Third Millennium Thinking

THIRD MILLENNIUM THINKING by Saul Perlmutter, John Campbell, and Robert MacCoun is based on a successful multidisciplinary course at UC Berkeley taught by a physicist, a philosopher, and a psychologist, respectively. The authors’ goal is “Creating Sense in a World of Nonsense” by teaching and writing about using science and thinking tools to make better decisions. They begin by exploring how to build trust in a shared understanding of reality. Subsequent sections deal with applying probabilistic thinking and a “radical can-do stance.” The final areas they delve into include mental traps (the ways our personal thinking tends to go wrong) and then how we can better solve problems with others. Throughout, these professors offer multiple “hands on” examples which greatly increase the ability of readers to understand and relate to their key points. They also suggest exercises (e.g., accompany every statement of fact with an indication of degree of confidence) to further help readers in attempt to offer “a good translation -- a clear and concise explanation that expresses the scientific approach in an accessible way, and that illuminates its practical uses in everyday life.” I sincerely hope that this text has a wide readership, but I fear it will be mostly read by people who are already very concerned about our ability to find common understandings and who agree with the authors that “we need to learn to accept the possibility of errors in our own thinking, and our need for opposing views that help us see where we are going wrong.”