“Don’t wanna learn from nobody what I gotta unlearn.” Bob Dylan Question: Which of the following characteristics has a higher correlation to the success of a Hollywood movie: the involvement of a famous movie star or the location(s) where the movie is shot? The answer, to the surprise and chagrin of [...]
Unlearn Your Intuition (Sometimes)
October 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Recently, I gave two presentations on the topic of my latest book, Jump the Curve, at a State Managers Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I discussed a great many topics, but I would like to highlight just one: “Embracing counter-intuitive findings.” Today, a great many people, including education, public health and law enforcement officials are certain as [...]
New Voice Recognition Technology Mandates Unlearning
November 18, 2008 By 1 Comment
Late yesterday, Google released a very cool new mobile application which employs voice recognition technology. The question is not so much what the technology can do today, the question is what will the technology be able to do in the near future—and how might it require professionals in the education, health care, and a host of other [...]
Unlearning Your Daily Commute
October 2, 2008 By Leave a Comment
I live in a major metropolitan area and the traffic situation drives me crazy. If someone then told me that they were going to close a road in order to reduce traffic congestion, I’d likely think they were either crazy or stupid. As I mention in my book, Jump the Curve, emerging technologies can, however, [...]
Unlearning the Future
July 3, 2008 By Leave a Comment
The future is unknowable. There are far too many variables for even the most foresighted individual or powerful supercomputer to accurately forecast what tomorrow—let alone next year or the next decade—will look like with precision. Nevertheless, this fact neither discounts the importance of forecasting, nor does it diminish the work that those individuals (myself included) [...]
Unlearning Choice
June 29, 2008 By Leave a Comment
It is easy to believe that having more choices will lead to a greater level of happiness. However, as this new study suggests, people may be more satisfied when selecting from a smaller set of options. There are a couple of reasons for this somewhat counter-intuitive finding, but the most poignant seems to be that [...]
