We all have our flashbulb memories. These are certain incidents from our past that remains etched in our mind in a razor sharp way like 50 megapixel photograph. In our short lives, some of these incidents may even have lesser importance than others, but we still remember them with utmost clarity. Often, these are connected to shock that we may have experienced with the incident; say something private like your girlfriend or boyfriend leaving you or something as public as the time when terrorists attacked Mumbai.
Brain imaging studies have shown that the neural system responsible for such flashbulb memories, is also responsible for imagining the future. So it’s a Friday today and you have a weekend coming up, and you are planning a grand party with your college buddies over the weekend. Your brain is able to imagine, with photo-like sharpness, how grand the party will be, and even minute details like what you will wear and eat. Now, when we imagine such a scenario, the neural system looks at the future with rosy tinted glasses; you imagine everything in an almost perfect way. The brain paints the most grey event in the future with shades of pink; to such an extent that the brain almost fools you in believing that everything will go right as imagined. You begin to act believing this.
In both the scenarios above, the brain rely on the same underlying processes and information.
So why do I say the brain fools you? Because statistics prove otherwise.
Nearly 100% of couples at marriage feel that they will live happily forever, together. Contrast this with divorce percentages; especially in our cities; in some cases it is as high as 50%. Nearly 100% of project owners, at the beginning of a project, indicate that they will finish their project ‘on time’ and ‘on budget’. Contrast this to the fact that the percentage of time overruns and cost overruns on projects is so high, that it is almost an acceptable fact within certain trades. Remember the last time when someone was late for a meeting and when you called him, he said he will be with you in 5 minutes, and he could never make it in 5 minutes? No modern project management tool has been able to factor in this aspect of the human brain.
Our brains sprinkle pixie dust when we imagine the future. It is not wired to naturally think about what can go wrong. At the core, human brains have made us optimists. This trait is very much necessary for humanity’s survival. Without this trait, we are inviting anarchy and doom.
On the other side of this argument you have the famous saying “anything which can go wrong, will go wrong”. Why? Because in any scientific or engineering endeavor, anything that can go wrong will go definitely wrong, wont it? It surely will; When…is the only question. In modern society, there are few opportunities for us to be removed from anything related to science and engineering.
Having said that, when it comes down to solving real life problems, especially those involving multiple dependencies, it is wise to remove those rosy tinted glasses for a moment while painting a picture of the future.