Please review the video that posted a couple of weeks ago titled 'The Monkey Business' before reading on this post. Go on .. I’ll wait … Meanwhile let me contemplate why I’ve been lately reading about monkeys (the wall street fat cat bankers) and gorilla’s (outlined herein). Its Karma, I tell you ….
Ok. Now that you took the test and most likely missed out on the fairly obvious transitions. I bring you to the book “The Invisible Gorilla : And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us” written by the same authors who conducted that popular experiment – namely - by Christopher F. Chabris and Daniel Simons.
It truly conveys the fact that our state-of-focus on one thing makes us vulnerable in missing out on everything else that is concurrently happening right in front of our eyes. So, this is the premise of the book – Our brain “deceives us” ALL THE TIME and we must be aware of this fact and take corrective action or at least be cognizant of the fallacy that we are not perfectly logical and all knowledgeable, and observant humans. Just like we completely missed out the on a big gorilla walking in front of our eyes, thumping his chest, and walk away – all the while we were busy counting the bouncing balls – we do get deceive by our mind on various different aspects. In particular, the book describes, “Deception of Memory”, “Deception of Intelligence/Knowledge”, and “Deception of potential”; just to name a few.
“Deception of Memory” – It is widely believed that events are recorded in our memory like a video recorder and we can recall them in exactly the same fashion. TOTALLY WRONG. We only store feelings and perceptions and then we pretty much make the story around it. The author brilliantly explained this phenomenon while recalling their personal experience during the unfolding of the horrendous events on 9/11. Once they collected all the stories of all the folks that they thought were with them during those trying hours – Everyone’s recollection was different. How could that be - could different video recorders record and play different movies for the same recorded scene?
“Deception of Knowledge” – We take confidence (exuded by a person) as the measure of ones knowledge. AGAIN WRONG. Usually, we carry a lot of perception in the form of fear or confidence rather than actual knowledge. What I mean is? Short term memory obviously works - If someone asked me about the latest book that I read – I would be able to articulate that in gory details. However, if someone asked me the same question about the book a month or so from now – I would only be able to relay the perceptions that I got out of that book in general terms. Sure I’ll remember some specifics but not in the gory details as within a week. The authors provide various other examples to highlight this folly of our mind.
“Deception of Potential” – This phenomenon is highlighted by one of my own experiences – Also highlighted in the book. I truly believed and I think deep inside still believe that by listening to Mozart’s symphonies – the baby in the womb is born with higher IQ than the god intended it to be. I made my donations to the company called “Baby Einstein” and I’m sure some of you have as well. But, its all probably wrong. There is no proof to back up these claims. By the way I also knock the wood to ward of evil spirits … What can I tell you? I’m all messes up in the head.
Human mind has and will remain a mystery till the end of eternity. What the authors are saying is – the experimental data does not support the perceptions that we arrry of an everyday basis. Further, they claim that most of the experimentation provide a compelling fact that we do get illusioned (I know its not a word but hey --- who is checking) by the trickery of the mind. And these illusions cloud our thoughts – and as someone wise once said - “Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become character. Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”
The moral of the story is – Don’t let these gorilla’s clutter your brain and affect your destiny.