quote · Legacy record
At work here is that powerful WYSIATI ("what you see is all there is") rule. You cannot help dealing with the limited information you have as if it were all there is to know. You build the best possible story from the information available to you, and if it is a good story, you believe it. Paradoxically, it is easier to construct a coherent story when you know little, when there are fewer pieces to fit into the puzzle. Our comforting conviction that the world makes sense rests on a secure foundation: our almost unlimited ability to ignore our ignorance.
At work here is that powerful WYSIATI ("what you see is all there is") rule. You cannot help dealing with the limited information you have as if it were all there is to know. You build the best possible story from the information available to you, and if it is a good story, you believe it. Paradoxically, it is easier to construct a coherent story when you know little, when there are fewer pieces to fit into the puzzle. Our comforting conviction that the world makes sense rests on a secure foundation: our almost unlimited ability to ignore our ignorance.
Approximate author period: c. 1979 AD · modern
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- Author or tradition
- Daniel Kahneman
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
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- Approximate author period: c. 1979 AD · modern
Approximate author-period evidence for Daniel Kahneman: life dates 1934 to 2024. Wikidata Q233950, inspected 2026-10-08. Not a quotation composition date or independent verification of attribution. Source: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q233950 (accessed 2026-10-08).
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 250499; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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