24. Intuition is that you already know

Humans are only programmed to learn new concepts under the influence of previously acquired knowledge.

Our brain, an evolutionary miracle with complex mechanisms, only learns new concepts based on existing knowledge.

This implies that each individual interprets a concept differently, according to their prior knowledge, that is, their mental model. That’s why thinking “outside the box” is so difficult and complex.

Many of these concepts are rooted in childhood. Abstract concepts, like power, are often associated with certain quadrants of space. If I asked you to turn your head in any direction upon hearing the word “King,” most would tilt their head upwards.

This is not due to an absolute reason; we place power in the upper quadrant because that concept was instilled in us as children. Adults have power, adults are taller than children, therefore, power emanates from above.

So many other concepts, related to “intuition,” actually arise from the ladder of knowledge we have built throughout our lives, with each concept being a step on that ladder.

When exposed to a product, people “know” how to do certain things “intuitively,” not because of a superpower, but because of the accumulation of knowledge acquired up to that point. These pieces of knowledge are activated automatically, almost without conscious intervention or explicit intention.

To understand a person, we must methodically work to comprehend the ladder of knowledge that they forged throughout their life and that led them to that moment.

We can also visualize a person’s knowledge as a chain, where each link is associated with the previous ones. Or perhaps, like a blockchain, where all knowledge is linked and future knowledge depends on the previous. With this paragraph, I fulfill the mention of the term “blockchain,” a staple in non-fiction literature in recent years. 😊