> But then I think about how maddeningly unpredictable human thought and perception is, with phenomena like optical illusions, cognitive biases, a limited working memory.
I agree with your general point (I think), but I think that "unpredictable" is really the wrong word here. Optical illusions, cognitive biases and limited working memory are mostly extremely predictable, and make perfect sense if you look at the role that evolution played in developing the human mind. E.g. many optical illusions are due to the fact that the brain needs to recreate a 3-D model from a 2-D image, and it has to do this by doing what is statistically most likely in the world we live in (or, really, the world of African savannahs where humans first evolved and walked upright). This, it's possible to "tricks" this system by creating a 2D image from a 3D set of objects that is statistically unlikely in the natural world.
FWIW Stephen Pinker's book "How the Mind Works" has a lot of good examples of optical illusions and cognitive biases and the theorized evolutionary bases for these things.
I agree with your general point (I think), but I think that "unpredictable" is really the wrong word here. Optical illusions, cognitive biases and limited working memory are mostly extremely predictable, and make perfect sense if you look at the role that evolution played in developing the human mind. E.g. many optical illusions are due to the fact that the brain needs to recreate a 3-D model from a 2-D image, and it has to do this by doing what is statistically most likely in the world we live in (or, really, the world of African savannahs where humans first evolved and walked upright). This, it's possible to "tricks" this system by creating a 2D image from a 3D set of objects that is statistically unlikely in the natural world.
FWIW Stephen Pinker's book "How the Mind Works" has a lot of good examples of optical illusions and cognitive biases and the theorized evolutionary bases for these things.