Conscious thought considers first this approach, then that-comparing, rationalizing…

Conscious thought considers first this approach, then that-comparing, rationalizing, finding explanations. Formal logic, mathematics, decision theory: these are the tools of conscious thought. Both conscious and subconscious modes of thought are powerful and essential aspects of human life.

— from The Mind in the Cockpit

In the book

There are, roughly, two systems at work in you at all times: a fast, intuitive one that leaps, and a slow, reasoning one that checks. And it runs ahead of itself — predicting what you are about to see and flagging your attention only when the prediction turns out wrong; the conscious mind you experience mostly arrives a beat later, comparing and rationalizing what the fast system has already chosen. Of the millions of impressions hurtling at you every second, the vast majority are filtered out before you ever notice them — you are never seeing the whole world, only the thin sliver your mind decided to show you. — The Mind in the Cockpit

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