Is the world you see real?

1.1 Are you seeing what is really there?

Have you noticed that someone always seems to understand a development before you do? When the internet was beginning to reshape everyday life, some dismissed it as a plaything for the young. It went on to change almost every industry. When smartphones began spreading, many people insisted that physical keys were more convenient. Within a few years, a remarkable amount of our lives fitted onto a screen. Electric vehicles were initially dismissed by some as an expensive alternative; they later became central to global industrial competition. As AI has entered everyday life, we have seen the same division again.

One person looks at ChatGPT and says, “It's just a chatbot.” Another says, “A new era has begun.” They are looking at the same product, reading similar information, and living at the same moment in history. How do they arrive at such different judgments?

The usual explanations are intelligence or access to information. 20 years ago, I would have agreed. But two decades in business have shown me too many variations on the same scene. Within one industry, someone notices change early while someone else refuses to believe it until it has happened. One person forgets a customer's remark; another redirects a business because of it. A market report reveals only risks to one reader and new possibilities to another. Gradually I began to suspect that the difference starts before what we ordinarily call “seeing.” What matters is not only what happens, but how we interpret it.