You’re also a neural network - train on the good stuff
Mental models as rich training data for your mind
Charlie Munger’s approach to decision-making through mental models has gained widespread attention in recent years. His concept was elegantly simple: master the fundamental principles from every major discipline – inertia from physics, natural selection from biology, opportunity cost from economics, and so on – and apply them systematically to solve problems. Build yourself a checklist of these timeless ideas, and you’ll be equipped to tackle almost any cognitive challenge.
In “Poor Charlie’s Almanack,” Munger described this as developing a “latticework of models in your head.” Others have likened it to stocking a cognitive toolbox with varied tools. Both metaphors work to explain the idea, but I feel there’s a more modern analogy that captures even more accurately what Munger was really talking about.
Think about how large language models work. They’re trained on vast amounts of high-quality text, and the richer that training data, the better they perform on new, unseen problems. When you feed your mind a diverse library of robust mental models, you’re doing exactly the same thing – training a neural network (your brain) on data that generalizes well.
Just as an AI can autocomplete text by recognizing patterns in its training data, a mind stocked with mental models can “autocomplete” solutions to novel challenges. And as poor data gives AI hallucinations, narrow or flawed models can lead to the cognitive equivalent – bad reasoning and poor decisions.
The insight is actually quite striking: just as neural networks gain intelligence through exposure to diverse, high-quality data, we humans gain sharper judgement and faster insight by internalizing powerful, core ideas from the fundamental disciplines. You’re also a neural network. Train on the good stuff.
The Mental Models Checklist is a practical guide and a rich resource for anyone interested in harnessing the power of mental models to become a stronger problem-solver and better decision maker.
Supercharge your problem-solving and decision making today.
