We think we know far more than we actually do.
Humans have built hugely complex societies and technologies, but most of us don’t even know how a pen or a toilet works. How have we achieved so much despite understanding so little? Because whilst individuals know very little, the collective or ‘hive’ mind knows a lot.
Acclaimed cognitive scientist Steven Sloman visits the RSA to argue that we survive and thrive despite our mental shortcomings because we live in a rich community of knowledge. The key to our intelligence lies in the people and things around us. We’re constantly drawing on information and expertise stored outside our heads: in our bodies, our environment, our possessions, and the community with which we interact—and usually we don’t even realize we’re doing it.
The fundamentally communal nature of intelligence and knowledge explains why we often assume we know more than we really do, why political opinions and false beliefs are so hard to change, and why individually oriented approaches to education and management frequently fail. Our collaborative minds, on the other hand, enable us to do amazing things.
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This sounds really interesting. As primarily a personal constructivist I struggle a little with some notions I come across of knowledge existing outside or between minds (rather than being accessed through the network of minds). I hope I can keep this time free to listen in, and perhaps there will be a podcast version later? "The key to our intelligence lies in the people and things around us" - perhaps also in having competence in accessing, interpreting, filtering, and evaluating information from the people and things around us.