Mental Models: The Mind’s Search Algorithm
Mental models are tools for the mind. In his talk: Academic Economics: Strengths and Weaknesses, after Considering Interdisciplinary Needs , at the University of California at Santa Barbara, in 2003, Charlie Munger honed in on why we like to specialize. The big general objection to economics was the one early described by Alfred North Whitehead when he spoke of the fatal unconnectedness of academic disciplines, wherein each professor didn’t even know of the models of the other disciplines, much less try to synthesize those disciplines with his own … The nature of this failure is that it creates what I always call ‘man with a hammer’ syndrome. To a man with only a hammer, every problem looks pretty much like a nail. And that works marvellously to gum up all professions, and all departments of academia, and indeed most practical life. So, what do we do, Charlie? The only antidote for being an absolute klutz due to the presence of a man with a hammer syndrome is to...