Humans learn best by regret.

   Though we may plan and do, we prefer to avoid planning in excess for fear of wasting effort and time on possibilities which we perceive as too unlikely to happen to warrant expending so much work at preparation to avoid. We are lazy. We prefer to try our hands at what we think we know and let actual experience teach us what we don't know. Rather than taking the time to imagine and prepare for e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g, we prefer to blunder purposefully and store the blunders in memory so that we may recall them later as guides for subsequent behavior. (Certainly those memories provide a better guide than the beliefs and expectations that were initially relied upon prior to learning!)

   This is how our ancestors learned and progressed, by trial-and-error. The more blunders you had stored in memory, the "wiser" you became and the greater respect others in your clan would begin to hold of you. We must always keep in mind that they were no dumber or smarter than we are, so long as you don't look too far back on the paleontological time line. "They” were us but with just a lot less knowledge. They, that is, We had to start somewhere. And ignorance by far fails at providing a firm foundation to start on.

   If you have already read Avoiding Error you know that to effectively minimize all potential for subsequent error, among other important commitments, you must form a group of dedicated and competent members. There is no workable way around that unfortunate fact. Humans just aren't smart enough for each individual one of us to know everything. We must work in groups and rely upon each other. But suppose you hadn't either the resources or time to get such a group together. Suppose you had to quietly confront an important decision alone and single-mindedly face a universe of possibilities and potential outcomes. What would you do? How would you navigate through such a scenario so that nothing unwanted or unprepared for would subsequently occur and spiral your predicament down an even deeper abyss than you started out with?

   That's what "avoiding simplemindedness" is all about. These are the tools to use to ward off your own inherent ignorance and stupid predispositions! As outlandish as that claim may sound, it is true. There is no need for you to learn them the hard way, on your own, by trial-and-error. Here is free knowledge from the wise. Now the only problems remaining are remembering and actually applying them all. As humans we are always limited in what we know, can recall and can do, in whatever time we might have to do.

   Nevertheless, knowing a little of what to do is certainly better than knowing nothing at all. Knowledge is Power. Knowledge reduces the time needed to analyze and recognize what we might be overlooking. Knowledge makes us confident and keeps us calm, reducing the burden we may perceive sitting on our shoulders. More knowledge means less time needed to get things done, whereas more time means less knowledge necessary for imagining and recognizing appropriate solutions. These tools WILL supply you with the knowledge you need to help you recognize those most appropriate decisions when you have some time for doing so. Yes, they may be applied so generally and effectively. (No legal disclaimer necessary!)

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Note that this is NOT to say that when disaster strikes should you override your immediate instincts and think, "Okay now, I need to remember what I read.” Of course not! When time is extremely short, it is our immediate memories and instincts that keep us alive — and have kept us alive for millennia — by providing us with quick responses/reflexes for avoiding impending doom. These are the tools to use when you have time to contemplate various options and want to avoid those difficult consequences that selecting the wrong option may force you into.

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   But don't limit their application to the sole decision-maker alone! These tools are as effective for each individual member of the group as they are for the individual decision-maker. Remember that groups, as superior as they are for quickly arriving at absolutely outstanding solutions, can at times suffer from groupthink where all the members of the group somehow fail to recognize a common assumption held among all the participants. They fail to seek verification for some deadly assumption, or they fail to try to find a way to work around it, in effect assuming insurmountable an assumption which in actuality may be easily surmountable if only someone in the group would make the required effort to analyze and/or research! As a consequence their decision making process suffers as a whole. They do something stupid for not realizing their own stupidity. So the human saga goes on.

   As an individual decision-maker facing a new problem, you will tend to focus your attention on only one aspect of the situation at a time.^* You will tend to study each part of the problem before attempting to understand how they all contribute to the whole. And ... this is time consuming. What should you do when you find yourself with only a limited amount of time to arrive at a viable solution? Suppose for example that your food or water resources are running out as you contemplate various means of survival and returning to civilization. Or, back home in civilization, suppose your boss needs a solution by some definite deadline. Where do you begin? What do you do? How do you know that your initial efforts at organizing and planning will be sufficient? With NOTHING overlooked?

   Similarly, a group member facing a new problem tends to focus all of his or her attention on only one aspect of the situation at a time. In fact, he or she is doing so already as the group has more than likely subdivided the problem into various pieces, isolating smaller aspects of the total situation for individual analysis. Now he/she must subdivide further to understand how each sub-part contributes not only to the sub-whole under observation but to other sub-wholes under observation by other members as well, and then as well as to the whole itself. There is complexity even when we endeavor simplicity! So again, where does he/she begin? What to do?

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   ^*Surely we couldn't expect anything else from a fellow human. Our minds are built to focus on only one scenario at a time (unless one task is accomplished habitually while we contemplate something else, but still in such a case our mental efforts can be focused sharply on only one significant matter at a time).

All opinions expressed in this web site, unless otherwise noted, are my own, Michael Gaspard. If you notice any errors or have any suggestions for improvement, please let me know by e-mailing webmaster@mdpme.com. Thank you!

This web page was last updated on Monday, February 2, 2004.
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