3/ In popular wisdom from modern sages like Charlie Munger too, multitasking is bad https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2016/03/multitasking-giving-world-advantage/ …
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Replying to @vgr
4/ I'm convinced both academic and pop-wisdom takes on multitasking are deeply wrong. We're multi-tasking beings. Unit asking is unnatural
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Replying to @vgr
5/ Why? Nature isn't like movie villains, sending mooks (disposable minions) at you 1 at a time in order. Reality comes at you multithreaded
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Replying to @vgr
7/ Our brains are designed to be constantly scanning in wandering pattern (presumably for threats and opportunities). It's feature, not bug
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Replying to @vgr
8/ I've seen research indicating that mind-wandering is at heart of creativity, play. Multitasking is less efficient, but is more creative
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Replying to @vgr
9/ If you think about it environments that allow extended focus on one activity are unnatural and historically anomalous: the Industrial Age
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Replying to @vgr
10/ But there's deeper phenomenon here: metacognition. Mind wandering makes us interrupt driven by design. Metacognition makes us good at it
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Replying to @vgr
11/ The critical thing to understand is that a "task" or "thread" is not magically defined *for* us by psychologists or Charlie Munger
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Replying to @vgr
12/ We are doing this *constantly*. We factor and refactor recursively all the way down. Defining "tasks" dynamically IS metacognition
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Replying to @vgr
13/ Unless you're very lucky, the span of activities you have to constantly refactor to avoid getting stuck is quite large.
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14/ Arguments that multitasking are "bad" are like arguments that compiled high level code is less "efficient" than hand-coded assembly or C
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Replying to @vgr
15/ True, but entirely besides the point in most domains. Metacognition and high-level coding both give you higher level gains that are 10x
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Replying to @vgr
16/ In summary: "multitasking is bad" is a mix of bad science, pastoral advice from lucky people in exceptional situations, poor semantics
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