Slow Thinking
We need not travel far (just to a nearby building at M.I.T.) to find a complementary perspective on human decision making. I have already briefly cited the work of MIT’s Daniel Kahneman. He is the Nobel prize winning author of Thinking Fast and Slow (Kahneman, 2013) who focuses on processes of human decision making. Kahneman suggests that we are inclined to think fast about a pressing (and complex) problem—especially one (as I noted above) that is filled with anxiety. We should instead slow down our thinking so that we might better understand the problem and identify often untested underlying assumptions embedded in the problem. Like Forrester and Meadows, Kahneman urges us to stop for a few minutes (or a few days) before deciding and acting—especially when we are anxious or when there seems to be social pressure to quickly arrive at a decision.
As a sidebar, I can point to a story issuing from the recent reporting of Steve Dalkowski’s death. Legend has it that he threw the fasting pitch ever recorded in modern baseball history. Supposedly, he was able to fire in a baseball at close to 110 miles per hour (though he was playing before the device recording the official speed was invented). While Dalkowski could pitch hard and fast, he was not very accurate. His errant pitches over the backstop were noteworthy, as was his strike-to-walk ratio (more of the latter than the former). Dalkowski was portrayed (as “Nuke” LaLoosh) by Tim Robbins in the movie, Bull Durham, with his fastball flying everywhere.
Tragically, Dalkowski was defeated by not only his lack of control as a pitcher, but also his lack of control as an alcoholic. Nevertheless, for a short period of time, he was a good pitcher and almost made it to the major leagues. What was the secret? He slowed down his pitch and found more accuracy in throwing the ball over the plate. As they say in baseball, he gained some “command” of his pitches—he learned how to “pitch” rather than just “throw”. I would suggest that the same principle applies to 21st Century problem-solving. Our Dalkowski Theorem is that we must slow down our thinking if we want to be accurate—otherwise we will never make it to the major leagues! We need to thoughtfully pitch rather than simply throw hard (or solve fast)—otherwise we will remain a “bush leaguer”.
