Invisible Gorilla "creator" Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabirs have written a new book, the title is obvious - "The Invisible Gorilla". I cannot stress enough how important it is to realize our innate limitations. Educating ourselves on this will help us to be more prudent, more rational and changes the perspective of life. There is profound social change in the waiting, if only more of us are open enough and have the humility to scrutinize ourselves. Paul Bloom reviews this book (I cannot agree with him more):
"Some interventions do succeed in improving our mental functioning. Chabris and Simons themselves point out that mild aerobic exercise leads to significant improvement in the planning and multitasking of older adults. But their overall tone is one of caution and skepticism. Toward the end, they quote Woody Allen: “I wish I had some kind of affirmative message to leave you with. I don’t. Would you take two negative messages?” I counted more than two. First, we are subject to powerful illusions about how our minds work. Second, these illusions are difficult to shake, even when they are pointed out to us in books like this. Third, technology may hurt more than it helps, since new inventions often tax our mental capacities even further.
If we can’t eliminate our illusions, though, our awareness that they exist can change how we think of ourselves and others. It is tempting to see our tendency to get stories wrong or overestimate our abilities as reflecting arrogance and stupidity. But Chabris and Simons show that this is mistaken, and they end their engaging and humane book with the hope that a better understanding might help us temper these reactions. The invisible gorilla just might teach us to be more humble, understanding and forgiving."
Meta-cognition and self reflection are prefect tools to help us see the Gorilla. But at times we do need fresh set eyes to analyze our shortcomings. A prerequisite for all this is having an open mind. The roots of cultivating an open mind depends on two of the best sentences ever in English language - "I don't know" and "I am sorry".
No comments:
Post a Comment