Not all knowledge is equal and our attention is limited. How succesfull we are in life is a function of our ability to focus on usefull information amidst a hailstorm of distraction, and this can be hard. Scientist of the Univesity of Hamlet, UK have discovered the essential property of the thing we should know : It is ‘What is going on’. Knowing ‘What is going on’ has clear benefits compared to ‘Being clueless’ or ‘Out of the loop’, as shown in repeated double blind and somewhat clueless trails.
Gut feeling’s historic high point
Previously it was though that ‘a gut feeling’ was sufficient to know ‘what’s going on’ but just like ‘Winging it’ or going with whaterver comes to mind in a ‘Blink’ the ‘gut feeling’ lacks detail, but is usefull in sensing moments that one should find our ‘What’s going on’.
Dangerous climate change that requires a disruptive response, is one of the things scientist found it was ‘going on’.
Historically it was shown that the quality of knowledge gained from knowing ‘What’s going on’ does depend on the body of knowledge and understanding already gained by the subject. So Thor hammering on the clouds was not really ‘What’s going on’ even though the Vikins thought so. The best way to make sure you know exactly ‘What’s going on’ is, and this is one of the more shocking results, to ‘find out’. Subjects starting their reports with ‘I guess’ or ‘I don’t know but I think’ usually did not score well.
‘Getting it’ is also very important. according to lead Scientist Bee Lyne
The finding is particularly relevant since there are large portions of our society, business community and government where we should qualify our knowledge as ‘clueless’. For reasons of security, health and property rights it is imporant that more is done to know ‘What’s going on’. Scientist hoped education would help us create a new generation of clued in people, even though they said they hadn’t really been told what would be best to know until they found it out themselves. They hope to ‘find out’ more, setting an example for their colleagues.
Early proof, but of course scientist have to take three decades to discover the obvious.
Related : Scientists discover : It is true! (It seemed unlikely for a long time, but it is actually true).