So specifically what would happen if after simplifying the task of opening a bank account, you simply tried to follow the steps?
I wouldn't get to step one.
Would you be unable to come up with this list?
Nah, that would be just fine. I'd done so more than once. Without the "whole" picture, it's like trying to put a jigsaw puzzle together when you can't see the whole picture and it has no apparent borders, and the pieces have all been repainted black. You know the pieces all go together. You know you have all the pieces. You just can't visualize how they all go together.
I am asking that if you tried to complete the individual steps of that task, at precisely what point would you fail?
There is an underlying assumption here that "breaking down the task" is intelligible on some level. This is why I tried to give, originally, the example of the fact that tying one's right shoe wouldn't translate to tying one's left shoe. The pieces are learned as a whole, and conceived of as a whole. Breaking it down into individual tasks just makes it more complex, not less. It's like tearing apart the jigsaw puzzle -- it has to be put back together again before you can actually see the image on the puzzle.
Partially to help reduce the typical mind fallacy and partially because I'm curious, I'm thinking about writing either an essay or a book with plenty of examples about ways by which human minds differ. From commonly known and ordinary, like differences in sexual orientation, to the rare and seemingly impossible, like motion blindness.
To do this, I need to start collecting examples. In what ways does your mind differ from what you think is the norm for most people?
I'm particularly interested in differences - small or large - that you didn't realize for a long time, automatically assuming that everyone was like you in that regard. It can even be something as trivial as always having conceptualized the passing of years as a visual timeline, and then finding out that not everyone does so. I'm also interested in links to blog posts where people talk about their own mental peculiarities, even if you didn't write them yourself. Also books and academic articles that you might think could be relevant.
Some of the content that I'm thinking about including are cultural differences in various things as recounted in the WEIRD article, differences in sexual and romantic orientation (such as mono/poly), differences in the ability to recover from setbacks, extroversion vs. introversion in terms of gaining/losing energy from social activity, differences in visualization ability, various cognitive differences ranging from autism to synesthesia to an inability to hear music in particular, differences in moral intuitions, differences in the way people think (visual vs. verbal vs. conceptual vs. something that I'm not aware of yet), differences in thinking styles (social/rational, reflectivity vs. impulsiveness) and various odd brain damage cases.
If you find this project interesting, consider spreading the link to this post or resharing my Google Plus update about it. Also, if you don't want to reply in public, feel free to send me a private message.