Candy Land

 

"What are you doing, Elise?"  I asked my four-year old daughter.

"I'm playing a game," she said.

"There's no one else playing -- she's playing against herself," her brother, Elliot said, putting in his three and a half cents.

I looked down at the game board.  Lest anyone be confused into thinking our youngest daughter is the second coming of child chess prodigy, Bobby Fischer, I saw that Elise was playing the game Candyland.

"I'm playing Candyland," she told me.  "I've won TWO games already!  I'm pretty awesome at Candyland!"

"She cheats," Elliot said, raising his input to the conversation to five and a half cents.  "She looks for the cards she wants next and chooses them out of the stack.  No wonder she finishes so fast."

I didn't really know what to say.  Candyland is not exactly a game that requires a high level of skill to play.  Most games take a mixture of skill and luck, but as far as I can tell, there is absolutely no skill needed to play this game.  I suppose that is why the game is appropriate for humans aged three and up.

I guess it is a good thing that Elise has so much confidence in her own abilities, but on the other hand, I am not sure how she could lose when she was playing herself.

Humans have a strong tendency to overestimate their own abilities.  The scientists David Dunning and Justin Kruger described this effect (now named the Dunning-Kruger Effect) in 1999.  Most people (regardless of their actual intelligence) believe they are above average, that they have a good grasp of how to effectively research scientific information on the internet and know with a certainty that their friends and family underestimate their talents.

Of course, not everyone can be above average -- in fact fifty percent of us, by definition, are below average (if not very much below average). 

The verse came to my mind, "I have more understanding than all my teachers: For thy testimonies are my meditation." (Psalms 119:99) At first blush, the author of Psalms 119 is diving headlong into the Dunning-Kruger Effect.  He is crazy enough to believe that he knows more than all of us his teachers, which begs the question, is he so smart or are his teachers just a little short on knowledge?

There is a clue here for us to pick up on.  The point here, as throughout the rest of Psalm 119, is that God's Word gives wisdom that far surpasses human knowledge.  Those who study it and internalize it are wise and gain understanding far superior to their years.

This is true wisdom.  We live in a world where Candyland players believe they can defeat Chess Grandmasters and Facebook users know more about medicine than those who have completed Medical School.  Maybe the best thing each one of us could do is close our internet browser and open a Bible, for this is the best (and maybe the only way) to have more understanding than your teachers.