Indeed, some of us are more willing to believe ourselves somehow special and block out our own irrationalities and missteps.
There is a deep need in some people to ignore their own flaws so they can present themselves as more competent. More reasonably, people try to have a thought ready before starting to talk, or will stop and think again if they notice a contradiction in what they're saying.
Other people will keep right on going and double down if they've made a mistake, refusing to acknowledge the opportunity for learning and blocking out inconvenient contradiction.
Interestingly this is itself quite relevant to the AI alignment problem. Competence requires being able to accurately reflect [on] the patterns, whereas goal-seeking and morality require ignoring some options as costly/dangerous distractions--but not to the point of incompetence. Balancing the two is tricky, and neither people nor governments have solved this universally, let alone an AI.
There is a deep need in some people to ignore their own flaws so they can present themselves as more competent. More reasonably, people try to have a thought ready before starting to talk, or will stop and think again if they notice a contradiction in what they're saying.
Other people will keep right on going and double down if they've made a mistake, refusing to acknowledge the opportunity for learning and blocking out inconvenient contradiction.
Interestingly this is itself quite relevant to the AI alignment problem. Competence requires being able to accurately reflect [on] the patterns, whereas goal-seeking and morality require ignoring some options as costly/dangerous distractions--but not to the point of incompetence. Balancing the two is tricky, and neither people nor governments have solved this universally, let alone an AI.