Informatized Markets - Dream Turns to Ashes
Published: 1995A short diagnostic test.
Please shut your eyes. Then try to touch the tip of your nose with your index finger. At the same time,
concentrate hard on what you are doing and on where your arm is at all times. Do the exercise slowly.
Take 20 seconds for it.
How did it go?
Quite well, probably. You managed to touch the tip of your nose even though you
could not see it. This is because you have tacit knowledge of where the tip of your nose is and how
you must move your arm to touch it. In the exercise, moreover, you were consciously focussing on
your tacit knowledge. Normally we do not concentrate so deliberately on the physical motions we
make. If we did, we would never get anything done, because our conscious minds are hopelessly
inefficient Information processors compared to our unconscious minds.