Feb 8Origins of System 3The idea that our thinking operates in two distinct modes, one fast and intuitive, the other slow and deliberate, emerged from the lifelong work of two Israeli psychologists, Amos Taversky and Daniel Kahneman. Kahneman immortalized their insights in his book, Thinking Fast and Slow (2011). …System 35 min readSystem 35 min read
Jan 31Tools for Activating System 3System 3 thinking can emerge spontaneously in all kinds of conversations, from casual to purposeful. But how can we bring groups together and enable them to activate System 3? …System 38 min readSystem 38 min read
Jan 18Magic Tricks and The Imitation GameWe’ve been inundated with “miracles” lately, as people discovered first Midjourney and DALL-E and then ChatGPT. There’s been a steady stream of amazement and wonder as people post examples of output generated from prompting these AI systems with “creative” suggestions. Don’t get me wrong, I am impressed, too. In fact…Magic4 min readMagic4 min read
Jan 9AA, Agile, and Psychological Safety: System 3 as AntifragileAlcoholics Anonymous (AA) is fascinating on many fronts, but this last summer, as I was doing some extensive research on meetings and other purposeful conversations, I noticed something about AA that had never occurred to me before. I had been thinking about the complex of problems that drive all kinds…System 36 min readSystem 36 min read
Dec 22, 2022System 3 is a Boundary ObjectSystem 3 is, I think, a good example of boundary object: “both plastic enough to adapt to local needs and constraints of the several parties employing them, yet robust enough to maintain a common identity across sites…They may be abstract or concrete. They have different meanings in different social worlds…Boundary Objects3 min readBoundary Objects3 min read
Dec 20, 2022Thinking Games and System 3Since people began to imagine the possibility of intelligent machines, they have believed that chess playing would be one of the ultimate tests of that achievement. Why? Of course, part of the answer is that the game of chess is demonstrably and mathematically complex. …System 36 min readSystem 36 min read
Dec 14, 2022This is My Mind on System 3As I was listening to the New York Times Book Review podcast this morning (Best 10 Books of 2022 episode) I began to meditate on my life as a reader, and how, for the last several years, I have been annually setting myself the challenge of reading 100+ books. I’ve…System 37 min readSystem 37 min read
Dec 6, 2022System 3: Initial HypothesesDaniel Kahneman famously described two modes of thought, one “fast” and the other “slow.” The fast mode is instinctual and emotional, linked closely to sense perception and autonomic functions. The slow mode is deliberative, rational and reflective, the kind of thinking we often associate with the phrase, conscious thought. …Thinking5 min readThinking5 min read
Nov 27, 2022Is It Time to Criminalize Killer Business Models?The tobacco industry, the handgun industry, and, perhaps, the social media industry are all running killer business models. I’m using that term not in it’s bad boy hype vernacular sense, as in “killer app,” but in a more literal sense. …3 min read3 min read
Sep 2, 2022Accept or Decline: are those the right questions?We accept calendar invites like we accept terms of service: without thinking. We have developed some bad habits in our use of software. As software has become more and more invisible (many probably don’t even remember the days when it came in fancy boxes, on floppy disks and then CD-ROMs)…Meeting Design3 min readMeeting Design3 min read
