Lusus Naturae - The Rise of the Homo Zapiens

From my tumblr.

Beware of the rise of the homo zapiens...!

Or should we?

The terminology "homo zapiens" was taken by yours truly from the weekly academic news alert I get from KU Leuven: "The trick to learning on the go? Keep it simple".  Because we've gone beyond Generations X & Y...it's Generation ZAP! with all the current electronic technobaubles nowadays--laptops, smartphones, tablet PCs, mp3 players, to name a few.  But coupled with these gadgets is the pull of going on a multimedia multitasking in terms of learning.

Now, the article talks about how "multitasking" nowadays is a myth, because our brains aren't built that way. Well, as Daniel Kahnemann discusses in his seminal book "Thinking, Fast and Slow", there are two modes of thinking--Systems 1 (fast) and 2 (slow).  Try to mix those modes and you're bound to trip over your proverbial shoelaces...not unless you do slow thinking (and learning) while doing something routine and repetitive (but not necessarily boring), like running.  Definitely not Facebook-ing, Tumblr-ing, Tweeting...or surreptitiously checking on my blog.