KP’s embarrassing tweet proves Kahneman’s thesis – fast thinking is often wrong

By Alec Hogg

English cricketer Kevin Pietersen, the Durbanite who emigrated after racial quotas froze him out of the KZN Provincial Team, is in hot water again. After hearing the story of two South African stowaways on a British Airways flight to London, he quipped to his 2.6m Twitter followers they were “the captain and opening bowler of the 2019 England cricket team.” When discovering one had died, Pietersen apologised and deleted his embarrassing tweet. But the damage was done.

KP’s behaviour supports the thesis of 2002 Nobel Prize winning economist Daniel Kahneman. In his brilliant book Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman shares a raft of experiments showing how our immediate decision, sparked by life experiences, is often wrong. Only after thinking it through, reflecting, does judgement approach soundness. Pietersen’s tweet shows he saw the stowaway story as an opportunity to draw attention. Like so many other split second decisions, it was unfortunate. There’s a lesson for all of us in that.

On the subject of economists, we’ve been offered 10 free tickets for BizNews community members wanting to attend an Absa-sponsored  Investment Conference this Thursday (25th June). It features top US economist and author Dr Woody Brock and local economist Roelof Botha, plus Morningstar Canada’s Paul Kaplan and many more top investment minds. The seminar is titled “Smart investing in the new ab-normal”; is in Johannesburg; and lasts the whole day. If you’d like to attend, email your contact details soonest to [email protected].

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