Coming to Our Senses ─ Perceiving Complexity to Avoid Catastrophes

In this fascinating book cognitive scientist Viki McCabe argues that the catastrophes we now face--economic recessions, ecological devastation, and political paralysis--originate in our ignoring the world we perceive and acting on the theories we conceive. Using cutting-edge research and compelling true stories-- the Wall Street banking fiasco, the submerging of New Orleans, and the escalation of global temperatures-- McCabe argues that these problems originate in our relying on the wrong source for our information: the archives within our heads with their opinions and biases, instead of our subliminal perceptions of what is happening on the ground.

McCabe shows that while our "mind's eye" "sees" a world made of separate, nameable parts, the earth actually operates as a coalition of complex working systems (from cells to cities to economies). Such systems cannot be understood in words, but require fractal-like configurations that our perceptual systems have evolved to parse and that reflect each system's structure, characteristics, and functions. Thus, we comprehend systems as disparate as neural networks, river deltas, and economies not from their verbal descriptions, but by perceiving their branching structure. We recognize others as they walk from the figure eight that oscillates around their belly buttons. Form not only follows function, it doubles as information.

McCabe also documents how using this information saved the USS Missouri, a kidnapped child, and victims of the Asian tsunami. Thus, she counsels us to put our mentally manufactured theories aside and focus on our perceptions so that we can reconnect to reality, make more informed decisions, block hostile mental takeovers, and come back to our senses.

Visiting Scholar, Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles