The Mind as Machine: Learning Decision Making Skills through Technology

Strategic decision making has always been a part of the human experience, but as our collective decision making skills have slowly evolved over the centuries, our thinking has moved from instinctive, scenario-based reactions to a more sophisticated model. Now, with the massive proliferation of new technologies, we’re thinking of the human mind in a new way, and adapting decision making techniques to a kind of “mechanical” philosophy.

From the Turing machine (an early computer mimicking human interactions) to detailed demographic software for evaluating a lot of data fast, technology is helping humanity along in defining how we approach strategic decision making for the most effective results. Even before these decision making tools were available, people of past centuries pursued “theoretic” or “abstract” models like the scientific method for honing decision making skills and going beyond the experiential to explain the greater reality. Our new ‘technological’ viewpoints for decision making techniques build on that realism that flourished in the last couple of centuries, and as we take data analysis and decision making to a whole new level, the outcomes are evident. From journalism to biological research, from housing markets to airline administration, people are learning how to see the world around them through different lenses, practicing better models for doing what we’ve always done: using decision making techniques to better our lives and the lives of others.

To see how this applies to both education and business, take a look at sites like www.theblunder.com and other articles on the scientific method to see how your grades and job skills can get a boost from empirical methods for strategic decision making that’s informed by the decision making skills tools we use every day, from digital to spreadsheets and databases, and see how the resources on these pages take you beyond the earliest decision making techniques into the innovative methods of the future.

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I have spent 35 years as founder and President of Edmund Scientific Co., Barrington, N.J., then 18 years as a full-time educational researcher specializing in the processes of the scientific method, problem solving, and decision making. You get the benefit of 35 years of practical experience and 18 years of academic-type research of the literature – free. The body of knowledge about a model for and the process of problem solving and decision making is huge and complex.

However, I have tried hard to extract the basic principles of the foundation of these and present them in an easy to understand form suitable for an introductory course for an individual or student. I also claim that the SM-14 model for the stages and ingredients of problem solving and decision making presented here is the best ever offered.

Good judgment depends on good decision making! – Good luck to you in your efforts to improve your decision making techniques and skills.

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