The Curse of Knowledge in Everyday Life Several years ago my friend Lauren asked me for my recipe for BBQ seitan. I love food-related conversation, so I wasted no time. “Start by sauteing some chopped onion in oil…”, and as quickly as I began, she cut me off. “Hold on,” she interjected. “What kind of oil do you use? How much? How high do you turn the heat?”
Dissecting the conversation, what happened was that I implicitly made the absurd assumption that knowledge that is in my head must be in hers (i.