The Bloj

Thinking outside the box

Posted on November 29th, 2006 by Tim.
Categories: Thinking Outside the WTF, Tim.

One of my favorite games of all time is a game called Alpha Centauri. It’s a game like Civilization, in the classic 4X style. After each research advance in the game, you are presented with a “quote” from a fictional character within the game plotline. One that has particularly stuck with me is this:

Man’s unfailing capacity to believe what he prefers to be true rather than what the evidence shows to be likely and possible has always astounded me. We long for a caring Universe which will save us from our childish mistakes, and in the face of mountains of evidence to the contrary we will pin all our hopes on the slimmest of doubts. God has not been proven not to exist, therefore he must exist.

Academician Prokhor Zakharov
“For I Have Tasted The Fruit”

This struck a chord with me, and I later found that this idea - that humans believe what they prefer to be true - has a scientific name: Confirmation Bias. Actually, confirmation bias is the tendancy people have to interpret information in a way that supports their preconceptions, which is quite similar to what “Zakharov” said. The end result of confirmation bias is that we tend to believe some pretty crazy stuff. The earth is flat. Cold weather makes you sick. People would explode in the vacuum of space. None of these are true. It makes you wonder how many other crazy things we take for granted as being true.

Take, for instance, recycling. Recycling has become one of those cultural icons that has become accepted accross political lines. It would likely be a very bad move politically to oppose recycling, for a Republican or Democrat. As a universally accepted “fact”, few people stop to question the actual benefit that we get from recycling. Examine paper recycling: In order to recycle paper, we burn a large quantity of fossil fuels in order to transport the paper between local recycling stations and paper mills, and even more oil and energy in the paper manufacturing process. All this to save… a renewable resource called forests. Of course, it is common knowledge that we are running out of trees, isn’t it? Well actually, no, it isn’t. The number of trees is at its highest point now than any time in this century. What about landfill space, aren’t we running out of landfill space? Again, no. We could continue producing trash at our current rate for the next 1000 years, and we would only need a landfill that was 35 square miles.

On the assumption that recycling is an inherently good thing, the US government has poured billions of dollars into recycling subsidies. The cost of recycling one ton of garbage in NYC is $239, compared to $132 to put it in a landfill. If the city would stop all recycling efforts, it would save $56 million a year. Imagine what we could do with that money if we put it towards conservation efforts, or research into alternative energy? However, there is one shining point of economic beauty in this quagmire of wasteful recycling: The cost of recycling aluminum cans is significantly lower than the cost to extract aluminum from raw ore. This results in the only class of recycling that is economically profitable.

Thinking without confirmation bias requires thinking outside the box. It’s not a natural way to think, and requires serious introspection on preconcieved ideas and beliefs. For more information about the recycling controversy, check out this video of Penn and Teller calling Recycling Bullsh*t.

1 comment.

Examples of organizational masturbation…

Posted on October 27th, 2006 by Chris.
Categories: Business/The Software Industry, Chris, General/Misc., Thinking Outside the WTF.

1. Award shows

“Ah…(waving his arms to try and quiet the crowd) Stop! Shh! Ah, I’d like to thank God, my mom, my dad, my beautiful fiancee who I love more than anything in the world, General Hospital, wonderful cast; Sarah Brown, Kimberly McCullough, Ron Hale, Tony Geary, Maurice Benard; John Homa, I love you, ABC, Wendy Riche, Elizabeth Courty, Bob Guza, Mark Teschner, Jeff Ballard, Jim Warren, thank you, I LOVE YOU!!!”

2. Honor societies

Golden Key is a mission focused, values based and demographics driven organization.

Mission: To enable members to realize their potential by connecting individual achievement with service and lifelong opportunity.

Values: Integrity, Collaboration, Innovation, Respect, Diversity, Excellence, Engagement.

References

[1] http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/lot/8416/emmyspeech98.html

[2] http://goldenkey.org/GKweb/WhatIsGoldenKey/MissionValuesStrategicPlan/

Coming next: greenwashing and excellence

1 comment.

Marketing WTFs: HUGE opportunity

Posted on October 23rd, 2006 by Chris.
Categories: Business/The Software Industry, Chris, General/Misc., Thinking Outside the WTF.

Have a marketing WTF? Tell us about it! outsidethebox@strafenet.com

Perhaps the best part of this company is their commitment to intensity, even in their typeface. Like, I’d totally want to work there and OMG they even have BAGEL FRIDAYS. LMAOMMMMG!!1one

(Needless to say, they’ve already got my résumé.)

0 comments.

Thinking about the box: Marketing WTFs

Posted on October 21st, 2006 by Chris.
Categories: Business/The Software Industry, Chris, General/Misc., Thinking Outside the WTF.

Have a marketing WTF? Tell us about it! outsidethebox@strafenet.com

On a job description for an analyst position:

We value assertive individuals who “think outside the box.”

The fascinating thing about the phrase thinking outside the box is how inside the box it’s managed to become. When did the phrase thinking outside the box become so cliche that it actually became its own antithesis?

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