I think it's pretty significantly unlike a fat person trying to avoid cake. At least when you fail to not eat cake, you notice. One might be able to hold to a restrictive diet by sheer willpower, albeit with great difficulty, but bias can't simply be willed away.
At least when you fail to not eat cake, you notice.
It's true that people don't always notice but at least some of the time biases do end up smashing against reality (like the two examples I gave here).
albeit with great difficulty, but bias can't simply be willed away.
I think Luke has given us reason to think they can be, although my point was that even if we know how to avoid biases, will we? Are we like fat people avoiding cake?
An example of real world problems from cognitive biases:
Forensic science - Ignorance is bliss
Hat-tip to Bruce Schneier.