Joined-Up Thinking: The Science of Collective Intelligence and its Power to Change Our Lives

Description

At a time of existential global challenges we need our best brainpower to solve them. We can no longer rely on the myth of the lone genius to create a breakthrough. As neuroscientist and bestselling author of The Science of Fate Hannah Critchlow shows, two heads have always been better than one. Almost everything we've ever achieved has been done by groups of people working together, sometimes across time and space. Like a hive of bees, or a flock of birds, our naturally social, interconnected brains are designed to function best collectively. New technology is helping us share our wisdom and knowledge much more diversely across race, class, gender and borders. And AI is sparking a revolution in our approach to intelligent thinking -linking us into fast-working brainnets for problem solving. Hannah Critchlow brings us an enlightening, invaluable guide to our future through the evolving new science of collective intelligence. She reveals what it says about us as human beings, shares compelling examples and stories, and shows us how best we can work collectively at work, in families, in any team situation to improve our outcomes, our wellbeing, and our prospects.

Dr Hannah Critchlow is the Science Outreach Fellow at Magdalene College, University of Cambridge, and has been named a Top 100 UK Scientist by the Science Council for her work in science communication. Mentioned by Nature magazine as a rising star in the life sciences in 2019, she is listed as one of the University of Cambridge's 'inspirational and successful women in science' and appears regularly on TV, radio and at festivals to discuss and explore the brain.

A lively examination of communal endeavour... important and correct -- Steven Poole * The Guardian * For tens of thousands of years we have tried to work out how we can best think. At last this genius work explains the past, the present and the future of our minds. Read - to be amazed. -- Bettany Hughes Hannah Critchlow has written a timely and engaging book about human intelligence and the challenges our brains face in the twenty-first century. It will make you think. It might even change for the better the way you think. -- Ian Rankin A powerful manifesto for the strength of "we" thinking -- Marcus du Sautoy Hannah Critchlow's research into collective intelligence, team work, communication, performance, resilience, ethics etc from a neuroscience perspective is absolutely fascinating. -- Tatjana Marinko From startling futuristic speculation to practical exercises in getting in touch with your own routine mental processes, Hannah Critchlow steers us with a sure hand and an unfailingly clear and engaging voice. This is a treasure of a book, exploding some damaging myths and encouraging us to re-imagine the values of relationality and receptivity in our thinking. -- Rowan Williams This is absolutely wonderful, uplifting and soulful. I can't tell you how much we need joined-up thinking - this book and the thing itself. The future of humanity very much depends on how well we embrace these ground-breaking provocative ideas, to focus on the collective 'we' more than the individual 'me'. -- Daniel M. Davis