Toward a Science of Human Beings, Tasks, and Groups
Yakov Feldman
A brief outline of my ideas, 1989 to the present
The natural sciences improve our lives every day: through medicine, technology, communication, transportation, energy, programming, and artificial intelligence.
And what about the humanities?
Do they also bring many new and useful changes into our lives every day?
No?
Why not?
Do the humanities have such a possibility?
Of course they do. And it is right in front of us.
People make decisions every day. These decisions affect not only the person who makes them, but many other people as well.
They choose which task to take on, whom to cooperate with, which community to enter, when to argue, when to step back, and when to change strategy.
It is precisely at these points that a person especially needs knowledge. But most of the time, he does not have the right kind of knowledge. He acts out of habit, intuition, fear, pressure from circumstances, or someone else’s advice.
Moreover, almost all important decisions are made among people. Therefore, a good decision must take into account not only my goals, but also the needs, abilities, limitations, and possible reactions of other people.
Here the humanities could help ordinary people right now.
But for this they need a radical reconstruction according to the standards of the natural sciences: working models of the person, the task, and the community, a virtual world for thought experiments, and ways to predict the results of encounters.
Then the humanities could help a person choose tasks, partners, communities, and strategies of behavior.
But there are also indirect consequences, and they are much more serious.