do this type of biased categorizing. It’s based on the sum total of all of our life experiences, interactions, how and where we were raised, the people we hang out with, the influencers in our lives, etc. You cannot stop it from happening. Recall the previously mentioned 11 million total bits of information processed by our brains every second, minus the 16-40 bits we consciously process. You can’t stop it, any more than when someone says to you to not think of an elephant, an image of an elephant will occur to you in your mind. It’s the way it goes.
Being aware of our biases, acknowledging them to ourselves (many biases are better left unstated), trying to understand them, digging into facts surrounding them, all are acts of vulnerability. Pretending we are unbiased is not. Bias is part of the human condition, a consequence of this remarkable, approximately 3-pound organ sitting on top of our shoulders, with its over 100 billion neurons, firing away all the time. Being vulnerable helps us understand how it works and why, which helps us deal with its prodigious output in a humane, caring, less judgmental, more reasoned manner. Just think about it.