Complications

I played one year of Division III college football in the Midwestern Brainiac Conference, consisting of private colleges with high academic standards from Louisiana to Michigan. One of our perennial favorite games was against Principia, a college for Christian Scientists in Illinois. We always traveled there because the food was delicious. Christian Scientists were considered some of the more "out there" evangelical Christians in those days*, most notably because of their rejection of conventional medicine, and reliance on spiritual healing. Before the trip, one of my teammates told me, "It's the weirdest thing. If one of them gets hurt, everyone just sort of moves away from him, and people on the sidelines kneel down and start praying."

Years later, I chanced to meet someone who played football there, though at a different time, and we reminisced at bit. He explained that people of his faith are generally quite pragmatic about medicine, and most will not attempt to pray away a compound fracture. They wear glasses and have their teeth cleaned, though most do not get vaccinations. It's not what I would call mainstream, but like I said, it's pragmatic.

I often think of that conversation when I hear politicians -- or anyone else, really -- trivialize medical issues, or demonize those who think differently, in the name of faith. I know about having beliefs, and I am completely okay with making life-altering decisions based on them, but don't pretend that this crap is simple. I don't understand those who think they know God's heart any more than I get how some of my physicist friends believe that we are on the brink of knowing everything meaningful there is to know about the Universe.

I cannot imagine a more difficult situation than being told by a doctor that a delivery has gone horribly wrong, and that either one's partner or her baby will have to be sacrificed. And I understand that if we are at the Catholic hospital near my house, that decision will be made for me**.  What I can't understand is demagogues who can call people murderers who have been in this situation, like it's the same as walking into your estranged wife's office and gunning down everyone there.

My college football career ended the day before Thanksgiving that year, standing in the quad among the swirling flurries that would become the season's first snowfall. That's when I learned that my friend and teammate Daryl had died from an embolism after routine knee surgery at one of the world's best sports medicine centers. Somehow, it just wasn't fun anymore. It was one of a double handful of times during my life that I have been reminded that nothing is as simple as it seems.

---

* My, how things have changed. Christian Scientists don't even stick out of the crowd anymore.

** Perhaps it is not a coincidence that our heavily Catholic city has private secular hospital that specializes in women's health, and delivers most of the babies in town, at least for those with health insurance.

This blog is now all about things that make you stupid. Apparently.

Last post we talked about a flurry of studies that confirm what anyone who works in an office already knows -- that meetings make people stupid. Actually, I think some people believe everyone in the meeting is stupid except them, but they've probably been in too many meetings.*

Then last week I ran across this little gem. Apparently, being interrupted by a cellphone ringing will also interfere with mental processes, and its worse if the ringtone is a song you know. They use Beyoncé’s "Single Ladies" as an example, but in that case the biggest distraction for me would probably be the pain from trying to scratch my eardrums with a pencil.

Again, this is no surprise, but it does say something about what drives our society, and possibly about what's important to employers. There was a time when making a personal phone call, or interrupting an important meeting with trivia, could get one fired. Or at least on the boss' shit list. But the last business luncheon I attended featured a former colleague talking for 20 minutes on the best ways to use Twitter at the office. People not only expect cellphones to ring in meetings, they seem to expect people to answer them.

This all reminds me of a quote from a Japanese industrialist I heard a couple of decades ago. He said, "In Japan, we make things. In America, you used to make things. Now you just push money around." Except now it's information we are pushing around. One person somewhere has an original thought and 80 million people try to disseminate it as fast as they can. I suppose there is value there, but it seems hollow somehow, and at least for me, unsatisfying.

I'm sure the hive mind will prove to be more productive than the individual in the long run. And people won't feel the same sense of disquiet about the constantly connected world that I do, any more than I could share my grandfather's distrust of airplanes. But I am built for quiet contemplation, and it's not the world for me.

---

* I wonder if it's some sort of natural selection that has created the current "anti-meeting" culture in higher education. There are a thousand committees, but they rarely meet. And when they do, the only people who attend are those who absolutely required.

Reach for the shy

It looks like 2012 might be the year when the shy, introverted, and maybe even the meek get their fifteen minutes of fame. Which would be no surprise, since it's the last year ever. Not that the quieter types want the attention, but it's good to be appreciated as long as no one is speaking directly to you.

Time's cover story last week on "The Power of Shyness" builds on the growing success of Susan Cain's, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking to make the case that America's obsession with "go-getters" is costing us more than we think. Or don't think, as the case may be. Which really seems to be the root of the problem. The extroverts are all running around telling anyone who will listen how useful they are, while the introverted and shy are sitting at home with wine and chocolate watching movies and doing online genealogy research.*

People who know about such things -- most notably the shy or introverted -- will be quick to tell you that these two terms are not synonyms. Introverts are people who prefer less social stimulation, while shy people experience anxiety at the prospect of new or unfamiliar interactions. If you prefer a small party at someone's home to a rave or concert, you're probably more introverted. If your heart pounds at the thought of meeting the people at either kind of party, you're shy. Not surprisingly, these are not what the math people (speaking of shy and introverted) would call independent variables.

Of course, it's not that simple talking about real people. I love a loud and crowded bar as much as anyone, and I will probably make a random comment or two to the person whose ass I'm kicking at pool.**  But more days than not I would prefer to talk to between zero and five people, and then not for long. While I have grown relatively comfortable speaking to small or medium sized groups, I still get really anxious and talk too fast and never say exactly what I had planned and oh time's up already thanks for coming. I have to give a 40 minute talk in a week, and I'm already starting to sweat.

Everyone knows my favorite vacations involve me, Biscuit and some nature. The big resort is definitely not my idea of relaxation. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty damned introverted. I like going to the movies, but I intentionally pick the times when the theater will be the emptiest. And very few things make me happier than being alone in the car on an empty highway, as long as the car is moving.

Anyway, the point of all of this was supposed to be that introverts tend to be reflective thinkers. It turns out that it's hard to do much deep thinking in a room full of people. Two recent studies, one at Indiana University and another performed by the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute make a compelling case that meetings make us stupider.  It seems whatever else comes from collaborative work, it isn't brainpower.

As Cain says in the second point of her Manifesto, "our culture rightly admires risk-takers, but we need our 'heed-takers' more than ever." If any of this resonates with you, I would encourage you to get out there and do something about it. Or at least, go to a quiet room and think about it really hard.

---

* Just to pull an example out of the air.
**I don't talk shit when I'm losing, because that's just stupid.