30. Staying rational and avoiding confirmation bias
保持理性并避免确认偏误
WARREN BUFFETT: Area 6.
沃伦·巴菲特:区域6。
We have a break in about five minutes. In fact, we’ll do this question and then we’ll break.
我们大约五分钟后休息。实际上,我们先回答这个问题,然后休息。
AUDIENCE MEMBER: OK. My name’s Paul Tomasik from Illinois.
听众:好的,我是来自伊利诺伊州的保罗·托马斯基。
I’d like to talk about your thinking, if you don’t mind.
我想谈谈你们的思考方式,如果你们不介意的话。
In the “Fortune” magazine article that you sent to all the shareholders, you referenced a practice by Darwin that when he found something that was contrary to his established conclusions, he quickly wrote it down because the mind would’ve pushed it out.
在你们发给所有股东的《财富》杂志文章中,您提到达尔文的一种做法:当他发现某些与已建立结论相悖的东西时,他会迅速把它写下来,因为大脑会把这些信息排除。
And if you read “The Origin of Species,” Darwin’s very careful to avoid fooling himself. He very carefully asks and answers the hard questions.
如果你读过《物种起源》,你会发现达尔文非常小心地避免自欺。他非常仔细地提出并回答那些艰难的问题。
It’s a feedback mechanism, and you’ve picked up on one of his feedback mechanisms to avoid fooling yourself.
这是一种反馈机制,而你们也采用了他的一种反馈机制来避免自欺。
So the two questions are this:
所以我有两个问题:
If you look — model — how you think, Charlie thinks, how physicists think, how mathematicians think, you see the same pattern.
如果你看一下——建模——你们如何思考,查理如何思考,物理学家如何思考,数学家如何思考,你会发现相同的模式。
You want to use logic. You’re dedicated to logic. But logic’s not enough. You have to avoid fooling yourself, so you build feedback mechanisms.
你们想运用逻辑。你们致力于逻辑。但逻辑不够。你们必须避免自欺,所以你们建立了反馈机制。
So the first question is, do you see it that way? That you’re thinking just like mathematicians, physicists, and some of the other exceptional businessmen, by being logical and being careful to have feedback mechanisms?
第一个问题是,您是否这样看待自己?你们的思维方式是否像数学家、物理学家和一些其他杰出商人一样,通过逻辑思维并小心地建立反馈机制?
And the second question is about other feedback mechanisms.
第二个问题是关于其他反馈机制的。
Your partnership — sitting next to you is a great feedback mechanism. Hard to fool yourself when you partner with Charlie Munger.
你们的合作伙伴关系——坐在你旁边的人是一个很好的反馈机制。与查理·芒格合作时,难以自欺。
WARREN BUFFETT: Right.
沃伦·巴菲特:对。
AUDIENCE MEMBER: This meeting’s a feedback —
听众:这个会议也是一个反馈机制——
WARREN BUFFETT: Hard to fool him, too. (Laughter)
沃伦·巴菲特:同样很难愚弄他。(笑声)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: But that’s not an accident.
听众:但这不是偶然的。
The meeting is one level of feedback mechanism, the way you attack the annual report letter is a feedback mechanism.
这个会议是一个反馈机制,您处理年报信件的方式也是一种反馈机制。
So you could comment, both of you, on other feedback mechanisms you developed? Thank you.
那么,您能否评论一下,您俩开发的其他反馈机制?谢谢。
WARREN BUFFETT: Well, you’ve come up with two very good ones. I mean, there’s no question that Charlie will not accept anything I say because I say it, whereas a lot of other people will.
沃伦·巴菲特:嗯,您提出了两个非常好的问题。我的意思是,毫无疑问,查理不会接受我说的任何话,仅仅因为我说了,而很多其他人会。
You know, I mean, it’s just the way the world works.
你知道,我的意思是,这就是世界运作的方式。
And it’s terrific to have a partner who will say, you know, you’re not thinking straight.
能有一个合作伙伴直言不讳地告诉你:“你思考得不对”真是太棒了。
CHARLIE MUNGER: It doesn’t happen very often.
查理·芒格:这可不常发生。
WARREN BUFFETT: There’s no question, the human mind — what the human being is best at doing is interpreting all new information so that their prior conclusions remain intact. I mean, that is a talent everyone seems to have mastered.
毫无疑问,人类的大脑——人类最擅长做的事就是解读所有新信息,从而保持自己先前的结论不变。我的意思是,这几乎是每个人都掌握的天赋。
And how do we guard ourselves against it? Well, we don’t achieve it perfectly.
那么我们如何防止这种情况呢?嗯,我们并没有做到完美。
I mean, Charlie and I have made big mistakes because, in effect, we have been unwilling to look afresh at something.
我的意思是,查理和我也犯过大错,因为实际上,我们不愿意重新审视某些事情。
You know, that happens.
这种情况会发生。
But we do have — I think the annual report is a good feedback mechanism. I think that reporting on yourself, and giving the report honestly, whether you do it through an annual report or do it through some other mechanism, is very useful.
但我们确实有——我认为年报是一个很好的反馈机制。我认为,无论是通过年报还是通过其他机制,诚实地报告自己都是非常有用的。
But there — I would say a partner, who is not subservient, and who himself is extremely logical, you know, is probably the best mechanism you can have.
但我想说,一个不是盲从的合作伙伴,且他自己极为理性,可能是你能拥有的最好的反馈机制。
I would say that on the contrary, to get back to looking things you have to be sure you don’t fall into, I would say the typical corporate organization is designed so that the CEO opinions and biases and previous beliefs are reinforced in every possible way.
我想说,相反,为了重新审视事物,你必须确保自己不会陷入常见的陷阱。我认为典型的公司组织结构被设计得能够以各种方式加强CEO的意见、偏见和既有信念。
I mean, having staff surround you that know what you want to do, you are not going to get a lot of — you’re not going to get a lot of contrary thinking.
我的意思是,身边有些员工知道你想做什么,你是不会得到很多——不会得到很多反向的思考的。
I mean, most staffs, if they know you want to buy a company, you’re going to get a recommendation.
大多数员工,如果他们知道你想收购一家公司,他们会给你推荐意见。
Whatever your hurdle rate, if it’s 15 percent internal rate of return, which very few deals ever work out at, you know, or 12 or — they’re going to come back, and they’re going to come back with whatever they feel that you want.
无论你的门槛回报率是多少,如果是15%的内部回报率,而实际上很少有交易能达到这个水平,或者是12%——他们会回来说出他们认为你想要的东西。
And if you arrange your organization so that you basically have a bunch of, you know, sycophants who are cloaked in other, you know, titles, you’re not going to get — you are going to leave your prior conclusions intact, and you’re going to get whatever you go in with your biases wanting.
如果你安排你的组织结构,使得你周围的人基本上是一些披着其他头衔的拍马屁者,你是不会得到——你将保持你先前的结论不变,且只会得到符合你偏见的东西。
And the board is not going to be much of a check on that. I’ve seen very, very few boards that can stand up to the CEO on something that’s important to the CEO and just say, you know, “You’re not going to get it.”
董事会也不会对这一点产生太大制约。我见过的董事会很少能在对CEO至关重要的事情上与CEO对立,并且直言:“你无法获得它。”
You’ve hit on a terribly important point. All of us in this room want to read new information and have it confirm our cherished beliefs. I mean, it is just built into the human system.
你触及到了一个非常重要的点。我们在座的每个人都希望读到新的信息,并且让这些信息验证我们珍视的信仰。我的意思是,这就是人类系统的固有部分。
And that can be very expensive in the investment and business world.
在投资和商业世界中,这可能会非常昂贵。
And, like I say, I think we’ve got a pretty good system. And I think that most of the systems aren’t very good, that exist in corporate America, to avoid falling into the trap you’re talking about.
正如我所说,我认为我们有一个相当好的系统。而且我认为,大多数现有的企业体系并不太好,无法避免陷入你所说的陷阱。
Steve Forbes: Now, in terms of that, many times, a foundation gets set up. And...
Steve Forbes:不过在实际操作中,很多时候,基金会设立之后,会……
Warren Buffet: Goes off in a different direction.
Warren Buffet:跑偏,朝着不同的方向去了。
Steve Forbes: And there's this thing called Parkinson's Law, that an organization becomes self-centered, in for itself, and forgets its purpose that it was created for.
Steve Forbes:还有所谓的 Parkinson's Law:组织会变得以自我为中心,为自身而存在,忘了最初的使命。
Warren Buffet: I see it all the time.
Warren Buffet:我经常见到这种情况。
Steve Forbes: You see it in business--that's why they go broke oftentimes. But in foundations, you see it. So you made a provision that that was not going to happen with your funds, and they had to be... those monies had to be deployed what, within 10 years?
Steve Forbes:商业里也是如此——这往往就是他们破产的原因之一。基金会也不例外。所以你设了条款,避免你的资金出现这种情况,要求这些钱必须在——多久之内花完?十年?
Warren Buffet: 10 years after my estate's completed. Yeah, and the money has to all be spent--it can't go to institutions which in turn put it in there endowment or anything like that. I want people that I know, and I know are in sync with me, and I know will be true to certain ideals. I want them to dispense it because who the hell knows, 50 years from now, when the place becomes some large institution, what will happen. People will rationalize then that what's good for the institution is exactly what old Warren thought 40 years ago on his deathbed. So I've seen that happen too often. And I... foundations are not tested by a market system. If you've got a business idea, and he's got music, it's being tested by a market system. People will make a decision was whether that next album is good, and they'll make a decision whether Coca Cola still keeps them happy, and all that sort of thing. A foundation has no market tests. So it's very easy, if there's not a market test, as people will find out in government and other places, it's very easy to start rationalizing things that are a long way from what you originally--people thought you were setting out to do.
Warren Buffet:在我的遗产清算完成后的10年内。对,而且这些钱必须全部花掉——不能给那些再把钱放进自己捐赠的机构。我希望把钱交给我认识、与我理念一致、忠于特定理想的人去使用。因为谁也不知道50年后,当某个机构变成庞然大物时会变成什么样。到那时人们会自圆其说,把“对机构有利”的事,解释成“老 Warren 在四十年前临终时的本意”。这种事我见得太多了。再者……基金会没有“市场检验”。你有商业点子,他有音乐作品——都会被市场检验。人们会用脚投票:下一张专辑好不好、Coca Cola 是否还能令他们满足,等等。而基金会没有市场检验。没有市场检验,就很容易——政府和其他领域的人也会发现——很容易开始把事情合理化,离最初的使命越来越远。