The lazy pilot
Lesson 2 of 31 in the course “Brain Hacks”. Free, with animations and a quiz.
The pilot loves to save energy
Last lesson Danya learned autopilot can be wrong. So why doesn’t the pilot catch it? Because the pilot is lazy. Psychologists call it the law of least effort: when there are several ways to a goal, the brain picks the easiest. For the brain, effort is a cost. So most of the time the pilot just nods: “yeah, fine, sounds logical”. It’s not a character flaw; it’s energy saving you need to know about.
You can see effort in the pupil
Try the “add 1” task: read 5294 and say each digit plus one: 6305. Too easy? Try “add 3”. In experiments with tasks like this, the pupil grew by about 50% in area within 5 seconds and heart rate rose by 7 beats per minute. That’s the limit: give more digits and people give up. In ordinary chatting the pupil barely changes. Takeaway: real effort is rare, and the brain guards it.
Overload makes you blind
In the same experiments, while people did “add 1”, letters flashed on screen and they had to spot a K. At the start and end of the task almost nobody missed it. At peak effort they missed almost half, even while staring straight at the screen. The pilot protects the main task and shuts out everything else. That’s why texting while driving is dangerous: eyes on the road, attention elsewhere.
Multitasking is a myth
You can do two things at once only if both are easy: walking and chatting. Two hard tasks get in each other’s way. And every switch costs time: the brain has to unload one set of rules and load another. Danya studies chemistry and replies to the group chat every five minutes. He feels he’s keeping up with everything. In reality, each time he pays for “where was I?” and makes more mistakes than if he did things one after another.
A logic trap
Check the logic, fast. All roses are flowers. Some flowers fade quickly. So some roses fade quickly? Most students say “yes, valid”. But it doesn’t follow: the fast-fading ones could be other flowers entirely, not roses. The trap is that the conclusion sounds plausible. Once we already believe a conclusion, the lazy pilot happily accepts any argument for it, even a broken one.
Busy pilot, autopilot drives
A classic study: students had to memorise a number, some 7 digits, some 2, and on the way were offered a dessert: chocolate cake or fruit salad. With 7 digits in mind, 63% chose cake; with 2 digits, about 42%. A busy pilot holds autopilot back less well, and autopilot has a sweet tooth. The same happens after a sleepless night, a couple of drinks or when your head is full of anxious thoughts.
Is the “willpower tank” a myth?
A popular idea: willpower is like a battery, and every effort drains it. Books were written about it, advice was built on it. But in 2016 the effect was tested at once in 23 labs on 2,141 people, following a plan announced in advance. The effect was close to zero. So we honestly mark it “disputed”: you really can get tired, but science hasn’t confirmed a neat “willpower battery”. We’ll do this with every famous study in the course.
Hack: lighten the pilot’s load
The pilot is weak and tires quickly, so help it out. Write intermediate steps on paper instead of holding them in your head. Do one hard task at a time. Put your phone in another room when you study: even lying nearby, it pulls at your attention. Don’t make big decisions hungry, sleepy or in a rush. People who seem super focused usually aren’t stronger than others; they just set up their surroundings this way.
Try it: a focus sprint
For 5 days in a row, do one sprint: 25 minutes on a single task, phone in another room, notifications off. Every time you feel the urge to switch, make a tally mark on paper, but don’t switch. Danya made 7 marks on day one and 3 by day five. The urge didn’t vanish, but he started noticing it. Noticing autopilot is the first skill the whole course is built on.
Check yourself
- Why does the pilot agree with autopilot so often?
Correct answer: Checking takes effort, and the brain saves effort. That’s the law of least effort: out of several paths the brain picks the easiest, and checking is expensive. - What’s best to do before a test?
Correct answer: Study one topic at a time, phone in another room. One hard task at a time with no distractions: the pilot doesn’t waste energy on switching and catches more mistakes. - Is the conclusion logically valid?
Correct answer: No: the buyers could be different people. Same pattern as the roses: “all A are B, some B are C, so some A are C” doesn’t hold. The people who bought could be no bloggers at all. - How do you honestly describe the “willpower battery” idea?
Correct answer: Disputed: a big 23-lab check found almost no effect. Right: the idea was long treated as proven, but a large pre-planned check found an effect around zero. Tiredness is real; the “battery” wasn’t confirmed.