In everyday thinking, the most common challenge is not to generate new information, but to manage the surfeit of information we already have.
In any thinking project—a problem to solve, a decision to make, a new concept to create—we never begin with a truly blank slate. There is already a jumble of detail, generality and context pouring through our minds.
I call this the data mass.
The presence of the data mass is more than a purely quantitative problem, because (contrary to popular notions in cognitive science) human thinking is more than computation.
Our thought process is always saturated in emotions, conscious or subconscious. In the face of the data mass, the most common emotion is anxiety. And the effect of anxiety is to contract the mind, reducing the scope of our thinking.
Mastering skills for navigating the data mass—a key focus of CMT*—has the double effect of reducing anxiety and expanding awareness.
Peaceful minds think better.
*Cognitive Mobility Training is a methodology I have been building for the last three years. Software is in development as I write, and a short introductory book is in the works.