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from the it's-harder-to-reverse-engineer-someone-else's-work-than-the-new-stuff-we-just-came-up-with dept.
Here's Why Our Brains Solve Problems by Adding Things, Not Removing:
Have you ever noticed how we usually try and solve problems by adding more, rather than taking away? More meetings, more forms, more buttons, more shelves, more systems, more code, and so on. Now scientists think they might know the reason why.
A study of 1,585 people across 8 different experiments showed that our brains tend to default to addition rather than subtraction when it comes to finding solutions – in many cases, it seems we just don't consider the strategy of taking something away at all.
The researchers found that this preference for adding was noticeable in three scenarios in particular: when people were under higher cognitive load, when there was less time to consider the other options, and when volunteers didn't get a specific reminder that subtracting was an option.
"It happens in engineering design, which is my main interest," says engineer Leidy Klotz, from the University of Virginia. "But it also happens in writing, cooking, and everything else – just think about your own work and you will see it."
"The first thing that comes to our minds is, what can we add to make it better? Our paper shows we do this to our detriment, even when the only right answer is to subtract. Even with financial incentive, we still don't think to take away."
[...] "The more often people rely on additive strategies, the more cognitively accessible they become," says psychologist Gabrielle Adams, from the University of Virginia.
"Over time, the habit of looking for additive ideas may get stronger and stronger, and in the long run, we end up missing out on many opportunities to improve the world by subtraction."
The research has been published in Nature.
Journal Reference:
Gabrielle S. Adams, Benjamin A. Converse, Andrew H. Hales, et al. People systematically overlook subtractive changes, Nature (DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03380-y)
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 12 2021, @02:29PM (8 children)
rm -rf
all bugs go away, except 1
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 12 2021, @02:41PM
sudo !!
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday April 12 2021, @03:09PM
If you forget the slash, it can't be a slasher film.
The anti vax hysteria didn't stop, it just died down.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday April 12 2021, @03:49PM (1 child)
Hey, you forgot the / at the end!
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday April 12 2021, @03:51PM
Essentially what DannyB said.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 12 2021, @05:02PM (3 children)
I tried that and my Windows console says "'rm -rf' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 12 2021, @05:06PM (1 child)
Yet another example of the better security of Windows... by typing in that command a Linux user would have just removed all the systemd files rendering his system unusable. With Windows you're protected.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 12 2021, @09:58PM
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Monday April 12 2021, @05:13PM
Ah yes, that pesky Windows bug. Install these patches:
http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/coreutils.htm [sourceforge.net]
and try again.