Knowledge is power, or so I’ve been told. Uncertainty, ambiguity, and indecisiveness are
supposedly weaknesses. But simple
decisions have become complex. They say
90% of the world’s data was created in the last five years. If I want to buy a new coffee maker, I can
spend endless hours researching and gathering information. I’m overloaded with facts and opinions and bombarded
with contradictory information, almost to the point of indecisiveness.
“In an increasingly complex, unpredictable world, what
matters most isn’t IQ, willpower, or confidence in what we know. It’s how we deal with what we don’t
understand,” says
Jamie Holmes in his new book, Nonsense: The Power of Not Knowing.
He challenged me to think about ambiguity, uncertainty, and
contradictions in a good way, to even embrace them. It doesn’t really help me on selecting a
coffee pot, though.
Indecision is unpleasant, but sometimes we just need to
dwell in it longer. Opinions on both
sides of a controversial issue become amplified as people flee the uncertain
ground in between, jumping to conclusions in order to reduce ambiguity and find
something more predictable. What we
really need is adaptability and calculated re-evaluation. Contradiction can make us productive, solving
mysteries makes us find pleasure in puzzles, and missing information can lead
to creativity. We learn to invent, look
for answers in new ways, and we deepen our empathy and understanding.
Holmes uses numerous psychological studies and historical
anecdotes to make his point, such as the FBI’s failures in the branch Davidian
disaster in Waco and the success of marketers in the Absolute Vodka
advertising. He explains how our mental
machinery works and the idea behind wise
versus hasty decisions.
Again, I still don’t know how to select a new coffee
maker, so I guess I’ll just dwell in the uncertainty and ambiguity of not
knowing and maybe invent my own.
I received a
complimentary copy of this book from Crown Publishers in exchange for my honest
review.
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