Issue: Human Society

The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World

Posted by | Jan 9, 2022 | |

Is the world essentially inert and mechanical – nothing but a collection of things for us to use? Are we ourselves nothing but the playthings of chance, embroiled in a war of all against all? Why, indeed, are we engaged in destroying everything that is valuable to us?

In his international bestseller, The Master and his Emissary, McGilchrist demonstrated that each brain hemisphere provides us with a radically different ‘take’ on the world, and used this insight to deliver a fresh understanding of the main turning points in the history of Western civilisation.
In this landmark new book, Iain McGilchrist addresses some of the oldest and hardest questions humanity faces – ones that, however, have a practical urgency for all of us today. — amazon.co.uk

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Nudge: The Final Edition

Posted by | Jan 9, 2022 | |

Since the original publication of Nudge more than a decade ago, the word has entered the vocabulary of businesspeople, policy makers, engaged citizens and consumers everywhere. The book has given rise to hundreds of “nudge units” in governments around the world and countless groups of behavioural scientists in every part of the economy. It has taught us how to use thoughtful choice architecture to help us make better decisions for ourselves, our families, and our society.

Now, Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein have updated the book, making use of their experiences in and out of government over the past dozen years as well as an explosion of new research. This final edition offers a wealth of new insights, for both its avowed fans and newcomers, about a wide range of issues that we face in our daily lives — health, personal finance, climate change, and “sludge” (paperwork and other nuisances we don’t want, and that keep us from getting what we do want) — all while honouring one of the cardinal rules of nudging: make it fun! — amazon.co.uk

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Science Alone Won’t Save Us

Science Alone Won’t Save Us

Posted by | Apr 17, 2021 | , , |

Science is creating new vaccines and better ways of treating Covid-19. But vaccine nationalism, distrust of the vaccine, and maverick political leaders in pandemic hotspots aren’t helping.

These are barriers that cannot be overcome by science. They are social problems originating and promulgated in the minds of human beings. And that is where they must be resolved if we are to prevail in the current global struggle between homo sapiens and the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

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Thinking Together

Thinking Together

Posted by | Mar 30, 2021 | , , |

Business studies have long emphasised the importance of ‘people management’ to business success. And EQ and so-called ‘soft skills’ are widely recognised as important attributes for managers and leaders.
But recent claims by evolutionary psychologists challenge the unspoken assumption that the human ability to reason is a superior capability of individuals, enabling them to think better on their own. If that were true, the argument goes, how strange it is flawed and keeps leading people astray through a long and growing list of inherent biases. Instead, they propose that reason is a social attribute that permits groups to arrive collectively at higher-quality decisions.
If this is true, then surely then the art and craft of thinking together is essential to effective performance whether led by a skilled external facilitator, or as a communally developed skill shared by a group, family, organization or community. The implications for management practice are extensive.

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