Because We Lie To Ourselves

Here’s Robin Hanson in a short post suggesting that high school career counseling might work better if it were more like tarot card reading.

Contrast such life readings to school career counselors. Such counselors usually refer to statistics about the income or gradations rates of broad categories of people given certain types of careers, colleges, or majors. Such advice may be evidence based but it seems far less compelling to students. It is not connected to salient recent personal experiences or the subjects, or to outcomes in which they are very emotionally engaged. It is clear but uncertain, in contrast to the certainty and ambiguity of Tarot readings.

I remember taking one of those tests in high school that gave suggestions on what I should do for a living. I regiment thinking it was just confirming to me what I already knew about myself.

And that’s the point of tarot reading too. But maybe tarot card readers are better at that than those little tests? Career paths are arbitrary for most. If tarot card reading can give a sense of purpose and so enhance the dedication to succeed all the better.