rss

Intuition

A hunch can be trusted if it can be explained.

Though intuition is not infallible, it can be a useful speculative tool, if handled with care and skepticism. 
If you are hit by strong hunch – put it to the test. Trust it only if you can explained it. That is only if you can identify within your mind a stored body of information out of which that hunch must reasonably be supposed to have arisen. 
Be wary of any intuition that seems to promise some outcome you want badly.

A hunch can be trusted if it can be explained

  • When a hunch hits you, the first thing to do is ask whether a big enough library of data could exist in your mind to have generated that hunch. Ask yourself whether you are genuinely knowledgeable on the particular topic. Have you studied it? Have you been following its ups and downs?
  • Trust your hunch only if you can explain it — that is, only if you can identify within your mind a stored body of information out of which that hunch might reasonably be supposed to have arisen. If you have no such library of data, disregard the hunch.
  • The reason for subjecting hunches to this rigorous testing is that sometimes we get flashes of intuition that aren’t based on good, hard fact. They are airy nothings.