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Personal Growth —

Two Heads Better Than One?

Is it true that more sensible decisions are reached by putting our heads together? Scientific American on studies that examine the effect of communication on problem solving.
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“The first results showed that, yes, two heads were indeed better than one. The volunteers combined their information ‘optimally’ and reached a level that none of the players could possibly achieve as an individual (good news for Warren and Ben!). In effect, the volunteers were able to combine weak neuronal activities residing in two separate brains to maximize performance. There was, however, a twist in the tale. The key to the success was communication – about how they felt about their answer and how confident they were in their decision. When they were not allowed to communicate with each other about their confidence, they couldn’t do any better than the best solo player.”

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Guest Thinkers
Happy New Year
It’s plain to see that I’m an optimist, sometimes more than is socially comfortable. The ease with which I dismiss the disastrous economic decline above serves as one example of that. I wrote that the recession will benefit our political system, and, before I cut this line, as having “rewarded our company for methodical execution and ruthless efficiency by removing competitors from the landscape.” I make no mention of the disastrous effects on millions of people, and the great uncertainty that grips any well-briefed mind, because it truly doesn’t stand in the foreground of my mind (despite suffering personal loss of wealth). Our species is running towards a precipice with looming dangers like economic decline, political unrest, climate crisis, and more threatening to grip us as we jump off the edge, but my optimism is stronger now than ever before. On the other side of that looming gap are extraordinary breakthroughs in healthcare, communications technology, access to space, human productivity, artistic creation and literally hundreds of fields. With the right execution and a little bit of luck we’ll all live to see these breakthroughs — and members of my generation will live to see dramatically lengthened life-spans, exploration and colonization of space, and more opportunity than ever to work for passion instead of simply working for pay. Instead of taking this space to regale you with the many personal and focused changes I intend to make in 2009, let me rather encourage you to spend time this year thinking, as I’m going to, more about what we can do in 2009 to positively affect the future our culture will face in 2020, 2050, 3000 and beyond.
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