We Can’t Handle The Truth

David Brooks writes about Daniel Kahneman and his book - “Thinking, Fast and Slow” – in Who You Are (full article below).  The research essentially says that we’re still apes. Which explains why religion, guns, nationalism, ignoring climate change, giving corporations rights, and budget cutting in a depression all still reign.

We like to think that we’re in control, that we have free will, and that we’ve conquered evolution, assuming you believe in it.  We proactively lead our lives through that relatively newfangled piece of wetware, the logical neocortex part of our brain.

Yeah, right.  That’s not really thinking.  It’s feeling.  The primitive limbic system that evolved over millions of years is what rules.  This part of our noggin is responsible for emotion, behavior, long-term memory, and obsessing on reality shows.

We think we’re smart.  Warning labels work.  Advertising can be ignored.  Companies will police themselves. But none of that works.  That’s the just the tip of the subconscious iceberg.  The patterns and rhythms of jungle and tribe are our blood music, embedded  in the fabric of human existence and our very thoughts. We’re just clever monkeys.

Reality is not objective.  It’s not subjective.  It’s social.

Truly we can’t handle the truth.  We’re just built that way.  The power of memes is a direct descendent of the power of our genes.

So there is no one truth.  The truthsayers are not the logicians, scientists, and engineers.  They are the writers, preachers, and marketers like me.  We are the storytellers.  And we own you in ways you will never know.

 

David Brooks:

Daniel Kahneman spent part of his childhood in Nazi-occupied Paris. Like the other Jews, he had to wear a Star of David on the outside of his clothing. One evening, when he was about 7 years old, he stayed late at a friend’s house, past the 6 p.m. curfew.

He turned his sweater inside out to hide the star and tried to sneak home. A German SS trooper approached him on the street, picked him up and gave him a long, emotional hug. The soldier displayed a photo of his own son, spoke passionately about how much he missed him and gave Kahneman some money as a sentimental present. The whole time Kahneman was terrified that the SS trooper might notice the yellow star peeking out from inside his sweater.

Kahneman finally made it home, convinced that people are complicated and bizarre. He went on to become one of the world’s most influential psychologists and to win the Nobel in economic science.

Kahneman doesn’t actually tell that childhood story in his forthcoming book. “Thinking, Fast and Slow” is an intellectual memoir, not a personal one. The book is, nonetheless, sure to be a major intellectual event (look for an excerpt in The Times Magazine this Sunday) because it superbly encapsulates Kahneman’s research, and the vast tide of work that has been sparked by it.

I’d like to use this column not to summarize the book but to describe why I think Kahneman and his research partner, the late Amos Tversky, will be remembered hundreds of years from now, and how their work helped instigate a cultural shift that is already producing astounding results.

Before Kahneman and Tversky, people who thought about social problems and human behavior tended to assume that we are mostly rational agents. They assumed that people have control over the most important parts of their own thinking. They assumed that people are basically sensible utility-maximizers and that when they depart from reason it’s because some passion like fear or love has distorted their judgment.

Kahneman and Tversky conducted experiments. They proved that actual human behavior often deviates from the old models and that the flaws are not just in the passions but in the machinery of cognition. They demonstrated that people rely on unconscious biases and rules of thumb to navigate the world, for good and ill. Many of these biases have become famous: priming, framing, loss-aversion.

Kahneman reports on some delightful recent illustrations from other researchers. Pro golfers putt more accurately from all distances when putting for par than when putting for birdie because they fear the bogie more than they desire the birdie. Israeli parole boards grant parole to about 35 percent of the prisoners they see, except when they hear a case in the hour just after mealtime. In those cases, they grant parole 65 percent of the time. Shoppers will buy many more cans of soup if you put a sign atop the display that reads “Limit 12 per customer.”

Kahneman and Tversky were not given to broad claims. But the work they and others did led to the reappreciation of several old big ideas:

We are dual process thinkers. We have two interrelated systems running in our heads. One is slow, deliberate and arduous (our conscious reasoning). The other is fast, associative, automatic and supple (our unconscious pattern recognition). There is now a complex debate over the relative strengths and weaknesses of these two systems. In popular terms, think of it as the debate between “Moneyball” (look at the data) and “Blink” (go with your intuition).

We are not blank slates. All humans seem to share similar sets of biases. There is such a thing as universal human nature. The trick is to understand the universals and how tightly or loosely they tie us down.

We are players in a game we don’t understand. Most of our own thinking is below awareness. Fifty years ago, people may have assumed we are captains of our own ships, but, in fact, our behavior is often aroused by context in ways we can’t see. Our biases frequently cause us to want the wrong things. Our perceptions and memories are slippery, especially about our own mental states. Our free will is bounded. We have much less control over ourselves than we thought.

This research yielded a different vision of human nature and a different set of debates. The work of Kahneman and Tversky was a crucial pivot point in the way we see ourselves.

They also figured out ways to navigate around our shortcomings. Kahneman champions the idea of “adversarial collaboration” — when studying something, work with people you disagree with. Tversky had a wise maxim: “Let us take what the terrain gives.” Don’t overreach. Understand what your circumstances are offering.

Many people are exploring the inner wilderness. Kahneman and Tversky are like the Lewis and Clark of the mind.

Common sense doesn’t work

There is an excellent guest article by Duncan Watts on Freakonomics called The Myth of Common Sense: Why The Social World Is Less Obvious Than It Seems.  Common sense is, of course, subjective.  Watts presents research that shows it’s social shorthand effective only for small homogeneous groups in narrow situations.  Great for that 2500 BC cave in the south of France … not today’s world with its diversity, complexity, and nuance.

Sorry, Christies, teabaggers, and Republicans.  You can’ wave your hands, wait for fantasy superfriends, revel in the mythology of the past, or rely on “common sense.”  You really do have to look at facts.  Not that I expect logic, reflection, or cerebration to change your mind.

There is one bright light here – the latest generation of kids, Gen Y or Millennials.  While it is alleged that many do not have the motivation, ambition, and persistence of earlier generations, they do have a better ability to adapt, cope, and reason in our technotimes sans superstitions and folklore.  An evolutionary adaptation perhaps?

Your Bubble or Mine?

Alex Epstein comments on and shares an excellent video of TED presenter Eli Pariser on Beware the Online Content Filter Bubble.  Pariser shows that Google search results are highly customized.  They are not uniform from user to user.  They represent an insular view of the online world based on the user’s preferences and behavior, a personal bubble cut off from the rest of the Net and the real world.

Pariser innocently pleads that large companies like Google and Facebook have a social obligation to connect that bubble to the world.  They should include content that isn’t just relevant but important and fair, and even challenging and uncomfortable.

He points to changes in the newspaper industry a century ago that resulted in a seachange of social-based journalistic and editorial ethics with the hope that such integrity will happen again.

Eli, seriously?  [Insert evil laugh here.] This isn’t your great grandfather’s society. This is anarchy.

Current media can have its benefits, like social media used to report atrocities and uprisings. But that’s a lucky side effect. No one calls Fox TV on its absurd claims of being unbiased. It’s only when it gets truly outrageous like the News of the World’s voice mail invasions that anyone notices … long after the government has been co-opted. Google’s mantra of Do No Evil quickly gets compromised in the complexity of a pluralistic international community. Facebook is frequently lost when it comes to personal privacy.

Corporate self-regulation is a failed experiment, especially in a competitive tech market that must produce ever better results to generate more revenues the next quarter. The US Supreme Court has given corporations individual-like powers to spend money on elections and influence government and policy but without the concomitant nuisance, I mean obligation, to be a socially responsible citizen.

Our me-first consumer generation expects higher service and relevance in an Internet awash with virtually unlimited choices. And even if people aspire to higher ideals their actual actions don’t reflect it, such as in dating.

Externalities be damned, even in politics. The current conservative government and the rise at all costs of the individual as the final  decision-maker and budget spender over government and social institutions mean the bubble will have metamorphosed into an entire virtual universe before anyone gets around to worrying about it, much less noticing.

Still, it’s good to know. I applaud Alex Epstein for sharing a few options to insulate oneself from the prying eyes of the Net.

Me, I’m done training wives and search engines. I don’t want to start again. I don’t have any boundaries. I’m thrilled Google is listening to me and creating my own bubble. I’m fine with my dalliance with leather crotchless chaps and hairless goats a few days years ago following me around. I just want to know when I get to name my bubble and start selling virtual real estate there in my new world. I’ve long said that I live in Marcland.  Come over and join me any time.

They do protests right – Israel

As the US and Obama continue the decade-long sellout to big business and the rich, and death dance with Tea Party anarchists, the article below is instructive on how to organize, hold, and react to truly civilized protests.

Hello World: Israel is Out-Classing You in Civil Disobedience

In the four weeks since the social protests have begun in Israel, hundreds have been killed, dozens of women have reportedly been raped, a number of children tortured, and countless districts have been looted. The authorities have imposed a complete lock-down on all cellular networks. All access to Facebook and Twitter has been blocked. Little information is going in, or out.

Except the absolute, complete opposite.

The social protests in Israel began 4 weeks ago with a national outcry over the rising price of basics such as cottage cheese. They then snowballed into a full-blown national movement by way of a simple act by a then unknown young woman. The act? Striking a tent in Tel-Aviv’s Rothschild Boulevard in protest of high apartment rental costs.

A single tent became the heart and soul of the movement whose main gripe is that the middle-class is bearing the brunt of an imbalanced budgetary spend. “The People Demand Social Justice” is the key chant.

The protests are local, scattered all across Israel, drawing hundreds to hundreds of thousands. Big name musicians volunteer to headline these protests. Barricades and PA systems, all donated. People talk about the movement at every cafe, over every lunch, at every business meeting, at every family dinner.

There have been a few skirmishes with the law. Small stuff though… For example, small groups of protesters were arrested by the police for blocking roads and were released without charges within a day.

Small potatoes aside, it’s been four weeks and zero acts of the barbaric, non-discriminatory violence we’ve seen across the middle east, and even in the UK. No shots fired. No stores looted. No form of communication has been shut down. In fact, not only have the Israeli police and army not taken any role other than safeguarding the protests themselves, they have even been applauded, literally, by hundreds of thousands for their efforts.

While in neighboring countries regimes are slaughtering the opposition, in Israel we have complete free speech to criticize our politicians and leaders. As I’m typing this, on the TV is Israel’s version of SNL doing a parody skit of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s mishandling of the situation (they have him wearing a red t-shirt with Che Guevara on it). YouTube mashups featuring the PM’s soundbites? Posted below for your scrolling convenience. Professional-level videos advertising the protests? Also, posted below.

Sorry Shervin, no need for your curation and retweeting on this one, the Israeli people are doing A-OK. Really, look:

The backbone of the movement has unquestionably been Facebook, via pages, and events, and of course Twitter, via the #j14 hashtag. A revolution needs a site, right? Right.

At this point there’s no guessing which people will next rise-up and demand political and social change. The world is not what it used to be before Tahrir. I wonder though how many of these future civil disobedience movements will be modeled upon Israel, where technology and love trumped violence.

Tools for thinking

Edge.org’s latest symposium asks ‘What’s in your head?” Great thinkers contribute to an amazing discussion of scientific and logical tools and techniques to keep you sharp, smart, and growing, no matter your age.

Keep your OEM parts in optimum operating condition. It’s been at least 6 months or 3,000 thoughts since your last original idea.  Isn’t it time for that mental tuneup? If you want the Cliff notes, try David Brook’s summary here and here.

The Failure of Capitalism

Sometimes do you feel you’re the only adult in the room?  Now I do have the misfortune of living in a red state but … when are we going to grow up and take responsibility in this country?

We are heating this planet to extinction, at least for us humans who like dry land and moderate temps. We had a mortgage disaster  that precipitated the worst economic collapse in almost a century.  Think about it, that’s four (!) generations ago, long before computers, Xboxes, and even TV and The Real Housewives of New Jersey.   Now we have an oil spill that’s turned our nation’s backyard pool into a toilet.

Our vaunted capitalism has done little to address critical world issues.  Indeed it’s the cause for both escalating calamities and feeble attempts of response.   BP is (or was) worth one quarter of a trillion US dollars.  It’s is the world’s fourth largest company in terms of sales.  Have you seen the CEO of this colossus?  It reminds me of Bush. And we’re counting on him?

The myth of a market economy is that it exists in isolation.  In our shrinking world, virtually everything we do – or don’t do – has consequences.  Oil consumption contributes to global warming.  Financial securitization masks risk.  Deep sea drilling increases the magnitude of damage from accidents.

The real cost of a product or service is not just the price of labor and  parts. It also has to encompass the entire spectrum of externalities that encompass the individual, the community, the nation and world, and the planet.  These externalities cannot be priced or managed in a laissez-faire economy where the market rules.

Responsibility as an adult means taking control of not just your own actions and life, but that of your family and your community.  Companies can hardly be counted on for self-regulation, must less looking out for consumer welfare or public good. The political establishment, virtually run by the corporations, has done little.  The current Administration’s idea of change is reusing a leaky bandage, the proverbial finger in the dike.

Whether you despise or support the tea partiers, they have one thing right.  They feel and articulate the visceral impact of a world spinning out of control.  Sadly their isolationist me-first solution gives even more control, not less, to corporations.  This  notion of retreating to the past is the coward’s approach of avoiding the hard work the needs to be today … and tomorrow.

Capitalism is not bad.  It’s a powerful theory and effective practice as a means for organizing production.  It has a critical role in today’s world.  Just like the government, it is prone to abuse when the institution is too powerful.  It’s only one tool in the civilization toolkit.

When will we get past cleaning messes and leaky bandages and discuss a future that works, for us and our children?

You’re not AT&T & I’m not Obama

News the past few weeks from the private and public sectors share a common theme. On the industry side, in my blog I wrote “The only technology sector where prices go up …” about AT&T and the other telcos still playing the old monopoly shell game. Whether it’s a fake price war or shoddy service, that kind of manipulation of brand, press, and market is fading into the past as communications is increasingly immediate and universal.

In the public sphere the Democrats shockingly lost Ted Kennedy’s seat. In the short space of a year, a President and a party that soared through the polls have been slapped back down to Earth. The swing electorate swung back. The people were speaking and those that did not hear suffered the consequences.

Business today is transparent and real-time. The information revolution has brought down entire industries from recorded music to print advertising. Even Google is throwing in the towel and adding Twitter and other live feeds into its search results. Markets, customers, and voters are fully empowered.

When billion dollar companies and popular Presidents are dissected and gutted, what chance do YOU have?

What does this mean for your business? What products or services are threatened? What new opportunities does it create? How do you develop a meaningful and genuine dialog with your market? Should you even be in that conversation?

These issues, both strategic and tactical, are ones that we can help you with, whether it’s one-on-one consulting or Tribe Blue for your small business or large company.

Who are you? Tribe scholarships. The Economy.

One consequence of the recession is that we may know ourselves better than before.  Job security has been sliding downward for at least one entire generation.  Few of us expect to be at the same company five years from now, much less when we retire.  Each crash of the economy is a ratchet, forcibly resetting our business, career, and life  expectations as companies die, lay off, retreat, and outsource. Bob Cringely’s No Joy in Mudville exposes the seamier side of US corporati0ns and supposedly “good” companies like IBM.

Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?  It can be once you get past the shock, accept the changed reality, and rediscover yourself and your talents.  Or not.  Some of us never recovered from the tech crash a decade ago.  Today many of us, including me, have experienced losing a job or a home in the past ten years if not recently.   I’ll give you the iPod.  But do we really need 60 inch HDTVs and 3,500 square foot homes?

The continued rise in independent work means more people are becoming entrepreneurs.  But they often don’t have the experience or tools to make the transition.  That’s why I formed Tribe Blue where we provide top quality consulting, coaching, and group support … at an affordable price. We even offer scholarships so you can get the program at absolutely no cost.

Whether you’ve experienced a job, housing, or financial loss, or live or work in fear that you will be next, the psychological impact of this recession on individuals is profound.  It can affect not just your livelihood, but your family and health.   It  should not be neglected.  A good therapist will help.  I recommend a great one, my partner Lu Vorhies.

Gender can play an interesting role.  Check out the personal essay  When Your Employer Hands You Lemons from Erik Proulx.  Here is a summary.

Buried in our caveman subconscious is this need for victory. At every turn of our lives we’re competing—for attention, grades, athletic victories, job openings, status, awards, promotions, earnings. When we lose a job, we don’t mourn the loss; we mourn the defeat.

Marc