Really, really slow: Cognition on a geological time scale
6 Comments Published by Sanjay Khanna July 22nd, 2008 in Cognition, Pattern RecognitionOur collective inability to master slow modalities of cognition, and thus to embody wisdom, has made it exponentially more difficult to stabilize the economy, make peace with the environment, create trust among people and nations, and minimize the climate crisis.
To better mitigate these interrelated risks to humanity, we may have needed to be able to think at a kind of glacial pace, on a time scale rather more geological than quarterly. Instead, living in a time when marketers are cleverly stoking desire with all the covert and overt tools at hand-including the digital designs of everyware-we've grown increasingly susceptible to millisecond bursts of visual, aural, and psychological influence.
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oh, man, you think to much, and use way too many words for simple thoughts .. take the long view … four words that sum up your entire post
the environment and the economy are not growing more unstable (the premise for your blog) … if you follow your own advice (cognition on a .. etc.) you will see that those two things are systems which are in continuous adjustment, just like nature, one big adjustment machine
no big deal
Gregory: There’s no credible evidence to support your claim that the “environment are the economy are NOT growing more unstable.” What is known today indicates that the global economy and the climate system are, with business continuing as usual, going to make a massive non-linear adjustment that will be a very, very big deal indeed.
Respectfully, I don’t think the solution is thinking slower – while we’re in the car, while we’re in the jet liner flying off to some far-away place – that means nothing, frankly. Thinking alone never changed anything. Action must accompany reason and thought, and often action must be swift and decisive.
I’ve posted this before on your blog, but feel compelled too say it again: I’m just not sold on all elements the “slow” movement – it doesn’t jive with the pace of life today. I am all about its principles around making connections and building community. But you can’t stop the juggernaut of evil with a calm, “yo, dude – chillax.” What’s that saying? “Please stop the world so I can get off.” Not realistic. The corporations cannot be allowed to take over while we’re busy growing our own organic food and having picnics.
My carbon footprint is much smaller that many people I know because I live a simple life that literally moves slower, because I take public transit to move around 90 per cent of the time, because I fly no more than once a year and because I don’t feel the need for speed in the way I move or eat or live. I make deliberate choices about slowing down my life to a pace that works for me. And I suffer from our society’s passion for speed at work – since when did everything become an emergency?
However, I think fast, and that’s the way I like it. I think it’s part of our programming for survival, and those of us who want to save the planet need to think just as fast – or even faster – than those who shall attempt to destroy it. My approach may not have ‘exactitude’ at every moment, as you described it in your previous post, but it is strategic and I like to think that I get shit done. The Long Emergency (props to Jim Kunstler) and the end of oil will be a marathon, not a sprint – but I still want to come in first!
xo
Lesli, it might be worth pointing out that the counterintuitive result of slowness is faster response times. The point of developing slow cognition, via meditation or otherwise, is to be able to respond more intuitively to a wider range of inputs than is possible by other means. Slowing down develops calmness, improves perception and the ability to respond as fast as possible.
Regarding people who want to save the planet needing to think as fast or faster than those who are attempting to destroy it, I’m not convinced either that (a.) it is possible or (b.) wise. I don’t believe we’ll be able to go past certain human limits around thinking or acting that quickly. (You might think that sounds defeatist, but I’m not so sure.)
Rather than engaging in debate on this topic further, I’ll simply quote the Indigo Girls:
“Gotta get out a bed, get a hammer and a nail
Learn hour to use my hands
Not just my head, I’ll think myself into jail.
Now I know a refuge never grows
From a chin in a hand, in a thoughtful pose
Gotta tend the earth if you want a rose.”
The girls say it best, and that’s all I’m saying.
Great counterpoint, Lesli. Nice.