There is something in the news media that has been obvious to me as a medical professional.  Why is so much of the recent news about the Wuhan coronavirus in regards to immunity is slanted negative?

Yes it is true that we simply don't know how long and how effective the immunity to COVID 19 will be in recovered individuals.  But it seems that the news media is trying to downplay the increasing immunity seen in the general population.  The media likes to question the effectiveness of the antibody response in recovered individuals, especially in relationship to some future immunization, yet doesn't put two-and-two together when they then report on the benefit of antibodies from recovered individuals in helping critically ill COVID19 patients. 

Why Are They So Negative?

I don't want to believe that there is a political purpose to this negative reporting.  I have my thoughts, but can't confirm that.  However the axiom "If it bleeds, it leads" that has been the mainstay of mainstream news for decades certainly plays a role.  Honestly reporting about the potential benefits of recovery and immunity in the population probably wouldn't get the same readership as casting doubt and panic by a contrary perspective with the same data.  So negative information, regardless if it is true or not, becomes headlines.  Facts replaced with...

Is Boredom Bad?

It seems like everything in society is working to fill every little slice of time in our day.  

Taking a walk?  Don't just walk, listen to music. Listen to a podcast. 

On the train?  Don't just stare out the window, read a condensed book.  Play an electronic game on your phone.

Having coffee in the morning?  Don't just sit there, read the latest news on your phone.  Text someone.  Check your email.

It's NUTS how much of our time is filled with b*llsh!t.  

Now answer this question.

Where are you most likely to have had an "ah-ha!" moment?

1. Reading the news on your phone?
2. Listening to a podcast on the train/bus/auto?
3. While taking a shower?

If you are like I am, and most people, your innovative mind doesn't work very well when your senses are being bombarded by non-stop information.  

Most of us come up with our best ideas when we ... are simply day-dreaming.  When our mind allows itself to wander and bounce all over the place.  When our mind is allowed to be bored. 

When your mind is allowed to think about what it wants to think about, not what it's being told through your eyes and ears.  

Be Bored

Are you setting yourself up to be bored on a regular basis?  If not, perhaps you are missing harnessing the power of your subconscious mind to help you...

Recently I saw an article on "agile thinking".  It was written by someone who really though that they had stumbled upon something profound.  Agile Thinking.

What's Old Is New

In the article, the author described in detail how their ability to use agile thinking allowed them to navigate the complexity of their job as well as the (LOL) the planning of their child's birthday party.  

There was a description of how they created a list. Then prioritized the items on the list. Then executed them.  

Thinking

Wow!  What a novel concept.  

Creating a list. Putting it in order of importance and then doing the things on the list.

I never thought that my wife and I were practicing the futuristic concept of agile thinking. when we did these things for the past 40 years while raising our family.  Or for any number of the tasks we did at home or at work.   I didn't realize that the process of our simple thinking was so ahead of it's time.  

Why didn't I think of that?

Perhaps I could have come up with "agile thinking" and written about it if I had been practicing agile thinking.....

Maybe it's time to give credit where credit is due and not try to make something "new" out of something "old".  Putting a new name on something that already exists doesn't make it new. 

Oh, by the way, perhaps...

Recently Seth Godin in "Seth's Blog" posted on "Time shifting".  He described how people make decisions based on the "now".  There is a difference between the individual who may look slightly into the future regarding the decisions they are making now, versus the "mob" which makes decisions only on the "now".  

Mob Vs. Me Thinking

So it made me think about the difference between the "me" decision and the "mob" decision.  

"Me" has a single integrated brain. It has reflexes that can produce immediate responses, but it also has memory.  It's the memory of what has happened in the past that can modify the "me" current decision.  Moreover, that memory can influence the projection of what may occur in the future based on a decision "now".  You make decisions based on the past, present, and future. Hopefully, these are decisions that are optimal for your future. 

"Mob" has no such memory.  For that reason, it can only react at the moment.  The individuals of the mob interact like a network of brain cells that produce a reflex action in response to a stimulus.  That multi-person network has no ability to look back in the past, nor project into the future.  Mob only reacts in the present.  It has no past. It has no future.  For that reason, it's only concerned with the "now".  The mob's...

Know when to stop the input...and start the thinking...

The process of learning, thinking, doing and enjoying is not just one process.  It is several different processes and skills that are linked together.  Each skill provides a different element of the entire process of conversion of a new learned fact, into a thought, action, which then results in a benefit of outcome.

Our brains are only capable of a finite ability to deal with facts, or "inputs"  at one time.  For some people it might be a large number of facts; for others, it might be a smaller number.  That number may change over our lifetime based.  It certainly will change with practice, improving with greater use.

Is it better to keep providing input that will be lost or forgotten?  Or stop the input and really process (i.e. think) about the inputs and turn them into lessons, concepts and memories?

Once we "hit" our limit of inputs for a period of time, our brain needs time to digest those new ideas.  It needs to process them, organize them and file them into the "storage cabinet" in our brains for future use. After that point, we may be wasting our time by stuffing in more inputs, only to crowd out the earlier ones.  Perhaps at those times, we are better to stop further input process and start the thinking process... 

We all can understand our own...