Review Tuesday: 'Later'

Today’s ‘Review Tuesday'. I bet you have one. I certainly have. In my head. A list of things I should do: plant seedlings, mow orchard, sweep floor, wash car. Et cetera. But I’m a procrastinator [1, 2]. I’m not good at much, but I’m good at procrastinating. James Surowiecki’s review article – titled ‘Later’ – in the 11 October New Yorker [3] focuses on procrastination. He writes that it’s always been a basic human impulse, but anxiety about it has emerged only quite recently: the percentage of people who admitted to procrastination troubles quadrupled between 1978 and 2002. So it’s quintessentially modern. And a powerful example of a Greek word akrasia, i.e. doing something against one’s better judgment. Though delay makes us worse off, delay we do. Conversely, it’s not procrastination if the delay’s not detrimental. We often procrastinate not by doing fun tasks, but by doing tasks whose only allure’s that they aren’t what we should be doing. And when we put off something by telling ourselves we’ll do it tomorrow, we overlook that tomorrow the temptation to put it off will be just as strong. Procrastinators know all too well the allures of the salient present, and they want to resist them. They just don’t. The solution (assuming we want one)? In essence, imposing limits and narrowing options. More organisation, and a ‘to do’ list, may help. And importantly, ensuring all items on the ‘to do’ list are worth doing. If you’re a procrastinator, you’d do well to read Surowiecki’s article. Now.

farmdoc's blog post number 672

Last Friday I read a Hobart neurosurgeon’s medical report. He ended by writing that among four medical specialists (including him and me) the majority of opinion was contrary to mine. I responded by writing that being in the medical minority bothers me not – as adjudication on the matter at issue will turn on a detailed analysis of the relevant evidence, and not on how many doctors draw whatever conclusions. No doubt the majority opinion can be wrong. But according to James Surowiecki’s book The Wisdom of Crowds, a group of people collectively make wise and accurate decisions; and the bigger the crowd, the better the decision. This article in last Friday’s Age helped me join the dots. In it, Mad Men’s writer, producer and director Matthew Weiner (pictured) is cited as one of the men who are helping to define a new golden age of TV drama’. Of the TV series mentioned, I agree that Mad Men and The Wire are part of this new golden age. (I haven’t seen any of the others. I’m surprised Aaron Sorkin’s West Wing isn’t mentioned, though). I don’t know if the golden age and the men who are creating it, is collective crowd wisdom; or just the view of the article’s writer Debbi Enker. Or perhaps the editor is the journalist’s reality checker. Anyway the neurosurgeon’s 4-person crowd is far too small to reach a wise and accurate decision. In due course, either he’ll be proven right, or I’ll be. Ho hum.

farmdoc's blog post number 529

Some months ago I read The Wisdom of Crowds by New Yorker writer James Surowiecki. I thought I’d already written about it, but I was mistaken. Anyway its content’s apparent from its title. That is, a group of people collectively make wise and accurate decisions; and the bigger the crowd, the better the decision. Today’s topic’s at the intersection of crowd wisdom, and the airline Ryanair about which I’ve written in disparaging terms [1, 2]. Well, folks, Ryanair’s at it again. According to this item in last Tuesday’s Age, from today Ryanair has no airport check-in facilities. So its passengers have to check in via the internet, and Ryanair’s charging them £5 (A$9.10) per person per flight for the privilege. Anyone arriving at the airport without a boarding pass will be unable to fly or will have to pay £40 (A$73) for one at the ticketing desk. Blimey! Vis-à-vis the wisdom of crowds, this Age blog quotes airlinequality.com – ‘the world's most authoritative source of customer reviews of airlines’ – which is none too complimentary about Ryanair. Indeed on airlinequality.com, the crowd rates it a mere two stars on a 5-star scale. See here what fine company it’s keeping. Ryanair must be really bad – because even our own Jetstar scores three stars. Despite its lowly two stars and its growing list of passenger imposts Ryanair, Europe’s biggest low-cost airline, is growing at more than 20% a year. What do you make of that, Mr Surowiecki?