It is a well known fact that we humans have a built in propensity to identify patterns where none exist; to see causal linkages that are, at best, tenuous; to attribute to skill something that was the result of good luck; and to imply intention where none was meant.
Year: 2011
Listen – Don’t Talk
As well as providing space for some of my own thinking, my intention is to use this blog to store links to other writing and writers that help me. This morning I was directed to this blog from LinkedIn. How true that our first reaction when told of someone else’s worries/concerns is to share our own experience (and therefore talk) rather than share their experience (and therefore listen).
World 2.1 – Part 1
This is another post inspired by one that I have previously posted on the company intranet, but which has much wider implications. That one was entitled World 2.0 – the change this time is to reflect the fact that my own thinking has moved on since then. The new forms of interaction available to us in this day and age require that we rethink the way in which we can relate to others.
More “On Friends”
Having thought about my original post a bit longer (and having pontificated a bit about some related topics in other posts) it is necessary to further expand the thinking about ‘layers’ or ‘levels’ of friends.
Know Your Enemy (especially when its your friend)
A few of these initial blog posts have been centred around the subject of how we relate to others, the importance of understanding our worldview and the difficulties (and surprises) inherent in interpreting the world view of others. What I had struggled with a little was finding a good, relevant (and real) example of me misjudging the reactions of someone else – and then I remembered a previous post on my company intranet blog.
A Hidden Agenda Paradox
Following on from the need to understand that others have their own worldview that will be difficult for any of us to get inside it is necessary to spend just a short time looking at things from the other way round.
Understanding Others
I have an amateur interest in psychology – in particular cognitive psychology – and understanding the way we ‘work’. This is, of course, not unrelated to the problem faced by anyone having to design/produce/specify any system that is to be used by others – so it is very relevant to my day-to-day existence. Of course it is one thing to know the theory and quite another to put it into practice!
Where Are We Going
Found this presentation through LinkedIn. Certainly worth a viewing.
Dumbing Down
I often watch TV series/programmes about subjects that I have a particular interest in and, inevitably, those of which I have most knowledge always seem to come across as superficial or shallow or just plain dumbed down. I wonder to what extent that is a problem for the media generally.
Prediction Is Difficult – Especially About The Future!
It was Neils Bohr who first said that, and it is something which we all often fail to remember. This is the first of two blogs (probably in quick succession) triggered by a TV programme that I watched this evening.