Back in December of ’21 I did recommend the book Noise by Kahneman, Sibony and Sunstein. The hope was to introduce the finding that our intuition does not in fact perform as amazing as we have generally believed. Yes, we do figure out how to solve new problems based on our past experience with similar issues. However, the issues that are similar don’t frequently resolve with the “proven” past treatment. I believe most of us have notice that this style of problem solving does take a little tweaking most the time but it is fast and “automatic.” The data, if you read the book, in fact confirms that the past learned and saved solutions were usually not the best options. Automatic systems prove to be lazy systems (lots of system noise) and we frequently conjure of a fast solution without comparative data and that gains the title of wise or best only by the story you generate to validate your action. It feel amazing because it worked but that does not win it top position in efficiency. Of course, in our present epoch of change something that sort of worked at 40% is now just a frustration. Gone is the pride we felt when we saved the moment with an amazing intuitive hit.
But if we drop a coin (now a card) into “the right” slot machine at “the right time” and win we call that intuition. Not quite the same as above description but does end with a feel good if you in fact win. Wait, innovation is frequently referred to as intuition. Physic is traditionally discussed using mathematics but Richard Feynman invented a simple system of eponymous diagrams that would yield him answers without using any mathematics. An extraordinary feat of intuition. And Einstein was quite contemptuous of experiment, preferring to put his faith in pure thought. His novel theories incorporated others novel theories and pure innovation—intuitive without question. Have you ever sorted through boxes, books or web sites looking for a special something and became frustrated by misdirected labeling? That is a non-intuitive process with a different reference for that same broad term. I have been dancing you around and could have just stated that we have lots of different meanings for the words we use and many without any apparent association. The only possible common threat that I can see with intuition is the possibility of a feel good moment. A word is a term in sound that represents a symbol. A symbol is an idea in form as a pattern.
We need more ranges and need to swiftly pick the range that has all the relevant information to process an event wisely. We would need labels for all those ranges but using the same word or symbol would require a lot of sorting. We seem to preference “how it feels” at some moment in the range but with that as a marker ranges tend to get more cross indexed. Last month I suggested we start with new ranges. Read a book, make a new friend, go for a walk someplace new, try a new food, etc. and acknowledge this new experience as the foundation for a new reach. Do a meditation and track this new happening in your “mind” from start to end. Threads will link associated information from other ranges but don’t go down that rabbit hole. Stay with your new span and as you move back and forth, end to end, feel all the permutations, the order and the offers. Notice and feel with every new swipe what you missed or glossed over on the last one. Invite your imagination to stage curiosity; what was out of sight, to produce the offer to expand this new array. Repeat this meditation with your new series each day for at least four days to secure the scope. Dream space will build all the cross indexing but your meditations will have secured the range as a new resource. The work beginnings.
Chriss
