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b'Many episodes of this podcast deal with cognitive biases that can hinder our decision-making abilities. In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman, we look at a different kind of error: how completely irrelevant information can negatively influence our judgments, making them varied and unpredictable.\\n \\nThis variability of human judgment\\u2014or noise\\u2014is the topic of an upcoming book by Nobel Prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman, with Cass Sunstein and Olivier Sibony. You\\u2019ll hear an interview with Kahneman later in the episode where he explains his preoccupation with the substantial and expensive effects of noise. He proposes ways to reduce the problem of noise for industries, businesses, and individuals who need to make more objective judgements.\\n\\nBut first, we\\u2019ll dive into the world of wine judging. G.M. \\u201cPooch\\u201d Pucilowski will take you on a guided tour of the California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition. You\\u2019ll hear about the criteria for judging different varietals\\u2014and the accompanying challenges that wine judges face as they swirl, sniff, and sip through dozens and sometimes hundreds of different wines. \\n\\nAfter years of coordinating and observing the judges, Pooch noticed a large amount of variability in the results. This may not be surprising, since taste is subjective. But after some tweaks to the process, he even began to notice that judges were inconsistent with themselves!\\n\\nEnter vintner and retired oceanographer Robert Hodgson. Pooch teamed up with Hodgson to devise a way to study and improve the consistency of wine judging and push for a more objective competition. The results were promising, but not without controversy.\\n\\nG.M. \\u201cPooch\\u201d Pucilowski is a speaker, writer, wine judge, and educator. He runs wine appreciation classes through his University of Wine.\\n\\nYou\\u2019ll also hear about the potential role of chemical analysis and artificial intelligence in improving the results of wine judging from James Hutchinson, formerly of the Royal Society of Chemistry and currently CEO of KiwiNet.\\n\\nAnd finally, Katy explores the potential of leveraging noise to produce better decisions by employing the wisdom of crowds\\u2014and even \\u201cthe crowd within.\\u201d'